Went to friendly dealer to get Euro Matrix lights option enabled... they couldn't get it to work :-(

[agurkas]

Really bummed out. I found a friendly tech willing to go into PIWIS and try to enable the Euro Matrix light option. He has done that for other Porsches. I was 1st Taycan owner asking for it. He tried to enable them, but PIWIS would not let him. Bummed.

I am really unhappy with the angle of the brights on this car. I hoped Euro spec would make the lights more useful on the curvy roads I drive by my house.
That $1K for programming + flight fee I have seen somewhere mentioned here, I think, is a bit ludicrous.

What are my options that possibly are more reasonable? Has anyone in the Northeast (US) gotten the euro spec to work?

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[W1NGE]

Really bummed out. I found a friendly tech willing to go into PIWIS and try to enable the Euro Matrix light option. He has done that for other Porsches. I was 1st Taycan owner asking for it. He tried to enable them, but PIWIS would not let him. Bummed.

I am really unhappy with the angle of the brights on this car. I hoped Euro spec would make the lights more useful on the curvy roads I drive by my house.
That $1K for programming + flight fee I have seen somewhere mentioned here, I think, is a bit ludicrous.

What are my options that possibly are more reasonable? Has anyone in the Northeast (US) gotten the euro spec to work?

There is more to it I fear than a fiddle with PIWIS.

There is an article on doing similar on a Polestar and it required hardware in addition to software. I expect the Taycan to be no different.

 

[whitex]

There is more to it I fear than a fiddle with PIWIS.

I know for a fact it can been done with just PIWIS 3. Of course it requires matrix headlights to be equipped on the car, but not sure whether ACC or other options are somehow also required for the hardware they bring with. It requires reprogramming of a bunch of ECUs, some more than once. Sorry, I don't know anyone who does this as a service, other than what I read on the internet, which sounds similar to the OP's experience (someone flies in, reprograms) but I have never personally used it.

 

[Vzx]

I actually had a zoom meeting with someone from 9xx a few months ago. He was upfront and said that Taycan needs PIWIS 4 which was not widely available. There are some unofficial bootlegged copies available but he didnt trust them to be reliable.

he told me he’d reach out once he has the official PIWIS 4

 

[SergeyIndy]

Keep this thread alive as a lot of us willing to get the Matrix enabled but I am sure the risks are high in potentially have your VIN blacklisted for service and updates as in the recent Polestar reports.
I think the more realistic outcome is that we will never get it enabled by Porsche officially since they have to certify a specific model year to enable them even if hardware is identical but now they moved to the new lights in the refresh, meaning that they will not submit and pay for the certification of the Gen 1 Matrix lights for us. The best outcome would be for someone to program them with say PIWIS 4 and fly under the radar with no impact when you bring it to the dealer for a routine software update.

 

[agurkas]

I know for a fact it can been done with just PIWIS 3. Of course it requires matrix headlights to be equipped on the car, but not sure whether ACC or other options are somehow also required for the hardware they bring with. It requires reprogramming of a bunch of ECUs, some more than once. Sorry, I don't know anyone who does this as a service, other than what I read on the internet, which sounds similar to the OP's experience (someone flies in, reprograms) but I have never personally used it.

I have the required Matrix lights and ACC

 

[agurkas]

Keep this thread alive as a lot of us willing to get the Matrix enabled but I am sure the risks are high in potentially have your VIN blacklisted for service and updates as in the recent Polestar reports.
I think the more realistic outcome is that we will never get it enabled by Porsche officially since they have to certify a specific model year to enable them even if hardware is identical but now they moved to the new lights in the refresh, meaning that they will not submit and pay for the certification of the Gen 1 Matrix lights for us. The best outcome would be for someone to program them with say PIWIS 4 and fly under the radar with no impact when you bring it to the dealer for a routine software update.

I know a bunch of folks in my local PCA who had a bunch of Euro stuff turned on for years. Not one ever complained about being blacklisted by PCNA.

 

[ciaranob]

Had this done on (similar) equivalent light system on my 2014 M4 and very noticeable difference but def no additional hardware needed I.e. exactly same as spec’d in EU.

Would be odd if we paid for this option in our US builds to then need more hardware to activate as around the time I purchased mine there was a motion/bill being discussed (ultimately passed I think but not yet active?) to allow these systems in the US and I’d have thought Porsche would possibly have considered this in respect a software only disabling until the rules changed - prob wishful thinking on my part !

 

[Vercingetorix]

I know on the Audi Q7 the headlights themselves need different firmware to be installed. Coding alone doesn’t work.

 

[ciaranob]

I know on the Audi Q7 the headlights themselves need different firmware to be installed. Coding alone doesn’t work.

Right but still a software fix, no new hardware needed.

 

[agurkas]

Porsche uses the same ECUs, etc., globally. The hardware is the same everywhere. This issue is more if they instituted regional locks in their hardware code. So say if one ECU for, say, motor management is running the NA region, other ECUs (for, say, ACC or Matrix lights) will not switch to Europe for the region since PIWIS sees the NA region set in other ECUs. At least, that is something my embedded software dev friends would tell me the way to write software for hardware.
Maybe dealer is having easy time doing that on 911s and Panameras cause ECUs there aren't region locked. Taycans are a heck of a lot more software-dependent, so I would assume region lock is more likely.

 

[ciaranob]

BTW - here is that article re allowing adaptive lights in US - was from Feb 2022! But not sure it covers every aspect of the Porsche light systems …

https://www.nhtsa.gov/press-releases/nhtsa-allow-adaptive-driving-beam-headlights-new-vehicles-improving-safety-drivers#:~:text=The%20U.S.%20Department%20of%20Transportation's,a%20half%20ahead%20of%20schedule.

 

[Vercingetorix]

Right but still a software fix, no new hardware needed.

Its not that simple for Audi apparently. You can borrow the VAS device which is required to install the firmware, or you can buy it. The issue is the dealer may flash the car back to stock when you visit and then you need the VAS hardware again. I’m guessing the Porsche is will be similar with the PIWIS 4. I’m guessing that both these systems require a subscription from Germany to operate and make changes. It certainly isn’t like the old days with my Vag Com cable.

 

[agurkas]

This is the direction automakers are going. They see the Right to Repair as an imminent issue globally. So they are moving to the world where you must subscribe to access and a lot of things are locked down with server-side encryption. On XC90, when I want to do maintenance or check something, I have to pay $70 for 3-day access. At least I have access to the same VIDA system the dealer does. And no, just like the dealer, I can't switch regions for individual components without going to Volvo, proving I am exporting it to Europe, and then they tie the car to the EU region, which would allow the whole car to switch to those settings. I know because my VIN (when I tried the 1st time) was attached to Europe, but my car came from a factory with North American region settings. I could not do updates because VIDA would say that VIN is from a different region than car settings and my billing address, and no update was possible.

 

[whitex]

I am sure the risks are high in potentially have your VIN blacklisted for service and updates

I would disagree on the risk being high, especially in the US where we have the Magnuson–Moss Warranty Act. I have modified my cars in the past, service never had any interest in blacklisting the car or anything hostile. Some were even helpful in not reverting the changes by accident when servicing.

Manufacturers have no interest in blacklisting cars, why piss off customers for no gain? Worst case scenario I've encountered is service having to revert changes (or asking me to remove any hardware I added) if I brought the car in for a problem and they thought it might be caused by my mods and/or the mods needed to be disabled for debugging (e.g. to eliminate them as a cause). Of course if your mod does cause damage, they can refuse to warranty that damaged part (not the whole car), so for example should I mess up my car by reprogramming ECUs, I fully expect to have to pay out of pocket for service to have to reprogram my car from scratch.

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