Steering wheel controls for radio

**Beamin** · 19th December 2010, 09:44 AM

I'd love to know whether this is a common fault and whether there is a fix available for it yet.

I have a 2009 build D4 3.0 SE without the Satnav option. The audio control buttons on the steering wheel don't operate as expected, or as described in the Quick Start Guide that came with the car (the main manual doesn't say much about it).

Pressing the left or right arrow buttons on the steering wheel control is meant to skip up and down through the list of preset radio stations, but it doesn't work that way. Instead, it ignores the preset list and just starts a search function up or down the frequencies.

Pressing the "Mode" button in the middle of these arrows is meant to switch between Radio/CD/Aux, but instead it skips the radio to the next preset station. This only works one way, going up through the list, with no way to skip downwards through the list.

Do they all work this way, or is mine the only one? Has anybody had any success in getting it rectified?

**Jesse B** · 19th December 2010, 02:00 PM

Hey Beamin - sorry to be the bearer of bad tidings, but just went out and checked mine, and it all works how you say it's meant to: right and left arrows take me to the next of my pre-set radio channels, and Mode takes me downwards through the options, from radio to CD to Aux etc

But I do have the SatNav option and the upgraded sound system - so that might explain the difference.

**Neil P** · 19th December 2010, 03:15 PM

Originally Posted by Beamin

........just starts a search function up or down the frequencies......... (D3 base is like this )

....... Has anybody had any success in getting it rectified?.........
..

What did your Dealer say ?

**Graeme** · 19th December 2010, 05:25 PM

Holding the mode button for a second or so will get to the next input (eg MP3) in the sequence rather than the next preset station. I suspect there's no way to go backwards through the preset station sequence in the same way that there's no way to go backwards through the various inputs. The backwards and forwards buttons work for the MP3 input although only 1 track at a time, not by album.My Oct build was supposed to have the current MP3 track displayed in the middle of the driver's information display but it never has. IIRC builds after about mid Sept were advertised as to have this feature - a factory software upgrade that never occurred. I've been meaning to follow-up to see if it was ever provided.

**Beamin** · 21st December 2010, 06:20 AM

Originally Posted by Neil P

What did your Dealer say ?

The dealer checked other D4s in the showroom and said they all work that way. When pressed a bit further they took it up with LRA and reported back that LRA were going to re-write the Quick Start Guide booklet. This cracked me up.

The description in the Guide is a good design and makes sense, enabling navigation of favourite radio stations without taking your hand off the wheel or your eyes off the road. From Jesse B's response it also appears to be the way the system actually does work but only if you have the Satnav/touchscreen fitted. So the way mine and Graeme's work seems to be a fault rather than the intended design. Re-writing the Guide so that the instructions comply with the fault rather than the intended design seems to going in the wrong direction.

**geoz** · 21st December 2010, 11:03 AM

Originally Posted by Beamin

The dealer checked other D4s in the showroom and said they all work that way. When pressed a bit further they took it up with LRA and reported back that LRA were going to re-write the Quick Start Guide booklet. This cracked me up.

The description in the Guide is a good design and makes sense, enabling navigation of favourite radio stations without taking your hand off the wheel or your eyes off the road. From Jesse B's response it also appears to be the way the system actually does work but only if you have the Satnav/touchscreen fitted. So the way mine and Graeme's work seems to be a fault rather than the intended design. Re-writing the Guide so that the instructions comply with the fault rather than the intended design seems to going in the wrong direction.

mine works the same way you described. agree this does not make much sense.

**MartyJB** · 21st December 2010, 05:40 PM

Mines an MY11, not sat nav, and works as you've descibed it too (not as per the book)....

**Beamin** · 21st December 2010, 09:27 PM

Originally Posted by MartyJB

Mines an MY11, not sat nav, and works as you've descibed it too (not as per the book)....

You mean to say they haven't rewritten the book yet??? What have they been DOING all this time?? ....not a lot?

It's only a small irritation, but a constant one. I jump around radio stations more often than I use the brake pedal.

**geoz** · 22nd December 2010, 06:15 AM

I also find irritating that I cannot operate the phone (e.g. Selecting a number from the missed calls list) from the steering shell but have to use the buttons On the radio.

Is this the punishment for not paying a couple of grand for a Navi? Or is there a better way? Am I missing something?

**Graeme** · 22nd December 2010, 06:24 AM

Originally Posted by Beamin

I jump around radio stations more often than I use the brake pedal.

I thought I didn't use the brake pedal much but hadn't used the radio at all until checking for this thread, preferring my CD of my faourite albums.

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