ACC has gone missing

[StevoC]

Just dropped the van to the dealer to look at the various issues (water leak on the passenger side and loud “click” where the engine stops/starts).

Go to chat with the salesman (who has been very helpful throughout I should say - very happy with him) about the missing Adaptive Cruise Control. What he said was mind-boggling.

When I configured the van, I picked the ‘"Side Assist" Lane change system incl. "Lane Assist" Lane keeping system’ option. According to VW, picking this option automatically removes ACC and replaces it with standard (non-adaptive) cruise control.

It makes no sense. There is no mention of this anywhere. And the config recap you get on the online configurator clearly mentions ACC as still being included.

They’re now looking at whether this can be retrofitted or if it’s going to involve ordering a new van.

The odd thing here is that this must be some kind of weird Irish specific quirk. If that was also the case in the UK, I’m sure I would have heard about it here before.

Hi Mehdime,

We have an Irish van which was built the same time as your, we also ordered Side Assist and Lane Assist our van has ACC which is working normally.

Great to hear that they are getting a replacement van for you.

 

[Mehdime]

Hi Mehdime,

We have an Irish van which was built the same time as your, we also ordered Side Assist and Lane Assist our van has ACC which is working normally.

Great to hear that they are getting a replacement van for you.

Thanks for the info @StevoC - very useful if VW don’t follow through.

 

[Mehdime]

Hi Mehdime,

We have an Irish van which was built the same time as your, we also ordered Side Assist and Lane Assist our van has ACC which is working normally.

Great to hear that they are getting a replacement van for you.

Hi @StevoC. Two years later, I'm still trying to get the issue of the missing ACC on my van resolved. Volkswagen are claiming (without being able to provide any evidence for it or point to any documentation of any kind to that effect) that the Lane Assist option requires the removal of the ACC feature.

It would be super useful if you could confirm this so I can get back to VW with some evidence on my side:
1. What was the month/year when you collected your new van?
2. What dealership did you pick it up from?
3. You have the Lane Assist feature (i.e. the feature that emits a loud BEEP when you move out of your lane)
4. You have the Adaptive Cruise Control feature (i.e. cruise control breaks automatically when the vehicle in front goes slower)

And if anyone else here had their California Ocean built in the first half of 2022 in either Ireland or the UK and you picked the "Side Assist with Lane Assist" option, I'd love to hear from you as well to confirm that your van still came with ACC fitted.

 

[StevoC]

Hi Mehdime,
Apologies just seeing your reply now.
Feel free to call me on 00353851600997 easier to answer this way.

 

[Roger Boeken]

Hi @StevoC. Two years later, I'm still trying to get the issue of the missing ACC on my van resolved. Volkswagen are claiming (without being able to provide any evidence for it or point to any documentation of any kind to that effect) that the Lane Assist option requires the removal of the ACC feature.

It would be super useful if you could confirm this so I can get back to VW with some evidence on my side:
1. What was the month/year when you collected your new van?
2. What dealership did you pick it up from?
3. You have the Lane Assist feature (i.e. the feature that emits a loud BEEP when you move out of your lane)
4. You have the Adaptive Cruise Control feature (i.e. cruise control breaks automatically when the vehicle in front goes slower)

And if anyone else here had their California Ocean built in the first half of 2022 in either Ireland or the UK and you picked the "Side Assist with Lane Assist" option, I'd love to hear from you as well to confirm that your van still came with ACC fitted.

My T6.1 ocean was delivered july 2022 in Belgium with all the options you asked for. There was never such thing in the configurator as removing ACC if you select Lane assist. I can't imagine this would be different in UK.

 

[Mehdime]

Thanks @StevoC ! I won't have to call you in the end as it looks like we've finally managed to get the matter resolved (not quite yet but I think it should happen now).

In case anyone is in the same boat, this is a summary of what happened:

• In May 2021, we ordered a new California Ocean with a bunch of options from an Irish VW dealership.
• We picked it up in June 2022. I noticed straight away that Adaptive Cruise Control (which came as standard with the Ocean) was missing on my van. The van had only been fitted with the regular Cruise Control (which you couldn't even spec on the Ocean at the time).
• I immediate notified the dealership in writing of the missing ACC.
• What followed was a 2+ years train-wreck of lies and being taken for a ride by both Volkswagen and the dealership.

Over those 2+ years and dozens of emails, phone calls and face-to-face conversation, I was at different times told:

• that the reason why ACC was missing was because the Lane Assist option I had spec'd removed the ACC option (a blatant lie but one that Volkswagen has kept making throughout. Thankfully, I had kept a copy of the VW configurator and of all VW brochures and specs that clearly stated in writing that ACC was included in my config and didn't mention anywhere that Lane assist would remove ACC. VW on the other side was never able to provide any documentation or any evidence of any kind for their claim that Lane Assist involved the removal of ACC).
• that retrofitting ACC wasn't possible and that a new van would have to be ordered me for (this never happened)
• that Volkswagen had found a way to retrofit ACC after all and that the dealership was just "waiting to get the codes from Germany" before they could fix my can (this never happened).
• that another customer had the same issue and that VW had agreed to pay for that customer to have ACC retrofitted by a 3rd-party company in England. The dealership was just waiting to get the details to get my van sorted (that never happened).
• that a replacement van had been ordered for me (that van never materialized).

Finally, I was told that the sales guy I was dealing with no longer worked for the dealership. So I escalated to the manager. The manager had apparently not heard of this matter at all. It took another few weeks of laborious discussions (including an offer of €700 as compensation, that I clearly told him was insulting given the enormous amount of time I wasted on this and the series of blatant lies I was told by his staff) but we did come to an agreement eventually.

We shaked hand on:

• A €4,000 cash compensation
• Free fitting of a removal tow bar (the only option I wish I had spec'd so that we can have a bike rack. I did have the tow bar prep option already).
• Free re-spraying of the front bumper as it's a bit scratched.

It's not done yet so I will update here when it is. But I'm optimistic.

 

[Mehdime]

We shaked hand on:

• A €4,000 cash compensation
• Free fitting of a removal tow bar (the only option I wish I had spec'd so that we can have a bike rack. I did have the tow bar prep option already).
• Free re-spraying of the front bumper as it's a bit scratched.

It's not done yet so I will update here when it is. But I'm optimistic.

Got the van back from the dealer. Removable tow-bar fitted. Front bumper looking like new (I'm actually quite impressed - I'd no idea you could fix bad scratches like this by just polishing and respraying).

Now waiting for the transfer of the €4,000 compensation and we'll be all done. Happy camper.

Before/after

 

[Mehdime]

Got the van back from the dealer. Removable tow-bar fitted. Front bumper looking like new (I'm actually quite impressed - I'd no idea you could fix bad scratches like this by just polishing and respraying).

Now waiting for the transfer of the €4,000 compensation and we'll be all done. Happy camper.

Just received the €4,000 compensation from the dealer. So after 2 years and 3 months, this saga is coming to an end.

I’m still annoyed at not having ACC on my van. Since we’re planning to keep the van for the foreseeable future, it means it’ll be a good 5 to 10 years before I finally get to drive a car with ACC (by then we’ll all have autonomous driving hopefully). But happy enough with the compensation we ended up with.

 

[TripleBee]

Just received the €4,000 compensation from the dealer. So after 2 years and 3 months, this saga is coming to an end.

I’m still annoyed at not having ACC on my van. Since we’re planning to keep the van for the foreseeable future, it means it’ll be a good 5 to 10 years before I finally get to drive a car with ACC (by then we’ll all have autonomous driving hopefully). But happy enough with the compensation we ended up with.

Good to see you have settled with this matter.

I'm not trying to convince anyone, but in the, over 20 years of driving cars, including almost 15 years with my California, I have not regretted 1 day I don't have ACC.
Up to now, ACC still doesn't drive and act like I do.
Yes, it comes in handy in heavy traffic, so the van can slow down and speed up with the traffic in front of you, but in other circumstances, I find it a very annoying nuisance because it doesn't look further than the set distance.
When coming on an off ramp of a highway, I just tip the CC off, causing the van to slow down, or at least don't speed up anymore. ACC will just keep it's set speed, just to see, a couple of meters further that the car in front is (was already for a long time) slowing down, making the ACC have to brake a lot harder than when I would drive in the same situation.
Also, when cars are stopping on the edge of the road, the van will still see this as a stopping car in front of you, while you can just swerve around it.

If this all means I have to override the ACC in one way or the other, I am more than happy that I only have CC. Then I know that I am in full control of the vehicle, and will act accordingly.

I have the same feeling about automatic lights and wipers. At slowest setting, the wipers still will be too fast for me. When entering a very short underpass, the lights will come on while it really isn't needed.
Hence maybe why I still have the original H7 light bulbs from factory, after 203000km in just 15 years?

Anyway, I hope you had and will have some fabulous years of travelling and just driving with the California.

 

[Mehdime]

Good to see you have settled with this matter.

I'm not trying to convince anyone, but in the, over 20 years of driving cars, including almost 15 years with my California, I have not regretted 1 day I don't have ACC.
Up to now, ACC still doesn't drive and act like I do.

Fair. I guess I’m the opposite. The automated are not perfect for sure. But they’re good enough. Every now and then, you have to intervene and, for example, stop the wipers going like mad for no reason or activate them when they seem to be sleeping. But for the most part, automated systems work and take away a lot of the fatigue of driving.

Every time I’m on a hire car with ACC, life is bliss.

 

[Hawthorn37]

Fair. I guess I’m the opposite. The automated are not perfect for sure. But they’re good enough. Every now and then, you have to intervene and, for example, stop the wipers going like mad for no reason or activate them when they seem to be sleeping. But for the most part, automated systems work and take away a lot of the fatigue of driving.

Every time I’m on a hire car with ACC, life is bliss.

It’s good to hear you’ve managed to get some compensation for all the disappointment and struggle. Time to put all this behind you and start doing what you bought the Cali for !

On the ACC. I only use it on flat multi lane roads as I don’t like the brakes being applied going downhill (jerky, and it wastes fuel and wears the brakes). It’s sort of okay when crawling in queues. My wife doesn’t like using it at all. The system on the Golf works better, as there is less momentum.

 

[TripleBee]

It’s good to hear you’ve managed to get some compensation for all the disappointment and struggle. Time to put all this behind you and start doing what you bought the Cali for !

On the ACC. I only use it on flat multi lane roads as I don’t like the brakes being applied going downhill (jerky, and it wastes fuel and wears the brakes). It’s sort of okay when crawling in queues. My wife doesn’t like using it at all. The system on the Golf works better, as there is less momentum.

The only downside is, you can't use ACC as a normal CC.
CC I wouldn't want to miss anymore, but ACC would be rather a turn off for me.
Only if it would be possible the shut off the A of the ACC, and use it as a CC, I would think about having it, otherwise, for me, no.