V-SPA Forum

Hi All,

2016 Volvo XC90 T6 R-Design owner here; first post...

I recently purchased the Polestar update (assuming that can't be hacked as a feature toggle) from Volvo. Initially, they said it was done, but I did not see any change--no polestar. I immediately had them reprogram it, and they ended up trying to reprogram the entire system (not sure if just the IHU, or what). Then, polestar was available and working--but the IHU began to completely reboot every ~90 seconds, turning on the radio, defaulting to 87.7FM, going back to default driving mode, and no settings can be saved anymore. Every 90 seconds, I have to switch to polestar mode gain and shut off the radio. Can't open the owner's manual either. Incredibly frustrating.

Long story short, the dealer and Volvo tech can't see how to fix this with code and have kindly agreed to replace my IHU (normally a $3,000 part). So, I'm going to have a spare IHU

Some background... I am a c-sharp developer (in case you haven't guessed by my login) and have been coding for over 40 years, the most recent 14 of them in C#. In my early years of development, I coded BIOS (AMI/Phoenix), various device drivers, and have developed several firmware-based devices on the market (e.g., Sharpe/Hisense TV's DBX TV Audio is my work). My firmware background is mostly in assembly, c, and c++ for various microcontrollers. Fortunately, the code on the main page looks like C#, which is my language of choice these days. I spent years writing WPF-based UI apps, Xamarin mobile apps (both iOS/Android), and more recently I'm mostly working on back-end API and cloud-based solutions.

Anyway, after seeing the code on the main page, I'm very intrigued at the possibilities. I'd love to get my hands on it to make some changes--like turning on Polestar by default when starting the car, but I'd love to revamp the whole laggy thing. I'm also curious about the polestar reboot issues I've had, which is probably due to a watchdog timer not getting reset--something not running as it should. Basically, I'd like to do a post-mortem when I get the old one back.

Any advice on where to start would be great. I'll start by digging through the forums. I'm all for swapping out CPUs (for a faster one) or any other parts if needed. I'm pretty handy with soldering and have a commercial-grade PCB heater that could also be useful for pulling off surface-mount parts.

Best Regards

unfortunately people are very shy and dont like sharing to much information on here. But i suggest geting volvo vida and pull the files while doing a full system reset on the IHU to pull the files.

Thanks Nilsson. I get it. Anyway, Volvo replaced the IHU as promised, and all is good. Much less lag (not sure if they updated the latest units), and I see some options i don't recall, like turning on speed camera warnings. Internet tethering also now works (which NEVER worked on my unit). Unfortunately, as this was "warrantied" they had to take the original part back as a core--I suppose more to keep dealers honest for comp'ed parts. I tried my best with both the mechanic and the salesperson to let me keep it.

Overall, I'm very happy with the service I got and apparently the part is now warrantied for life due to their replacement parts policy. I still want to figure out how to make Polestar mode the default mode when starting the car. I'm sure someone has done it. With that said, I can definitely attest to the Posestar update improving even regular driving mode. Most noticeable thing is that shifting is like 3x quicker. The shift lag prior to the update was one of my biggest pet peeves.