Major software update Vantage / DB12 / Vanquish / DBX
Discussion
Many people who drive a new (MY 2024/25) Aston Martin were happy with the design and tech, but of course not so happy with the bad software released in these cars.
Some smaller things were solved with the september 2024 release (SA-30-1994), but most were waiting for the major release planned for end 2024. With a small delay, end of januari 2025 this was released (QN-30-2006) and solved some major issues:
- finally (wired) Android Auto is supported, as well as wireless Carplay => beware, wired Carplay does NOT work anymore => you can still use the Carlinkit or Ottocast solution to get wireless(!) Android Auto, but you have to use Wired AA (instead of wired CP) to connect this unit to the car
- the annyoing driving assistance systems and warning beeps (obliged by the EU) can be turned off more easy than before (press lane assist button, choose OFF or Custom and confirm), so not browsing to difficult to read menu's anymore!
- this Custom Driver Assitance possibility is very nice: e.g. you want no lane keeping assist or speed limit beeps, but you want blind spot assist
- voice control for basic car functions (already in the september update), works like any modern Mercedes
- much easier accessible layout, sub menu's and also better to read fonts with better contrast (especially speed, gear, time and outside temp are much better to see now, as well is fuel level), also some small changes regarding climate control and bluetooth info, heated steering wheel icon moved from central disaply to dashboard in front of you
- several bug fixes, e.g. the annoying "reverse camera within the first 20 seconds after startup" problem.......is solved now!
So very good and necessary upgrade imho and it also works much more smoothly/faster than before. Beware, this is not an OTA update, but car has to go to the dealer (it takes approx 12 hours, so over night).
Still some bugs (like the missing DTMF possbility when using a BT phone (without CP or AA) and some other things, will report later).
Some smaller things were solved with the september 2024 release (SA-30-1994), but most were waiting for the major release planned for end 2024. With a small delay, end of januari 2025 this was released (QN-30-2006) and solved some major issues:
- finally (wired) Android Auto is supported, as well as wireless Carplay => beware, wired Carplay does NOT work anymore => you can still use the Carlinkit or Ottocast solution to get wireless(!) Android Auto, but you have to use Wired AA (instead of wired CP) to connect this unit to the car
- the annyoing driving assistance systems and warning beeps (obliged by the EU) can be turned off more easy than before (press lane assist button, choose OFF or Custom and confirm), so not browsing to difficult to read menu's anymore!
- this Custom Driver Assitance possibility is very nice: e.g. you want no lane keeping assist or speed limit beeps, but you want blind spot assist
- voice control for basic car functions (already in the september update), works like any modern Mercedes
- much easier accessible layout, sub menu's and also better to read fonts with better contrast (especially speed, gear, time and outside temp are much better to see now, as well is fuel level), also some small changes regarding climate control and bluetooth info, heated steering wheel icon moved from central disaply to dashboard in front of you
- several bug fixes, e.g. the annoying "reverse camera within the first 20 seconds after startup" problem.......is solved now!
So very good and necessary upgrade imho and it also works much more smoothly/faster than before. Beware, this is not an OTA update, but car has to go to the dealer (it takes approx 12 hours, so over night).
Still some bugs (like the missing DTMF possbility when using a BT phone (without CP or AA) and some other things, will report later).
Edited by AWV12 on Saturday 22 February 14:43
In addition: after the major update (QN-30-2006) my DB12 has now v912.19.55 (bootloader 4.4.4) installed. The previous version was v911.28.10 (bootloader 4.4.0), that still had the "reverse camera" bug, there was a small OTA sw patch for that little while ago.
Plus: not only the DTMF bug is not solved, it is also still not possible to connect 2 bluetooth devices at the same time (e.g one for calling and the other for music streaming, a typical use case when travelling longer distances).
Both features are explicitely mentioned to work in the DB12 user manual. But so is Android Auto and wireless Carplay (that just now, with the 912 sw update, is really there).
Plus: not only the DTMF bug is not solved, it is also still not possible to connect 2 bluetooth devices at the same time (e.g one for calling and the other for music streaming, a typical use case when travelling longer distances).
Both features are explicitely mentioned to work in the DB12 user manual. But so is Android Auto and wireless Carplay (that just now, with the 912 sw update, is really there).
Edited by AWV12 on Saturday 22 February 18:35
AWV12 said:
Many people who drive a new (MY 2024/25) Aston Martin were happy with the design and tech, but of course not so happy with the bad software released in these cars.
Some smaller things were solved with the september 2024 release (SA-30-1994), but most were waiting for the major release planned for end 2024. With a small delay, end of januari 2025 this was released (QN-30-2006) and solved some major issues:
- finally (wired) Android Auto is supported, as well as wireless Carplay => beware, wired Carplay does NOT work anymore => you can still use the Carlinkit or Ottocast solution to get wireless(!) Android Auto, but you have to use Wired AA (instead of wired CP) to connect this unit to the car
- the annyoing driving assistance systems and warning beeps (obliged by the EU) can be turned off more easy than before (press lane assist button, choose OFF or Custom and confirm), so not browsing to difficult to read menu's anymore!
- this Custom Driver Assitance possibility is very nice: e.g. you want no lane keeping assist or speed limit beeps, but you want blind spot assist
- voice control for basic car functions (already in the september update), works like any modern Mercedes
- much easier accessible layout, sub menu's and also better to read fonts with better contrast (especially speed, gear, time and outside temp are much better to see now, as well is fuel level), also some small changes regarding climate control and bluetooth info, heated steering wheel icon moved from central disaply to dashboard in front of you
- several bug fixes, e.g. the annoying "reverse camera within the first 20 seconds after startup" problem.......is solved now!
So very good and necessary upgrade imho and it also works much more smoothly/faster than before. Beware, this is not an OTA update, but car has to go to the dealer (it takes approx 12 hours, so over night).
Still some bugs (like the missing DTMF possbility when using a BT phone (without CP or AA) and some other things, will report later).
Some smaller things were solved with the september 2024 release (SA-30-1994), but most were waiting for the major release planned for end 2024. With a small delay, end of januari 2025 this was released (QN-30-2006) and solved some major issues:
- finally (wired) Android Auto is supported, as well as wireless Carplay => beware, wired Carplay does NOT work anymore => you can still use the Carlinkit or Ottocast solution to get wireless(!) Android Auto, but you have to use Wired AA (instead of wired CP) to connect this unit to the car
- the annyoing driving assistance systems and warning beeps (obliged by the EU) can be turned off more easy than before (press lane assist button, choose OFF or Custom and confirm), so not browsing to difficult to read menu's anymore!
- this Custom Driver Assitance possibility is very nice: e.g. you want no lane keeping assist or speed limit beeps, but you want blind spot assist
- voice control for basic car functions (already in the september update), works like any modern Mercedes
- much easier accessible layout, sub menu's and also better to read fonts with better contrast (especially speed, gear, time and outside temp are much better to see now, as well is fuel level), also some small changes regarding climate control and bluetooth info, heated steering wheel icon moved from central disaply to dashboard in front of you
- several bug fixes, e.g. the annoying "reverse camera within the first 20 seconds after startup" problem.......is solved now!
So very good and necessary upgrade imho and it also works much more smoothly/faster than before. Beware, this is not an OTA update, but car has to go to the dealer (it takes approx 12 hours, so over night).
Still some bugs (like the missing DTMF possbility when using a BT phone (without CP or AA) and some other things, will report later).
Wow.
After reading all that, I am sure that Simpo Two has just decided his DB9 has become a keeper. -
My list of software updates, not counting two OTA mini-updates over the last 6 months:
Nov '24 QN-00-1968 Instrument cluster control panel
QN-30-1194 vehicle software update
Feb '25 QN-30-2015 head unit software update
QN30-2006 vehicle software update
In addition to the bug fixes already mentioned, these are other fixes according to my service department manager:
• Bug fixes on balance and EQ. Correction of volume adjustment for navigation prompts (which was previously always at high volume IIRC)
• Infotainment improvements with new icons and text sizes for centre display and instrument cluster
• Wireless CarPlay reliability and consistency improvements
• Text translation improvement (not sure what this is, maybe for traffic signs?)
• Navigation robustness and reliability improvement (lots of complaints on various boards about this but I mostly use CarPlay so not sure what changed)
• Bluetooth connection improvement (may help some complaints I've read with background noise on calls)
• Climate control bug fixes
• Media bug fixes
• Phone bug fixes
• Auto brightness for displays (this has been a frequent complaint I've seen and experienced)
• Rear camera overlay update
• Map data updates for ROW / EU / US
• Voice Recognition updates (who knew? I have never used it except for CarPlay with Siri)
Note of caution: you may be prompted to install an OTA update after having this dealer update done (I was). Do not do this without first consulting with your service department. I did the OTA update without asking and it is actually a backlevel update which returned me to somewhere between my Nov updates and the Feb updates I had just gotten, wiping out some of the improvements above. I now have to return my car to the dealer to have the 10 hr update done again!
Nov '24 QN-00-1968 Instrument cluster control panel
QN-30-1194 vehicle software update
Feb '25 QN-30-2015 head unit software update
QN30-2006 vehicle software update
In addition to the bug fixes already mentioned, these are other fixes according to my service department manager:
• Bug fixes on balance and EQ. Correction of volume adjustment for navigation prompts (which was previously always at high volume IIRC)
• Infotainment improvements with new icons and text sizes for centre display and instrument cluster
• Wireless CarPlay reliability and consistency improvements
• Text translation improvement (not sure what this is, maybe for traffic signs?)
• Navigation robustness and reliability improvement (lots of complaints on various boards about this but I mostly use CarPlay so not sure what changed)
• Bluetooth connection improvement (may help some complaints I've read with background noise on calls)
• Climate control bug fixes
• Media bug fixes
• Phone bug fixes
• Auto brightness for displays (this has been a frequent complaint I've seen and experienced)
• Rear camera overlay update
• Map data updates for ROW / EU / US
• Voice Recognition updates (who knew? I have never used it except for CarPlay with Siri)
Note of caution: you may be prompted to install an OTA update after having this dealer update done (I was). Do not do this without first consulting with your service department. I did the OTA update without asking and it is actually a backlevel update which returned me to somewhere between my Nov updates and the Feb updates I had just gotten, wiping out some of the improvements above. I now have to return my car to the dealer to have the 10 hr update done again!
AWV12 said:
Thx for the detailed additions karlsalnoske. Read your experience also on AML forum, so indeed beware of a OTA update that "deletes" the big dealer update (strange that this is even possible, but hey, now you know it is real AM, not german 
)
Strange behaviour of the mods at AMLife forum: posted some relevant and very actual stuff, but got banned without any reason. Any thoughts what happened karlsalnoske? Over enthousiastic AI bot without any human looking at it? ) Gassing Station | Aston Martin | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff