I took the car in for the power control unit software recall. That one prevents the power train from stopping for no reason. While there, the service manager announced that there was a new "campaign" to upgrade the radio software. After they did that, the radio, navigation, BT, backup camera completely stopped working. The center display is black. That was last Friday. As of today, 6 days later, they still don't have a solution for the problem. "Germany" has not gotten back to the dealer to tell them how to resolve it. This is frustrating because there was nothing wrong with any of those systems and I brought it in. You may want to ask your dealer if they've ever done this before on a B Class before you let them do it to yours.
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Radio software upgrade wipes out the whole system
- Thread starter Jeff
- Start date
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GGV
Active member
I see only one recall for b-class electric on http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov website
As posted on another topic, I went in for the recall and they also did a system upgrade. So not a second recall technically. Many members have had the upgrade done but I had not. It did seem to improve the lurching while slow braking. Thank goodness, my command system did not crap out. I would be pi*&(d too.
Lukeetal
Well-known member
What a bummer! My command system works better after the upgrade. The local dealer had never even heard of the B-class much less worked on it but all went well thankfully.
Wtz,
Yes, I go to them for all three cars. I was there 12.3, two days after the recall software fix was released. They knew what to do and also did the system upgrade without me asking. I have not reached the 14 month point so they have not done the annual battery maintenance. If you go, you can drop off, grab a coffee, juice and breakfast treats before they drive you to work. You have to make your way back later in the day. They will text you updates or questions if you want. If you want to schedule with my service agent, select or ask for Glenn Bourke. They will also charge your car gratis if you ask and cash wash is standard but you can ask to be sure. Inspection is $10.
Their hourly charge is a bit stiff so cheaper to get done in your dealer likely. As I had service thrown in as part of the Black Friday lease, I only paid $10 for Service A, recall and upgrade patches, inspection, and replacing the rear bumper plastic film (might have been included in the bumper and wheel protection).
Yes, I go to them for all three cars. I was there 12.3, two days after the recall software fix was released. They knew what to do and also did the system upgrade without me asking. I have not reached the 14 month point so they have not done the annual battery maintenance. If you go, you can drop off, grab a coffee, juice and breakfast treats before they drive you to work. You have to make your way back later in the day. They will text you updates or questions if you want. If you want to schedule with my service agent, select or ask for Glenn Bourke. They will also charge your car gratis if you ask and cash wash is standard but you can ask to be sure. Inspection is $10.
Their hourly charge is a bit stiff so cheaper to get done in your dealer likely. As I had service thrown in as part of the Black Friday lease, I only paid $10 for Service A, recall and upgrade patches, inspection, and replacing the rear bumper plastic film (might have been included in the bumper and wheel protection).
jphollywood
Member
I'm sitting at the dealer's waiting on both the "gateway" (as specified in the recall letter) and the "radio" recall. They surprised us on the radio one as we were not aware of it. We been waiting for it to completed for over 5 hours (the gateway upgrade only took an hour as advertised) The last I check, the radio upgrade has failed at least 3 times. We ask that they stop the upgrade but apparently that is not working either. Not sure how this is going to turn out.
jphollywood
Member
OK, an additional two hours later and it is done (total 7 hours). Everything seems OK, can't really see any difference. As mentioned above, I feel that the slow speed bump (little throttle hike at break time) seems better but I've only driven a couple of miles so far. We've never had the ignition turning itself off problem (2015 model w/3600 miles) so I'm not in a position to comment on the gateway software upgrade. As I've said before, my feeling is that it is related to the higher end models. My service, if you care, was done in Santa Monica.
It seems that every feature has an option enable code. I would guess the dealer had to re-enter them. One of our users said the air conditioning stopped working. Everything was fine after the dealer set the enable code.
If something as basic as the air conditioning has to be enabled you can bet all other options have to be enabled. It is likely the upgrade over-wrote the codes.
If something as basic as the air conditioning has to be enabled you can bet all other options have to be enabled. It is likely the upgrade over-wrote the codes.
padamson1
Well-known member
This sounds like an improperly performed reflash of the firmware. Typically one only overwrites program code, not data. My guess is they got frustrated and overwrote everything including the BootLoader which is not good. I am now very wary of how well these guys are trained or the tools that they have been given.GlennD said:It seems that every feature has an option enable code. I would guess the dealer had to re-enter them. One of our users said the air conditioning stopped working. Everything was fine after the dealer set the enable code.
If something as basic as the air conditioning has to be enabled you can bet all other options have to be enabled. It is likely the upgrade over-wrote the codes.
Well written firmware should be broken up into at least four sections: Bootloader, User data, Program code and last working version (backup) of program code. This requires more non-volatile (flash) memory, but its worth it when it comes to ensuring critical systems always function. User Data and Bootloader should never be overwritten. When upgrading, only the program code should be overwritten, that way if something goes wrong with a firmware upgrade, the Bootloader can be told to use the last working version instead. Only after the system runs correctly should the last working version be overwritten with the new version. The data area should be big enough to grow if new variables are added when new versions of software come out. If new stuff is added, it should be placed after the old stuff so that no existing (old) variables change.