Hi, swapped our Sedici and have now bought a Cross Plus Multijet2, love the car, big improvement.... fuel stats from manufacturers laughable as always though.
Anyway seen lots of posts about uConnect and 6.5" Nav unit, however not much about the 5" unit.
Spoken to Fiat and they say my car was bought originally as a fleet car and uConnect Live was disabled.
Given that the 5" unit is unmodified and uConnect Live was standard has anyone had any joy with updating the firmware and reactivating the service on the 5" unit?
Also was DAB standard on the 2015 Cross Plus? My launch brochure says yes but can't see DAB on my head unit.

robotdancer said:

Hi, swapped our Sedici and have now bought a Cross Plus Multijet2, love the car, big improvement.... fuel stats from manufacturers laughable as always though.
Anyway seen lots of posts about uConnect and 6.5" Nav unit, however not much about the 5" unit.
Spoken to Fiat and they say my car was bought originally as a fleet car and uConnect Live was disabled.
Given that the 5" unit is unmodified and uConnect Live was standard has anyone had any joy with updating the firmware and reactivating the service on the 5" unit?
Also was DAB standard on the 2015 Cross Plus? My launch brochure says yes but can't see DAB on my head unit.

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Hi,

Mine is a June 2015 model and like yours has uConnect live disabled by virtue of age (pre Sept 2015) Fiat inform me that it CANNOTbe activated as it is missing the relevant microchip, not just a software fix.

I do have DAB radio, but mine is a 6.5" unit.

Incidentally I have seen 51mpg out my 2.0 Multijet Auto 4x4. How bad is that?

Had a chat to Fiat Italy today. Sounds like they may be changing their stance regarding live services and the 5" unit. Basically lots of questions about did I buy it from a Fiat dealer, is it inside warranty mileage etc. They stated that previously they have advised that an activation wasn't possible but it may now be possible.

robotdancer said:

Had a chat to Fiat Italy today. Sounds like they may be changing their stance regarding live services and the 5" unit. Basically lots of questions about did I buy it from a Fiat dealer, is it inside warranty mileage etc. They stated that previously they have advised that an activation wasn't possible but it may now be possible.

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Let us know how you get on, as recently as January they told me I was missing a microchip and I would NEVER get Live services. After a recent software upgrade I now get some, plus a delightful green thingy when I'm driving economically, but still no TomTom Live services which is what I really want

Alanw47 said:

Hi,

Mine is a June 2015 model and like yours has uConnect live disabled by virtue of age (pre Sept 2015) Fiat inform me that it CANNOTbe activated as it is missing the relevant microchip, not just a software fix.

I do have DAB radio, but mine is a 6.5" unit.

Incidentally I have seen 51mpg out my 2.0 Multijet Auto 4x4. How bad is that?

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I have the 6.5 unit , my car was a June 2015 and I have uConnect live! This doesn't make much sense

Skbar247 said:

I have the 6.5 unit , my car was a June 2015 and I have uConnect live! This doesn't make much sense

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I'm confused too. I only know what Fiat tell me. I have had such contradictory info from Fiat Customer Services, I don't believe they understand the system themselves

Alanw47 said:

I have had such contradictory info from Fiat Customer Services, I don't believe they understand the system themselves

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Nice to see that they are being consistent in their response to customers' enquiries.

So, call back from Fiat today, saying yes Uconnect live can now be restored to 2015 MY cars.

I received an email listing my chassis number and just asking me to log in to the app and connect with the car.

Done that and the system and Tom Tom went through about 10 mins of upgrades and downloads.

Result is that nearly all Uconnect services are working (streaming, Deezer, eco stuff, etc) so all good. The only bit not operating is Live Traffic in the Nav.

However I'm not sure whether that might be down to me being the second owner of the car and not having a Tom Tom account and I haven't fully personalized my Uconnect account yet either.

So initial impression is it's working, it's definitely allowed access to a bunch of features I couldn't get before and the 'Uconnect Live Services are not activated for this Car' message has gone.

I'll keep fiddling with the Nav, but a definite step forward.

So as suspected, because I am the second owner Tom Tom require me to register a new account and pay for updated mapping as their maps and services are not transferable.

Did that last night and yes I'm £49 lighter but after downloading the 2017 mapping and updating via USB all my Live updates are fully functioning including traffic, eco route etc.

So in short you definitely can re-activate your Uconnect Live apps and Mapping features on a 2015 ex Avis/Budget fleet 500x with a 5" Nav head unit.

robotdancer said:

So as suspected, because I am the second owner Tom Tom require me to register a new account and pay for updated mapping as their maps and services are not transferable.

Did that last night and yes I'm £49 lighter but after downloading the 2017 mapping and updating via USB all my Live updates are fully functioning including traffic, eco route etc.

So in short you definitely can re-activate your Uconnect Live apps and Mapping features on a 2015 ex Avis/Budget fleet 500x with a 5" Nav head unit.

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Thank you for that update. I am awaiting a reply from TomTom to tell me if I can do similar with the 6.5" unit. It's updated just about everything else except what's useful to me i.e. the TomTom Live services. They have appeared in the Nav Menu, but just say Not Authorised, so I'm waiting to hear if and how I can authorise them. Perfectly willing to pay the £49

That's exactly what happened to my 5" unit, so hopefully the same happens for yours.

robotdancer said:

That's exactly what happened to my 5" unit, so hopefully the same happens for yours.

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This is what I see when I check TomTom Live Services Status, means nothing to me,

Not sure, the screens on the 6.5" are completely different to the 5". On the 5 you simply get a notification saying 'Live Services Are Not Available' or 'Live Services Are Now Available'.

robotdancer said:

Not sure, the screens on the 6.5" are completely different to the 5". On the 5 you simply get a notification saying 'Live Services Are Not Available' or 'Live Services Are Now Available'.

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Thanks, hopefully TomTom will reply to me soon

robotdancer said:

So, call back from Fiat today, saying yes Uconnect live can now be restored to 2015 MY cars.

I received an email listing my chassis number and just asking me to log in to the app and connect with the car.

Done that and the system and Tom Tom went through about 10 mins of upgrades and downloads.

Result is that nearly all Uconnect services are working (streaming, Deezer, eco stuff, etc) so all good. The only bit not operating is Live Traffic in the Nav.

However I'm not sure whether that might be down to me being the second owner of the car and not having a Tom Tom account and I haven't fully personalized my Uconnect account yet either.

So initial impression is it's working, it's definitely allowed access to a bunch of features I couldn't get before and the 'Uconnect Live Services are not activated for this Car' message has gone.

I'll keep fiddling with the Nav, but a definite step forward.

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I've just bought a 2016 Pop Star for 500x with a uconnect unit. After buying it I discovered it was an ex rental and that uconnect services were disabled. After googling I have become resigned to the fact that I wouldn't be able to get them enabled. However it looks like you've achieved it - who did you speak to at Fiat? Do they need to enable something a their end to allow the services to connect?

Digrifglas said:

I've just bought a 2016 Pop Star for 500x with a uconnect unit. After buying it I discovered it was an ex rental and that uconnect services were disabled. After googling I have become resigned to the fact that I wouldn't be able to get them enabled. However it looks like you've achieved it - who did you speak to at Fiat? Do they need to enable something a their end to allow the services to connect?

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Hi Digrifglas, I'm a big fan of tweeting a complaint on Twitter and tagging the customer service team of the relevant company... works a treat! so in this case I tweeted about how I loved the car but was having issues with Uconnect and could they help?... and copied in @FiatCareUK on twitter.

I got a reply in minutes, they followed me and sent a direct message asking for details of the issue. They then followed this up with phone calls from Italy and some emails and about 48 hrs later everything was sorted. I have to say they were excellent.

I did explain that it was one of the ex-Avis/Budget rental fleet cars that had had the features disabled (I knew this as I'd done a bit of research) but thought that the business about a 'missing microchip' was nonsense... I spent over 10 years working for the UK arm of a German car manufacturer and knew that the cost of modifying production of a sealed, third party electronic item like the radio/nav head unit, meant this was massively unlikely and that I thought it was just a firmware issue.

They were keen to check that I had bought the car from a dealer (we did through Arnold Clark) and that it was still in warranty... not sure what would have happened if I hadn't and then emailed me to say that Uconnect on my car was now active and with some instructions on how to register.

Hope that helps.

robotdancer said:

They were keen to check that I had bought the car from a dealer (we did through Arnold Clark) and that it was still in warranty... not sure what would have happened if I hadn't and then emailed me to say that Uconnect on my car was now active and with some instructions on how to register.

Hope that helps.

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I have had a similar response from Fiat. In December they gave me the microchip nonsense, but after the recent firmware upgrade to 16 point something all kinds of things have suddenly appeared in the Satnav menu.

A phone call from Fiat yesterday informed me they were optimistic this could be resolved on my vehicle but were very keen to establish where I had bought my car as they had no record of it.

I am hopeful this will be resolved within the next few days, even though I will probably have to buy a TomTom subscription. Looking at the Settings Menu an active subscription is now all that is missing, but how to activate one on the 6.5" model?

Fingers crossed

Anybody else still suffering the same problem, get the latest firmware upgrade and then explore the Settings Menu for the Nav. TomTom Live should have appeared. Personally I don't give a monkey's about the rest of uConnect Live features, just the TomTom

I have to say that I'm appalled (if you're reading this) by Fiat's scatter gun approach to this subject. Normally a firmeare upgrade is only offered when the car is in for something else. Having upgraded the firmware to v 16 point something I would have expected to be offered a TomTom subscription at the same time, instead the new features were pointed out, the new maps etc but no mention of needing a subscription. Simply "you've got a uConnect App now, it might work". Or is it that Fiat simply don't understand uConnect themselves? My dealer spent nearly a month trying to get a resolution out of Fiat and just kept getting referred to websites that were not the answer.

Alanw47 said:

I have to say that I'm appalled (if you're reading this) by Fiat's scatter gun approach to this subject. Normally a firmeare upgrade is only offered when the car is in for something else. Having upgraded the firmware to v 16 point something I would have expected to be offered a TomTom subscription at the same time, instead the new features were pointed out, the new maps etc but no mention of needing a subscription. Simply "you've got a uConnect App now, it might work". Or is it that Fiat simply don't understand uConnect themselves? My dealer spent nearly a month trying to get a resolution out of Fiat and just kept getting referred to websites that were not the answer.

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Yes, they seem a bit vague on the one bit that most owners want i.e. the live mapping and map updates. But again with a bit of experience in the field (albeit for another manufacturer) I suspect that it all boils down to being the second owner and the licences on the cars for the mapping software being non-transferable... it's much cheaper than fully transferable licences and most manufacturers do the same... there's a heap of A8's smoking around with maps that are nearly 10 years out of date!

On a plus note, the Uconnect radio thing is a pretty nifty way to get DAB stations on a non-DAB head unit... I'm liking that.

robotdancer said:

Yes, they seem a bit vague on the one bit that most owners want i.e. the live mapping and map updates. But again with a bit of experience in the field (albeit for another manufacturer) I suspect that it all boils down to being the second owner and the licences on the cars for the mapping software being non-transferable... it's much cheaper than fully transferable licences and most manufacturers do the same... there's a heap of A8's smoking around with maps that are nearly 10 years out of date!

On a plus note, the Uconnect radio thing is a pretty nifty way to get DAB stations on a non-DAB head unit... I'm liking that.

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I don't actually have a problem with paying for map updates and Live Services etc because I use Nav regularly, my problem is that for the 6.5" unit particularly the method of paying and updating is vague to non-existent.