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      07-15-2018, 06:49 PM   #1
Astone22
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BMW Will not pay for software update?

I am still under factory warranty. According to the key read out it says my car has an available software update. Why is the dealer trying to charge for this?
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      07-15-2018, 08:00 PM   #2
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Warranty has nothing to do with it. What matters is if you still have maintenance plan. Two entirely different things.
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      07-15-2018, 08:42 PM   #3
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still have maintnece plan. The reason it was in the shop was for new brake pads which were covered. What should i tell them to get it covered?
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      07-15-2018, 09:20 PM   #4
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Why get it upgraded? I don’t think it’s necessary to do unless you get something replaced that requires the software to be updated. This could be why they are messing with you.
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      07-15-2018, 10:29 PM   #5
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Software updates aren't always a good thing.
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      07-15-2018, 10:32 PM   #6
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Try to find out what is supposed to be upgraded or fixed. Then you can decide if you want it. The last upgrade I got seemed to fix nothing and it broke rev-matching on downshifts.
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      07-15-2018, 11:40 PM   #7
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I had my steering rack replaced and they had to do a firmware update. It erased all my coding and messed with my after market CA.

It was a pain to get everything back to the way it was before the update.
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      07-15-2018, 11:45 PM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Astone22 View Post
I am still under factory warranty. According to the key read out it says my car has an available software update. Why is the dealer trying to charge for this?
They do not do software update under warranty unless the car has an issue that the update will fix.

Just upgrading your software to get a newer version is not covered under warranty, just as replacing items that BMW has updated since the car was built are not covered either.

Yes it will wipe out any coding.

However, I update mine at least annually. It usually has positive benefits in the car.
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      07-16-2018, 04:22 PM   #9
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I cannot believe dealer charge money for software update.
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      07-16-2018, 04:55 PM   #10
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Software updates are a huge pain in the a** for everyone involved. They take up a lot of shop time, they are inherently risky, oftentimes they might break something that the customer will come back to complain about endlessly. They should only be done if there is something to fix.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Why is it so hard to believe that the dealer would charge money for an update? It requires a service bay be used for a few hours while your car is updated. And for what? So the customer can see a higher software version on their iDrive screen?
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      07-16-2018, 10:22 PM   #11
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In the vast majority of the cases, a software update is not worth the pain for either you or the service department, unless you have a fault that requires the update. The updates done to my E90 335i and F30 335i have provided very little upgrade that is noticeable other than addressing the faults diagnosed. Dealers typically allot a full day for the car. May take as little as 4 hrs, but often more. Since dealer has to log in and communicate BMW's system (do not have locally) ,I've experienced multiple reload attempts, failed communication networks, etc. And as others have stated, it normally sets all your coding youve done back to baseline.
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      07-17-2018, 12:00 AM   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Orion4 View Post
In the vast majority of the cases, a software update is not worth the pain for either you or the service department, unless you have a fault that requires the update. The updates done to my E90 335i and F30 335i have provided very little upgrade that is noticeable other than addressing the faults diagnosed. Dealers typically allot a full day for the car. May take as little as 4 hrs, but often more. Since dealer has to log in and communicate BMW's system (do not have locally) ,I've experienced multiple reload attempts, failed communication networks, etc. And as others have stated, it normally sets all your coding youve done back to baseline.
Dealers charge 2 hours as a rule for Updates.
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      07-17-2018, 09:57 AM   #13
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Agree, but in my cases, they alloted a full day for the update to be completed just in case they had issues- and they did.
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      07-17-2018, 10:03 AM   #14
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I had my software updated as a result of a transmission bug my dealer was looking into. Before the update I wasn't getting information in my dash (heated steering wheel notification on/off and some other data which I don't remember). I also noticed iDrive navigation was noticeably faster and my transmission was much smoother/linear.
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      07-17-2018, 02:59 PM   #15
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BEM-S4 View Post
Warranty has nothing to do with it. What matters is if you still have maintenance plan. Two entirely different things.
You speak the truth!
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      07-17-2018, 03:00 PM   #16
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Orion4 View Post
Agree, but in my cases, they alloted a full day for the update to be completed just in case they had issues- and they did.
I haven't had an update performed by BMW to date in at least 5 cars where an issue didn't come up. Kind of makes one wonder...
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      07-17-2018, 04:43 PM   #17
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Sea-Tac View Post
I haven't had an update performed by BMW to date in at least 5 cars where an issue didn't come up. Kind of makes one wonder...
And going back in time, one would never have an update.

But as cars are more and more computer controlled, the performance can be be refined and updated with new code...with no legitimate reason not to.
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      07-17-2018, 05:50 PM   #18
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Originally Posted by IK6SPEED View Post
And going back in time, one would never have an update.

But as cars are more and more computer controlled, the performance can be be refined and updated with new code...with no legitimate reason not to.
Exactly so.
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      07-17-2018, 06:10 PM   #19
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Quote:
Originally Posted by upsidedownfunnel View Post
Software updates are a huge pain in the a** for everyone involved. They take up a lot of shop time, they are inherently risky, oftentimes they might break something that the customer will come back to complain about endlessly. They should only be done if there is something to fix.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Why is it so hard to believe that the dealer would charge money for an update? It requires a service bay be used for a few hours while your car is updated. And for what? So the customer can see a higher software version on their iDrive screen?
It sounds like BMW did terrible job of programming the system. It is really unthinkable at an era of weekly updating system of phones and computers, the infortament system take so long and so much risk to just update once.
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      07-18-2018, 01:10 PM   #20
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Cyanfall View Post
It sounds like BMW did terrible job of programming the system. It is really unthinkable at an era of weekly updating system of phones and computers, the infortament system take so long and so much risk to just update once.
You can update the infotainment at home in 15 minutes with a USB flash drive. We're talking about updating the software on all the various ECUs in the car.
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      07-18-2018, 02:57 PM   #21
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Cyanfall View Post
It sounds like BMW did terrible job of programming the system. It is really unthinkable at an era of weekly updating system of phones and computers, the infortament system take so long and so much risk to just update once.
You clearly have paid no attention to how long (if ever) Samsung and others takes to update their Smartphone android software after new versions released by Google. And of course they only do it for a year or so.

And iPhone users from the Fall 2012 State of the Art iPhone 5 and 2013 5C have not been able to update for a year now...and never will again.

At least you can still update 2012 and prior BMW iStep.
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      07-18-2018, 04:03 PM   #22
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Quote:
Originally Posted by upsidedownfunnel View Post
You can update the infotainment at home in 15 minutes with a USB flash drive. We're talking about updating the software on all the various ECUs in the car.
I did not quite understood it was the ECU you were discussing. Thanks for clarification.
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