[TheDrownedApe]

Car went in today to identify the fault with our automatic/intermittent wipers (they don't work, never have). I did some research and a common issue is the rain sensor on the windscreen and the fix is a new windscreen (or sensor). Much later, after moaning, i get the car back, not fixed, not identified as they were carrying out a diagnostic, software check.

Bit of a read - skip to the TL: DR if you CBA

I booked it in for them to identify the problem whilst i waited. I saw the car get taken in roughly 10 mins after i arrived, about 1210. At 1335 i asked what was the issue as this should be a simple diagnosis. They went into the back, came out about 5 mins later and said the wipers were working when it first came in! Great, let me have my car, show me outside and i will drive away happy. I asked him what they have been doing to my car for 90 mins if the wipers were working when they took it in. I get a bullcrap answer of running diagnostic/software checks. He looks briefly fearful , then goes back into the back to......

10 mins later he comes out and says they are now not working. What i ask?

They have never worked for me, when the technicians initially check it they are working, then you do frick all for 90 mins, i nudge you to hurry the frick up and now when the customer wants his car back they don't work? I can smell something.

I ask again what have you been doing to my car for 90 mins that i didn't ask for? His first answer is the car didn't go in straightaway as the technicians were on lunch. i call him on it as i saw it being driven in i get the same "whenever an ID comes in they have to check the software".

Anyway the car comes out with water over the windscreen, the dead bugs are still on it, confriming they haven't really used the wipers much and i need to book it in again for longer.

So 20 mins drive, 100 mins there and 20 mins back for nothing! they have wasted my time, i still have no auto wipers and i have not got a clue what they were doing for 90 mins.

TL: DR - Has anyone heard of or had this long diagnostic/software check done to their car when running 2.1?

 

[Jono63]

Car went in today to identify the fault with our automatic/intermittent wipers (they don't work, never have). I did some research and a common issue is the rain sensor on the windscreen and the fix is a new windscreen (or sensor). Much later, after moaning, i get the car back, not fixed, not identified as they were carrying out a diagnostic, software check.

Bit of a read - skip to the TL: DR if you CBA

I booked it in for them to identify the problem whilst i waited. I saw the car get taken in roughly 10 mins after i arrived, about 1210. At 1335 i asked what was the issue as this should be a simple diagnosis. They went into the back, came out about 5 mins later and said the wipers were working when it first came in! Great, let me have my car, show me outside and i will drive away happy. I asked him what they have been doing to my car for 90 mins if the wipers were working when they took it in. I get a bullcrap answer of running diagnostic/software checks. He looks briefly fearful , then goes back into the back to......

10 mins later he comes out and says they are now not working. What i ask?

They have never worked for me, when the technicians initially check it they are working, then you do frick all for 90 mins, i nudge you to hurry the frick up and now when the customer wants his car back they don't work? I can smell something.

I ask again what have you been doing to my car for 90 mins that i didn't ask for? His first answer is the car didn't go in straightaway as the technicians were on lunch. i call him on it as i saw it being driven in i get the same "whenever an ID comes in they have to check the software".

Anyway the car comes out with water over the windscreen, the dead bugs are still on it, confriming they haven't really used the wipers much and i need to book it in again for longer.

So 20 mins drive, 100 mins there and 20 mins back for nothing! they have wasted my time, i still have no auto wipers and i have not got a clue what they were doing for 90 mins.

TL: DR - Has anyone heard of or had this long diagnostic/software check done to their car when running 2.1?

You got off lightly, I took mine in for a “while you wait fix” - max 1hr. 6 hours later, I finally got it back with, the comment - the locks now work, but sometimes you have to wait a few seconds before they unlock. I politely asked why the delay, I was told they didn’t know and were escalating to Germany.

I went out to the car to discover they didn’t work at all. I dragged the salesman out showed him the nonworking locks and asked what he was going to do.

1 hr drive each way + 6 hours waiting - not particularly happy

 

[loggamatt]

So much stuff is software related that it is totally plausible that they will have to do something on the software side to get it working. Fixing problems with the ID.3 aren’t just about replacing physical parts like in the good old days, they’re about running software diagnosis and often sending it back to Germany for analysis.

My alarm system false activations ended up being both. They apparently replaced part of the horn for some reason, but also ‘refreshed some of the software’ whatever that means.

I don’t know how long their software diagnostics take to run or how long it takes to read whatever comes back from it. Maybe 90 minutes is par for the course, who knows.

 

[srichards]

With these new EVs it's always wise to have the loan car. You drive away and leave them to it. I'd never risk waiting these days.

I've never had a main dealer visit take less than 2 hours even for something minor.