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GPS broken for several weeks

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#1 ·
The built-in GPS on our 2 month old, '23 model ID.4 AWD Pro S has been "confused" for a while now. At first I thought it was due to bad weather. But it didn't come back. I took this video driving this past Saturday, on I-93 in New Hampshire, just outside Manchester. The GPS has me 70 miles away and jumping around. The weather when I took this was mild, 31ºF (shown on the screen) and a little precipitation, hardly a storm.

I've also been getting "dynamic road sign display unavailable" warnings a lot. Again I thought it was due to weather, bad visibility for the cameras, etc. But I went through a car wash, underside and all, and it's still disabled most of the time.

At this point it seems like a faulty GPS chip and I should just bring it in for service.

Looking through past threads for similar issues...
I understand that Google Maps / Apple Maps uses the car's GPS antennae when CarPlay is active
– but I should clarify here that Google Maps and Apple Maps in Carplay are all working fine. This is only a problem with the onboard navigation. (So I wonder if it's true that Carplay uses the car's antenna? Or maybe the antenna is not the same as the chip/software that reads the signals from the antenna, and the phone still does that for itself?)

Has anyone else encountered this?
Or any other ideas?

Thanks!
 
#3 ·
I’m positive CarPlay doesn’t use any of the car’s hardware except for displaying the map. The map is being generated on your phone. Someone tell me if I’m wrong.

It sounds like your car nav system is malfunctioning. Take it to the dealer for service. Also you’ve mentioned weather. GPS signals are very low power and can be scrambled or blocked by heavy weather, tree canopy over the road, etc. it would be helpful to know if you have the same problem on clear days with no cloud cover, tree canopies, parking garages, etc.
 
#5 ·
I’m positive CarPlay doesn’t use any of the car’s hardware except for displaying the map. The map is being generated on your phone. Someone tell me if I’m wrong.
Apple’s own dev talks on the subject say they use sensor data from the car. While location information is optional for wired CarPlay, it is mandatory for wireless CarPlay. In my personal experience, location information is supported on most wired CarPlay implementations.

From Apple’s Talk “Developing CarPlay Systems, Part 1”: Developing CarPlay Systems, Part 1 - WWDC16 - Videos - Apple Developer

Image
 
#4 ·
The built-in GPS on our 2 month old, '23 model ID.4 AWD Pro S has been "confused" for a while now. At first I thought it was due to bad weather. But it didn't come back. I took this video driving this past Saturday, on I-93 in New Hampshire, just outside Manchester. The GPS has me 70 miles away and jumping around. The weather when I took this was mild, 31ºF (shown on the screen) and a little precipitation, hardly a storm.

I've also been getting "dynamic road sign display unavailable" warnings a lot. Again I thought it was due to weather, bad visibility for the cameras, etc. But I went through a car wash, underside and all, and it's still disabled most of the time.

At this point it seems like a faulty GPS chip and I should just bring it in for service.

Looking through past threads for similar issues...

– but I should clarify here that Google Maps and Apple Maps in Carplay are all working fine. This is only a problem with the onboard navigation. (So I wonder if it's true that Carplay uses the car's antenna? Or maybe the antenna is not the same as the chip/software that reads the signals from the antenna, and the phone still does that for itself?)

Has anyone else encountered this?
Or any other ideas?

Thanks!
This sounds similar to my old GPS problem, except when my GPS went bonkers it affected my Carplay navigation as well (in all apps). My understanding is that Carplay uses both the car's antenna and your phone's antenna. In my case, both the onboard navigation and CarPlay were erratic but it was intermittent. My GPS had good days and bad days. I'm not sure if your problem is exactly the same as mine but for me, replacing the call module fixed everything and my GPS has been rock solid since. Maybe ask your dealer if they can test that module to start?

Also, it took me about 4 months and 8 service visits to finally get the issue fixed. It was so painful to the point that I had my state's lemon law final repair notice form filled out and ready to go the day the dealer fixed my car lol. If your GPS is still broken after multiple service visits, call Volkswagen Customer Care to escalate your case and ask the dealer if they can open a VTA. Keep a copy of every service invoice just in case and document everything. Good luck!
 
#7 ·
I have same issue on brand new 2023 and I have also heard others suspect the com module. Gps maps all over the place. In gathering facts here and testing of my own I can confirm a few things. Carplay uses bluetooth not wifi unless plugged into usb on front seat port not rear. Carplay can be disabled on iphone. Car gps antenna is used on both car built in nav and Carplay map app such as apple or google maps because phone sees it as the more trusted signal but yes it does use both. Think of it as car gps has priority. Resetting infotainment may get it working again sometimes but goes whacky again switching time zones and saying you're hundreds of miles away or in the ocean. In this and many cases signal strength is not the issue.
Need to take to dealer and see if they can look at com module. I don't know where it is located. I have heard its built into infotainment head unit but some disagree. My id4 has map/nav issues even with phones left at home (vw built in nav). Seems to me Carplay and built in nav are separate cases that share the com module as a culprit. I hope this helps someone as I have not resolved the issue since I have only had the car just over a week.
 
#8 ·
Carplay uses bluetooth not wifi unless plugged into usb on front seat port not rear.
Wireless CarPlay only uses Bluetooth for device discovery and initial handshaking. Bluetooth does not have the bandwidth for the video + audio feed. Apple’s engineers have confirmed this.

Car gps antenna is used on both car built in nav and Carplay map app such as apple or google maps because phone sees it as the more trusted signal but yes it does use both.
Correct, also confirmed by Apple’s engineers. It also feeds speed data from the car for dead reckoning purposes. At least in the past, I’ve seen iOS generally favor the input from the car even in cases where something’s clearly wrong and conflicts with what the phone sees. In the case of Wireless CarPlay, the car must provide location information.

Need to take to dealer and see if they can look at com module. I don't know where it is located. I have heard its built into infotainment head unit but some disagree. My id4 has map/nav issues even with phones left at home (vw built in nav). Seems to me Carplay and built in nav are separate cases that share the com module as a culprit. I hope this helps someone as I have not resolved the issue since I have only had the car just over a week.
I’d also consider the GPS antenna as a possible culprit. There is a long cable from the shark fin to the modules in the front of the car that could cause problems if it’s not properly seated at either end. But it’s not a guarantee. At least one person on the forum had their antenna re-seated in response to these kind of issues (inaccurate, jumpy positioning)
 
#9 ·
The built-in GPS on our 2 month old, '23 model ID.4 AWD Pro S has been "confused" for a while now. At first I thought it was due to bad weather. But it didn't come back. I took this video driving this past Saturday, on I-93 in New Hampshire, just outside Manchester. The GPS has me 70 miles away and jumping around. The weather when I took this was mild, 31ºF (shown on the screen) and a little precipitation, hardly a storm.

I've also been getting "dynamic road sign display unavailable" warnings a lot. Again I thought it was due to weather, bad visibility for the cameras, etc. But I went through a car wash, underside and all, and it's still disabled most of the time.

At this point it seems like a faulty GPS chip and I should just bring it in for service.

Looking through past threads for similar issues...

– but I should clarify here that Google Maps and Apple Maps in Carplay are all working fine. This is only a problem with the onboard navigation. (So I wonder if it's true that Carplay uses the car's antenna? Or maybe the antenna is not the same as the chip/software that reads the signals from the antenna, and the phone still does that for itself?)

Has anyone else encountered this?
Or any other ideas?

Thanks!
I have not gotten this resolved, nor have I really done anything about it since I use android auto most of the time anyway. I should reach out to my dealer to see if I can get it fixed under warranty
 
#13 · (Edited)
yes @Starkitect19 can you please post what modules/etc were replaced? I also read a post where the cable connector wasn’t fully seated into the module inside the shark fin.

My 23 AWD Pro S has been at the dealer for this issue since Monday Jan 23. They ran all the software checks etc but said they have to drop the headliner to
replace the board/antenna, except the part is backordered for 2 weeks.

It was almost certainly bad from new, but got worse over time - and since I use CarPlay all the time, I didn’t realize that the ‘no data available for this area’ speed limit sign errors, auto park fails, and home charging preference issues all had the same bad GPS root cause.

This is the 2nd major repair I’ve had to do since taking delivery Dec 7 — at a week old I got the service electrical system error and the heater stopped working. That error has also come back one other time but went away on its own - both times appeared after attempting to charge at an EA station.

I love the ‘car’ parts of the car but the bugs are driving me nuts. My have to look at the lemon process.
 
#15 ·
yes @Starkitect19 can you please post what modules/etc were replaced? I also read a post where the cable connector wasn’t fully seated into the module inside the shark fin.

My 23 AWD Pro S has been at the dealer for this issue since Monday Jan 23. They ran all the software checks etc but said they have to drop the headliner to
replace the board/antenna, except the part is backordered for 2 weeks.

It was almost certainly bad from new, but got worse over time - and since I use CarPlay all the time, I didn’t realize that the ‘no data available for this area’ speed limit sign errors, auto park fails, and home charging preference issues all had the same bad GPS root cause.

This is the 2nd major repair I’ve had to do since taking delivery Dec 7 — at a week old I got the service electrical system error and the heater stopped working. That error has also come back one other time but went away on its own - both times appeared after at an EA station.

I love the ‘car’ parts of the car but the bugs are driving me nuts. My have to look at the lemon process.
My gateway module was replaced and the shark fin antenna cabling was checked twice - neither of those worked for me. Replacing the call module was the final fix that stopped all the GPS glitches. I can’t prove it but I think it also fixed some other problems with my ID.4 (e.g. I couldn’t login to car-net, I also had the speed limit sign error, steering wheel heater was always surface of the sun hot even on lowest setting, etc.)
 
#19 ·
Probably? I don’t want to steer you in the wrong direction and this stuff is very technical so I’m copying my repair notes verbatim from my dealer service department:

3694 SOP CALL MODULE. PERFORMED SOP CALL MODULE REPLACEMENT
PERFORMED SOFTWARE CONFIGURATION AND ADAPTATION DUE TO GPS CONCERN
TEST DROVE VEHICLE GPS FUNCTION WORK LIKE DESIGN VEHICLE COMPLETED

You’re welcome to share that with your dealer and ask if they can test that module first to save time.
 
#20 ·
Thanks again - I now see that you posted the quote from your service dept in another thread.

I just talked to my dealer, they say VW engineering dictates the parts that are swapped and in what order, and that the 5F module is on backorder with no ETA at all, so could be months as they come from Germany.

In the same breath, the service guy asked me to bring back the loaner and pick up my car since it's 'driveable'. I'm calling VW customer service, but at this rate I think I'm going to throw in the towel and start the buyback/lemon process.
 
#21 ·
That’s unfortunate but I understand how you feel. I felt the same way when I was bouncing between service dept waiting rooms and loaner Tiguans. It’s a such a shame how poorly VW is handling this because the ID.4 has so much potential but between the software bugs and the fail rate of its modules, it’s not earning the best reputation. I do love the ID.4 but it is hands down the buggiest car I’ve ever owned.
 
#24 · (Edited)
We've just run into a problem like this on a 1st Edition with about 14,000 miles on it. Last week GPS started reporting the wrong locations, about 100-200 feet away from actual location. This was enough to make the native navigation useless, and since Apple CarPlay gets its location data from the car, all the phone apps were also unusable for navigation.

We noticed that if the phones were not being used with CarPlay, then their own GPS worked fine.

In attempt to get the phones to use their own on-board GPS instead of the ID.4's GPS, we turned off wifi and bluetooth on the phone and then plugged it into the USB connector of the ID.4. Note that we found if we left wifi or bluetooth turned on, then the phone would get the car's GPS data even when plugged into the USB. With the wifi and bluetooth off, the phone connected to CarPlay via USB but used the phone's GPS, meaning that all the phone apps could nav just fine.

But here is the really odd thing: when we looked at the car's native navigation, it was also working properly again. In fact, even after we disconnected the phone entirely, the car's GPS kept working. And when we later allowed the phone to connect to wireless CarPlay and use the car's GPS, all was well.

So I wonder, did turning off the phone's wifi and plugging it into wired CarPlay put the car's GPS system to sleep in some way that allowed it to recover?

Really, we have no idea why this worked or if it was just coincidence, but I wanted to share in case it might help others. At a minimum, turning off the phone's wifi and bluetooth and using a wired connection to the car does seem to allow the phone to ignore the car's GPS when it is misbehaving.

UPDATED 5/1/2023... Edited this post to make it clear we had to turn off both wifi and bluetooth on the phone. Also, we have not seen the mysterious recovery of the car's GPS again, so we chalk that up to coincidence. Every now and then the car will reset GPS in a way that either lines up (more or less) with "truth" or betrays the underlying issue with a new false offset from reality. This seems to happen at least once each time we drive the car.
 
#26 ·
The built-in GPS on our 2 month old, '23 model ID.4 AWD Pro S has been "confused" for a while now. At first I thought it was due to bad weather. But it didn't come back. I took this video driving this past Saturday, on I-93 in New Hampshire, just outside Manchester. The GPS has me 70 miles away and jumping around. The weather when I took this was mild, 31ºF (shown on the screen) and a little precipitation, hardly a storm.

I've also been getting "dynamic road sign display unavailable" warnings a lot. Again I thought it was due to weather, bad visibility for the cameras, etc. But I went through a car wash, underside and all, and it's still disabled most of the time.

At this point it seems like a faulty GPS chip and I should just bring it in for service.

Looking through past threads for similar issues...

– but I should clarify here that Google Maps and Apple Maps in Carplay are all working fine. This is only a problem with the onboard navigation. (So I wonder if it's true that Carplay uses the car's antenna? Or maybe the antenna is not the same as the chip/software that reads the signals from the antenna, and the phone still does that for itself?)

Has anyone else encountered this?
Or any other ideas?

Thanks!
Our car has developed this exact same set of symptoms in the past couple of days. It doesn't affect drivability and Google maps works fine via Android Auto. Annoying, though.

Dave
 
#27 ·
The built-in GPS on our 2 month old, '23 model ID.4 AWD Pro S has been "confused" for a while now. At first I thought it was due to bad weather. But it didn't come back. I took this video driving this past Saturday, on I-93 in New Hampshire, just outside Manchester. The GPS has me 70 miles away and jumping around. The weather when I took this was mild, 31ºF (shown on the screen) and a little precipitation, hardly a storm.

I've also been getting "dynamic road sign display unavailable" warnings a lot. Again I thought it was due to weather, bad visibility for the cameras, etc. But I went through a car wash, underside and all, and it's still disabled most of the time.

At this point it seems like a faulty GPS chip and I should just bring it in for service.

Looking through past threads for similar issues...

– but I should clarify here that Google Maps and Apple Maps in Carplay are all working fine. This is only a problem with the onboard navigation. (So I wonder if it's true that Carplay uses the car's antenna? Or maybe the antenna is not the same as the chip/software that reads the signals from the antenna, and the phone still does that for itself?)

Has anyone else encountered this?
Or any other ideas?

Thanks!
Only had my GPS bounce around in parking lots over very close intersections. I would have them recalibrate the GPS or figure out what's wrong with it.
 
#28 ·
Edited my earlier post to point out that turning off both wifi and bluetooth on the phone and then plugging it in for wired carplay seems to allow the phone to use its own (working) GPS instead of the car's (broken) GPS. Not a solution to the underlying problem, but at least a workaround for those with iPhones and CarPlay.
 
#29 ·
The built-in GPS on our 2 month old, '23 model ID.4 AWD Pro S has been "confused" for a while now. At first I thought it was due to bad weather. But it didn't come back. I took this video driving this past Saturday, on I-93 in New Hampshire, just outside Manchester. The GPS has me 70 miles away and jumping around. The weather when I took this was mild, 31ºF (shown on the screen) and a little precipitation, hardly a storm.

I've also been getting "dynamic road sign display unavailable" warnings a lot. Again I thought it was due to weather, bad visibility for the cameras, etc. But I went through a car wash, underside and all, and it's still disabled most of the time.

At this point it seems like a faulty GPS chip and I should just bring it in for service.

Looking through past threads for similar issues...

– but I should clarify here that Google Maps and Apple Maps in Carplay are all working fine. This is only a problem with the onboard navigation. (So I wonder if it's true that Carplay uses the car's antenna? Or maybe the antenna is not the same as the chip/software that reads the signals from the antenna, and the phone still does that for itself?)

Has anyone else encountered this?
Or any other ideas?

Thanks!
Yes. Same issue here. I posted yesterday.
 
#30 ·
Yep, my ID.4 has had this issue for about 3 months now.

It is very annoying. I have seen the warnings about "Dynamic Road Sign Display Limited" and "No Data for this Area" about 52,000 times. Also, I'll be driving down Interstate 405 and the ID.4 is trying to make me believe that the speed limit is 25.

The funniest, though, is when the voice will cut in with a traffic alert for a street that is 25 miles away.

Google Maps via Android Auto works fine, though.

Dave
 
#31 · (Edited)
I have this issue too (car GPS location wrong, speed limit detection wrong, CarPlay works). Posted a new thread (searching "speed limit error" on the forums didn't find anything useful) before I realized it's a whole-car GPS issue.

Taking it back to the dealer tomorrow, hoping I can get it resolved less painfully and in fewer visits than some of the other reports here...

Has anyone on the forums had a reliable resolution to this issue? So far I've only seen @Starkitect19 's call module replacement as a success story.

@wildpitcher, @EFC, @mcesh - did any of you get your issue fixed?
 
#32 ·
I have this issue too (car GPS location wrong, speed limit detection wrong, CarPlay works). Posted a new thread (searching "speed limit error" on the forums didn't find anything useful) before I realized it's a whole-car GPS issue.

Taking it back to the dealer tomorrow, hoping I can get it resolved less painfully and in fewer visits than some of the other reports here...

Has anyone on the forums had a reliable resolution to this issue? So far I've only seen @Starkitect19 's call module replacement as a success story.

@wildpitcher, @EFC, @mcesh - did any of you get your issue fixed?
I haven't tried yet. Issue is still there. Annoying, but car is drivable using Android Auto for navigation.

Dave
 
#36 ·
The gps on my first edition started acting up in this week, same symptoms as other people in this thread with regards to the built-in navigation having no idea where I am, thinking I’m driving through buildings and Lake Michigan, throwing the dynamic road sign display errors, etc.

However, curiously CarPlay works perfectly as does the last parked location in the VW app. I use CarPlay wirelessly if that matters, and I have an iPhone 12 Pro with iOS 16.6.

Took the car to the dealer yesterday for the door handle recall and this. Again, similar story to everyone else, the dealer called me today and said they were ordering a new 5F module. I’m hesitant to try and dissuade them given the symptoms my car is exhibiting are slightly different since CarPlay is working. Additionally, I had scanned the car with OBD eleven before dropping it off at the dealer and the 5F module showed no faults.
 
#37 ·
Some good news, knock on wood.....my 5F module replacement has resolved my GPS issue. I did a 20 min test drive to personally verify that (1) the in-car navigation works as expected (no more erratic location), and (2) the speed limit display works as expected (displays 65 mph on freeway). CarPlay had to be re-enrolled on my phone, but once done, it works fine.

Will keep an eye on this to see if the issue comes back, but I believe that's the 1st confirmed resolution on this thread of a 5F module replacement working. @bc15 , any updates from your module replacement?

For the record: part replaced was 10A-035-842-J - Ctrl unit 1

Notes from my repair:


1. CUSTOMER STATES NAVIGATION IS NOT ACCURATE. VERIFIED CONCERN WITH CUSTOMER WILL BE DRIVING ON FREEWAY AND NAV SHOW DRIVING ON SIDE STREET CHECKED UPDATES AND T SB NONE FOUND FAULTS IN 75 U14FE00: Secure Onboard Communication Signature inspection failed Monitor the MVB for “status GPS reception” und er the J949/AW-75 as well as the 5F when the concern is present. If there is sufficient reception present, there should be 3 or more satellites being seen/track ed. If the number is between 0-2 or a value of 255, there is not any GPS reception present. If there is not any GPS reception present, unplug the antenna connection for the GPS antenna at the shark fin (blue connection) and check if approx. 5.0-5.2 volts are present. If there is proper voltage, please rotate/wiggle the coax cable for the GPS antenna and note if the reception returns. If it does, replace the shark fin antenna and coaxial cable for the GPS antenna. If the recePtion does not return, replace the shark fin antenna only. If there is not proper voltage present, please unplug the GPS connection from the J949/AW-75 and check for proper voltage. If it is present at the J949/AW- 75 but not the antenna, please replace only the coaxial cable. If the J949/AW-75 is not outputting the prop er voltage, it is recommended to replace the J949/AW-75. If there is sufficient GPS reception but the vehicle location on the NAV system/MVB location is incorrect, please replace the AW-5F.
2. AS ADVISED REPLACE 5F MODULE REMOVED GLOVE BOX AND PANEL RO REACH 5F MODULE WITH SCAN TOOL PERFORMED REPLACE MODULE TEST PLAN PERFROMED CODING AND ADAPTATIONS CLEAR FUALTS AND PERFROMED ROAD TEST VERIFIED NAV SYSTEM WORKING AS DESIGN
 
#38 · (Edited)
Just picked up my car after the 5F module was replaced, and yep, that fixed it. Same part number as well.

Repair notes:
VEHICLE LOCATION SHOWING FEW BLOCK A WAY CURRENT LOCATION. CHECK GPS ANTENNA AND CHCK FOR SIGNAL BY MB AND RECEPTION SHOW 3 GPS ANTENNA SIGNALS. CHECK GPS ANTENNA AT THE SHARK FIN BLUE 5.0 VOLTS ARE PRESENT CHECK MB FOR NAV SYSTEM AND LOCATION WAS INCORRECT ORDERED AW 5F MODULE. j79
REMOVE AND INSTALLED Information Electronics 1 AW-5F MODULE.
PERFORM PROGRAMMING WITH GFF TEST PLAN.
ROAD TESTED VEHICLE AFTER REPAIR
 
#43 ·
I, too have had this problem. I have had my 2021 for more than 2 years and have had zero GPS tracking issues. UNTIL. A couple of months ago, it would not track properly for several days. Then it seemed to correct itself. Then last week it did it again, but only for a day. I noticed the long vertical bar to the far right of the screen. When things are working correctly it is green. When the GPS is off-track it is gray.
 
#45 ·
Hello 👋

I have a 2023 GTI with this same issue. I've done step one of taking the car to the dealer and them making me do a full infotainment reset. I did that a couple weeks ago (~ Dec 9th). So far I haven't experience the bad location issue again yet (I'm actually surprised). Just wanted to cross-link with an Apple CarPlay thread that has some info:
discussions.apple.com/thread/254835532 Several people posting there have VWs.

Does this seem to be a poorly designed GPS device that is very prone to failure?

Has anyone called the VW customer support number to see if they have any information? (800) 822-8987‬
 
#49 ·
Well y'all can mark me down as one where this problem started popping up sometime last week, maybe even earlier as I can't recall exactly when the speed limit errors started. I didn't correlate the speed limit sign errors with the nav as I don't use the onboard nav but half dozen times a year or so, well today on the way to work I time warped into central time zone which made me decide to take a look at the nav. I was somewhere in the middle of a lake/pond somewhere around Birmingham, AL which is probably ~150-160 miles as the crow flies away from Atlanta.

Infotainment reboot after I arrived to work seemed to snap it back into action and back in correct position but that didn't last long. On the way home I was back in central timezone somewhere after about 10 minutes of startup, I stopped briefly at a convenience store and that short stop brought the GPS back to eastern time zone but was showing me ~20 miles south driving diagonally across the airfield at Atlanta Hartsfield.

Time to schedule a service visit, I was literally just there for door handle recall and I was already having the speed limit warnings so I'm sure it was acting up then too and I could have killed two birds with one stone or at least had the GPS diagnosis started.