My Google Car - arrgghhhh
 

I recently got a new phone; I went from an iphone 11 to an iphone 13. You'd think this wouldn't be a big issue for my V90, but....

I couldn't replace the handset, either in the app or via the car itself. I called my dealer and advised to reset the system back to factory settings. This resulted in my car losing all connectivity. I can still use the phone to make calls (but there's no voice dialing etc). I have no sat-nav or apps. Luckily I had just updated the system so at least I have Apple Car Play as an option via my handset.

Now, I completely get this is a 21st century problem, but I'd l like it to work. What really annoys me, however, is the time taken so far, with no solution in sight.

Initially, I booked it in at my local dealer, which is 40 miles away. However, there'd been a crash and I was running about half an hour late as a result. The dealer called me and said they wouldn't be able to help as their master technician (I assume the person whose advice caused this problem in the first place) had set time aside to look at this and wouldn't have any time later in the day. Ok - I didn't realise I was meant to be grateful! Anyway, that was two hours wasted.

I then booked it into another nearby dealer. They had the car for four hours and despite putting in calls to Volvo, are no closer to getting this sorted. Another owner was at the dealership with a similar problem.

So including travelling time, that's 8 hours I've wasted trying to get a fairly fundamental software fault sorted. If I took up 8 hours of Volvo's time it would cost me a fortune. I wonder how much they value my time?

Does anyone have any clues how to fix this?!

There won't be a fix until enough people have the problem, it's obviously something Google had to do that the media centre can't recognise in the comms structure with Apple,

You could ask Apple & Google for assistance on it as they're probably unaware there is an issue,

Not what you wanted to hear but tech moves so fast and also Google will want you to ditch the iPhone for a Pixel which many will do out of frustration just to get things working properly,

I'm assuming you have the later Google unit not a Sensus one? if so it's bug ridden atm anyway.

I'd quite happily go back to Android - no loyalty there at all, but I'm not sure it's related to that. The car itself has no connectivity. It can't connect to the "internet". It displays no maps and none of the apps work. They're not dependent on any handset? I assume it's the built-in sim which deals with those?

I don't think it does in later models anymore, I think connectivity aside from what Volvo assistance uses is now from the phone only (not sure about this so check) the unit's however are a bit on the beta side still so the functions you need probably aren't coded properly yet and will need updates that Volvo & Google obviously haven't refined yet.

I fear you're right. I didn't want a Google car...but it was delivered 6 months late so that's what I got. I should be grateful I got anything I suppose but I'd rather not be a beta-tester for them!

If you keep an eye out here it may solve your issues,


https://www.volvocars.com/uk/support...hybrid/2021w22

Connect the car to either your phone or home wifi and hit the system updates tile on the screen.

If you have no nav or apps, sounds like your data connection is off, have you got the Hotspot Data package ? if so have you signed back in since the factory reset.

Settings - Profiles- Internet T&C or complete profile set up if that's wiped.

If you have signed in, have you tried a TCAM and or centre screen reset ?

https://www.volvocars.com/ie/support...ctivity-issues

This will hopefully give you back full use of the car, and then you might be able to pair up the phone for Volvo on Call again.