Voice Control and Speech - Issues and Questions

[cathaldinneen]

Just got off the phone from VWA Customer care as they had not returned my email I had sent to them last week or even indicated that they had received an email from me.

The agent I was talking to stated that the Voice Control was not standard on Australian MK7's. When I disclosed that the April 2013 sales catalog stated that it was Standard, the agent simply put this down as a 'misprint'. I also stated that it was Standard on MY14 Golf's and she that may be the case but the MY13 MK7 it was not standard coming from the factory.

I then asked about upgrading the software on the Discover Media unit on my Highline and she stated that it was an "accessory" option that could be done at your local dealer. She said it was up to your local dealer if they were willing to charge for it or not. As I did not purchase from a local dealer, I don't thinks it's likely they'll do it free of charge.

My 15k service will becoming up shortly so I might ask my local dealer kindly if he could apply this update kindly. Has anyone in the Brisbane area had an accommodating dealers apply this fix / "accessory" ?

[night_flight]

Ryan_R: I was already aware of your considerable prowess with VCDS. It would appear that your skills go much further than Mr Ross's diagnostic tools. One of the reasons why troglodytes like me come these forum is to talk to people like you!

Ryan_R is the king! I also with his help have activated and installed bluetooth & sat nav with voice control ...voice control is frustrating but can work sometimes well...for people who ask this is no siri but VW's voice control system...funny enough when pressing siri on iPhone the microphone or the quality of the feed in voice is so bad that siri has no idea what I want yet speakerphone siri works fine this is perhaps in relation to apple having more than 1 mic blocking out the background noise...in any case people voice control is ok but not worth paying extra...

[Wrinkles66]

Went to dealer yesterday to have the voice software installed and after a 2 hour wait for what was to be a 30 minute job, was told that they had a problem with the software authentication. Problem referred to VW Australia and not certain yet when it will be resolved. For those hoping to get this work completed as a warranty fix, you may be interested to know that the VW paperwork classifies the software upgrade as a 'repair'.

[jdbrown1953]

My 15k service will becoming up shortly so I might ask my local dealer kindly if he could apply this update kindly. Has anyone in the Brisbane area had an accommodating dealers apply this fix / "accessory" ?

I've tried two dealers in Brisbane and they both want $409 - $429 respectively for the "accessory". The difference in installation prices and knowledge of what has to be done is woeful. One dealer tried to claim that I would need to have trim removed and said that it would take over two hours, the other dealer quoted $60.

If I was paranoid I would think that this is a dealer conspiracy to charge as much as they can and hold as much information back so that VW owners are in the dark as to what effort is really required. The other option is that despite the VW logo and purported training the dealerships really don't know much about the car, god help us if there was a real problem.

[Ryan_R]

Well if anyone does get it done, do a before & after VCDS scan and hide a long-life video camera somewhere and we should be able to figure it out

[scobb]

Ryan_R is the king! I also with his help have activated and installed bluetooth & sat nav with voice control ...voice control is frustrating but can work sometimes well...for people who ask this is no siri but VW's voice control system...funny enough when pressing siri on iPhone the microphone or the quality of the feed in voice is so bad that siri has no idea what I want yet speakerphone siri works fine this is perhaps in relation to apple having more than 1 mic blocking out the background noise...in any case people voice control is ok but not worth paying extra...

I just checked my Oct 2013 MY14 Highline and voice activation is not enabled . Just the standard mute/un-mute when pressed.

So, the quote above suggests that Ryan_R has sussed out how to enable this without a visit to the dealer. Can anyone share the process? I have a genuine VCDS cable and am happy to guinea pig this if someone can give me some pointers.

[Ryan_R]

erm, I know how to do it on the Mk6. I don't own a Mk7

[scobb]

erm, I know how to do it on the Mk6. I don't own a Mk7

Aah...yes. good point .

Looks like I'll be making a visit to my dealers in Christchurch tomorrow to see what they have to say. I'll be interested to see if VW NZ are even aware of this upgrade.

[kennyc]

I asked that dealer yesterday when I drove one and he said voice activation was not a feature, then I mentioned that vw have a software CD to "upgrade" it. He then mentioned he heard of that but they don't have the CD yet. Lol

[DV52]

Well if anyone does get it done, do a before & after VCDS scan and hide a long-life video camera somewhere and we should be able to figure it out

Ryan_R: I reckon your suggestion for a long life video camera hidden surreptitiously in the vehicle somewhere is a great idea. However, the problem with the before/after VCDS scan is that Mr Ross's current software (ver 12.12.0) has some fundamental problems when it comes to scanning the "AU" chasis on which the MkVII is built. The big problem is that the controllers for the infortainment system and much of the electronics are currently not supported (and much of the other stuff is in German).
As you know, I've already had the voice control fix installed in my MkVII. and I've tried an "after" scan, without much success. I guess we will just have to wait for the next SW upgrade and hope that Mr Ross has turned his atention to better supporting the MkVII.