Bluetooth 'disappeared'

rgeorge101

New member
Joined
Dec 28, 2011
Location
New Jersey
TDI
2012 VW Passat TDI SE
First off, I'd like to say I love my new 2012 Passat. I had a 2002 Passat GLX V6 4Motion which I loved as well, sold it to get a 2007 Grand Cherokee, then traded that on a 2010 TSX 6spd and now got rid of that (tired of putting rear brakes on every 17k miles) for this new beast. I love the size of the car and the SE w/ sunroof leaves little to be desired. I absolutely loved the bluetooth system on the touchscreen and the entire interface... until last week it simply disappeared from the car all together. the voice command button does nothing when pressed, there is no bluetooth connect menu when i scroll through the menus in the instrument panel, in the Media menu on the touchscreen there's no BT Audio button, and when i click Phone on the touchscreen it just mutes the music. It is literally like somebody took the system out of the car all together. I have not found anyone else that had this problem, and the dealership said they needed to order a new bluetooth module, but it is still not in and they have no expected ship date for it as of now. (they don't know if its backordered or what's happening with it at all) I am wondering if anyone else had anything similar happen, they told me it was not a fuse (however i have not checked... having an electrical background i should know better)
I read that other people on here were singing praises on how the dealership treated you, but my local guys (Flemington, NJ) have been pretty rude/inconsiderate for the situation. I know it may not sound like that big of a deal, but I repair computers for a living and I am in the car a lot between gigs, and I need to be on the phone a lot, AND its cell phone/distraction awareness month so cops are really gunning to pull people over around here who are talking on their cell phones. Last week, they told me mid week at the latest. Here it is Thursday, and theres no end in sight.
They also called me on monday with an automated message confirming my appointment for Wednesday (yesterday) at 8am with no other information. My sister has a 2012 jetta and the message did not mention a car or what it was for. I called the dealer and they were closed monday. come to find out on Tuesday (when i had to call them) that it was not an actual appointment, just that they had to put an appointment in the system to order the part. So I blocked off that time for nothing... Needless to say Im pretty frustrated. I requested a loaner or something with bluetooth but they said no. For a company trying to revamp their image as reliable cars, I would think they would want to do whatever they can to make this right.
Anyway... I don't know if anyone has come across a situation like this, and if not, maybe provide a little insight as to where the bluetooth module is in the vehicle and if there is a separate fuse for that component.
Also, worth noting... the night before my bluetooth went on vacation, I had to slam on the brakes engaging the ABS system and swerve to avoid an idiot in an F-150 who decided that pulling out in front of me was a good idea. I don't know if that may or may not have anything to do with the situation, but i figured it was worth mentioning...
Happy VWing to all and to all a good night.
 

rgeorge101

New member
Joined
Dec 28, 2011
Location
New Jersey
TDI
2012 VW Passat TDI SE
So, I got impatient, and with looking up other models, I found that the module is located under the passenger seat. I unplugged and re-plugged the module and viola! it works again. I don't think the dealership even looked at it, frankly it kind of pisses me off because it was such an easy fix. There is however still a bit of an issue with the bluetooth audio feed, it momentarily cuts out every now and again just for about a half a second like i muted it then un-muted it real quick. That has been happening since I got the car, so I'm going to still have them replace the module.

Under2x... the link did not work, however with some digging i found what you were referring to (i think) on that site. Thanks for the reply!

Also, the Styrofoam case is not connected with velcro like the video shows on a jetta, its got a tongue on one side which i broke when forcing it out, but im going to glue it back if the replacement module does not come with one.
 

under2x

Member
Joined
Dec 20, 2011
Location
Colorado USA
TDI
2012 Passat TDI SE manual
Weird ya it looks like they changed the site around right after I posted the link lol. I'm glad connecting and reconnecting fixed it for you. FYI my bluetooth also cuts out once in a while for like 1/2 second at a time, so I wouldn't expect that to be fixed. All wireless technologies are somewhat flakey imo. If you can't live with it then use the aux in.
 

tdiatlast

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Jan 21, 2009
Location
Fort Worth, Texas
TDI
2009 Sportwagen (boughtback); 2014 Passat TDI SEL (boughtback)
My bluetooth speaker crackled quite a bit. Phoned the selling dealer, and he told me there's an update for the Bluetooth. After the update, it's still not great, but better..

FYI, he had a list of VWoA updates/checks for the car. VWoA gives every appearance of trying hard to make this car as good as possible. I hope they succeed!
 

mbaker01

Active member
Joined
Oct 30, 2011
Location
Philo, IL
TDI
2012 VW Passat SE
Bluetooth disappeared.

This happened to me on my 2012 Passat SE TDI. I just got back from the dealership and they said they have never seen this before. I printed off this thread and will point them to the bluetooth module underneath the seat. All reference to a bluetooth device has disappeared from my VW display. Will keep you posted.
 

mbaker01

Active member
Joined
Oct 30, 2011
Location
Philo, IL
TDI
2012 VW Passat SE
Took car into dealer and they replaced the bluetooth control module and now seems to be working great.
 
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