Help with SOS call function warning

[olderman1]

My car battery is not in a good state of health, partly due to only doing short journeys so far this year and also because I left it unattended for most of last month whilst away.

Needed to go shopping today, battery was too low to start car. Attached my portable power pack, started car which stalled after a couple on minutes of keeping the revs up. Restarted again with power pack and kept it running this time, but I had an orange warning triangle with an exclamation mark in it on the dot matrix screen. Also, where the trip mileage readout is, it kept changing to a phone icon with SOS beside it.

Whilst waiting for my wife to do the shopping, I attached my OBD11 and cancelled all fault codes I could find, but warning triangle remains on.

On the way home, whilst adjusting a setting on the infotainment screen, we noticed in the car settings (I think it was) menu, a warning that said something along the lines of; SOS CALL RESTRICTED, PHONE WORKSHOP.

 

Is this something to be concerned about, do I need to phone the workshop (can't, nobody there) and is there a way to extinguish the warnings I'm getting ??

Thankyou in advance.

 

 

[silver1011]

The SOS feature automatically alerts the emergency services (eCall) in the event of airbag deployment using a hidden SIM, or you can also activate the system manually (if you witness an accident) using the red button on the overhead console.

 

Skoda's do not like failing batteries, it often results in all sorts of seemingly unrelated and often spurious faults.

 

I would be tempted to get the battery back to good health and maintaining it during this time of infrequent use using a good quality trickle charger. After that the fault should disappear.

 

It certainly won't affect the reliability of the car, or result in damage if driven.

 

I bought one of these late last year, and really rate it...

 

 

A lot of people also have good experiences with the CTEK range of chargers (although I've heard their quality has taken a dive of late, hence me buying the NOCO).

 

Edited 17 April, 2020 by silver1011

[olderman1]

Thankyou silver1011, that's reassuring in a weird sort of way 🤔. I have a trickle charger (an AA one that seems to work well) and it's currently attached to my battery.

I'll be interested to see if the warning light goes out when the battery is fully charged. I hope so.

[MrTrilby]

Once charged you could also try restarting the infotainment system to see if that clears it. I’ve no idea if it will work but I’ve noticed that the two are linked. If you reboot the infotainment system the SOS system will throw the dashboard fault you’ve seen for a few minutes, which disappears once the infotainment system has completely restarted. 
 

You can restart it by pressing and holding the power/mute button on the infotainment system until the screen goes completely black and you hear a faint “pop” sound. It takes 5-10 seconds. The infotainment system will then restart. 

[olderman1]

2 minutes ago, MrTrilby said:

Once charged you could also try restarting the infotainment system to see if that clears it. I’ve no idea if it will work but I’ve noticed that the two are linked. If you reboot the infotainment system the SOS system will throw the dashboard fault you’ve seen for a few minutes, which disappears once the infotainment system has completely restarted. 
 

You can restart it by pressing and holding the power/mute button on the infotainment system until the screen goes completely black and you hear a faint “pop” sound. It takes 5-10 seconds. The infotainment system will then restart. 

 

I rebooted the infotainment system last night as you described, but it didn't clear the warning. Although at the time the battery had enough charge in it to start the car, it wasn't fully charged (which does take a while with a trickle charger), so I wonder if the battery must be fully charged for this method to work.

I'll try again later today or tomorrow.

 

It occurs to me, probably wrongly, that whilst driving my previous car (Hyundai Santa Fe) one day, I had a low level oil warning light appear on the dash ( I've never had that before in 50 years of driving).

I had spare oil with me so I topped up the engine - light wouldn't extinguish. put a bit more oil in - same result. Fearing there might be something darker occurring in the engine, I phoned my dealer and told him the problem. He consulted with a technician and came back and told me to switch my ignition on and off 3 times. That worked and the light extinguished, so I'm wondering if there are any such weird tricks that can be performed on the Kodiaq to eliminate warnings ?

[skomaz]

i have a vague recollection that on our old Fabia it used to take 5 restarts with a fault rectified before a warning light would extinguish withiut a reset using a code reader or vcds...   so it may be similar for the newer vehicles...   got to be worth a try??

[olderman1]

Quote

got to be worth a try??

 

As you've said and I will shortly, thankyou 😃

[silver1011]

If the battery is disconnected (or goes completely flat), and is then reconnected, you will notice a worryingly large number of warning lights, mainly the EML, power steering, ABS and a few others that don't extinguish like they would under normal ignition cycling conditions. The disconnection of the battery essentially performs a full hard systems reset.

 

These will only extinguish after a few minutes / miles of driving as the various sensors and systems need time and distance to recalibrate.

 

If with a completely and fully charged battery and after your next journey the warning is still present, then it will likely be a dealer visit when circumstances allow.

 

Edited 18 April, 2020 by silver1011

[olderman1]

1 hour ago, skomaz said:

i have a vague recollection that on our old Fabia it used to take 5 restarts with a fault rectified before a warning light would extinguish withiut a reset using a code reader or vcds...   so it may be similar for the newer vehicles...   got to be worth a try??

 

 

skomaz, I love you 😍. Okay, that was a bit strong, but I do like you a lot.

Just tried your suggestion and after 3 reboots the warning on the dash and the infotainment screen was extinguished.😁

[skomaz]

3 hours ago, olderman1 said:

 

 

skomaz, I love you 😍. Okay, that was a bit strong, but I do like you a lot.

Just tried your suggestion and after 3 reboots the warning on the dash and the infotainment screen was extinguished.😁

 

Now then go steady...   😄

 

Glad you got it sorted and interesting to see the system hasn't changed since 2001...!!!

[MikeH01]

I picked up my new Kodiaq on Friday and a dashcam was fitted for me by the dealer. I now have the same problem. I tried the above method of rebooting but no success😥. Guess it will have to go back to the dealer.

[SkodaArmy]

On 13/07/2020 at 12:50, MikeH01 said:

I picked up my new Kodiaq on Friday and a dashcam was fitted for me by the dealer. I now have the same problem. I tried the above method of rebooting but no success😥. Guess it will have to go back to the dealer.

We bought a new Kodiaq in May. In June we started getting the SOS warning. My wife called the dealership at the time and arranged to have the car checked out - earliest being Wed 3rd Aug! Anyway she received a call today from the dealer and they have said they have to cancel the appointment because they haven't heard back from Skoda and have no idea how to fix it. The solutions they have tried for other cars haven't worked. So now we have to live with the warning until they come up with a fix. They being Skoda HQ I assume. It's annoying.  

[Billywizzo]

Mine went in to the dealers to have the sos fix, 3 days later I got the car back with them saying the car would not accept the new software so they are waiting for Skoda to advise what to do. 

[selwonk11]

The delivery of my new Octavia vRS was delayed as it needed a few attempts to get the software upgraded and each attempt took several hours. Too much technology in my opinion! I'm not sure I'd want to buy anything modern out of warranty. :-(

[varaderoguy]

Might I suggest that you go and purchase a decent Solar Panel Charger.  I've got one from ebay - that plugs into the ODBC Port and charges the car that way.

Invaluable.

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/233409015194

 

No more flat batteries!!!