Linking Profile to a Particular Key

[Svaba]

Hey folks. I’m so confused as to why I can’t seem to get this to work or maybe it just doesn’t work the way I want/expect it to work.

We have a new 4S. We have four drivers, all with their own profiles. We have two keys. My wife is the primary diver of the car and has one dedicated key. I would be driver #2 and our kids are 3 and 4.

Ideally, I wanted her key to recognize her upon entry and the second key to recognize me and my profile. When the kids drive, I would just assume they would manually change it to their respective driver profiles.

I am experiencing two problems:

1. The keys seem to randomly pick which profile they are connected to (meaning it changes at any given time);

2. The settings in a particular profile are not retained. For example…after I thought I had connected key #2 to my profile I went to the car, unlocked it and when I went it, it showed my profile but it moved my seat to my wife’s setting where my face was almost French kissing the windshield. Also, no matter how many times I turn off heated seats and steering wheel, they are always on with my profile.

Feels like user error, so I would appreciate any help.

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[violuma]

I have a really really stupid question.

Are you absolutely certain that there is only one key in "earshot" of the vehicle at all times?

 

[Svaba]

I have a really really stupid question.

Are you absolutely certain that there is only one key in "earshot" of the vehicle at all times?

I actually think this is a really good question and what I do when trying to "progam" the key is I leave one of the keys in one of those "boxes|" that doesn't allow for the transmission of the remote signal (like a farady pouch). We have a lot of car thefts in the area, so this is a must. I can confirm that it works becuase if I put the key in the box of either of my cars, I cannot open either door. Signal is completely blocked.

 

[violuma]

I guess the next fork in our troubleshooting tree might be to see if the problem lies between the key and the profile or between the profile and the ergonomic settings.

Leaving the kids out of the equation for the moment, when you look in the central console under Settings > Accounts, let's confirm that there are at least two registered accounts: one for wife and one for you.

Does the active registered account change when driver key A versus B is present? If so, then it seems that the driver keys have done all that they can do, and the problem must lie between the profile and the ergo settings. If the registered account does not change consistently, then we can't rule out key hardware yet.

 

[Svaba]

I guess the next fork in our troubleshooting tree might be to see if the problem lies between the key and the profile or between the profile and the ergonomic settings.

Leaving the kids out of the equation for the moment, when you look in the central console under Settings > Accounts, let's confirm that there are at least two registered accounts: one for wife and one for you.

Does the active registered account change when driver key A versus B is present? If so, then it seems that the driver keys have done all that they can do, and the problem must lie between the profile and the ergo settings. If the registered account does not change consistently, then we can't rule out key hardware yet.

This is where is gets tricky. It’s not consistent.

First…there are 4 registered accounts all in the PCM. One for each of us. My wife’s account was originally set up at the dealership and “connected” to her key. Her account is the primary account.

I have my own account in the PCM as do both of our kids.

In terms of the settings….sometimes they work exactly perfect and then for seemingly no reason, they stop working as I think they should work. My example earlier is a perfect example when I entered the car with my key and the car had properly loaded my profile, but didn’t change to my seat setting. The seat remained how my wife would sit.

I didn’t try this but I guarantee you if I switched to guest and then back to my account, it would have returned to my proper seat setting.

I also can’t explain why the car keeps reverting to heating the seats and steering wheel in my saved profile. I absolutely despise a heated seat and steering wheel and would never keep it on, yet it remains on every time I get in the car.

 

[violuma]

It’s not consistent.

The phenomena you're describing are still at the very end of the chain, though. I absolutely get that that's what's important to you, but I'm trying to do a "divide and conquer" strategy here, like I do with debugging computer programs.

So instead of observing whether the seats are heated or your face is smashed against the glass, can we try an experiment where we just look at what registered profile is active in the center console, and whether the presence of driver key A always activates profile A and driver key B always activates profile B?

This is why I wanted the kids left out of the equation for a bit, so that we can concentrate on determining whether the driver keys are correctly switching activated profiles as they should. If they aren't, then it's conceivable that there is a hardware problem somewhere. If the keys always trigger the profile shift, then (a) we can rule out hardware, and (b) we can keep the presence of the child accounts on the back burner as a possible complicating factor, but then we can forget about the keys and just concentrate on why the account profiles are not activating/deactivating the right vehicle settings (like the seat heater).

If the keys don't shift profiles consistently, then you can temporarily delete the accounts for the children, and present this as a very straightforward "two driver profiles, two keys, not working consistently" issue to the service department.

 

[ciaranob]

The phenomena you're describing are still at the very end of the chain, though. I absolutely get that that's what's important to you, but I'm trying to do a "divide and conquer" strategy here, like I do with debugging computer programs.

So instead of observing whether the seats are heated or your face is smashed against the glass, can we try an experiment where we just look at what registered profile is active in the center console, and whether the presence of driver key A always activates profile A and driver key B always activates profile B?

This is why I wanted the kids left out of the equation for a bit, so that we can concentrate on determining whether the driver keys are correctly switching activated profiles as they should. If they aren't, then it's conceivable that there is a hardware problem somewhere. If the keys always trigger the profile shift, then (a) we can rule out hardware, and (b) we can keep the presence of the child accounts on the back burner as a possible complicating factor, but then we can forget about the keys and just concentrate on why the account profiles are not activating/deactivating the right vehicle settings (like the seat heater).

If the keys don't shift profiles consistently, then you can temporarily delete the accounts for the children, and present this as a very straightforward "two driver profiles, two keys, not working consistently" issue to the service department.

Man, weird - I feel like I just read my own response - this is exactly the problem solving steps I would have suggested - apparently we're birds of a feather !!

 

[Svaba]

The phenomena you're describing are still at the very end of the chain, though. I absolutely get that that's what's important to you, but I'm trying to do a "divide and conquer" strategy here, like I do with debugging computer programs.

So instead of observing whether the seats are heated or your face is smashed against the glass, can we try an experiment where we just look at what registered profile is active in the center console, and whether the presence of driver key A always activates profile A and driver key B always activates profile B?

This is why I wanted the kids left out of the equation for a bit, so that we can concentrate on determining whether the driver keys are correctly switching activated profiles as they should. If they aren't, then it's conceivable that there is a hardware problem somewhere. If the keys always trigger the profile shift, then (a) we can rule out hardware, and (b) we can keep the presence of the child accounts on the back burner as a possible complicating factor, but then we can forget about the keys and just concentrate on why the account profiles are not activating/deactivating the right vehicle settings (like the seat heater).

If the keys don't shift profiles consistently, then you can temporarily delete the accounts for the children, and present this as a very straightforward "two driver profiles, two keys, not working consistently" issue to the service department.

I’m not sure I can answer this with 100% certainty when contemplating how it works just between my profile and my wife’s, let me explain…

So, right now as it is, if I go out to the car with my wife’s key it will initialize her profile (I believe consistently) and when I go out with the other key it will initiate my profile. I haven’t tried going between just the two of us for an extended period of time because inevitably the kids will take the car, put in their profiles and things get messed up.

The reason why it took me a while to respond is because I’m trying to isolate just my key/my profile and her key/her profile to see if it continues to work so I can give you an accurate response as between just our two accounts. I will let you know better in a few hours as I plan to go between the two accounts a few times with a few short drives and no kids involved to ensure each key gets the right profile every time.

 

[Svaba]

@violuma - I just went through this sequence and tell me if this helps...

1. Went to car with Key #2 and it recognized my profile in the PCM, no seat settings retained (I know you said you don't care about this now but just letting you know). Went for a short ride around the block. Came home, locked car put key in faraday box. Waited about a minute.

2. Went out with Key #1 and it recognized my wife's profile (Pimary Profile), with seat memory retained. Backed car out of the garage, put in park, put in D and back in the garage. Locked car and put key back in farady box.

3. After about 30 seconds, came out with Key #2, went into car, pressed brake and my profile came up, which is the correct profile. No seat settings retained. Left car, locked and put keys in box.

4. Did this a couple more times and each time Key #1 initiated my wife's profile (which is proper) and Key #2 initiated mine. With my wife's it retained her seat position and with mine it retained NO settings (of mine).

5. So, as I went between just the two keys and the two profiles, each time the key identified the proper profile to initialize. I went back and forth about 4 times and it got it right every time.

--------------------

Not sure if you care about this but....

After it working consistently, I was in the car with Key #2 and it initiated my profile. While in the car, I switched to my son's profile. It moved the seat exactly to his settings. I left the car, locked it and put the key in the box. Came out with my wife's key and the car initiated her profile and seat settings. Perfect... but...wait...

Left the car, locked the door, put her key away, came back with Key #2, sat in the car and it initiated my son's profile and seat position. When I switched to my profile, it did so and went to my proper seat settings.

So, not sure what you are looking for but I'm game to try anything. If there is a specific sequence you want me to try, I'll try it.

 

[violuma]

@violuma - I just went through this sequence and tell me if this helps...

Thank you for the very detailed report. I wish I had more users like you in real life.

Left the car, locked the door, put her key away, came back with Key #2, sat in the car and it initiated my son's profile and seat position. When I switched to my profile, it did so and went to my proper seat settings.

My current working theory is that this is the best you can hope for. There are 7 possible accounts and yet only two keys. The manual says "When the vehicle is turned off, the settings previously made are saved automatically to the selected account and linked to the driver's key used."

A literal reading of this would seem to suggest that each drivers key "remembers" whatever profile it was last used with. So if your son was the last to use key 2, then the next time key 2 is used, it goes back to the son's profile.

I suppose we could test this by entering with key 1, switching the profile in the console to your daughter (or whichever kid isn't the account key 2 was last hooked to), powering down the car, exiting, returning with key 2, seeing who comes up, changing nothing, powering down again, returning with key 1 and seeing if wife or daughter comes up. If the theory is right, key 1 should now be temporarily linked to daughter.

The only sustainable solution, of course, is to buy another Taycan so that everybody has their own dedicated key.

 

[Svaba]

That’s fine. At least I have an answer (and as much as I love the Taycan…I’m not getting another one - lol).

Do you have any thoughts of why it isn’t recalling my seat settings, even when it is just between my wife and I?

(As a totally unrelated side, I just got back from a BMW dealership- looking for my son - what a horrifically bad experience. Totally the opposite of my Porsche dealership experience).

 

[irrelevant]

Violuma is correct. The Taycan memory setting algorithm is likely the worst part of the car, from our experience...well that plus the Germans haven't figured out the car should lock itself after the fob leaves.

 

[cyiril4j]

We have only 2 named profiles with dedicated keys and our Taycan presets the right profile settings about 50% of the time at best. I did a lot of testing and it's definitely not as simple as the documented "last settings saved to linked key". If the logic is not random, it has been totally eluding us!
As for our dealers, when we've reported the issues, we've been getting mostly shrugs like they also have no idea how it works either.
If someone cracked that code, I would be all ears!

 

[Svaba]

We have only 2 named profiles with dedicated keys and our Taycan presets the right profile settings about 50% of the time at best. I did a lot of testing and it's definitely not as simple as the documented "last settings saved to linked key". If the logic is not random, it has been totally eluding us!
As for our dealers, when we've reported the issues, we've been getting mostly shrugs like they also have no idea how it works either.
If someone cracked that code, I would be all ears!

For me, this is one of the most useful aspects of a forum like this…realizing (or maybe hoping), you are not the only one. I think most of my unanswered questions about the tech in the Taycan are mostly answered now. It remains such an amazing car to drive but sadly, the tech is lagging way behind everything else.

 

[Trogdors_Peasant]

I'll have to go back and try and get this working again in ours. I did the whole "keep one key 50' away" and switch back and forth until it was properly picking up the profile and setting the seat location to the correct key.

That lasted about 5 days and now it still goes to the correct profile, but doesn't set the seat location. I did the process again, again it lasted 4-5 days. I finally gave up and moved my seat setting down to the #3 button so I could easily find it in the dark. (odd that they don't backlight those so they're easier to find on a dark night) I can't physically get into the car when the seat is in my wife's position.

Seeing this thread has inspired me to go try and get it sorted out again. My theory is that when we're both in the car with both our keys on the weekend when we're running errands it gets confused.

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