Map updates on built-in GPS - problems and costs

Soon after I bought my new outback in 2016 I noticed the maps were way out of date. I went through the menus to find the maps installed were dated early 2014. As Subaru push the benefits of having the latest maps I insisted the dealer update them free of charge. After much haggling he agreed and after updating I found they were still a year out of date. I wonder if this is widespread in the industry in order to scam large amounts of money out of customers who need to have current maps. For my next new car Iā€™ll be checking the installed map date before accepting delivery.

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There have been other posts reflecting your experience. FWIW we bought a new 2013 Renault in 2014 and everything was updated to a current 2014 map prior to delivery. Further updates? Not at their prices!

It is not obvious whether the importers or dealers deserve appropriate ā€˜recognitionā€™ but from the numbers of vehicles with portable GPS or fixed mobiles running GPS to supplement or replace the built-ins, consumers are voting with their $.

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Possibly to make money. Another convenience tax.

As @meltam outlined, one would be better buying a entry level android tablets with inbuilt GPS, and installing one of the free GPS apps.

As outlined above, we use Mapfactor GPS and have found it very good, and better coverage in remote areas than in car GPS mapping systems.

The disadvantage is the tablet isnā€™t built into the car meaning it needs to be held by someone or placed somewhere in the vehicle. Also one needs to remember to take the tablet when travelling.

The advantage is one can use the tablet for connecting to WIFI when travelling/in the home, storing ones own music collection (if additional storage is available) for playing in vehicle if one has bluetooth or AUX jack and other such use.

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The many stories here, seem to highlight the need for advocacy from Choice.

The fee is unreasonable by any measure. We have public enquiries into bank charges, because the fee isnā€™t related to the actual effort and cost involved. I think the fee Microsoft and the many other software companies charge for upgrades is unreasonable and many complain, and consumer groups have got onto that, with I suspect, an impact. The cost of supplying a new street guide, a printed book, is only 10% of the fees being quoted here, yet I am confident that the costs of upgrading softcopy mapping is minute in comparison with hardcopy!

This is a Global problem it needs a Global solution.

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My factory built-in one in my Camry was always telling me to go in the wrong direction. The dealer said I needed a new CD to update the system- cost? $350 for a CD, thanks but no thanks.

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I have Tomtom and Garmin products, portables and a built-in, and as a general statement the Tomtoms are a generation behind in the user interface, but most often superior in routing.

My Garmin has led me on local (ā€˜interestingā€™) tours of the city I would never have known about, and sometimes I think they have a royalty deal with the petrol companies.

That being written my Tomtom was routing me from Toronto CA to Kalamazoo MI and after we crossed the river into the USA it inexplicably directed to leave the Interstate highway and wanted to make a U-turn back over the bridge to Canada! I reckon that one would have been worth 50 Garmin ā€˜curiousā€™ routings on its own if I was clueless enough to follow it. But here in Melbourne the Tomtom wins every time.

Tomtom sells a model for about $300 (GO520) with ā€˜lifetimeā€™ world maps included. That enhances the irritation of the auto companies slugging $350 each for sometimes years old maps.

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From Services ā€“ TomTom Support.

* Lifetime means the useful life of the device, i.e. the period of time TomTom supports your device with updates, services, content or accessories. A device will have reached the end of its life when none of these are available any more.

Another words, when TomTom decide to cease supporting the device, the lifetime warranty ceases. TomTom control this irrespective of whether the device is still working/functional. A little deceptive.

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Which is why I wrote ā€˜lifetimeā€™ rather than lifetime :slight_smile: And noting @BrendanMays comments onward.

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An update for my Toyota Camryā€™s GPS was $350 I declined the offer saying I could by an add on for less.

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6 posts were split to a new topic: Automotive GPS Speed Accuracy vs Speedo

Co-incidentally this week an email came in from TomTom offering a free map update. Our TomTom device is 10 years old & rarely used as the maps are out of date.
I thought, OK, Iā€™ll do that. plugged it in & it downloaded maps & stuff, then showed an add offering $85/year for 4 updates per year. The downloaded maps didnā€™t appear to be new version at all - the version number I think unchanged. Seemed a dishonest offer in the first place.

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I had thought that Apple CarPlay & Android Auto allowed on screen play from your mobile, & hence your mobile nav system. Reading above, that doesnā€™t seem what happens.

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I would be surprised if the carā€™s computer system automaticzlly did a factory reset of the mapping system soom after warranty as this would be against the Auztralian "onsumer Law, that being the car GPS is nit fit for purpose.

I wonder what was done immedistelt prior to the mapping system being fsctory reset, such as a carā€™s battery being replaced or someone accidently doing a factory reset through menu options or by say pushing one button for too long.

Even though the car was pur of warranty if for example the car computer or the carbeing services caused the factoryreset of themaps, one could still argue that the maps should be reinstalled to that prior tothe factory reset.

The Australian Consumer Law allows for one to see compensation due to a defective product. If something outside the control of the consumer caused the factory reset (namely car computer or servicing), then one could request themaps be reinstalled.

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Not sure if this is the right forum to ask this question?
My car came out of warranty in November 2018 and since then the maps on my navigation system have reverted to an old version. I spoke to the dealership who advised it will cost me $150 for a diagnostic test to identify the problem as they hadnā€™t heard of this happening before. I was discussing the issue with a colleague who had the same issue, however,they have a totally different make of car. His thoughts are, theyā€™re set to reset themselves once the warranty expires.
Got me thinking, is this a known problem with new cars? And a way for the dealer to make easy money once a car is out of warranty?

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Apologies - the last two posts are out of order as they got relocated to this thread.

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Itā€™s not a factory reset as everything else is as is.
Because the same thing happened to a colleague was interested to hear if it hd happened to others.
My battery has not been changed and donā€™t believe settings were changed by myself. I rarely use the navigation system. I only became aware of a change because it gives me a voice command when I am over the speed limit and I wasnt getting them. When I looked at the navigation maps it was showing 60kph when the road was 50kph. It has definitely reverted to an old version.
Will be interested to see if itā€™s a common problem or there is something else going on with the car.

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Thanks for your response. I will definitely be asking some questions when I put the car in for the diagnostic test.

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I wouldnā€™t use such techniques to determine the currency of mapping data in a GPS. The reason being that there can often be errors in new data sets which are slowly corrected over time. It is possible that between two data updates, this error appeared rather than the GPS data being reset.

Most GPSs allow one to check the date of the data sets used for mapping. While I donā€™t have an inbuilt car GPS, I expect that it should be possible to determine the date of mapping data using the menus within the car GPS software.

If you donā€™t know how to do this (it might be in the car manual in relation to GPS use), if you give us your car model and year of manufacture, we might be able to find how to do this to assist you.

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Thanks, I will have a look at the car manual to see if I there is anything in there.
It is a 2015 Mazda CX3.

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It is highly unlikely that an older version has been installed in your sat nav, as in Mazda cars the map data is installed through the insertion of a SD carā€¦

The only way for the map data to change to say an olde version, would be for someone to change the SD card and replace it with mapping files containing a different version.

I also havenā€™t been able to find the manual online for a 2015 CX3 and the 2016 version doesnā€™t have any information about how to find out the map version.

The other way to find out the map version may be to place the SD card into a SD card reader and see what the file date is on the SD card. This will give an indication of the date of the file or the date the file was copied to the SD card.

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