Interesting Talk w/ Service Manager

[TimG]

I just got off the phone with my service manager. (So far, this dude has shot me straight with other issues on my truck, so I have no reason to think he's feeding me a line) I have an appointment to get a new steering wheel on Friday morning, and I called him to see if I can get an update run on my 8.4 Non-Nav. It wont let me into dealer mode to check the software version, and for some reason that is driving me crazy. But other than that, no real issues. Anyway, he tells me that he strongly recommends that I don't try to have them perform the upgrade, as they have been finding that if an upgrade fails on this type of radio, it renders the truck undrivable due to "safety controls being unavailable to the driver", and they will have to keep the truck until they can unlock everything and get it back to a usable state. He said that he has 6 trucks in his shop right now with this condition, and FCA has no real fix in the immediate future.
Has anyone else heard of this happening? Just wondering....

 

[cj7]

Have not heard this yet, but do keep us up to date...
Would be good to know when the radio can safely be updated.

 

[Willwork4truck]

scary thought...

 

[moosem]

I just got off the phone with my service manager. (So far, this dude has shot me straight with other issues on my truck, so I have no reason to think he's feeding me a line) I have an appointment to get a new steering wheel on Friday morning, and I called him to see if I can get an update run on my 8.4 Non-Nav. It wont let me into dealer mode to check the software version, and for some reason that is driving me crazy. But other than that, no real issues. Anyway, he tells me that he strongly recommends that I don't try to have them perform the upgrade, as they have been finding that if an upgrade fails on this type of radio, it renders the truck undrivable due to "safety controls being unavailable to the driver", and they will have to keep the truck until they can unlock everything and get it back to a usable state. He said that he has 6 trucks in his shop right now with this condition, and FCA has no real fix in the immediate future.
Has anyone else heard of this happening? Just wondering....

What a marvelous time to be alive when updating the radio renders a vehicle undriveable.

 

[Willwork4truck]

What a marvelous time to be alive when updating the radio renders a vehicle undriveable.

Where's my 56' Buick, 64' Biscayne, 68' VW, 72' F100 and other non-computer vehicles? I'll live without a heated steering wheel...
Every one of those previously mentioned got as least as good mpg's or better, and didn't set me back $56K...

 

[RamOwner]

Makes you want to return to the days of crank windows, carburetors, points, etc.

 

[Willwork4truck]

Makes you want to return to the days of crank windows, carburetors, points, etc.

Well they ran without tech just fine and even my 56 Buick (Century) had air conditioning, power seat and power windows. Not to get into a pissin' contest with anyone over tech but to not be able to drive your truck due to a display issue is lame... Same with "limp mode".

 

[Billy James]

I just got off the phone with my service manager. (So far, this dude has shot me straight with other issues on my truck, so I have no reason to think he's feeding me a line) I have an appointment to get a new steering wheel on Friday morning, and I called him to see if I can get an update run on my 8.4 Non-Nav. It wont let me into dealer mode to check the software version, and for some reason that is driving me crazy. But other than that, no real issues. Anyway, he tells me that he strongly recommends that I don't try to have them perform the upgrade, as they have been finding that if an upgrade fails on this type of radio, it renders the truck undrivable due to "safety controls being unavailable to the driver", and they will have to keep the truck until they can unlock everything and get it back to a usable state. He said that he has 6 trucks in his shop right now with this condition, and FCA has no real fix in the immediate future.
Has anyone else heard of this happening? Just wondering....

If you can't get into dealer mode; then you probably do not have the latest update. I had mine updated last year and have had no problems. The reason I had mine updated was because it would not "remember" the USB drive I had loaded with music; so it would not return where it had left off when I started the truck and it had to rescan the USB every start.. Mine has worked great since the update.

 

[Nails]

Great info thank you. Keep us in the loop

 

[stepbill]

Dumb question but how do you get into dealer mode?

 

[TimG]

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get any new useful info. He just showed me the "deadline" of 6 trucks and said that FCA is shooting for a fix/update by April. Wish I had some better news.

 

[Nails]

^^I’ll take that, it’s atleast something.

 

[FailGrenade]

This kinda bums me but also helpful. My radio is going crazy lately and locking up, been waiting for an update to come through for mine but nothing yet.

 

[PMantle]

Just enter your VIN here to see if there is an update available. Mine was up to date. https://www.driveuconnect.com/support/software-update.html

 

[derp]

What a marvelous time to be alive when updating the radio renders a vehicle undriveable.

undriveable as in the safety assist features can't be accessed. so you lose config screens, backup cams, park assist, collision detection, lane departure, trailer features config.

I've driven before with the system in rebooting mode where the features aren't there. it wasn't a deathtrap but it also isn't a 100% functioning vehicle witht he bits and bobs I paid for. this also keeps me from even considering any kind of head unit replacement.

cell hotspot is part of the uconnect
backup cams, uconnect
ACC config, uconnect
Park assist -uconnect
lane departure , uconnect
trailer length, uconnect
mirror/glass dimming, uconnect
and on and on.

the head unit effectively becomes the brain box of all non powertrain systems.

 

[JJRamTX]

I couldn't agree more with them integrating tech into other systems that have no business being connected. It reminds me of the whole Internet Of Things IOTs. Just because you can connect it to Wifi or the Net, Certainly Doesn't mean you SHOULD!!! Companies are so concerned with gathering your data to use it to make a buck that they are creating a crappy end product.

**** Poor Coding and **** Poor Testing = **** Poor Product!

 

[busa2009]

Dumb question but how do you get into dealer mode?