I took my car in early moring today to retrofit an Aux input to use with my iPod. dealer told me it should be ready by the end of the day.

Except, they called me near the end of the day to say, it is not as simple as fitting the Aux input as the car needs to be plugged into the computer overnight for a software update to enable the Aux input. I will ave to rebook the car in to fit the Aux input socket itself ( a 2 hours job).

Is this right

I am not paying for the honours as the dealer promissed to fit the Aux input as part of the deal.

Your thoughts on this guys !

 

I had to update the software when I retrofitted headlight washers and the dealer had the car a week trying to update it!!!, luckily they never charged for the update.

 

A week

My dealer (cooper wimbeldon) says it takes 8 hours, so they leave it overnight. I heard the same from my other dealer (Hexagon Highgate) when they had my previous 530d for a software upgrade (due to idive failure).

My question is not about the length of the software upgrdae, it is about the need for it? Why do I need an upgrade to add an Aux input

 

So you can select your audio source in IDrive.

Then you can ask why does it take 8 hours to do that?

ABC

 

When it comes to software upgrades for complex integrated systems like an E60 it would be impossible for BMW to hand over decisions to partners/dealerships all over the world. Upgrades must be done in an isolated transacted way that leave no room for mistakes. They cannot just upgrade a portion of the software by them selves...

In other words, when you upgrade your cars software the dealer just plug it into an "upgrade computer" that takes care of the whole process. If it is alot of different software that needs to be upgraded (compability between versions...) it takes time. The interface between the "upgrade computer" and the E60 is very slow...

 

when the dealer does retrofits, they have 2 options most of the time, either enable the accessory, which is not possible all the time espicaily if its new on the market, or update the car to enable the accessory and in the proccess get rid of other vechile problems... my dealler doesnt like to do updates, once i asked for one and they gave me the car telling me they did it even though they dont...
i think an update is always for the best, unless your car has no problems at all which i dont think so...
so one day shouldnt be so bad.. but if the dealer had the car form early morning they should have installed the Aux in (1 hour) and left the car to update (7-8 hours) and given you the car by the end of the day....

 

Not only is it slow, but it is prone to crashes. And when the E60 reprogram process is interrupted, it must be restarted from the beginning.

When I had my AUX installed, it took 2 days. This is because every single time my E60 software has been reprogrammed, it has been interrupted at least 2 times.... causing delays.

Just get used to it. I think BMW makes this happen intentionally in order to persuade people not to ask for updates. :thumbsdown:

 

We'll, I agree with the point being underlined here in that the process is overly long and prone to error which by now in the product (e60/e61) cycle you'd expect too be of a higher standard - the fact that it occurs in itself serves as a health warning to upgrading - the key to the problem here is that the CIP code appears, evidenced by comment on this forum and my own experiences, to be flawed with errors that it really should not be - I find it difficult to accept that the process is so badly put together in respect of an organisation that prides (and promotes) its enginering excellance - I would not allow such a flawed process in my company to persist.

On the subject of overnight upgrades - this makes sense to the dealer/agent, but not the customer though! Software maintenance is often performed overnight or during low usage times, this is normal practice. I suspect this is practised to keep the resource (programming equipment) free to do other "revenue" gathering work during the day, after all the process can be left unattended (not a good practice evidenced by subterFUSE's comment), and if the dealer can be doing something that 'encourages income' they will elect to do this when they can.

Also I detect from talking to a number of dealers in the UK and US that their are some dealers who are not comfortable with the technology, nor in the amount of investment required to keep pace with the newer systems of these cars, this may explain the reluctance of some to upgrade unless absolutley needed (last resort!) - my own dealer though does seem to take a more pragmatic view in that they will re-code during the day as well as overnight, I guess they make their decision based upon a number of factors, one hopes this includes considering the customer, me!

 

Dream on.

http://soe.stanford.edu/research/ate_aiken.html

ABC

 

Perhaps, however there's no harm in establishing high quality standards, it should be the key goal - recall here, there are many situations whereby the on-board software has momentary control of the car (more so it seems according to BMW as the EU emission regulataions bite to control the throttle operation), not the driver hence one must trust the software to 'get it right' - many of us are aware that there is not a software program written that has no flaws/bugs etc.

Look back to v23 - if we take this release of the CIP software there were within that errors that should not have been released e.g. the eybrow loss of function (poor regression testing?) Also, it appears that despite assurances to fix the CD/DVD running on bug this has not been completed, perhaps they will be within v24, lets be positive eh?. Relatively minor bugs maybe, but IMO these bugs as exampled here signify a lack quality assurance processes in the testing of releases.

I am a partner in a software company, we set and maintain high standards to service our markets so I'm well aware of the issues that surround authoring, issuing and maintanance of software and the challenges inherent to maintain high quality levels. (By the way IMO I do not consider the CIP program to be that complex in terms of what does, this in relation to what is created and operational in many situations around the world.)