Hi all,
New V8V owner here. I've just bought a MY2016 V8V (it has the haptic dash from the Vanquish).

The infotainment screen constantly raises and lowers of its own accord when I'm driving. It used to be occasionally (once or twice every few journeys) but it is constant now.

It's like a child is pressing the on/off button all the time! Typically it will raise and show the Vantage screen then briefly show a menu and 2 seconds of audio from the radio then just close... and repeat that all the journey!

I've recently had to replace the battery but that's not even made any difference.

Anyone seen this before? Could it be a software problem or a faulty switch?

Thanks!

 

Try setting your fan speed to zero and see if that helps.

 

Smooth road and casually driving? Or rough roads aggressive driving? Lots of connections on that panel and experiencing it more often than at first I would definitely be checking out the back side.

 

Must admit I tried the fan!

The driving doesn't seem to make any difference tbh. Im now at the stage it does it when on the driveway in neutral!

I think I might have found out what it might be though...
it has the AMI II system and it got me thinking that perhaps someone has experienced it on their Vanquish.
Turns out they have and it's looking like a firmware problem. Some versions of the firmware were buggy as heck.
Unfortunately I can't get to the settings to check the firmware levels (APP and BASE versions) so I can't tell what version I'm on.
It should be a firmware refresh or version upgrade.

Apparently there is an upgrade route to get me to AMI III but it's quite pricey!!!

Thanks all!! I'll report back once I get it done.

B.

 

I'd spend the money to upgrade it.

 

If you have a 2016, you already have the AMI III version.... a completely different dash setup. I had a 2017 V12S - identical ski-slope and electronics. On my 2015 V12S and all previous Vantages, the NAV screen was not used much - only for reverse camera because the radio was a separate control - with your car, whenever you want to change anything, that nav screen pops up. While the ski slope looks nicer and haptic buttons were very cool, I always feared premature wear of the constant open/lose of the screen. Also that ski-slope as Morries Aston Martin discovered when they installed glass buttons was a whole lot more work because everything is attached to that panel to access the buttons (3X the labor), but they only charged me for the same time as a prior ski-slope button replacement. Below are pictures I took. So in short you have a 2016, so you have the latest not to say the firmware or software is not buggy. My 2017 was the latest version with standard Apple Car Play which was very nice even though it added more open/close cycles.

 

Can you set it to open at startup and stay open until the car is turned off?

 

Hope you find a resolution. That would drive me absolutely bonkers.

Some discussions on other forums about the good old days when there was a **** to turn, switch to throw or button to push. We just recently installed, basically touchscreen TV's, in all the classrooms in our school district. Most tickets that come in about issues turn out to be either the person placed sticky notes around the edge and they occasionally brush the screen or their loose sleeve brushes the screen when they're writing with the stylus. Was at a board meeting and the superintendent's suit sleeve kept doing that. Finally had to speak up and ask him to take his jacket off. Explained to him afterwards what the issue was.

 

All of this increasingly complicated electronic stuff is total ****. We will forever be chasing our tails tracking down problems. I refuse to buy a new vehicle because of the electronics. I just sold my gas sucking pig of a pickup today and refuse to replace it. I am over the moon I got a good price and am free of it.

 

I've used the nav screen 2 times in the 5 years I've owned my Aston. I have yet to understand why anyone spends $$ to upgrade the screen, reuse it for android auto, etc. when the location and design/looks when it is up is sooo awful. I have a video rear view mirror for my front and rear cameras and its instant hidden and looks OEM

 

amen i dumped my 2010 f150 about 6 yrs ago nothing but trouble with the electronics always something . I found a 1992 dodge cummins 3/4 ton pickup all mechanical and it has been flawless (except for the price of diesel thanks china joe !)

 

Would you mind sharing what mirror and camera setup you used? Also interested in this sort of solution for backup cameras.... thanks.

 

Out of interest , did you ever resolve this ? Mines just started doing it … as I embark on 5 weeks of touring around France of course !!!!!!

 

Aston Martin Infotainment Repeatedly Turning On & Off



Dear All,



Regarding the infotainment/reverse camera failure, I have some important news that I think will be beneficial:

But first a quick recap of the issue at hand: On a variety of AM models, starting around October last year, the central infotainment screen suddenly began repeatedly opening and closing of its own accord. This meant that the driver could not: listen to music/incoming calls; see important data on the outside temperature reading; or indeed reverse safely because the camera to do so did not work. Additionally, such abnormal use of the motors (if you have the B&O speakers as well) will surely lead to future repair costs.



Anyway, I contacted AstonMartin.

And can confirm that this issue finds its genesis in the proliferation of DAB channels (i.e. more than 20).



Where the problem lies is that AML are consciously attempting to defraud its long suffering customers by referring to the remedy of this problem as a firmware update.

That is totally misleading. The fact is that AML knowingly (or should have known) installed ransomware into their vehicles i.e. software code that is programed to explode at some defined time in the future – thus rendering the car un-driveable until a hostage release payment is made…

AM wrote the following to me:

“As previously advised, if you wish to have the software update carried out then please contact your preferred Aston Martin Dealership”.



In response I asserted:

“This is an egregious abuse of the truth: You make it sound as though I have a choice (if I “wish”….). It is fallacious in the extreme to suggest that AM owners have any kind of choice in this matter… i.e. that they can either comply with paying for AML to give back full control of the car they bought. Or, if they “wish”, choose the option to never drive it again by doing nothing…!?! Clearly, AM car owners have zero choice but to pay the hostage money that your dealerships are demanding (needed to offset equipment licence fees to AML) to remove this rogue software coding..”





So, the first point to get clear, is that AML are not performing a “software upgrade”, but rather, removing ransomware – only after which can the owner drive his/her car normally.







I underscored this point to AML:



*

“We are categorically not talking about a “software update” – with the generally held interpretation of an improvement in service or usage – for which the consumer is fully entitled to decline, without any loss or harm to the previous level of utilisation. When Microsoft release an update, it either makes the existing software more secure or adds free functionality. If the user thereof decides to decline this improvement, Word, Excel or Windows 11 doesn’t suddenly lock-down and become totally inoperative. The same is true with Apple’s iPhones or Sky Digital and so on. The consumer experience remains identical to that which was on offer before the option to “upgrade”.



So please call this what it is: A fix for software coding that self-destructs as commanded when DAB > 20. Leaving the car dangerously un-driveable. And which will only be removed when the held-hostage owners pay a ransom….”





Let me be as forthright and clear as I can be: ABSOLUTELY nothing has broken on my car and nothing has worn-out through usage over time (as would normally be the case for refusing all ex-warranty work).



No, as far as this specific issue is concerned, my car is identical to the day I bought it.



Understand this: It makes no difference to me or any other AM owners, by definition, whether the cost of buying our freedom is £1 or £10k… The principle that we will not be herded into a corner and terrorized until we hand over money to our captors still stands.



In modern living, software ‘updates’ happen all the time. And that’s fine - for the one simple distinction that we, the consumer, always have the choice to decline said vaunted “improvement” - and thus maintain our smart-phones, computers, cameras etc in the SAME fully functioning state they were in when we originally agreed to purchase them.



However, what AML have done is the antithesis to this: They have knowingly sold a product with ransomware loaded therein; and which (at the very point of sale) was predestined to self-destruct at a specific threshold in the future in a manner that would not only make the infotainment system fail – but, by extension, force the car to be totally un-driveable



In the eyes of the law, there is no difference between this form of ransomware and what Apple did when they intentionally took their iphone users hostage by throttling back performance on older models with the express intent of forcing them to “upgrade” i.e. pay money, for a newer model… NB: A case they recently lost in the courts.





In conclusion, AM owners are not being offered a service upgrade or new functionality – for which an additional payment can either be agreed to or not.



No, AML has, for all intents and purposes, taken my car hostage – and, as per your last email, are now demanding that I pay an as yet unspecified amount for me to regain full ownership thereof…



In denying this fact, and by not unilaterally undertaking a full recall to deactivate the software time-bomb that you yourselves hid within my car, AML have shown themselves to be acting in a nefarious and underhanded way – qualities, as I outlined right at the beginning of this message, that are anathema to AM buyers.



*



So, in conclusion, I urge all those affected by this ransomware to contact AstonMartin com and demand the following:



That AML remove the aforementioned rogue coding at their own cost. And compensate you for the time they held your car hostage to their demands….







On one final point, that AML are offering to remove the ransomware free of charge to their dealerships, I wrote back the following:



*

You claim that AML makes “no direct profit from the release of the software provided to our Approved Dealer Network”. But this is clearly nothing more than a clumsy attempt to deceive. Dealerships pay AML a great deal of money for access to and rental of your DS (diagnostic systems) hardware. One of the ways they recoup this enormous financial outlay is by charging AM owners fees for the use thereof when needed. This is what has happened in this case: AML have made a profit from selling a tool that is needed to rectify an AML-induced billable event for their dealerships.

 

Exactly what is the actual cost for an AM dealer to update the software?