Recently, Mercedes-Benz’s Russian distributor, MB RUS, reported that the German company has limited access to the software, and now the trade press reports that Russian service centers for two other German brands, BMW and Audi, are also facing the same problem . The first restrictions were reported by auto portals a few months ago, but now the dealers themselves have announced that they have received the official notification about the blocking of the software service.
For this reason, brand service centers face many problems. They do not have access to the necessary software updates for the control system and car diagnostics, there are problems with tuning various electronic units, transmission, parking sensors, but the cloud query of the car history – odometer reading, last repair or maintenance, etc. – It also becomes impossible, not to mention it is not possible to make a copy of the key either.
According to legal experts, disabling the software essentially means deceiving customers, since when they purchased their car, they also purchased maintenance and system updates as a service. However, dealers are in no hurry to sue automakers, despite the fact that the lack of software support seriously hampers their work. They do not want the lawsuit to damage their relationship with Western car manufacturers, and hope that European brands will return to Russia once the political situation returns to normal.
However, the restriction did not affect the brands’ more nourishing services such as cold showers. Alexei Kyrgyasov, managing director of the Avtodom group of companies that distributes Audi cars, says the company’s dealer network is already prepared to block the software and has replaced about 85 percent of the original branded software.
Others are trying to provide access to branded programming through alternative channels. This means that there is a delay in software updates, but this does not affect the quality or speed of maintenance of foreign cars. Dealership customers are effectively left without an electronic service book, but a vehicle’s history can often be rebuilt based on previous orders and maintenance.
