Infotainment not working, then flat battery

[Will15]

This week our 73 plate Kodiaq L&K (6 months and 3 days old) had a flat battery and various warnings coming up on the dash when my wife went to start it. Car had been driven home from work the evening before without issue. Fortunately she was at home and VAG roadside assistance turned up within the hour.

Roadside diagnosis was a flat battery, possibly due to a problem the infotainment system.

There are no consumer addons (I have seen another thread in this section where a dashcam drained the battery). 

 

The background for the previous 2 weeks, we had been unable to use the radio, media, or Bluetooth for calls; no sound from speakers and 'volume' green bar didn't move by on screen touch or by steering wheel. Even in Park a warning said sound settings couldn't be changed until car was stopped. Voice control also didn't work. Ironically the car was already booked in for infotainment to be investigated in a couple of weeks. 

 

We have also had an intermittent issue where the speakers would make a loud brown noise for 20 seconds after the ignition was turned off after a long journey, which we managed to capture on video. However the cause couldn't be identified. It's related to infotainment but I don't think it would be related to the this week's problem as it hasn't happened for at least 6 weeks. 

 

Has anybody experienced similar with a flat battery and what was the outcome? I'm always suspicious if I hear from official sources that they haven't heard of the problem before. 

Edited 29 March by Will15

[AndyT60]

I had exactly the same issues (identical) that you described in my mk IV vrs Octavia phev. In March, interestingly when the flat  battery was re booted with a power pack from road assist, all the infotainment faults disappeared. It seems the system reset itself. Anyway vehicle went to Skoda garage to try and identify what had caused the battery issue, kept overnight and identified that although the radio appeared to be switched off it was still drawing power. Garage stated a software issue and updated. 
 

No further issues until a week ago when after a 20 mile run and a stop of an hour and half I went back to my vehicle which failed to start, lots of error messages including parking brake warning etc.  Road assist called, battery power pack applied and after 10 mins vehicle started. Red and amber battery warnings remained on for 5 mins during test drive then went out. On the way home for the first 5 miles I was getting an amber warning advising that the engine needed to run longer, this eventually went out. Car has had no issues since but booked into garage Monday 13th to try and identify the failure to start cause. Frustratingly the warranty ran out in March and I have a feeling that this is connected to the same battery issue. I bet the garage won’t see it this way! 

 

 

 

[Will15]

Thanks for this Andy. It's some coincidence that it happened again last week to our car. I had come to the conclusion it was software as the screen advised of an update only the day before. 

 

Booked in again for Tuesday 14th...

[AndyT60]

Yes, I had the screen update on software the day before as well, makes you wonder doesn’t it ? Still in the garage today let’s see what they identify.

[AndyT60]

Further to the above, I have just been told by the garage that there is a fault with the door lock causing a parasitic drain to the battery, advised a new door locking mechanism required costing £423. Car just out of warranty and given recent battery drain issue they are trying a goodwill argument with Skoda to see if the price can be reduced . Watch this space!