Open letter to Nissan Leaf Customer Support....GPS Software

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GeorgeParrott

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 12, 2010
Messages
207
As one of the truly enthusiastic early adopters of the Nissan Leaf (VIN # 320, ordered on Day 1 of accepting orders for the US delivery process of this model), I was shocked as I took delivery of my car at North Bay Nissan (Petaluma, CA.) when I tried to set the GPS for my home in West Sacramento and it would not accept the address.

I soon discovered upon further investigation that NONE OF THE STREETS in my West Sacramento neighborhood were in the Nissan GPS software even though the area had been populated for about FIVE (5) years. We had taken delivery of a 2011 Chevrolet Volt a month before our Leaf arrived and the GM GPS Software was totally current for our home area, by the way. I checked with Nav Teq about their support for the Nissan software and they were able to confirm to me that they had supplied Nissan current and updated maps on a regular basis, but Nissan was (very) slow in updating the software supplied in ALL their new cars.....slower it appears than much of the rest of the industry.

It is imperative, because of critical RANGE CONCERNS that electric vehicle directional/mapping software be current and accurate, and clearly Nissan is well behind in that regard for the first year's production of the LEAF. I checked with my closest Nissan dealer (Hanlee's Nissan in Davis, CA.) last week and found that the current 2012 Nissan Leaf has GPS software that is much more updated/current than our 2011 and am shocked that Nissan has not made this UPDATE available as a complimentary "upgrade" to our 2011 cars.

My personal records show that I have called and reported this problem/frustration to the Nissan Leaf "customer service/support" agents at least FIVE (5) times over the last 16 months with absolutely NO RESPONSE by Nissan management. Everyday that we drive the car from the house, we are reminded of this failing on the part of the Nissan GPS (compared to our VOLT), and I am firmly convinced that accurate local maps are crucial for safe and confident use of such a range-critical car and Nissan does not seem interested in providing its owners with that kind of support at ALL.
 
Yea, that is a total failure on Nissan's part, I was actually blaming NavTeq, didn't know that they actually providing maps to Nissan... I thought if the unit is NavTeq, they should be able to provide an update without involving Nissan... I'm actually ready to buy the map update... In Seattle area MOST of the highway interchanges are wrong in Nissan - i90/405 interchange, i90 downtown exit, 99 viaduct, 520 mercer exit, 520/405 interchage, Nothing is current North of downtown Bellevue area, Leaf's Nav will actually lead you to 405 past 520 exit if you need to go east of Bellevue...

That, and my favorite part when Nav orders me to make a u-turn on I5 from time to time when I drive through downtown Seattle...
 
Well, one example in "fail" here...

Newer Nissan LEAFs have a newer map database installed (well, at least by ID... I haven't actually compared)... but Nissan currently has no way to even buy this updated map for older LEAFs. Maybe they know it's just as outdated, and aren't bothering... so this is a good thing. ;-)
 
That's weird...
I just checked the Navteq website and they say:
1. "You are in the right place to get your maps updated"
2. "Our records indicate your vehicle has the most recent map update. Please check back soon for a map update product for your Nissan vehicle."

http://www.navigation.com/is-bin/IN...ShowAllProducts=YES&PersistNavigationMenu=YES

For other Nissan cars though, the updates are showing up only for vehicles before 2010... So maybe in couple of years we'll see something... It'll cost us though... 2009 Altima map update costs $149
 
Adding this actual experience to this Open Letter, as a demonstration of the importance of Safety and Running-Out-of-Charge: http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?p=69985" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

P.S.: This event last year occured PRIOR to the software update which "padded" the bottom two bars in terms of remaining SOC.
 
UkrainianKozak said:
That's weird...
I just checked the Navteq website and they say:
1. "You are in the right place to get your maps updated"
2. "Our records indicate your vehicle has the most recent map update. Please check back soon for a map update product for your Nissan vehicle."

http://www.navigation.com/is-bin/IN...ShowAllProducts=YES&PersistNavigationMenu=YES

For other Nissan cars though, the updates are showing up only for vehicles before 2010... So maybe in couple of years we'll see something... It'll cost us though... 2009 Altima map update costs $149

forget that, my gps didn't cost me $149
 
Here are my questions:
-Has anyone confirmed (by visiting a dealer or comparing specific known errors) that the 2012 LEAF does in fact have updated maps?
-If yes, has anyone with a 2011 tried to put the SD card from a 2012 into their car (behind the Nav screen) in place of their SD card?

If anyone can test out my second theory, then there's nothing stopping you from overwriting your 2011 SD card with the content from a 2012 SD card and using that.
 
EricBayArea said:
Here are my questions:
-Has anyone confirmed (by visiting a dealer or comparing specific known errors) that the 2012 LEAF does in fact have updated maps?
-If yes, has anyone with a 2011 tried to put the SD card from a 2012 into their car (behind the Nav screen) in place of their SD card?

If anyone can test out my second theory, then there's nothing stopping you from overwriting your 2011 SD card with the content from a 2012 SD card and using that.

from the original post...

I checked with my closest Nissan dealer (Hanlee's Nissan in Davis, CA.) last week and found that the current 2012 Nissan Leaf has GPS software that is much more updated/current than our 2011 and am shocked that Nissan has not made this UPDATE available as a complimentary "upgrade" to our 2011 cars.

not sure about swapping / copying cards
 
Any volunteers to share content of the 2012 Leaf SD card?
I can compare it with mine and post results
Or I can put contents of mine somewhere.

<Edit> - Just tried it, SD card is in some special format that can't be read from my PC... bummer...
 
UkrainianKozak said:
<Edit> - Just tried it, SD card is in some special format that can't be read from my PC... bummer...
Well, duh... or there would be a thriving illegal bootleg map business on eBay. :cool:
 
The SD card standard supports 2 levels of content protection. One is via a 16 byte password to lock the contents, such that a password must be submitted by the device wishing to access the data. The second level is a complex DRM scheme that can request verification of identity of the software wishing to access the data stored.

The Latter has never been broken (to my knowledge), but the former can be brute-forced.

I have not checked to see which method is in use on the Clarion system, but do know it's locked.

You can format the card with a special command even if locked to reset the card, but all data will be lost.

-Phil
 
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