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Comments
I had the backup sensor installed on my RL about a month after I purchased it. It is really great. It makes parallel parking a snap - which isn't easy for the RL without the sensor since you can't see where the car ends. I also like it for parking in my garage at work. It's an awful garage with pillars, illegally parked cars, etc., that make it a nightmare to maneuver. With the backup sensors, I can navigate the various obstacles easily.
As far as the $600 list price, that's negotiable, as with everything related to purchasing a car..
Okay... so what did you pay for it including installation?
I finally called Acura headquarters, they are looking into it.
Has this happened to anyone else? I am pissed, I love my XM!
I think it was about $500, but I don't recall exactly.
hope this helps
steve
I am dropping my car off to Acura for service to take care of these issues tomorrow.
Don't you love this car.
I have never purchased a new vehicle that didnt have a thing or two the matter with it. So, whether its the '05 RL or '05 Mercedes, there is no doubt that there will be things that crop up. The biggest item you need to look at is how inconvenient will these issues be to you; and will the dealership effectively and quickly take care of them?
I have no doubt that Acura will take care of everything and that these issues will be addressed with the proper fixes. Besides, most of the issues Acura has are "convenience" items, not engine issues--which is what I had with my BMW, Mercedes, Jeep, Audi and just about every other car out there (but never with my Acura MDX)......
The day after I got the car, I gave it to a valet who must have separated the keyless remote from being near the car. When I got the car back, it displayed a diagnostic meassage saying that the keyless remote had been separated from the car, and that the car will not start the next time without the keyless remote being near.
Even though I had the keyless remote with me in the car ever since the valet incident, the diagnostic message will not go away. There are message options to have the message read, or to locate nearest Acura dealer, but there is no option I can find to delete this message.
Anyone have a solution?
Your post sounds like you are aware or part of some effort to rectify the many incorrect traffic problems with XMNavTraffic. Is there a phone number, email or website we can use to report the errors we see everyday? The incorrect traffic information (at least in San Francisco bay area) is absolutely frustrating, and just makes the system useless. If the traffic info does not get fixed, I will not resubscribe to XM after my free 1st year trial period.
Below are examples of the incorrect traffic information I see almost everyday. Note the errors are usually showing heavy traffic when actual traffic is light or vice versa. I have not seen significant errors with accidents and incident locations.
1. I-85 between I-280 and I-101.
2. I-237 between I-101 and I-880
3. I-280 between I-85 and I-880
Often 92 (San Mateo Bridge) is wrong in reverse commute direction. Will sometimes show yellow or red when everyone is going 70+
Traffic flow on 280 has dissappeared from mine, but they seem to have added some stretches on 580 that were not there before.
Also, the traffic flow has a signficant lag time even when it eventually becomes accurate. I see an incident icon appear pretty quickly, but if I'm in the area and experience slow traffic, flow does not show for at least 15 minutes. Similarly, does not clear back to blue for at least 15 minutes after clearing.
My RL does not show any traffic info 30% of the time - do you experience this as
well?
You may be right there is a lag time when the flow info becomes accurate, but I've not been able to validate it since I don't stay in the location long enough to check. If it's really updating after 15 minutes or more, it makes the system even more useless.
I also wonder if the flow inaccuracy is partly due to car-pool lanes, since the website claims it shows the average of the lanes. Another thought is maybe only newly renovated lanes (like carpool lanes) have the underground sensors, but not the standard lanes. If so, the flow info is wrong based on the usually free carpool lane. Any thoughts on these hypotheses?
Now, if they could only fix the headlight warning chime!
That said, my observation of incorrect flow is generally on freeways that do not have carpool lanes.
I have yet to be able to use the system to make a decision on alternate routes. One-time I almost changed course because of displayed flow problems, but it did not materialize when I got to the displayed problem area. The other route would have been significantly longer.
I also found out from XM website that we can report traffic errors from XMNavTraffic by calling XM Traffic at this number - 1-866-374-9396. I called this morning when flow was incorrect on CA-85. Surprisingly, there was no hold time, and I reported the problem. The person I spoke to informed me he will get someone to look into this.
I think ALL of us RL owners who use (or try to use) XMNavTraffic need to call into 1-866-374-9396 to report traffic errors when we encounter them. If XM hears enough complaints from us AND if they get enough information on the error locations, they may finally fix the problems. Come on everyone, CALL XM TO REPORT YOUR TRAFFIC PROBLEMS!!
I called this morning to report a flow error while driving to work, and there was no hold time. The person I spoke to informed me he will get someone to look into the problem I reported.
LET'S ALL HELP EACH OTHER AND CALL XM TO REPORT THE TRAFFIC ERRORS YOU SEE.
Regarding the volume changes between channels, I called XM support and they said that was not supposed to be the case and to go back to the dealer.
Channel Titles go off/on - I have assumed it is a signal/reception issue.
Difference in volume levels between channels - called XM and they claim this should not be the case. I have yet to take this to dealer because it is variable. Sometimes it is significant, other times not.
Bose noise cancellation - I do not notice any noise cancellation using CD or XM. Have tried turning off/on while driving - no difference in road noise.
Anyone else have similar issues. Would like to have some background before taking to dealer. My experience is that these issues will be hard to explain.
I've never experienced this. I've only had two problems with XM. Several months ago, I kept getting a message saying my XM was updating and I could receive no channels but #1 and the emergency channel. When I called XM, they refreshed it. After it happened the third time, they told me I needed a new unit, which the dealer installed. The second problem - two weeks ago, the channel kept changing. It wouldn't stay on a channel longer than 10 seconds. After being parked and restarting the car, the problem disappeared and has never recurred.
Other than that, no problems, and I love XM. I will definitely renew my contract when the free period ends next month.
Have the same experience with no noise cancellation--can't tell any difference.
Another experience is that, during the first 90 days, Acura link is supposed to send daily feature guide messages. My experience is that these are arriving about once a week.
Also, when driving in SF Bay Area for the first time, I noticed the real time traffic data were wrong. For example, showed congestion in several places and an accident where these did not exist. Similar experiences ar reported in Acurzine web site.
I agree the dealer service folks are not receptive to these issues. After explaining some of these porbkems to one of them he trld me they couldn't replicate the problems, and that I know more abouth the tecnololgy than he does. Not very comforting.
Anyway, if anyone elarns of an Acura technical service bulletin or other fix, please let us all know.
The dealer situation is very bad. First many of the problems are sporadic, so its virtually impossible to reproduce. Also, they do not know how things are supposed to work, so you tell them of a problem and they have no clue what you are talking about.
I'm taking mine in for an "A" service this week, so I hope to bring up some of the other issues.
Thank You!!
Debra
The good news - Took in for an A Service and Dealer said there were 3 TSB items - one of which was the XM fix. Artist/Title change instantly. I believe they change out the AcuraLink copntrol unit.
The bad news - did not seem to fix traffic flow, but I need to verify more tomorrow.
They could not do one of the TSBs as they did not have the software patch info - it has something to do with Onstar (which I have yet to use anyway).
Yes, you have to pay. I believe it's $3.95 on top of the XM subscription fee. Unless they get the problems fixed, I'd have to agree it's doubtful that's it'll be worth it.
In recent months more information has become available and there seems to now be pretty complete coverage, BUT the informaton is often wrong and thus unreliable. I want it to work and am willing to pay for it but at this point if they ask me next month to begin paying for it I will have to reject. Since this first year has been pretty much a beta test and the testing seems to continue, I would like to see Acura/XM extend the service at no charge for another 6 months or so to see if the accuracy improves. Once the service is turned off most including myself will not likely return but if we can continue to get the service while the beta testing continues then it is more likely that we will get hooked when it becomes reliable. Same thing goes for the XM service as there has been enough issues with it during the first year that it would be good cusomer relations to extend the free service period until they are sure they have all the kinks out. I am on my second XM receiver and I suspect with the new service bulletin out it may again be replaced next week when I go in for servicing. Outside of the XM receiver, which is not an Acura product, my RL has been outstanding this first year.
My comments about the NavTraffic service should be taken as only applicable to the Seattle metro area as other areas may be having better or worse experiences.
Not for me, it isn't. I rarely drive at times and locations where it would be helpful. My daily commute is almost totally on city streets. If I were to have commutes similar to many of my coworkers, and if NavTraffic were more accurate than some of the comments on here make it out to be, it would be worth it.
When I had the update done, the Navtraffic flow went away. Took it back to dealer this morning so they could verify. They checked with XM and say it is a problem with my account set-up and it should be back up later today.
I doubt this latest TSB will fix the traffic flow info. Reading the TSB on acurazine.com, it implies it only fixes why the flow does not show if your car comes out from a covered building.
The source of the incorrect traffic flow information is likely with NAVTEQ. I had called up the XM Traffic 800 number to report flow problems, but learned they are only responsible for displaying incident/accident reports. Flow information is fed from NAVTEQ to XM Traffic. I don't have a NAVTEQ tel number to call to bug them - maybe the dealer will have it but I haven't had a chance to find out. Someone please post the NAVTEQ tel. no. if you have it.