Function on Demand Fail

[sb89]

TL;DR —> FoD is a disappointment, I’m stuck in limbo, and Porsche support is failing me. The Germans are now on the case, thinking about giving up and scheduling a Dealer visit.

So I came from Tesla land where SW was the center of the experience, consolidated old 996 and Y Perf for a new to me Taycan CT. I’ve loved these since the Turismos were first announced and when I finally made the switch I was pretty excited about the Function On Demand store.

Why? Because all of the Audi Q8’s and Avant’s I’ve had while on business in Germany were just fantastic on the Autobahn with the most stress free, nearly hands free, and butthole relaxing high speed cruise control ever. The Tesla made me poop myself nearly every-time I was on the highway and we needed to stop quickly.

So 4.5 months of searching for a CT with the configuration I wanted (of course to include ACC and LKA), I was ecstatic to know that I could go into this App Store the week of delivery and “upgrade” to Innodrive.

First yellow flag was that Innodrive itself is an effing useless package. I can’t for the life of me figure out how they can sell that alone and why ALK isn’t simply included, but whatever so now I buy 3 Function on Demand packages at the same time.

- Porsche Connect Monthly
- Innodrive lifetime
- Automatic Lane Keep lifetime

15 minutes later, all three are contract complete and into the Activation in Progress status, I walk out to the car and accept the updates, get out and lock it. 15 minutes later updates complete and I’m ready to go test this baby out… and it blows, doesn’t work, I’m ping ponging, it’s not staying in lanes, it’s like a 2009 Range Rover adaptive cruise control control system with land keep… total death trap.

I jump into the forums and find that “maybe” I’m missing ALK, the $995 feature I had just bought… I walk back out to the car and sure enough it’s not there. I log into the Porsche Connect website, all other functions active (including ones that came with the car like PDLS+) but ALK is stuck “In Activation”… now it’s 9pm on a Saturday and support is closed.

So Monday morning, 9am I call support. Great news! I don’t need to visit a dealer, they can “escalate my issue and unstick the update”. Fantastic! Love the attempt at SW centricity.

3 days later, crickets, I call support back. “Oh great news Mr. B, just an hour ago the ticket was closed saying they’ve fixed it”, thanks Brad! Mind waiting on the phone while I walk back out to the car and verify your statement? Oh guess what Brad, that’s categorically false, there’s no new updates and ALK isn’t available… oh no I’m sorry Mr. B let me escalate, I’m going to send you an email, can you send me a photo back showing that you have LTE signal and that there are no updates? Sure…

So I send my pix, and 3 days later crickets, so I call back. Good news Mr. B, we’ve escalated your ticket to the Germans, they will root cause the problem and fix it in anywhere from 3-7 business days… So here we go into week 2, no ALK, no update, but they were happy to take my money…

Anyone else had an issue like this? Over under on if they’ll fix it before my car comes back from its Xpel Stealth 🥷 PPF install? Or if I should add the ALK SW side load to my alignment/sensor recap dealer appointment that’s going to be required after the wrap and windscreen replacement in 2 weeks.

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[kurand]

Yup, I’ve had exactly this issue with FoD ALK failing to install all be it in the UK. Both times required a service visit for the tech to plug in diag equipment to reset one of the comms modules.

 

[sb89]

Yup, I’ve had exactly this issue with FoD ALK failing to install all be it in the UK. Both times required a service visit for the tech to plug in diag equipment to reset one of the comms modules.

Good to know, I’ll go ahead and add that to list for when it goes to the dealer. No update from Germany today either

 

[Hirschaj]

I know this doesn't help your situation, but FOD worked flawlessly for me yesterday on my 2022 CT4. I ordered ALK via the website, got a confirmation email from Porsche, went to my car about 30-60 minutes later and got a ping on the PCM that FOD update was available. I turned off the car, locked it, went back 20 minutes later and the update had been applied. Got another ding on the PCM saying that activation was successful and then the ALK feature was available to toggle on/off in my dashboard.

My car has worked really well from a software and hardware perspective. I would be frustrated to have the poor experience that others have written about on this forum.

I hope Porsche gets you sorted quickly.

 

[sb89]

Update: they just sorted it out it seems. Will do a functional test but hopefully we are all set and no dealer visit is required! My dealer appointment isn’t until mid-September!

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