I just traded my 525 for a 545 (wow), but can't seem to figure out the voice control. Pressing either the voice button on the steering wheel or the one next to the idrive menu bottom does nothing. Is there something simple here I am missing?

Do you have nav? I believe the voice commands only work if you have nav. If you have bluetooth and no nav, they will work for phone only.

Yep, have nav.

I think voice control feature is separate from nav. I don't have it either even though I have the Nav and bluetooth features. The buttons are just there cosmetically, I think.

Indeed. Voice Control, (now known as Option 620), is an extra communication option, regardless of whether you have navigation or bluetooth. If you do not have Voice Control, the button on the steering wheel and the one by the iDrive, (pre-LCI), are non-functional. Also, if you have VC, when you press either of these buttons you should hear a tone and a message on the iDrive screen will appear. If you do not say anything, you will be prompted to.

Is this a module we need to buy? Or an option we need to turn on? I only have the button on the steering wheel but no voice command. Would love to have the feature though.

SA620 Voice control is a separate option, The CCC module has the voice input software loaded from the factory and the M-ask module has no voice input software at all.
The Telematics control module has voice input software loaded from the factory, not sure if the MULF or MULF2 modules have though.

Two versions exist:-

Professional navigation + Voice control = Voice control extended, you can control almost all functions with voice input.
Business navigation or no navigation + one of the many bluetooth options + voice control = Voice control for bluetooth calling and dialling only.

A point to note is that before 2005 SA620 was not part of the media package and had to be ordered separately.

Hope this clears up any questions.

So to sum this up, even though I have the voice button next to the menu button behind the idrive controller, I man not have voice control? Pressing either that button or the voice button on the steering wheel will not even allow me to use voice commands for the phone. The buttons just seem dead. I will check today to see if I have the second microphone. If so, I would assume that I indeed have voice control and it is not working.

Hi Blood,

Thanks for sharing your knowledge! Much appreciated!

I just got back from the Indy Shop last Friday and they told me I have to call the BMW Dealer to get buy the codes and have it installed. Does this sound legit??? And when I got upset, the owner ended up calliing his AutoLogic Help Desk and said he will get back to me next Tuesday to tell me if they can get it enabled via their AutoLogic Diagnostic Computer. How do I know if I have the 'professional nagivation" or not? I paid them $1,600 to for a new CCC replacement, IBS, battery negative cable and new battery. And after over 2 weeks, I still can't get my voice command to work and the Indy Shop owner still can't tell me when I will get my navigation disc back. I hate to jump into conclusions and make a jerk of myself without getting more info before I tell them how I really feel about the whole mess! Wished I had gone to the Dealer and got it done right in the first place!

Anyways, please share your wisdom again for my subject matter. I hope to get some good feedbacks from you soon because there are no worse feeling than feeling you are being played; and "acting" passively just to give them a chance to remedy the situation I over paid for.

Thank you in advance!

Daniel

I just checked my FA and I do indeed have $620. Not sure where to go next.