The car is a 2016 model and the date shown on the label of the Continental VP2 312 7in EMEA DAB w/o Car Play is 16/08/2016.

I would have thought it would have worked being a face lift model! But from what you have said about MES and it being out of range it sounds like it’s not compatible

It could be a faulty head unit it could be that it’s not being read by the body computer

I’m just guessing from some of the experiences I’ve had but I’m more used to pre face lift models

Does anybody know if this is possible for a 2017 Fiat 500S? I have a UConnect 7Inch Display, however the car is just a smidge too old to have Android Auto & Apple Car Play.
I am wondering if it would be just as easy as a software update, or if there is another way?

Anyone figured out how to install/software update to include Apple Carplay. I have a 2017 Abarth with 7inch touch display and can’t work it out. Happy to pay anyone who had worked it out and can install. I live in London but happy to travel relatively close. Thanks

I shall be following this

Hi

Sorry to hijack this thread, but I am new to the forum and read with interest these updates.

I recently bought a 66 plate Fiat 500 S Twinair auto, which was advertised as having Sat Nav. It has the 7inch Uconnect head unit and had the 'Nav' button on the screen and would bring up the TomTom logo, but never load up. Fiat have updated the firmware and confirmed that the unit does not have the TomTom function and now the 'Nav' button has disappeared. All very annoying.

I wanted to ratify this so popped the unit out and they are correct. The naming convention on the back is below and there is no GPS lead:

CONTINENTAL Fiat VP2 312 7in EMEA DAB w/o CarPlay (Part Number 07356493130)

I am considering sourcing a second hand unit with Navigation (I don't need Carplay) and wondered how achievable the retrofit is? I like a challenge, but had some specific questions:

1). Do I need to run a new GPS arial and wiring loom to the roof
2). Does it matter if I buy the unit from Europe?
3). Can I then get the records updated at Fiat, so that when they update the firmware/ maps it will automatically recognise the car now has Nav?
4). Will the rest of the functions continue to work as normal?
5). Will Fiat be prepared to work on the unit after this retrofit and get it working from a software perspective?

Sorry for such a long message, I'm just wondering whether it is worth embarking on this journey. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Regards

Ben

Source a second hand unit with carplay and forget satnav,

You can then you carplay for satnav and this will have in essence every map update free for the rest of your life, where as a built in satnav you will have to update. Also as you update your phone and new software comes out carplay updates, your built in satnav won’t do this.

All carplay does is mirror information from your phone so it doesn’t matter how old the radio gets as long as the phone is up to date.

Hi Andy - thanks for the advice.

Funnily enough, I have found a 2018 head unit with Apple CarPlay for sale, which got me thinking along those lines. I am just a bit worried about all the references to software updates and proxies etc. It looks far from straightforward.

The CarPlay unit in question looks like it has a gps port at the back, so I guess I would need to install this too?

Many thanks

Ben

Just wondered if anyone has tried this yet, I have a 2016 facelift 500 with the 7 uconnect head unit and have been looking at installing a 2018 or above head unit with Apple car play.

Sounds like it won’t just be a case of plug and play!

You may have to change the roof aerial and/or install a third part GPS aerial to the window in the corner but apart from that as a unit is now self contained without a dreaded blue and me unit all that will possibly be needed is a proxy alignment.

When I get my next Abarth I’ll certainly be giving it a go and I’m confident it will work.

ive seen a few report of people upgrading none car play units to support car plays on the tipo via a custom proxi coding

but thats has the later VP2R unit rather then the older vp2 fitted to the 500 that being said it may be possible to do the same with the older units if people figure the right codes out


cant find the link atm but read it both on the Mes forums and in italian on the german tipo forums

typecastboy said:

You may have to change the roof aerial and/or install a third part GPS aerial to the window in the corner but apart from that as a unit is now self contained without a dreaded blue and me unit all that will possibly be needed is a proxy alignment.

When I get my next Abarth I’ll certainly be giving it a go and I’m confident it will work.

Click to expand...

Wouldn’t the GPS antenna only be needed for NAV... I only want CarPlay, not bothered about the SatNav? Also does the VIN need coding into the new head unit too? Not just a proxy realignment.

chris3234 said:

ive seen a few report of people upgrading none car play units to support car plays on the tipo via a custom proxi coding

but thats has the later VP2R unit rather then the older vp2 fitted to the 500 that being said it may be possible to do the same with the older units if people figure the right codes out


cant find the link atm but read it both on the MAT forums and in italian on the german tipo forums

Click to expand...

That’s interesting, so it might be possible to retro fit CarPlay support?

steven66 said:

That’s interesting, so it might be possible to retro fit CarPlay support?

Click to expand...

It is on the 7" vp2r units in the Tipo

Not see anything for any other units but it may be possible something similar will work

steven66 said:

Wouldn’t the GPS antenna only be needed for NAV... I only want CarPlay, not bothered about the SatNav? Also does the VIN need coding into the new head unit too? Not just a proxy realignment.

Click to expand...

Yes it would but fitting a cheap external GPS which would stick in the corner of the bottom of the windscreen unobtrusively would at least give you a fully functioning unit. I'm not sure about the VIN but if its anything like the old radios, it would just need the pin code. Never done this, so I'm guessing a bit but I think it would work.

typecastboy said:

Yes it would but fitting a cheap external GPS which would stick in the corner of the bottom of the windscreen unobtrusively would at least give you a fully functioning unit. I'm not sure about the VIN but if its anything like the old radios, it would just need the pin code. Never done this, so I'm guessing a bit but I think it would work.

Click to expand...

I'd imagine that uconnect live wouldn't work correctly as the unit would be coded to the vin of the old car
But everything else would probably work fine

You can contact Fiat customer services and they will swap accounts over. You can do that from car to car, whether they would do it from a stereo from a different car, maybe not but who actually uses uconnect live anyway?

fiat UK said they could to provide me an unlock code without the reg of the car the unit was removed from, the seller on email doesn't have this info and so I'm stuck. I will try the company the user mentioned on where but i dont think they are about the unlock using the usual code generators

hi bolipilot

how did you get on in the end? i had used lots of online code companies and all gave me a number but it didnt work. after looking of forums i was told that the 7 in screen units can only be unlocked via fiat as the code calculating software doent work for these units.

eager to find a solution

DG

topdrive said:

It is doable but there is a lot of fuzz around it.

Currently I am struggling with this problem but I do hope to get all the things in place rather sooner than later...

What needs to happen is:
1. install a version of uconnect hardware which provides support for CarPlay
2. install the GPS antenna (if not installed already)
3. write the cars VIN into the "new" uconnect (can be done only at the dealership)
4. reconfigure the proxi to get carplay and android auto

I am currently somewhere between 3 and 4. For some reason carplay does not work fully and I haven't written the VIN into the radio yet (I'm planning to visit the dealership tomorrow and talk to them about this).

Anyone else has gone through such adventures?

Click to expand...

topdrive said:

As for ecodrive I don't care much about the feature itself. My Fiat has the TFT display and currently the right side of it is a static picture doing nothing (ecoindex is always 0). Just the sense of wasting that part of the display is bugging me . I would prefer to make it do anything.. Even in SPORT mode id does not show the GAS% value (this means that 3rd CAN is not connected to the TFT cluster - most probably at least). ecodrive is something that the Uconnect can feed to the cluster with ease but in Abarth I think that the calculation of it is disabled. What makes the unit think it's an Abarth? It may be the part number, but it would be a bit too complex, as those can change quite rapidly. SCL and PCL seem to be a good logical choice to switch between Fiat and Abarth functionalities internally in the unit...

Anyone can help with AlfaOBD information from Uconnect7 from a Fiat 500?

It only is couple of clicks away to get it when the OBD is connected..
To get it:

Click to expand...

Thank you for sharing the steps that worked for you! How did you manage to write the VIN into the "new" head unit? It looks like DGinUK is stuck in this phase. I'm considering buying a used 2019 head unit as well, so curious how you overcame this obstacle.