Carwings: server-connectivity issues are unacceptable.

Has anyone EVER achieved 100% - or even remotely close - access to vehicle information via Carwings when used?
Never mind ATT&T or equiv. drop rates.
Never mind scenarios where your car is in a metallic cave.
For all those cases where you, and your car (which is on, not in any funky sleep mode), are in a perfect signal zone ... Carwings connection rate for me is 15%, at best.

It is so bad, I consider this service, which is a major marketing bullet for the car, as not-delivered.

Given they did a software update to allegedly fix this issue, I am wondering what other people are seeing before I cry wolf.

Yes. Carwings works for me almost 100% of the time. Once in a blue moon, the server will be down but otherwise, no problems.

During the winter, I used the Iphone app almost every day to pre-warm the car.

I'm in Silicon Valley... and I can generally always access my car via app or web site for status, unless I am in a signal free zone. I also get all the CARWINGS reporting stats as well. Early 2011, with "telematics connection fix" installed from late last year. (The one that fixed having to pull the fuse to reset the telematics.)

I use it everyday and it works 80% of the time.
For me most failures are timeout while fetching the information from the car. The most anoying is when the login fails and the App "forgets" my user name and password, forcing me re-enter them. That's a stupid bug and after almost 2 years it should have been fixed a long time ago. What also gets me is the design flaw that forces us to login every hour despite having selected the "remember me" option.

I can nearly always (95% of the time) get charging status from the car when I request it, regardless of whether the car is in my garage or out and about.

OTOH, the car does a terrible job at reporting trip efficiency information for the database and I refuse to constantly login from the car to make it work again.

In 14 months, I have only had one connectivity problem with Carwings, and that was when AT&T had a major outage (pre-telematics update) and my car wouldn't reconnect until I pulled the fuse. Since the update was applied, I have had no problems at all. That said, I have no real compelling use for the system other than to preheat the car in the winter and occasionally check charging status over the web. I certainly don't see any reason to pay a monthly fee for it when they transition from a free service, unless the charge was quite nominal (perhaps $25/year is as much as it's worth to me).

TT

RegGuheert said:

OTOH, the car does a terrible job at reporting trip efficiency information for the database and I refuse to constantly login from the car to make it work again.

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I am assuming that you have latest software update.

EdmondLeaf said:

RegGuheert said:

OTOH, the car does a terrible job at reporting trip efficiency information for the database and I refuse to constantly login from the car to make it work again.

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I am assuming that you have latest software update.

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I'm pretty sure I have the one that was covered by the Service Order related to Carwings, but I do think I've seen later ones. I may complain to the dealer and see if they will do anything. They tend to tell me that the car has all its updates and there is nothing they can do.

RegGuheert said:

I'm pretty sure I have the one that was covered by the Service Order related to Carwings, but I do think I've seen later ones. I may complain to the dealer and see if they will do anything. They tend to tell me that the car has all its updates and there is nothing they can do.

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Thank you, that is why I will not go for update. I think problem with our cars is that Nissan server can't hold our registration, and there is nothing dealer can do about it. I am not asking for help anymore.

I am just annoyed at how long it takes to get into the app and to the point where I can request the climate control to come on.

Half the time I have to re login or it gives an error, or I get to the screen and "turn climate control on" is greyed out until I do an "update" and wait a minute for the charge status to refresh then I can finally turn it on.

By then I've usually paid the check and walked to the car.

RegGuheert said:

I'm pretty sure I have the one that was covered by the Service Order related to Carwings, but I do think I've seen later ones. I may complain to the dealer and see if they will do anything. They tend to tell me that the car has all its updates and there is nothing they can do.

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You need to have the telematics Boot Ware & Application at 147 or up, or your KwH reporting will be significantly off. The only way a dealer can update these (to 147) is via TB-11-041 ("no telematics communication fix") from last year. This CARWINGS reporting "bug" (and the fix) is pretty much undocumented. Check your version here: http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=5176" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; (If you are at 147 or up already, you have another issue that I have not experienced.)

Cheezmo said:

By then I've usually paid the check and walked to the car.

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Leave it plugged in with the AC running, one of the advantages of an electric.

grommet said:

You need to have the telematics Boot Ware & Application at 147 or up, or your KwH reporting will be significantly off. The only way a dealer can update these (to 147) is via TB-11-041 ("no telematics communication fix") from last year. This CARWINGS reporting "bug" (and the fix) is pretty much undocumented. Check your version here: http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=5176" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; (If you are at 147 or up already, you have another issue that I have not experienced.)

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Thanks for the details, grommet!

So my BootWare (NK1) and Application (NK2) firmware versions are only at 127, so I must still have the CarWings problem.

But how do I get my dealer to apply the fix? The reason I say this is that my vehicle does not meet any of the criteria for receiving TB-11-41a:

TB-11-41a said:

APPLIED VEHICLES: 2011 LEAF (ZE0)
APPLIED VINS: Vehicles built before JN1AZ0CP(*)BT005518
APPLIED DATES: Vehicles built before June 1, 2011

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My VIN is higher than that and the manufacturing date is later. The vehicle also does not display the "No Telematics Connection" symbol shown in TB-11-41a.

So therein lies the problem: My dealer is not authorized to perform the update on my LEAF and they have told me as much. So how do I manage to get them to fix this?

That's a tough one, RegGuheert. My LEAF was older, so I fit within the VIN range. You can try to have your dealer work with Nissan support, and see if they can get approval anyway. I can understand why a service department wouldn't want to do this for "free." (You are seeing actual lower than actual kWh usage via CARWINGS, right? I lost some of my notes: I know I tested 108 & lower as buggy, but not sure about 127 now.)

The problem is that this bug is mostly undocumented, as is the fix. I worked a long time with Nissan/CARWINGS support to hunt this thing down, comparing various revisions. The TB-11-41 update process was the easy fix, even if the LEAF didn't experience "telematics connection issue" that the update was intended to actually fix... since it just happened to include BootWare & Application updates.

The simple fact is that 147 or up fixes the bug, and the only way I was able to get that done was via TB-11-41. Nissan Sunnyvale, my local California service department, is aware of this bug and the unsupported fix... but I'm not sure what they'd do with a vehicle outside of the VIN range.

--Ron

Cheezmo said:

I am just annoyed at how long it takes to get into the app and to the point where I can request the climate control to come on.

Half the time I have to re login or it gives an error, or I get to the screen and "turn climate control on" is greyed out until I do an "update" and wait a minute for the charge status to refresh then I can finally turn it on.

By then I've usually paid the check and walked to the car.

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It's annoying. I execute an update no matter how long it has been since I used it. This action will prompt for login right away if it is needed. Once the update command is sent, I hit the climate control. It is more bearable that way.

My is 147 (just checked to make sure) and if I want to get driving history I have to re-sign everyday so looks like this will not work for me, and still no reason to go and get update

Thanks again for all the details, grommet! I've been wondering what, if anything, to do about this for a while now.

EdmondLeaf said:

My is 147 (just checked to make sure) and if I want to get driving history I have to re-sign everyday so looks like this will not work for me, and still no reason to go and get update

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Then it sounds like it would not help me either.

I guess I'll sit tight and hope that some other technical bulletin will allow me to get everything updated.

If you have an issue where stats aren't uploading to CARWINGS regularly, you might try setting the CARWINGS "information feed" download interval to "Power On" instead of "Never". This setting looks like it's for downloading info feeds to your LEAF, but for some it seems to have helped statistic uploads as well.

grommet said:

If you have an issue where stats aren't uploading to CARWINGS regularly, you might try setting the CARWINGS "information feed" download interval to "Power On" instead of "Never". This setting looks like it's for downloading info feeds to your LEAF, but for some it seems to have helped statistic uploads as well.

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Thanks! I will try that! I don't look at the CarWings data often, but only because it's usually not there!

ETA: Done. While I was in there, I signed into CarWings again. Doing that reminded me that it *always* fails to sign in on the first attempt, but succeeds on the second try. Certainly it is very flakey!

This what I got from Nissan CS on Feb 16

Good Morning, I am including some setting that I would like you to check from your vehicle.
From the Navigation unit:

Download frequency:
Menu > CarWings > CarWings Settings > Info Feed Settings > Download Automatically > Select Download Interval > Power On

Service reminders:
Menu > Carwings > Carwings settings > Service reminders > Make sure this is on.

Information sharing with Nissan:
Menu > Carwings > Carwings settings > Information sharing with Nissan. Make sure this is on.

After you have checked these settings, please allow 24 – 48 hours for information to update on your Carwings account. If after this time frame you do not have driving data, please give us a direct call @ 1-877-664-2738 for further assistance.

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