I was slightly held to ransom by the garage..

Really didn’t want the screen removed and was worried it may mean the car wouldn’t even drive.

However they were adamant the only way to resolve the problem was to remove the screen and send it away.

It seems that most things still work

I can move through radio pre-sets, temperature control done through voice commands, safety systems like lane assist can be done through steering controls as well.

The whole process been quite painful, I’m going to complain once the cars back together, whatever good that will do..

I think when you are dealing with 3rd party warranty companies things are not as "straightforward" as dealing with a Skoda dealer, with the Skoda warranty. I suspect if they replace the screen, they will have to pay the same amount that I've seen others quoted on the forum. If I recall wasn't it over £1,000 for a screen replacement? I'm sure the warranty company would not be happy at paying that. So the screen can probably be repaired for far less money, if the fault is easily diagnosed and the parts inexpensive. You would've hoped they would fit a temporary screen in the interim - but for a warranty company that would mean them holding stock of those items, which is additional cost to them.

Have they given you a timeline for how long the screen will be away? You would expect that they would at least give you an estimate and expedite getting it repaired.

A friend of mine had a 3rd party warranty on his Audi RS4, and he had so many issues dealing with them, justifying claims, etc, etc.

Sorry to see that so many Octavia owners (me included) continue to have pretty much identical problems with the Octavia mk4 infotainment system. You’d think that by now Skoda would own up to this widespread manufactured hardware defect and not keep messing about with software reboots and updates, none of which, as far as I am aware, has ever provided a permanent cure to the problem.

In my case, after more than two years of total exasperation, submitting several videos of the problem to my dealer and Skoda UK, and writing letters to Skoda UK, at long last they have authorised my local dealer to do a screen swap from a donor car (which I’m assuming doesn’t have any infotainment issues!) as the latest attempt to fix my car.

This will happen on the 28th May, so I’ll write and let everyone know how it went. I shall be particularly interested to see if the swap cure the radio starting up spontaneously when the car is left locked up during a spell of very hot weather.

I’d be very interested to know too if anyone who has one of the new face-lifted Octavia mk4.5 has had any problems with the infotainment system similar to those of the mk4. I believe the newer model has a larger infotainment screen which might allow for better cooling.

Update..

Drove around for about 3 weeks without the screen whilst it was being “repaired” Some of that time was because i couldn’t get back to the garage to get it re-fitted.

It didn’t go wrong whilst on test so nothing to repair. Likewise the car didn’t display the fault whilst the screen was out

The (temporary) solution..the screen is back in but the touchbar has been disabled.

Despite me saying multiple times its a known fault that wasn’t accepted by the garage and this current setup forms part of the “investigation”

We’ve agreed to give it a month, if it doesn’t repeat the fault that should prove its the touchbar.

The garage are convinced it’s something else and won’t hear what I’m saying.

So i need to let this play out. At least i haven’t paid anything out….

Update,

We’ll the new screen has been fitted, and so far all seems well after a very limited amount of driving (in distance), but a lot of stops and starts.

So far, there have been no instances of malfunctions whatsoever, even on some quite hot days. Sometimes the system does seem to take longer to boot up than others, but as I’ve no previous experience of any sort of infotainment system, where all functions are controlled by touch, I don’t know if the Octavia is particularly ‘laggy’ in this respect compared with other cars. Another thing that I’ve never seen commented about is whether it’s ok or not to drive off while the screen still shows ‘loading’.

My observations during the 3 year plus history of infotainment malfunctions that I’ve experienced myself, and read about from others who have posted identical problems with their mk4 Octavias, is that the only permanent fix is to have the infotainment screen changed. In my opinion, no amount of software updates ever fix the faulty hardware issue inherent in a lot of Octavia mk4 touchscreens.

If you have this screen problem, talk with your agent, be polite but firm, take videos, gather as much evidence as you can, write letters, email Skoda, persist and persevere and, hopefully you’ll get there in the end, as I did. Good luck to all.

On 05/05/2025 at 11:02, DaveFromSydney said:

Mine (MY 21) started to do something similar last summer (December here) and is no longer doing it now we are in autumn, so it may be heat related.

Back then I had many cases of sound volume going to very low – ALMOST inaudible. Adjusting the volume on the slider or on the wheel was ineffective in returning normal volume. The display showed 100% but the audible level was like 10%. A reboot of the infotainment system worked but it is slow and cumbersome. The problem could occur many times daily.

Then I found a workaround: A quick fix was to press on the little volume scroll wheel on the left of steering wheel to mute and again to unmute. The volume then returned to normal.

It is going in for its annual service in a few weeks, still under its 7 year warranty. I will mention this problem. Perhaps they will recognize it as a sign that the whole unit needs replacing.

I had the service last week. They said that since they could not reproduce it they had taken note of it being reported but we need to wait until it is reproducible before they will investigate. Of course it does not do it now in winter. So if, as I expect, it will start happening again next summer, then I will have to take it back and leave it with them.

About time I did an update on this...

the TL:DR version

the fix is to disconnect the Touch Bar..

longer version..

I went back and forth with the garage I was using (nearest one used by the RAC warranty I have)

Screen was in and out, then a module came out for testing, parts were sourced and replaced. The issue remained.

The warranty garage never actually started a claim and charged me for work and parts. once we knew it was fixed they would then put in the claim for me. (not how I understand a warranty claim works)

Turns out the guy the screen was going to is a 10 minute walk from my house, warranty garage wouldn't tell me where he was until the bitter end, however they charged me for running the unit over to him!!

I have now had the Touch Bar disconnected and I'm leaving it like that.. I have 99% functionality.

As I now also know where the guy who was trying to fix it is I'll have a chat directly with him, he was slightly mystified by this issue.

I won't name the garage in Cheshire I had to use for the warranty claim, they were absolutely horrendous to deal with.

However If you're in the area and want to know who to avoid PM me..

14 hours ago, MartynS said:

Ya era hora de hacer una actualización sobre esto...

la versión TL:DR

La solución es desconectar la Touch Bar.

versión más larga..

Estuve indeciso sobre el taller que estaba usando (el más cercano al que usa la garantía RAC que tengo)

La pantalla entró y salió, luego sacaron un módulo para probarlo, consiguieron piezas y las reemplazaron. El problema persistía.

El taller de garantía en realidad nunca inició un reclamo y me cobró por el trabajo y las piezas. Una vez que supimos que estaba arreglado, presentaron el reclamo por mí. (No es así como entiendo que funciona un reclamo de garantía)

Resulta que el tipo al que iba dirigida la pantalla está a 10 minutos a pie de mi casa, el taller de garantía no me dijo dónde estaba hasta el final, ¡sin embargo, me cobraron por llevarle la unidad!

Ahora he desconectado la Touch Bar y la dejo así.. Tengo un 99% de funcionalidad.

Como ahora también sé dónde está el chico que estaba tratando de arreglarlo, hablaré directamente con él, estaba un poco desconcertado por este problema.

No nombraré el taller en Cheshire que tuve que utilizar para reclamar la garantía, fue absolutamente horrible tratar con ellos.

Sin embargo, si estás en la zona y quieres saber a quién evitar, envíame un mensaje privado.

Good morning. My infotainment system (2023 Octavia Combi RS) also has the familiar volume-boosting issue. I'll have to be patient since the warranty expires next March. Could you explain how to disable the touch bar to mitigate the problem while I process the warranty? Thank you.

https://www.drive2.ru/l/714438467546790126/?fbclid=IwdGRjcANB2hFjbGNrA0HaD2V4dG4DYWVtAjExAAEevBNX94qCMVJrZvzDfCBdng4FHIpI9JE7YFFUHtmhUMhH9-ViatTkyyKdu-Q_aem_B5zaVBKAq3HJAGPDClP0RA

Maybe this will help someone, some guys said that there are some vapors on the volume control slider , and that causes issues where the infotainment restarts or changes the volume

I just scanned through this thread, as well as trying to research (via Google) whether the Octavia (and also the Seat Leon estate as it's vaguely similar albeit a bit smaller) is considered "reliable".

Most of the motoring websites love the Octavia but, equally, most criticize the infotainment and lack of real buttons and switches as we used to have in days of old. Same with all manufacturers, it seems.

As well as looking at the VAG products with a view to buying a new one, I have found that the Toyota Corolla Touring (the estate version) is in a similar class, sizewise, and I can't see anything like the same degree of critical judgement of Toyota's technolgy and reliability as is found with VAG (and Octavia particularly). If anyone takes any notice ofmotoring press surveys you would be disheaterened with some Octavia or VAG results .... but not everyone does take notice.

It has to be said though that reading through the above thread - and having an element of familiarity with DSG boxes - I'm leaning a bit towards something other than an Octavia. Which doesn't accord with the sheer volume of them currently in use with the Emergency Services, who must, surely, give them hard use and yet still you see Octavias adorned with blue lights in the hundreds.

Edited 12 January12 Jan by oldstan

18 hours ago, oldstan said:

I just scanned through this thread, as well as trying to research (via Google) whether the Octavia (and also the Seat Leon estate as it's vaguely similar albeit a bit smaller) is considered "reliable".

Most of the motoring websites love the Octavia but, equally, most criticize the infotainment and lack of real buttons and switches as we used to have in days of old. Same with all manufacturers, it seems.

As well as looking at the VAG products with a view to buying a new one, I have found that the Toyota Corolla Touring (the estate version) is in a similar class, sizewise, and I can't see anything like the same degree of critical judgement of Toyota's technolgy and reliability as is found with VAG (and Octavia particularly). If anyone takes any notice ofmotoring press surveys you would be disheaterened with some Octavia or VAG results .... but not everyone does take notice.

It has to be said though that reading through the above thread - and having an element of familiarity with DSG boxes - I'm leaning a bit towards something other than an Octavia. Which doesn't accord with the sheer volume of them currently in use with the Emergency Services, who must, surely, give them hard use and yet still you see Octavias adorned with blue lights in the hundreds.

I'm looking elsewhere for a car, an RS is now above £40k which puts in in the £640 pa VED bracket, so it's time to find something that has a bit of grunt, but isn't so expensive to insure or "tax", I don't have any family left now, so I don't need a big car anymore, so was looking at a Polo GTi or may even drop down to a Toyota Corolla or Qashqui, which will be cheaper to insure & "tax".

The other one to look at is the Audi A3.

But in regard to the infotainment system, I think that a lot of manufacturers have gone touch screen route for controls unfortunately as it's cheaper to implement as they're not using "mechanical" switches which have a finite lifespan. So I don't really know where to look when it comes to replacement, I'd rather stay in the VWG fold, but if I can't find what I like then I'll look at another marque.

Edited 13 January13 Jan by TheWanderer

I wish I could offer a sensible reply to TheWanderer.

If it were those warning bongs (i.e. over the speed limit and straying over the white line etc.) then I might have said look at Renault (or Dacia, but nothing sporty with Dacia) .... because they have a dash mounted switch with which you can easily turn the warning bongs off - however it's not exactly that we're talking about. I would say that reviews of the Toyota infotainment often offer a degree of appreciation of their system insofar as they still off actual physical controls for the heating/air con. And say the screen isn't too bad regarding ease of use.

I'm not looking forward to having to get used to the screen myself but everyone else has had to get used to it so I guess I will, given time.

What I'm less happy about with VAG is them sticking to three years warranty. That plus the apprehension of owning a DSG out of warranty. Very recently I was told of a Golf R owner having to pay over six grand for a repair to his DSG box .... and his was a 2 litre which would have had a wet clutch in it, and there's a long held belief that wet clutches are more reliable than dry (although I did, recently see, on here, a post that suggested that the opposite was the case ?? ).

There may be a school of thought that suggests Toyota's 10yr warranty plan is just a clever means of ensuring Toyota main dealer servicing for 10 years but for those of a cautious disposition it's quite an attraction and, to me, suggests a degree of confidence in the product

I haven't, yet, made a decision and remain open to opinions be they positive or otherwise.

I just had another look at the infotainment issues that you blokes experience. I can see 21 PAGES of comments about the "Update to 1669 Version"

I could have been tempted by a new Octavia Estate but if I add this topic to the countless DSG topics that I'm very conscious of ..... ??

I honestly can't believe a company as vast as VAG - who have been making cars since the old King dies .....

Edited 3 February3 Feb by oldstan