I have a feeling that when upgrades to the software are done, it is independent of which key was used last or in the ignition during programming. Here is why I am thinking this....


I took both keys with my because of a problem I was having when I upgrading to 11.2. After the car was programmed with version 12.12 my tech and myself did a check to see if the problem was fixed with the keys and it was fixed. The weird thing is Key #1 does not has RDS but Key #2 does. I have had the upgrade for weeks now and Key#2 RDS works flawlessly!

Anyone else have any ideas about this situation?

 

Do you have navigation? Curious if RDS works with NAv as well. Currently I have NO RDS and have navigation...

Thanks.

 

Stu in Austin: I do not have nav.

 

This has been mentioned on other posts as well. I think the concensus is that RDS is currently not working at all on cars with Nav. I have Nav and no RDS on any of the radio modes. I got an E60 loaner from the dealer not long ago (without NAV) and it was picking up RDS.

 

Yes I noticed that too.
Used my spare key the other day during a long drive just to keep the battery charged up. Last used it before the Version 12 upgrade. Had to reprogram the radio stations in the memory and settings on I-drive for steering wheel button functions etc.

 

BMW530: so your spare key has or does not have RDS?

 

There are some weird issues with the two keys. I had the car switched to German language sometime ago, but that disabled the voice commands function, so eventually the dealer switched everything back to the US language version (German isn't even in the language selection menu anymore). However, I must have used different keys for these two visits (probably because they keep messing up my seat memory settings), and now the first key starts the car up in US English, but the second key starts it up set to German (with voice commands working!). No RDS with either key, though :-(

 

Well that is bizarre!!!

But this is exactly why I think that each key is independent.

 

The RDS issue on cars with Nav has nothing to do with keys. Apparently it's an issue with the CCC unit in Nav cars.

 

GotBMW,

RDS still works with my spare key. It was just that I had to reprogram the memorised radio stations when I first used my spare key. This seems strange to me as I thought the stored radio stations would be specific to the car memory rather than key memory. Then again it would make sense if both keys were used by different people allowing more personalising like for the memory seats etc.