2012 Golf TDI w/ RCD 510 Bluetooth audio issue

Hi, I have a 2012 Golf TDI that I just got. I had all but pulled the trigger on a red 2D manual last year but the HPFP thing scared me. This year I decided that I wasn't interested in being scared of such things, so I got a white 2D manual.

There are a few issues with the car that I'm having, the one I'm making this thread for is regarding an issue with Bluetooth audio. I have a Samsung Galaxy Nexus that I have paired to the car. When I play music via bluetooth, sound is coming out of all the speakers but only one of the audio track's channels is audible. Ergo, some instruments and vocal tracks are "missing" when I'm playing music via BT. Works fine via the Aux. Checked the balance, it's centered. Checked settings on my phone, all fine.

I took it in and the techs look at my car for 3.5 hours and then hand me a piece of paper with instructions on how to change stereo-mono settings on an iPhone

Has anyone had any issues like this recently?

Yes, this is a software bug in the RCD-510 (from what I have been able to find, specifically the revisions used in the '12 and '13 cars).

I brought mine to my dealership about 2 weeks ago for this problem, and after some persistence on my part, they ended up calling a VW tech line about the problem. From what I was told, there should be a software update to address this in the next few weeks (late Oct/early Nov I think, they actually told me 4-6 weeks).

Some threads from golfmk6.com forums I found when I was researching this problem:
http://www.golfmk6.com/forums/showthread.php?t=31390
http://www.golfmk6.com/forums/showthread.php?t=45641

I've got the exact same problem with my '12. Except I have an iPhone. Generally, I only use the MDI because more often than not I'm in need of a charge, and I think the MDI sounds better than bluetooth (regardless of the channel issue). What was the fix related to the iPhone?

cardinalkellz said:

I've got the exact same problem with my '12. Except I have an iPhone. Generally, I only use the MDI because more often than not I'm in need of a charge, and I think the MDI sounds better than bluetooth (regardless of the channel issue). What was the fix related to the iPhone?

Click to expand...

I've forgotten. Had to do with going into the settings of your phone and flipping some mono-stereo switch. I looked it over and quickly realized it wasn't pertinent to me as I use a Galaxy Nexus, so I just cast it aside. 3.5 hours for that seems a little excessive. But I guess I'll keep calling back to find out if/when they receive the software update. In the meantime I think I'll be asking for a free MDI-USB adapter so I can use it with my phone.

cardinalkellz said:

I've got the exact same problem with my '12. Except I have an iPhone. Generally, I only use the MDI because more often than not I'm in need of a charge, and I think the MDI sounds better than bluetooth (regardless of the channel issue). What was the fix related to the iPhone?

Click to expand...

Do you use the iPod app, or a streaming app? I wasn't able to use the track change controls with my iPhone in Pandora when it was connected to the MDI (but they do work over bluetooth).

Well no luck for me at the dealer. The techs seemed a little slow-- they couldn't seem grasp the difference between stereo and mono. I'd try to explain that the radio isn't receiving and/or playing one of the channels of audio and they'd look at my blankly and ask "so, you're not happy with the audio quality..?" I'd tell them that the quality is fine, aside from the aforementioned channel-not-playing thing. When I picked up the car today, I noticed that they had written on my invoice "customer complains of poor bluetooth sound quality". :facepalm:

Also, I should note that they said they called their VoA "tech hotline" and claimed that they weren't able to find any information on a software update to fix this issue. This seems contrary to what I've been hearing...

mdi firmware update

A quick search for the update yielded results of: the mdi port can be found here:

http://87.230.74.92/ci_softwareupdates00.html


Have your dealer look this up and see if it aplies to your car. Since they could not find this I would also download the pdf and validate yourself.

Ron

forcedfedbug said:

A quick search for the update yielded results of: the mdi port can be found here:

http://87.230.74.92/ci_softwareupdates00.html


Have your dealer look this up and see if it aplies to your car. Since they could not find this I would also download the pdf and validate yourself.

Ron

Click to expand...

Would an MDI port software upgrade have any bearing on a bluetooth issue though..?

vash1053 said:

Well no luck for me at the dealer. The techs seemed a little slow-- they couldn't seem grasp the difference between stereo and mono. I'd try to explain that the radio isn't receiving and/or playing one of the channels of audio and they'd look at my blankly and ask "so, you're not happy with the audio quality..?" I'd tell them that the quality is fine, aside from the aforementioned channel-not-playing thing. When I picked up the car today, I noticed that they had written on my invoice "customer complains of poor bluetooth sound quality". :facepalm:
Also, I should note that they said they called their VoA "tech hotline" and claimed that they weren't able to find any information on a software update to fix this issue. This seems contrary to what I've been hearing...

Click to expand...

The techs and service advisor at my dealership didn't quite seem to get it either; I had to explain multiple times. I also used this youtube video as a demonstration of the problem. It plays a sound on each channel (left/right), and the video displays text stating which channel is playing. Hope this helps you explain to your dealership.
From what I was told, the software update is not ready yet, so hopefully once it is available dealerships will receive some notification about it.

I noticed this issue playing the stereo mix of Tommy James & the Shondells' "crimson & clover". It has one of those 60's stereo mixes that is all instruments one side, vocal on the other... so all you get is the lead vocal and like a keyboard...
I only use bluetooth audio for podcasts since it generally sounds terrible, it further compresses whatever size file you have on your phone... So basically bluetooth audio is sort of a joke anyway. But really, how is this acceptable at all?

Wonder what is so different that it effects the new ones and not previous years. Sucks for you guys. Just the other day I was thinking to myself how well blutooth audio sounded while streaming some relatively high bitrate music.

c17chief said:

Wonder what is so different that it effects the new ones and not previous years. Sucks for you guys. Just the other day I was thinking to myself how well blutooth audio sounded while streaming some relatively high bitrate music.

Click to expand...

Lol well the channel that DOES play sounds just fine... =*(

Has there been any word on a fix? I took a road trip from Portland to Phoenix the other day and the issue had really started to bug me.

VeeDubTDI said:

Technical Service Bulletin 2031136/1 <-- you must mention this number!
91-13-03 - Update Programming RCD-510 Radio (Premium 8)
Release date: Jan 11, 2013
This TSB covers all 2012 and 2013 models except Routan, Touareg, and Jetta Hybrid.
Old Software Part Number: 1K0.035.180.AE
New Software Part Number: 1K0.035.180.AF
Old software version number (2012): 0007, 0008, 0009, 0010, 0011, 0012, 0013, 0014, 0015, 0016
Old software version number (2013): 0007
New software version number (2012 & 2013): 0008
This update fixes the following problems...

• Bluetooth audio runs in mono
• Media player automatically starts when phone is connected to vehicle
• Bluetooth audio level is too high

Click to expand...

Having this update performed as we speak...

VeeDubTDI said:

Having this update performed as we speak...

Click to expand...

Any resolution? I'm sure there are more threads with info on this that are newer just can't seem to find them.

roman said:

Any resolution? I'm sure there are more threads with info on this that are newer just can't seem to find them.

Click to expand...

Have you found anything else besides this dead one. I'm having the same problem

I just had the update done this weekend and it fixed my problem.

Sent from my SM-G900P using Tapatalk

Vw in Las Vegas charge $100 to do the update. Did everyone else who had the update have to pay?

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

Well they said it was outdated anyway since I have a 2012 and they deleted all software from outdated cars. Can I use my vagcom that I had for my 2006 jetta? If so, how do I acquire the software update file?

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

CTSV said:

Well they said it was outdated anyway since I have a 2012 and they deleted all software from outdated cars. Can I use my vagcom that I had for my 2006 jetta? If so, how do I acquire the software update file?

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

Click to expand...

No. The file for the 2012 radio isn’t available.

Someone has to have this software

Sent from my SM-N975U using Tapatalk

gonna bump this thread. have the same problem. dealership was quoting $100s to simply update. software anyone??

Has anybody had success in finding a dealer to do this update? I've called all of the dealers in there area and they have no idea what I'm talking about when I mention this issue and give them the TSB number.