A3 SatNav gets lost/loses satellites

[IanM]

Hi,

I have a 2014 A3 SE 2.0 TDI with the Audi Satnav.  Every so often, the satnav loses my position and, as you can imagine, colourful language and some chaos follows.  I now carry a "backup" TomTom.

The satnav will stay "lost" for a while, and only normally finds itself again after the vehicle has been parked overnight, or a after a few days.  I have done some extensive searching on various forums, and the concensus seems to be the the antenna needs replacing.  This makes sense, but 2 things suggest otherwise.

1). If the GPS antenna has failed, why does it appear to magically start working again after a "rest".

2). The satnav only seems to lose it's position when I'm actually using it to guide me.  If I'm driving around familiar places with the map displayed but no route guidance, it doesn't appear to get lost or lose the satellites.

I'm still testing point 2 at the moment, but if this is the case, this, to me, looks more like a software/firmware issue rather than hardware (i.e. a failing antenna).

Clearly, I'm going to have to take it to my local Audi dealer to get them to check it out.  Either that, or sack the Audi Nav and use the TomTom, which also came with FREE updates.

I'd be interested if anyone has seen similar.  I find point 2) above particularly intruiging.

 

Regards

Ian

[WPAWS]

i too have read about this issue and you are right its either antenna problem or software issue to do with the sys info see if Audi will check and if needed update software for free

[IanM]

Hi,

Okay, since I posted this I've been driving around places that I know and not using the route guidance but have had the map displayed on the pop-up screen so that I can keep an eye on it.  It has behaved perfectly.  Not once has it got lost or shown me to be elsewhere.

Until this Friday.  I used it to get to a place, which it did without any issue.  However when I returned to my car, and entered my home address, it lost the plot.  I wasn't far from home, but just wanted to see how it would behave, and it basically got lost.

Looks like I'll be ringing my local Audi dealer.  Fortunately, I took out an extended Audi warranty which will cover any work.  It's just a pain with all the to-ing and fro-ing.

Regards

Ian

[IanM]

Hi,

Another update.

I booked the car in to Stoke Audi and took the car to them this morning.  After a while, I was told that the satnav unit was checked and showed no errors.  Of course, today the damn thing is working after being useless for the previous 3 days.

I was informed by the service advisor that an updated "disk" will be the way to go (it's an SD card), as the map info on the SD card hasn't been updated since the car was new.

Best part of £300, and it's not covered by the warranty (which I understand).

Looks like I'll be persevering with my TomTom (free updates for life for a £70.00 sat nav) or my phone and google maps for the foreseeable.

 

Regards

Ian

[Steve Q]

Hi Ian, sorry to hear of your issue. I'm sure there have been reports of antenna failure which could be the issue.

Cheers

Steve