Some 2016 Ram 1500 Owners Have Noticed Unbelievable Changes With The UConnect Update

Many drivers put off or delay downloading upgrades because they are concerned about what the new software will do to their UConnect systems. Some 2016 Ram 1500 owners discuss the changes they have noticed since the latest upgrade.

A St. Louis Ram owner started the conversation on a popular pickup truck forum. Bubba says he had delayed downloading the most recent upgrade to his UConnect system on his 2016 Ram 1500, when it finally came through on its own. “My 8.4 updated yesterday. Only difference I noticed is the woman's voice. Sounds more sexy than robotic.”

UConnect Updates on its own

Other drivers were surprised that the system upgraded on its own. Bubba says, “Yes , it popped up on the screen to update. I’m not paying for it yet. This one came with the 1 year free sub. It seemed to just change the woman's voice on mine. The other stuff it listed mine already does.”

Another owner seems to have pretty good information on what is happening with the UConnect system. He says, “Uconnect is rolling out Over-The-Air (OTA) updates for its RA3 and RA4 systems - all updates beginning with this new ver. 17.11.07 will be broadcast to the systems in stages across the country. Lots of owners have the RAX software on their Uconnect systems; however no one who's running it has received notice of the update so it's unknown what will happen to those systems. It's also believed that you don't have to have a current Uconnect subscription in order to receive this or future updates.”

The owner who calls himself 100 also adds, “System won't update on its own - when yours is ready for the update you'll see a screen giving you the option of proceeding with it or delaying it. You can't delay it indefinitely; it will force you to update at some point.”

Fixes Freezing Issue

One owner says that UConnect customer service has assured him that this update will solve a problem he is having with his screen repeatedly freezing up. He has complained multiple times and they assure him this update will fix that glitch.

Royd shared parts of the Technical Service Bulletin with the other members. It says “All MY13-16 vehicles sold in the U.S. with the RA3 or RA4 radio can now receive software updates “over-the-air”. Updates to software level 17.11.07 will occur in a phased roll-out. The software is updated through the built-in cellular modem in the radio which is connected to the Sprint® 3G network.”

Crush says it hasn’t happened for his truck yet. “Checked mine last night. Still on Ver.16. Did a casual search and saw a lot of people saying it was a phased rollout (pretty common method for critical/semi-critical systems). I won't worry about it unless it goes until the end of the year without updating.”

Fixes problem with multiple phones

An owner from San Diego says he has been told that the new update will fix a problem that an earlier update created. "This is great news. I have had a reproducible issue where if an iphone is connected to a charging cable it is impossible to have a second iphone playing through bluetooth. This creates issues when wife or daughter needs to charge their phone and I want to listen to my music and not theirs. This used to work, but it stopped after the prior update."

RLM, from Omaha, says “I was prompted for the update today in my 2016 2500. I have not been paying for the Uconnect service. The initial 6 months of service ran out in December. I delayed the installation as I wanted to see if anyone had issues before proceeding. I wonder how long you can delay it before it proceeds.” After reading other driver’s reactions, RLM decided to go ahead and allow the upgrade. He said that it did not cause him any problems. “I allowed it to install today. It took less time that it estimated. Maybe 30-35 minutes total. Once it finished it said I would need to reset my radio presets and link phones. Even though it was not on a preset, all of my presets were still there for AM/FM/XM. The phone was also recognized.”

It does not sound as if the most recent upgrade causes many problems. It appears that they may be just fixing some previous glitches in the system. This particular update applies to vehicles with UConnect, whether they pay for the services or not.