Charged a fee for software updates? (MG4)

[Tuareg]

I can't see the UK Government ever allowing Chinese car manufactures to update over the air.

My Chinese phone updates OTA on a fairly regular basis and I live in the EU, no government has tried to stop such services.

 

[Spaniard]

OTA is a selling point precisely because it means you don't have to rely on greedy and/or incompetent engineers to get your car optimised with the manufacturer continuous improvement quality system (as it happened to me several times with ICE cars and ECU updates).

For me that was a pretty important point when I saw there were very few garages around (East Anglia) and I would not expect local good knowledge for a Chinese electric. I was damn right.

Deceiving advertising it is, as no small print was there (i.e. common language understanding of what offering OTA means for any product in the market). And I don't have neither time nor money to sue anybody which does not mean I am wrong.

At least I managed to ruin 6 sales at my workplace telling my problems, the OTA lie and the de-facto non-existant warranty aka "all cars are like that, sir".

 

[LenEV2016]

It must get into a grey area then with brands like Volvo and Polestar which are mainly built in China (EV's anyway) and have OTA updates and are ultimately owned by Geely ?

https://www.volvocarswaterloo.com/who-owns-volvo/

Volvo polestar use Google operating systems so its updates are without issue.

VAG use their own system but is now pretty much doing updates without issue

 

[haloweenhamster]

Mg4 uses android (Google OS)

 

[LenEV2016]

Mg4 uses android (Google OS)

It's not Google but it is a type of android system. Polestar Volvo and Renault all use a full Google designed car operating system, uses Google maps has play store etc for the cars system

 

[bicsb]

Yes, I had to pay a fee of about 42 EUR to upload the R46.
I originally complained about the faulty air conditioning and infotainment errors, but was told that my MG4 did not have a valid warranty and I had to pay for the service. Now I'm taking it up with the dealership...

My MG4Trophy LR was called in for its safety check and to install updates. When I tried to charge the car on my 7kw home charger it charged only about 5% - 8%. Returned the car to the dealership and they updated 9 more updates. The result, now it will not charge at all, tried the plug in charger, tried my 7kw charger, tried high power charger at my local petrol station, all to no avail.
I am not impressed with my dealership or with MG.
I am now in a hire car until they sort out the problem. Any thoughts? The car is 15 months old, 23 reg

 

[Rolfe]

Does it have a rear wiper?

 

[Lord Randall]

Here updates are free, or kind of free, being part of he regular services.

Or handled under warranty if something doesn't work properly.

Just got a frontal camera module update for free...

 

[FrancisM]

My MG4Trophy LR was called in for its safety check and to install updates. When I tried to charge the car on my 7kw home charger it charged only about 5% - 8%. Returned the car to the dealership and they updated 9 more updates. The result, now it will not charge at all, tried the plug in charger, tried my 7kw charger, tried high power charger at my local petrol station, all to no avail.
I am not impressed with my dealership or with MG.
I am now in a hire car until they sort out the problem. Any thoughts? The car is 15 months old, 23 reg

I'm in Waterlooville too. Just got my SE LR. I'm taking it in on Monday to hopefully sort the bulging undertray. I've yet to charge the car. Sounds like I should test it before Monday. I haven't asked for software update. If all the essentials work adequately I'd be inclined to leave it.

 

[phil99]

Here updates are free, or kind of free, being part of he regular services.

Not really true. They will be free if there is a software fault that can be claimed for under warranty or if MG choose to make it available.

If you just want later software because it's later, then there doesn't seem to be a precedent for this being free or even being available to you. Given the amount of dealer/technician time it seems to take to do updates it will not that surprising if they do charge.

I'm not saying it's right, but that does seem to be how it is.

So now the question is - mainly to people who have R59 - what is the next fault that can be used pretty much universally now that Bluetooth connectivity seems to have been fixed?

 

[siteguru]

I think some people still have BT issues with R59?

 

[tsedge]

R59 has CarPlay bugs: the icons flip to the wrong side of the screen, CarPlay fails if you connect the phone too soon, still get disconnects and you cannot tap the car icons above the CarPlay display, they don't work unless you switch back to the main screen - so fiddly to access AC without binding a star button to it.

 

[pmknowles]

I don't think this is right.

There's no right to free updates outside the safety-related mandatory one or two (eg lock in bug).

You will get updates free if it is part of a warranty claim for a problem.

But otherwise asking explicitly for an update will require you to pay dealer's charges as they can't reclaim the cost from MG.

MG don't require service campaign updates for most things, they require a customer to report a problem first.

I could be wrong but this is my understanding and my experience.

I think the Consumer Rights Act 2015 may disagree with you here. Manufacturers don't produce updates for the fun of it - they do it because of a bug or an issue. My MG4 will be going in shortly to try to resolve two issues - Bluetooth constantly needing to be re-paired and the near dangerous behaviour of the ELK. Both of these appeared after the last software update. A lot of the issues mentioned in this thread (such as 'cruise control has gone from essentially unusable') would be classed as rendering the vehicle not of 'satisfactory quality'.

 

[tsedge]

I think the Consumer Rights Act 2015 may disagree with you here. Manufacturers don't produce updates for the fun of it - they do it because of a bug or an issue. My MG4 will be going in shortly to try to resolve two issues - Bluetooth constantly needing to be re-paired and the near dangerous behaviour of the ELK. Both of these appeared after the last software update. A lot of the issues mentioned in this thread (such as 'cruise control has gone from essentially unusable') would be classed as rendering the vehicle not of 'satisfactory quality'.

I am simply reporting what most people experience.

You can quote the law at your dealer if you think it will help. Good luck.

 

[LenEV2016]

I think the Consumer Rights Act 2015 may disagree with you here. Manufacturers don't produce updates for the fun of it - they do it because of a bug or an issue. My MG4 will be going in shortly to try to resolve two issues - Bluetooth constantly needing to be re-paired and the near dangerous behaviour of the ELK. Both of these appeared after the last software update. A lot of the issues mentioned in this thread (such as 'cruise control has gone from essentially unusable') would be classed as rendering the vehicle not of 'satisfactory quality'.

As @tsedge said anything safety related should be included the newest infotainment version for the most part isn't, unless you complain about a variety of issues related to it, even then some people have been charged.
Unfortunately a downside of the lack of OTA updates. Even with ota updates you do not automatically get every single one, there are often date cut off's

 

[Lord Randall]

Not really true. They will be free if there is a software fault that can be claimed for under warranty or if MG choose to make it available.

If you just want later software because it's later, then there doesn't seem to be a precedent for this being free or even being available to you. Given the amount of dealer/technician time it seems to take to do updates it will not that surprising if they do charge.

I'm not saying it's right, but that does seem to be how it is.

So now the question is - mainly to people who have R59 - what is the next fault that can be used pretty much universally now that Bluetooth connectivity seems to have been fixed?

Well here in Italy dealers check and update software as part of the annual service.
So at least once each year you get a free update.
Uk dealers net looks like the wild west.

 

[Alpine]

Just had my 73 reg SE in for its first 15k service after having it for 9 months. Asked for an update to R33, told them Bluetooth drops out but it barely has and they did it at no charge, although the service cost £114 for what they said was basically a walk round ticking boxes as there isn't anything that needs changing like fluids etc.
The usual bulging tray is being sorted when they get the part in.
No dealer complaints so far ??

 

[Tight Git]

Just had my 73 reg SE in for its first 15k service after having it for 9 months. Asked for an update to R33, told them Bluetooth drops out but it barely has and they did it at no charge, although the service cost £114 for what they said was basically a walk round ticking boxes as there isn't anything that needs changing like fluids etc.
The usual bulging tray is being sorted when they get the part in.
No dealer complaints so far ??

Which dealer was that?

 

[Peter WA]

Here in Australia MG has something called "Precise Price Servicing". Basically a fixed price service that any MG dealer has to offer, I assume as part of their contact of being MG dealerships. https://mgmotor.com.au/owners/mg-service/

One of the items listed in the service schedule is:

• Check software version of electronic control units and upgrade to latest version if available.

When I take in my 2022 ZS EV for its first service in a few weeks that's exactly what I will request to make sure it actually happens.

Apparently they make it hard for third party workshops to get hold of the software updates, despite a legal obligation to make them available.

 

[Alpine]

Which dealer was that?

Just Citroen & MG in Harrogate