Let me start off by saying this: After you’ve used either system for any length of time, you’ll come to this conclusion. Android Auto and Apple CarPlay are Godsends as automakers don’t do a good of job at making good in car infotainment systems. This is backed up by a study by Nielsen and SBD Consultancy which found that the infotainment systems in new cars to be the biggest cause of customer complaints.
Here’s an example of what I mean. If I want to navigate to an address using the built in system provided by Hyundai (but I should note, most cars brands that I’ve reviewed aren’t much different), this is what I have to do:
Press the voice command button and wait for the system to say “Say a command”
I reply with “navigation”
I then wait for the system to ask for the state that I want to navigate to.
I reply with “Ontario” as provinces and states are the same thing to this system.
I then wait for the system to ask me for the address.
I reply with the address.
After all that I hope that the system got everything right. If it did, I have to issue a couple more voice commands confirming the address and to start navigation. If not, I’m starting all over. That’s very frustrating and is likely to take your attention away from driving. Which of course is not good.
By contrast, this is what you do with Siri which is part of Apple CarPlay:
“Siri, navigate me to 123 Main St. in Toronto.”
Or this is what you do in Google Now which is part of Android Auto:
“Navigate to 123 Main St. in Toronto.”
Both of those are far more natural and so much more civilized in my opinion.
On top of the voice commands, the user interfaces use smartphone like metaphors. That means users who are already familiar with their phones will have no trouble coming up to speed in terms of using their cars. I say that because I spend a lot of time and unfortunately make a lot of money showing people how to use the infotainment systems in their cars. I say unfortunately because if you need someone like me to show you how to use the infotainment system in your car, then there’s something fundamentally wrong with the universe. Android Auto and Apple CarPlay will change that for the better. As an example of this, I had a client who had a luxury car that had an infotainment system supplied by the manufacturer. I spent two or three hours trying to get her up to speed with limited success because she was never really comfortable with it and it was very confusing to her. She recently got a new car with Apple CarPlay and after one 10 minute tutorial (which by the way I didn’t charge her for) she was an expert at navigation, or reading and sending text messages, or playing music from her phone, or whatever else she needed to do. That’s because she’s been using an iPhone for years which makes learning and using Apple CarPlay a snap. If she were an Android user, I am certain that using Android Auto would be the same.
Now what’s really cool about both systems from a technical standpoint is that they basically project what is on your phone onto the infotainment system, rather than have the infotainment system drive everything. The advantage of that is that both Google and Apple can make changes in their respective OSes or apps that drive these systems without forcing you to update the software in your car. Plus because the phone is running things, navigation through the user interface of each system is fluid and what you would expect from a phone. It also likely means that you never have to pay your car manufacturer for an update ever again. Given that you also get up to date maps for the navigation parts of these systems via your phone (assuming that you spend the bucks on the data charges as maps are pulled via your cellular connection to your phone) which used to be a motivating factor to get updates to your infotainment system, I am sure that this is something that sends chills down the spines of car company execs as this will cut off a significant revenue stream for them.
One thing that I will not do in this article is to say which system is better. There’s simply no point in doing so as you really have no choice in terms of what you use depending on what phone you have. If you’re an iOS user, you’re using Apple CarPlay. If you’re using Android, you’re using Android Auto. It’s not like you can switch from one system to the other as you would have to switch phone OSes to do so which is far from a pain free process. And if you have neither phone OS (BlackBerry or Windows Phone for example), the discussion is moot unless you switch to iOS or Android.
Finally, while I am demonstrating Android Auto and Apple CarPlay in my 2016 Tucson, the experience that I will show you and discuss with you is going to be largely if not entirely the same regardless of what brand of car you have.
Apple CarPlay
From 1 Infinite Loop in The Valley comes CarPlay from Apple. It promises to be “a smarter, safer way to use your iPhone in the car.” All you have to do is plug in your iPhone (running iOS 7.1 or higher) into the USB port in your car (which by the way, disables any Bluetooth connection between the car and the phone that might have been present) and the infotainment system displays giant icons that you’re already familiar with such as Music, Maps, and Messages. This simple interface allows one to quickly become accustomed to CarPlay quickly and gives you easy to hit targets if you have to glance and then poke at them while driving. Now some of you out there will likely be asking why you have to plug your phone in via USB when the iOS operating system supports a function called wireless CarPlay. The answer is that not one car company supports wireless CarPlay at this time, and Apple might have something to do with that. According to Car and Driver, Volkswagen built a compatible car and planned to demo wireless CarPlay at CES earlier this year. But someone from 1 Infinite Loop phoned someone in Germany and the demo got deep sixed. Thus who knows when this functionality will appear. There’s only a small handful of apps that support CarPlay beyond the stock apps on your iPhone. Finding them is a bit of a challenge, but Apple has highlighted most of them on their CarPlay Page. But if you’re looking to use Facebook Messenger or WhatsApp in your car, you’re out of luck. You can control Apple CarPlay via voice, touch, or a knob on the infotainment system or steering wheel. Plus it knows when the car is in park or drive from a transmission perspective so that it can limit or give you access to certain functions.
Here’s a video demo of CarPlay in action:
Google Android Auto
From Mountain View California comes Android Auto from Google which they claim “was designed with safety in mind.” Once you install the Android Auto app on your Android smartphone and plug in your Android smartphone (running Android 5.0 AKA “Lollipop”) into the USB port of your car (though WiFi support is coming in Android 6…. Which is great if you have WiFi in your car), you get a user interface that includes larger touch targets, bigger text designed to be glanced at, a focus on voice commands. This interface is a bit of a departure from the Android interface on your phone, but users will have no problems adapting to it as it has cues like a status bar at the top of the screen and a navigation bar which are straight out of the Android OS. You can navigate via voice, touch, or the sort of controls that you find on steering wheels and on infotainment systems. Of note, Android Auto has access to some or all of the cars sensors which means that the potential exists to do a lot more with Android Auto. You can install third-party apps for Media and Messages, but that is all you are allowed to install. Not only that, app developers cannot even make their own UIs for those apps. They can only plug in to Google’s built-in Music or Message interface. So while you can interact with the apps that you want to, mostly, you will have to use a different user interface to do so.
Here’s a video demo of Android Auto in action:
If you’re in the market for a car today, I would strongly recommend looking for a car that has both Android Auto or Apple CarPlay as it will make using the infotainment system much easier as you. Based on the feedback that I get on this blog, manufacturers who are asleep at the switch on this front may have to get with the program as consumers really want this functionality in their cars. Both Apple and Google have lists of cars that come with either system.
Now if you already own a car, you might be able to upgrade to get this functionality as companies like Ford have made upgrades to Android Auto and Apple CarPlay available to millions of their owners for free. I’d contact your dealer to see if that’s possible with your car. Since I demoed this in a 2016 Hyundai Tucson, I should cover how to get Android Auto and Apple CarPlay in that vehicle as neither system is presently not available as a stock or optional feature from the factory in that vehicle or many other Hyundai vehicles. American Hyundai owners can go to My Hyundai and log into to download the Android Auto/Apple CarPlay update. There’s no charge and the update is user installable. In the case of Canadian Hyundai owners, Hyundai Canada as I’ve written on several occasions doesn’t have this update available at present, never mind for free, and it may never come. However, if you’re willing to pay $235 USD for it, MnSOFT which is the infotainment division of Hyundai will sell you the update on an SD card that is user installable.
One last note, the videos that are part of this article were filmed using the Sony Xperia X Performance smartphone. I will be reviewing this phone in a few weeks so please watch for that review.
UPDATE: I got a tip that version 10.5 of the update software that MnSOFT will bring Android Auto and Apple CarPlay to more Hyundai vehicles. I know that the Santa Fe is on the list and I am working to get a complete list of vehicles at this time. Version 10.5 is due to be released later this year.
Given that I’ve been writing about the fact that Canadian Hyundai owners didn’t get a free update to Android Auto and Apple CarPlay when our friends down south in the USA did, I was not expecting to get it in my 2016 Tucson anytime soon. But that changed after I had a conversation with Hyundai Canada about the situation as I was tipped off by a reader of the Hyundai Forums that they were offering the update for $235 USD on an SD Card with both Android Auto and Apple CarPlay.
Now that’s not inexpensive by any means. But here’s where I stand on this issue. As far as I can find, nobody was promised by Hyundai Canada (by that I mean their corporate offices and not your local dealer) that this update would be free for all. I also cannot find anything in the media materials or in the corporate marketing stuff that dealers get that this ever promised to be free or even possible. Thus it would be unreasonable for me to hold Hyundai Canada accountable for a promise that was likely never made by them. That also means that if I wanted this functionality, I need to pay for it. Now here’s the flip side of that argument. Hyundai USA, Ford and FCA are offering updates to millions of their customers that give them some or all of this functionality for free. Hyundai Canada from an optics perspective looks out of step here by not being able to do the same for whatever reason. From my conversation with them, they appear to want to deliver on this front on some level. I hope for their sake that they do so as based on the comments to my stories on this subject, not to mention e-mails on the subject that I have received, consumers really expect updates like these for free as a matter of course, and will make their vehicle purchasing decisions based on that.
In any case, back to how I got Android Auto and Apple CarPlay on my 2016 Tucson. Canadians can order it from MnSOFT’s Canadian web page. What comes in the package is an SD Card that you pop into your infotainment system. Then you follow these instructions [Warning: PDF] to install it. Be warned it takes 40 minutes and you have to leave your car running while it is updating or bad things will happen to your infotainment system. But once it is done, you will get two icons. One for Apple CarPlay:
One for Android Auto:
You’ll notice that they are greyed out. They only work when you plug a Android or iOS device into your infotainment system. Since I only had an iPhone 6 with me, I plugged it in and this is what I got:
The Apple CarPlay interface was available for use after I plugged in my phone and pushed the icon for it. I tested it briefly and Siri, Maps, Messages, Music and Phone and it all worked without an issue. Navigation through the user interface of Apple CarPlay was smooth and fluid with no stuttering that I could find. I plan on doing some in-depth testing of both Android Auto and Apple CarPlay in the coming days including doing video demos of both, so please stay tuned for that.
The bottom line is that Canadians who want Android Auto or Apple CarPlay on their Hyundai have an option via MnSOFT, assuming their car is compatible of course and they’re willing to pay. But while this might be good news for Canadians, it really does create a hell of an optics and PR mess for Hyundai Canada who have had problems bringing both to the Canadian market, never mind any talk of retrofitting cars that might be compatible. It will be interesting to see what happens on that front.
Posted in Products with tags Hyundai on June 21, 2016 by itnerd
So I sit here nine months into owning the 2016 Hyundai Tucson Limited and a couple of things have happened. First was the problems with the blind spot detection system which I documented here. Second was the windscreen. It doesn’t resist hits from stones very well as I have one very minor chip that was a non issue, and one other one that required repair from Speedy Auto Glass. In the process of repairing it, two very small cracks appeared. Now no glass repair is completely invisible, and there is always the chance that you will crack the windscreen slightly while the attempt to do the repair is being made. So this didn’t shock me. Besides, the reason why you repair the windscreen is to make sure that any damage to the windscreen doesn’t compromise it. Thus for now I will live with the result, but I may consider getting a new windscreen at some point when after market windscreens for the Tucson become available. One thing to note is that there are reports on the Hyundai Forums of the windscreen being on the fragile side. Thus this is something that I will monitor going forward.
Now some of you have asked me to provide the picture of groceries in the back of the Tucson. Here it is:
Now, why do I take pictures of groceries in almost every car that I review? We all go grocery shopping. Thus this gives a very easy and relatable way of seeing how much space a vehicle has. In the case of my wife and I, we don’t use plastic bags for the most part. So the green bins that we use are a static size that when you compare every review that I’ve ever done, you can compare how much space one car has relative to another.
Since winter is long since over, I also took the opportunity to detail the Tucson. After vacuuming the inside, I used Armor All wipes to clean surfaces like the dash and the doors. Then I used Armor All Outlast Leather Restorer on the seats and other leather surfaces. Followed by washing the floor mats and the liner for the cargo area with a high pressure hose. Glass was cleaned with Armor All glass wipes. Finally the exterior was washed with a high pressure hose and I used Armor All Extreme Tire Shine gel on the tires and I used Turtle Wax Ice spray wax on the exterior. All of this took about three hours, but here’s what it looked like on the outside:
I plan on having it professionally detailed later this summer, but doing what I did will help to keep the Tucson looking new.
From the “look at this cool feature” file comes this:
The glove box has a pen holder. This is a handy feature.
Fuel economy continues to be a strong point of the Tucson as we continue to average sub 10L / 100KM numbers which is exceptional. What’s even more exceptional is that if you drive a lot on the highway, you can get under 8L/100KM. Speaking of highway driving, my wife and I have some road trips planned. I’ll post about those experiences as the summer goes on. By the time September rolls around, the Tucson will be one year old and I’ll be wrapping this up with my thoughts after having the Tucson for a year. Stay tuned!
UPDATE: Another thing that I just discovered is if you are on a call with you mobile phone and you start the Tucson, the infotainment system will offer to transfer the call to handsfree when it connects to the phone via Bluetooth. Very cool!
Over the last little while I’ve be tracking a story regarding the lack of availability of Android Auto and Apple CarPlay in Canadian sold Hyundai vehicles. This is in stark contrast with Hyundai USA who has updates available for many of their vehicles to Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. During the process of following this story, I’ve been monitoring the Hyundai Forums which is a online community of Hyundai owners from around the world, as well as speaking to and trading e-mails with Canadian owners of Hyundai vehicles who have expressed to me frustration and disappointment at not being able to get Android Auto and Apple CarPlay in their vehicles. For example, I spoke to James McIntosh of Vancouver BC who is a proud owner of a three week old 2016 Hyundai Tucson which he loves. But he stated that he was “disappointed” in regards to not being able to get the update. On top of that, he also expressed the fact that Hyundai has sent messages that this update may not be possible because of differences in the hardware between Canadian and American vehicles. But at the same time, MnSOFT who provides updates for maps and the like in Hyundai vehicles has an update available today that brings Android Auto functionality to Canadian vehicles. That appears to contradict Hyundai’s public statements which didn’t go over well with him. Not only that, the price to get it from MnSOFT was $235 which didn’t leave a good taste in his mouth.
Now everything that Mr. McIntosh has said is consistent with other Canadian Hyundai owners that I have spoken to. The thing is, I only have one side of the story. I’ve written two additional articles on this topic, and all of them are missing an important piece to the story: Hyundai Canada. It would be very easy for me to bash Hyundai Canada, but one thing that I’ve learned in the almost 10 years that I’ve been writing this blog is that in situations like these where consumers are not happy about something a big corporate entity does, there’s almost always a reason or reasons behind it that consumers never see. It’s sometimes never communicated to those consumers in a way that puts the issue to rest, if it is communicated at all. And in the absence of information, you get this sort of situation. So, in attempt to bring Hyundai Canada’s side of the story to the table, I reached out to Hyundai Canada via their customer relations department and I got connected with Chad Heard who is their Senior Manager for Public Relations. Now before I get to what he said to me, I’d like to highlight something. I’ve been doing this blog for almost a decade. For me to get an interview arranged in less than 48 hours on a topic that might be sensitive to a large corporation is impressive, and shows me that Hyundai Canada isn’t trying to run from this issue.
Now, I spoke Mr. Heard at length and on top of that, Mr. Heard provided a statement which I have reprinted in full below:
Google and Apple are solely responsible for the development of the core Android Auto and CarPlay software, respectively. Hyundai engineers in the U.S. and Korea are providing full support to both companies to bring a version of the software systems to the Canadian market. While numerous announcements regarding these connectivity features have been made in the U.S., the roll-out in Canada is different. For example, only selected 2017 model year Hyundai vehicles are equipped with Android Auto in Canada and none have CarPlay. This is due to significant differences in hardware and software between Canadian and U.S. Hyundai vehicles that require additional programming and is also why there will be no retrofiting of existing customer vehicles as described in the U.S. Hyundai is committed to customer service and will continue monitoring developments with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay closely so it can provide customers the most up-to-date information available at the time of request. To that end, based on current data, the roll-out of Android Auto began with select new, 2017 model year vehicles — namely, Elantra, Santa Fe Sport, Santa Fe XL,and Sonata (excluding hybrid and plug-in hybrid). For Apple CarPlay, it’s not clear at this time when it will be available. Further, the company will not guarantee it will be in a position to offer either feature as a simple software update that customers can do themselves. Bringing both features into Canada and being 100% confident they will deliver a premium user experience is a priority for Hyundai Canada. The Canadian implementation group involved in this project remain in regular contact with the connectivity development team found around the world; their mutual goal is for customers to find both pieces of software throughout the Canadian new Hyundai vehicle line-up.
This is a very direct and robust answer that addresses this issue from all angles as far as I am concerned. I believe this will address any and all questions regarding this issue.
There’s some other notes that I’d like to pass along:
In this post that I pointed out that the Hyundai Canada website was advertising that Android Auto was in the 2016 Tucson. I have been informed by Mr. Heard that this has been corrected as this functionality is not on the 2016 Tucson. I checked the Hyundai Canada website entry for the Tucson under the interior section and I can confirm that the change has been made.
In this post, I wrote about the fact that MnSOFT has a version of their software that updates the infotainment system that is available today which gives one Android Auto functionality today and promises in a future version Apple CarPlay functionality. Mr. Heard admitted that this development “took us completely by surprise”. Now some of you reading that are likely wondering how is that possible given that Hyundai has charged MnSOFT to provide software updates to the infotainment systems in Hyundai vehicles. I would say that it is very possible as I’ve been around long enough to have seen numerous occasions where one company who is working with another company gets off script and ends up causing grief for someone. This appears to me to be one of those situations.
So, if I were to look at this as a whole, I think that a combination of Hyundai Canada trying do the right thing in terms of communicating the facts as they knew them in a situation that had constantly moving parts to it (which from seeing these situations unfold, I can safely say that sometimes things can go sideways when you’re in that situation), combined with some unfortunate events (namely MnSOFT) brought us to where we are today. Thus I really think that Hyundai Canada deserves a “free pass” on this situation and there’s likely some lessons learned for them that will help them to avoid this sort of situation in the future. Now, one thing that I have offered is to keep in touch with Hyundai and communicate any developments on this front. I do hope they take me up on this offer.
In closing, I’d like to thank both James McIntosh and Chad Heard for taking the time to speak to me and helping me to put together this story. Your assistance is much appreciated.
UPDATE: One final plot twist to this story. In this story I mentioned that MnSOFT had an update that brings Android Auto to the party. A user on the Hyundai Forums by the name of “Buenor2016” alerted me that this has now changed.
This update now does Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. In the interest of science, I have forked over some money to get this update. When I get it, I’ll document the install process and produce a pair of videos that show Android Auto and Apple CarPlay in action.
The saga of Hyundai Canada and their plans, or lack thereof to roll out Android Auto and Apple CarPlay took a bit of a twist this morning thanks to a post on the Hyundai Forums by user “jusungchai”. You see MnSOFT who is the company that puts out map updates for Hyundai and Kia in both the US and Canada posted information on their website noting among other things this:
They have a new version of the software that updates your infotainment system includes Android Auto. Not only that, it promises Apple CarPlay in a future update. All for $235. Here’s the problem. Actually several of them from an optics perspective:
In an age where companies such as Ford and FCA are offering updates to millions of their customers that give them some or all of this functionality for free, Hyundai really looks like the odd man out by making people pay for this.
Hyundai Canada continues to advertise Android Auto on the 2016 Tucson. Now consider the fact that this car was launched in the latter half of last year, and not advertising this feature. That’s maybe 7 or 8 months ago which isn’t a long time. Some people might say “Hey, why shouldn’t I get that functionality for free? After all, it’s the same model year and everything?” From where I stand, they kind of have a point.
American Hyundai customers are getting this functionality for free. Thus again, it really makes Hyundai Canada look like the odd man out by the way they are handling this.
This release by MnSOFT appears to contradict the “the fundamental differences in both hardware and required functionality (such as bilingual services)” statement that Hyundai Canada had mentioned when responding to their owners who asked them about this issue.
So, the net result in my mind is that this release by MnSOFT is going to take a situation that Hyundai Canada has not handed really well to date, and make it far worse than it needs to be. I truly think that given that most consumers not only make their car buying decisions based on the availability of Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, and on how up-gradable their systems are, it would be in the best interests Hyundai Canada to come out and speak to this so that the optics are clear and there is certainty around this issue. Because right now, there’s anything but and that’s not helping them when it comes to how they’re perceived by those who own their cars.
We are sorry in the inconvenience this has caused you. We understand this could be upsetting. The information we have been given is that due to the fundamental differences in both hardware and required functionality (such as bilingual services) between Canadian and US vehicles, there will be no retrofitting of the model year 2016 (or prior) Hyundai vehicles in Canada. At this time, the Android Auto feature is only available for 2017 Elantra (sedan only) and the 2017 Sonata (excluding hybrid and plug-in hybrid). Thank you for your understanding.”
Needless to say, this is not going over well with owners in Canada for two reasons. First is the fact that Hyundai Canada continues to advertise Android Auto on the 2016 Tucson which seems to fly in the face of what they have stated above. Second is that the fact that other Hyundai owners in other geographies are getting Android Auto and Apple CarPlay upgrades as I type this. Between these two items, it really makes Hyundai Canada look really, really bad.
My $0.02 worth on this: I think Hyundai Canada needs to do a better job of clearing the air on this issue. Yes, they have put out some talking points on this issue. And if you e-mail them, you get a response that seems to be consistent. But it doesn’t change the fact that many Canadians who bought their vehicles over the last little while feel like they’ve been the victim of a “bait and switch.” Given that companies such as Ford and FCA are offering updates to millions of their customers that give them some or all of this functionality, it may be wise for Hyundai Canada to either get onto that bandwagon as quickly as possible, or explain in a robust way why it isn’t going to happen and make owners of their vehicles feel better than some of them presently do. I say that because consumers expect their cars to be upgradeable from a software perspective just like their computers and phones are. And if they aren’t, it will alter the perception of the car company as well as the buying decision of the consumer. Hyundai Canada might want to really think about that as they plot out what their next move is going to be to make this issue go away.
Hyundai made the news late yesterday when MacRumors posted a story on the fact that updates that would bring Android Auto and Apple CarPlay to US owners of the following vehicles:
2016 Elantra GT
2015 and 2016 non-hybrid Sonata
2017 Santa Fe Sport
2017 Santa Fe
2015 and 2016 Genesis Sedan
2016 Tucson
Seeing as I own the latter vehicle, this caught my interest. But then my hopes and dreams were dashed thanks to to Hyundai Forums user “Jusungchai” who managed to get a copy of an internal memo from Hyundai Canada that implies that this update isn’t coming to Canadians anytime soon, if ever. The company basically said the following:
Unless you have a 2017 model year Hyundai vehicle, you’re not getting Android Auto. The company cites “fundamental differences” in the hardware required to drive the software.
No timeline exists for CarPlay in any Hyundai vehicle. But it is being worked on by both Apple and Hyundai and that includes support for both English and French.
There is no guarantee of Hyundai Canada being able to offer CarPlay as an upgrade option to your existing Hyundai.
Hyundai Canada blames the media for anyone thinking that CarPlay and Android Auto would be available in whole or in part.
This is on top of the fact that Android Auto and Apple CarPlay are available in other places beyond the US. For example, here’s a link to the availability of CarPlay in Australia with Android Auto support to follow. This makes me wonder about Hyundai Canada and their plans for Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. It really sounds like they haven’t got a plan and are simply trying to say “nope, you’re not getting it” and hope that stops Canadian Hyundai owners from asking to be treated like ones in the US. But that’s thus the conspiracy theorist in me coming out. I’m sure that there’s a much better explanation than the rather lame one that Hyundai Canada has provided. Might I suggest to them that they might want to come clean on it sooner rather than later.
Posted in Products with tags Hyundai on May 7, 2016 by itnerd
It’s been smooth sailing with the 2016 Hyundai Tucson my wife and I purchased last September. That was, until four Wednesdays ago. I got into the Tucson after leaving a client and after starting the vehicle I heard two quick dings and then I saw this:
BSD stands for Blind Spot Detection and the car thought it was malfunctioning. Since I keep the owners manual in the car, I flipped through it to find out what the troubleshooting steps were. There weren’t any as the advice was to take it to the dealer. Here’s where things got weird. The warning disappeared after a minute and the BSD system worked flawlessly. Still I made an appointment with Hyundai Of Oakville. That also gave me time to gather more data. Specifically:
This error popped up only after a cold start. If the car was warm, it would not happen.
While the error is displayed, the BSD system will not work.
When the error disappears, the system worked flawlessly.
It took a minute or so for the error to disappear.
It’s important that if you have an issue like this that you gather as much data as possible about when the issue happens and how to reproduce it. That way, your dealer can (hopefully) zero in on the cause in short order.
I went to the dealer and after waiting a couple of hours as they were missing technicians and they were overwhelmed with customers, they found a code in the vehicle’s computer for battery over-voltage. They cleared the code from the computer and drove the Tucson around for a bit to see if the code returned. It did not. Thus they declared the Tucson fixed. Too bad the BSD error returned on the next cold start which did not surprise me as all they did was clear a code from the computer. So after calling the dealer to express my displeasure in a very professional manner because they simply cleared the code and they didn’t actually troubleshoot the issue, the dealer booked me in for the following Wednesday.
Wednesday comes and I again go to the dealer. They found the same code as last time, but this time they checked over the wiring and here’s what they did according to the work order:
SCAN AND TEST – 13.8 MAIN 13.2 SUB ON START
INPUT BSD ECU HARNESS AND CHASSIS GROUND
APPLY DI ELECTRIC GREASE TO CONTACT
CUSTOMER TO MONITOR
I’ll translate. They tested the wiring and everywhere a cable related to the BSD system plugs into something, they added dielectric grease which is electrically insulating and does not break down when high voltage is applied. Dielectric grease is often applied to electrical connectors, particularly those containing rubber gaskets, as a means of lubricating and sealing rubber portions of the connector without arcing. So based on that, the theory must be that there’s a short someplace and this would hopefully fix it.
When the service advisor (which by the way was a different service advisor than I dealt with on the first service visit) gave me back the proximity key to the Tucson, he gave me his name and told said that he would not guarantee that the issue would not return. But if it did I was to call him and he would order a brand new BSD system. Once it arrived at the dealership, he’d book an appointment and have me come in to have it swapped out which would take about 2 hours.
Let me stop here and comment on this. The first service advisor that I dealt with basically blew me off by simply clearing a code. Now I know that for automotive techs, simply clearing a code and telling a customer to monitor things is a course of action that they can and often do take. But it doesn’t make a customer feel like their concerns are being taken seriously. Contrast that with the second service advisor who actually investigated the issue. Then he set clear expectations and communicated an action plan if this continued to be an issue. That made me feel like my concern was taken seriously. Thus kudos to Jay in Hyundai Of Oakville’s service department who took the time and effort to really look into my issue. Having said all of that, I was pretty sure that this was a hardware problem that was going to return. Sure enough, the problem returned 24 hours later. A call to the dealer and the parts were ordered. Too bad it took almost two weeks for the parts to arrive. That’s a major #fail as a car company the size of Hyundai should have a parts inventory that allows dealers to get parts quickly so that their customers can get their issues resolved in a timely manner. Hyundai has stepped up its game to make their cars ones that scare car companies in America, Japan, and Germany. But when it comes to parts availability, they seriously need do something about that if they want to be considered a top tier car manufacturer. In the meantime, the problem got worse in two noticeable ways:
It started to randomly generate the “Check BSD System” error message as I could be driving down the road and it would do display this error.
It also could take as long as 5 minutes for the error message to clear after it was generated. Or it could clear in a few seconds. There was no clear reason as to why it would do one or the other.
That did not inspire confidence. But in any case, after the part arrived at the dealer and I got an appointment, it was trip number three to the dealer. I spent two hours there and they installed the part and road tested the Tucson. Here’s what was written down on the work order:
MISC: C/S: blind spot detection keeps activating – spord part has arrived
GENERAL REPAIR
95821D3000 UNIT ASSY
Correction: replace right rear blind spot detection unit – as per pre drag 316
op code 95821-B300
6
So they were able to figure out that only the right side BSD unit was at fault. Interesting. As usual for these sorts of things, we’re going to drive this for 90 days to ensure that it is fixed. But as I type this, the error has not returned. One other note about this issue. A Google search of the Hyundai Forums found a few other mentions of this problem on a few Hyundai models with the fix being to replace the BSD hardware. Also, on a thread that I started on the Hyundai Forums, one other person has reported something that sounds similar with their 2016 Tucson. There’s also another thread, where another person has reported something that again sounds similar with their 2016 Tucson. Read into that what you will.
Now all isn’t bad with the Tucson. My wife and I took advantage of one of the key features this past weekend as the weather was (finally) nice in Canada. We decided to go to Pearson Airport in Toronto and park the Tucson on the landing path that planes were using that day. Once we arrived we opened the panoramic sunroof and reclined the seats to enjoy the show and this was our view:
It was pretty impressive actually as this sunroof is huge. Passengers who have seen it comment that they think it’s “cool”. Now, I’m not a sunroof guy and I was ambivalent about this particular feature when we got the Tucson. But now I am in the “cool” camp.
Finally, there are a bunch of little things that I’ve noticed or that I think are cool. They include:
If you reverse while you have the windshield wipers on, the rear wipers will come on to clear the rear window.
If you hold down the “Mode” button on the steering wheel that changes the mode of the infotainment system audio, it turns off the audio which saves you from having to reach across the dash to do it while driving and potentially taking your attention away from the road.
The Headrests not only adjust up and down but for and aft for better whiplash protection.
There’s a gas cap holder inside the flap that covers the fuel port to keep the gas cap from dangling and scratching the paint.
Even with the headlights on, the dash will automatically go to daytime brightness once the sensor detects sufficient ambient light.
The middle seatbelt in the back row can fit into a groove on the ceiling to prevent them from dangling about if you need it to be out of the way so that you can flip the rear seats down.
Clearly, someone put in some time and effort in to come up with some features that people will appreciate. Even if they are not in your face all of the time.
Now that spring is here, we plan to be out in the Tucson a lot more. For example, we’re using it to cart our bikes around to go riding outside of Toronto. I’ll post an update soon on how the Tucson works for us on things like that as well as road trips.
The Korean automaker first promised to add Apple CarPlay to eligible 2015 Hyundai Sonata sedans in April 2014, but it has now said it will make an announcement when properly equipped 2015 and 2016 Sonatas will receive the update.
The good news? They are looking to make the update free. That might have something to do with the fact that suggestions that customers had to pay for it likely didn’t go over well.
Having CarPlay or Android Auto in cars is a feature that sells cars. While Hyundai has started to roll the latter out, not having support for the former is asking for trouble. Now the fact that this is the second time that I have written about this topic usually means that this has legs in a bad way. Thus I would strongly suggest to Hyundai that they come up with a strategy with haste to get CarPlay into their cars as quickly as possible. Because the longer this goes on, the more likely something really bad will happen from a PR perspective.
As I type this, I am at Hyundai Of Oakville getting the oil changed on our six month old Tucson. My wife and I had no issues thus far, but we have had the chance to drive it in winter, and we’ve had the door handle (a.k.a.: “welcome lights”) fixed. You can get details on that here. There has been one thing that we could call an “annoyance.” My wife and I go cross country skiing every weekend during the winter and when we load the skis, there’s no handle, button, or latch to flip down the rear seats in the cargo area so that we can slide the skis in. Instead, you have to open the rear door, and use the handle that rear seat passengers use to recline the rear seats to flip the seats flat. It’s not a show stopper by any means. But Hyundai might have considered putting some sort of remote handle or switch in the cargo area to flip down the seats. Another thing that we miss is a tire pressure monitoring system. It isn’t required in Canada, and Hyundai has chosen to omit it from Canadian Tucsons. It is present on the American variant as that country requires tire pressure monitoring systems. That’s a shame. While one should check their tire pressures frequently, these sorts of systems give you an extra level of safety by warning you of a deflating tire so that you can stay safe while driving.
There are two things that we’ve noticed about the Tucson that are kind of interesting:
The blind spot monitoring system doesn’t just warn you if something is in your blind spot. It takes into account speed and relative distance. In other words, if you have a car in your blind spot that is approaching you, you’ll get a warning via the light in the mirror. If the car isn’t approaching you, you won’t get a warning. That’s good because it limits the amount of information about your blind spot to info that you need which makes the system more effective because you know that if it is warning you about something, you should take it seriously.
The cross traffic alerts not only warn you about traffic from the rear, but if there are no obstacles on either side of you, it will warn you about anything that approaches you from the front. Now there isn’t a use case for that, but it is kind of cool that the range of detection is that wide.
Fuel economy is a strong point of the Tucson. We continue to average sub 10L / 100KM numbers which is exceptional. It also means that we’re using less fuel than our Toyota Matrix which struggled to get to 10L / 100KM of fuel usage on a good day. That also means we’re spending less on fuel which is a good thing. Considering that this is a bigger vehicle with more power and torque, its a really good thing.
We also continue to be impressed by the handling. For the record, the best compact SUV from a handling perspective as far as I am concerned is the Mazda CX-5. The Hyundai Tucson doesn’t match it, but it is close enough that Mazda may want to look over its shoulder. It’s agile and easy to move in and out of tight spots at any speed. We have no complaints on this front.
One final thing: We get a lot of comments about how upscale and high tech the Tucson is. A couple of times, it’s been mistaken for something German. That shows how far Hyundai has come as a brand.
I’ll post another update in three months from now. By then, cycling season and the warm weather will be here. Not to mention road trip season. We’ll have more feedback about our experiences with the Tucson at that point. But as it stands, we continue to be very happy about our decision to purchase the Tucson.
Note: If you want to see the original review of the 2016 Hyundai Tucson, click here. I also posted a follow up of that review here. There was a three month follow up that you can also read here.
Android Auto & Apple CarPlay On My 2016 Hyundai Tucson Limited
Posted in Commentary with tags Apple, Google, Hyundai on July 1, 2016 by itnerdNow that I’ve updated my 2016 Hyundai Tucson Limited to support Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, I figured that I would give both a walk-through to give you an idea of what the big deal is about these car based infotainment systems.
Let me start off by saying this: After you’ve used either system for any length of time, you’ll come to this conclusion. Android Auto and Apple CarPlay are Godsends as automakers don’t do a good of job at making good in car infotainment systems. This is backed up by a study by Nielsen and SBD Consultancy which found that the infotainment systems in new cars to be the biggest cause of customer complaints.
Here’s an example of what I mean. If I want to navigate to an address using the built in system provided by Hyundai (but I should note, most cars brands that I’ve reviewed aren’t much different), this is what I have to do:
After all that I hope that the system got everything right. If it did, I have to issue a couple more voice commands confirming the address and to start navigation. If not, I’m starting all over. That’s very frustrating and is likely to take your attention away from driving. Which of course is not good.
By contrast, this is what you do with Siri which is part of Apple CarPlay:
“Siri, navigate me to 123 Main St. in Toronto.”
Or this is what you do in Google Now which is part of Android Auto:
“Navigate to 123 Main St. in Toronto.”
Both of those are far more natural and so much more civilized in my opinion.
On top of the voice commands, the user interfaces use smartphone like metaphors. That means users who are already familiar with their phones will have no trouble coming up to speed in terms of using their cars. I say that because I spend a lot of time and unfortunately make a lot of money showing people how to use the infotainment systems in their cars. I say unfortunately because if you need someone like me to show you how to use the infotainment system in your car, then there’s something fundamentally wrong with the universe. Android Auto and Apple CarPlay will change that for the better. As an example of this, I had a client who had a luxury car that had an infotainment system supplied by the manufacturer. I spent two or three hours trying to get her up to speed with limited success because she was never really comfortable with it and it was very confusing to her. She recently got a new car with Apple CarPlay and after one 10 minute tutorial (which by the way I didn’t charge her for) she was an expert at navigation, or reading and sending text messages, or playing music from her phone, or whatever else she needed to do. That’s because she’s been using an iPhone for years which makes learning and using Apple CarPlay a snap. If she were an Android user, I am certain that using Android Auto would be the same.
Now what’s really cool about both systems from a technical standpoint is that they basically project what is on your phone onto the infotainment system, rather than have the infotainment system drive everything. The advantage of that is that both Google and Apple can make changes in their respective OSes or apps that drive these systems without forcing you to update the software in your car. Plus because the phone is running things, navigation through the user interface of each system is fluid and what you would expect from a phone. It also likely means that you never have to pay your car manufacturer for an update ever again. Given that you also get up to date maps for the navigation parts of these systems via your phone (assuming that you spend the bucks on the data charges as maps are pulled via your cellular connection to your phone) which used to be a motivating factor to get updates to your infotainment system, I am sure that this is something that sends chills down the spines of car company execs as this will cut off a significant revenue stream for them.
One thing that I will not do in this article is to say which system is better. There’s simply no point in doing so as you really have no choice in terms of what you use depending on what phone you have. If you’re an iOS user, you’re using Apple CarPlay. If you’re using Android, you’re using Android Auto. It’s not like you can switch from one system to the other as you would have to switch phone OSes to do so which is far from a pain free process. And if you have neither phone OS (BlackBerry or Windows Phone for example), the discussion is moot unless you switch to iOS or Android.
Finally, while I am demonstrating Android Auto and Apple CarPlay in my 2016 Tucson, the experience that I will show you and discuss with you is going to be largely if not entirely the same regardless of what brand of car you have.
Apple CarPlay
From 1 Infinite Loop in The Valley comes CarPlay from Apple. It promises to be “a smarter, safer way to use your iPhone in the car.” All you have to do is plug in your iPhone (running iOS 7.1 or higher) into the USB port in your car (which by the way, disables any Bluetooth connection between the car and the phone that might have been present) and the infotainment system displays giant icons that you’re already familiar with such as Music, Maps, and Messages. This simple interface allows one to quickly become accustomed to CarPlay quickly and gives you easy to hit targets if you have to glance and then poke at them while driving. Now some of you out there will likely be asking why you have to plug your phone in via USB when the iOS operating system supports a function called wireless CarPlay. The answer is that not one car company supports wireless CarPlay at this time, and Apple might have something to do with that. According to Car and Driver, Volkswagen built a compatible car and planned to demo wireless CarPlay at CES earlier this year. But someone from 1 Infinite Loop phoned someone in Germany and the demo got deep sixed. Thus who knows when this functionality will appear. There’s only a small handful of apps that support CarPlay beyond the stock apps on your iPhone. Finding them is a bit of a challenge, but Apple has highlighted most of them on their CarPlay Page. But if you’re looking to use Facebook Messenger or WhatsApp in your car, you’re out of luck. You can control Apple CarPlay via voice, touch, or a knob on the infotainment system or steering wheel. Plus it knows when the car is in park or drive from a transmission perspective so that it can limit or give you access to certain functions.
Here’s a video demo of CarPlay in action:
Google Android Auto
From Mountain View California comes Android Auto from Google which they claim “was designed with safety in mind.” Once you install the Android Auto app on your Android smartphone and plug in your Android smartphone (running Android 5.0 AKA “Lollipop”) into the USB port of your car (though WiFi support is coming in Android 6…. Which is great if you have WiFi in your car), you get a user interface that includes larger touch targets, bigger text designed to be glanced at, a focus on voice commands. This interface is a bit of a departure from the Android interface on your phone, but users will have no problems adapting to it as it has cues like a status bar at the top of the screen and a navigation bar which are straight out of the Android OS. You can navigate via voice, touch, or the sort of controls that you find on steering wheels and on infotainment systems. Of note, Android Auto has access to some or all of the cars sensors which means that the potential exists to do a lot more with Android Auto. You can install third-party apps for Media and Messages, but that is all you are allowed to install. Not only that, app developers cannot even make their own UIs for those apps. They can only plug in to Google’s built-in Music or Message interface. So while you can interact with the apps that you want to, mostly, you will have to use a different user interface to do so.
Here’s a video demo of Android Auto in action:
If you’re in the market for a car today, I would strongly recommend looking for a car that has both Android Auto or Apple CarPlay as it will make using the infotainment system much easier as you. Based on the feedback that I get on this blog, manufacturers who are asleep at the switch on this front may have to get with the program as consumers really want this functionality in their cars. Both Apple and Google have lists of cars that come with either system.
Now if you already own a car, you might be able to upgrade to get this functionality as companies like Ford have made upgrades to Android Auto and Apple CarPlay available to millions of their owners for free. I’d contact your dealer to see if that’s possible with your car. Since I demoed this in a 2016 Hyundai Tucson, I should cover how to get Android Auto and Apple CarPlay in that vehicle as neither system is presently not available as a stock or optional feature from the factory in that vehicle or many other Hyundai vehicles. American Hyundai owners can go to My Hyundai and log into to download the Android Auto/Apple CarPlay update. There’s no charge and the update is user installable. In the case of Canadian Hyundai owners, Hyundai Canada as I’ve written on several occasions doesn’t have this update available at present, never mind for free, and it may never come. However, if you’re willing to pay $235 USD for it, MnSOFT which is the infotainment division of Hyundai will sell you the update on an SD card that is user installable.
One last note, the videos that are part of this article were filmed using the Sony Xperia X Performance smartphone. I will be reviewing this phone in a few weeks so please watch for that review.
UPDATE: I got a tip that version 10.5 of the update software that MnSOFT will bring Android Auto and Apple CarPlay to more Hyundai vehicles. I know that the Santa Fe is on the list and I am working to get a complete list of vehicles at this time. Version 10.5 is due to be released later this year.
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