Hello everyone,

If you want Honda to officially support Android Auto, MirrorLink and Apple Carplay on your GK Fits, you can email Honda Customer Relations directly at:

honda_cr@ch.honda.com

Similar to all other companies, if there is enough concern/demand, Honda will leverage and port over existing software support on the 2016 Honda Civic/Accord to the Honda Fit. It's not a technical challenge for Honda, but more of where to use their Development Resources based on demand or if there are safety concerns.

Android Auto, MirrorLink and Apple Carplay support will add not only enhance the car experience but more importantly provide a more safer Handsfree way of interacting with your Honda Fit that is more natural and intuitive via Siri/Google's intelligent Voice Recognition.

 

I'm not sure an email to Honda will influence their lack of AA/CarPlay. The email address is for Canada, I think, and most people on here are from the US.

No matter, there is no plan so far to retroactively change head unit programming, afaik, so this would only apply to those planning for the 2017 models.

As well, there are posts from new 2016 Accord owners who say that AA/CarPlay support is still in its infancy and might be buggy. I don't have the link but it has been mentioned on this forum before.

 

Similar to all other companies, spending money requires a business case for doing so. What on earth would the business case be for Honda to do this?

 

This! Why should Honda (or any car maker, for that matter) spend resources to update your existing car, when they could use any "updates" to encourage you to "trade up" to a newer version? How would they make money doing this?

 

The current model for selling cars is to have people trade in and get the newer model. This is expensive for consumers and is slow for manufacturers. As cars are now lasting longer people are naturally keeping their cars longer. Head units are now run by software, which, theoretically should be easily updateable. We have precedences such as computers (Ubuntu, Mac, Windows) and smartphones (Android, iPhone). These two trends will need to coalesce some time in the future.

The only car company that I know of that currently offers regular OTA updates is Tesla. It must happen in the future. We need one mainstream car manufacturer to step up and use the IT industry software update model on their head units. Split the infotainment and car functionality so they are completely isolated, so one update will not affect the other. OTA or USB stick updates should be common in the future.

Why are some people upset that car manufacturers seem so slow to react? I buy a smartphone and when available, can upgrade the OS. I can download, try and delete new apps of my choice. A security bug is blocked with a small OTA update. These are regular, daily occurrences for many people, myself included. And now for my new 2016 Fit, and we'e not even in 2016 yet? How do I update the HU software? To simply say "Buy a new model when it comes out", seems egregious.

Alas car manufacturers are just not ready for this jump, and consumers are getting antsy. Like it or not infotainment centers are becoming more important to the buy decision, and after purchase updates are part of this. It must happen, but we're not there yet. Not even close. For Honda, not even the software infrastructure is there. A head unit mindset change is required.

 

my wife uses blackberry in her GK..

 

There was an article in the news just recently with GM stating that CarPlay was definitely helping their salescritters close deals...

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If there ever comes a day when you can easily get your head unit updated, I'd bet you a paycheck they won't do it for free like your smartphone.

 

Whether it actually worked the next day when the customer actually tried to use it is another matter all together.

 

Business Case: "I'm suing the deep-pocketed manufacturer because I wrecked my Honda trying to work the touchscreen. They could have easily retrofitted the capability; I would even have paid a few dollars to upgrade to this important safety feature. But, they wouldn't offer it."

There, now you know what to say.

 

so true... i read something about GM having all sorts of warranty claims on their carplay stuff cause it just dont work right on some cars. sometimes the BT and hardwiring beat each other up and dont work.

ive been using my new iphone6s for the last week and with siri and voice recognition, i really dont feel the need for carplay unless it already came with the car. i have it paired to my older gen Pioneer AVH-2500BT in my GE with a ProClip i wired up with a lightening connector charger.

i was about to order the 4100NEX with carplay, but now i dont feel the need.

 

Added Poll (BTW, I replied to a few of your responses, but for some reason it never got posted...)

 

With the new HDMI hack, I don't feel the need to have CarPlay anymore. I don't even want the Honda nav app. I can use Siri to command my phone to do whatever I want, including navigation with google maps. Not sure what advantage CarPlay can offer now.

 

What company makes the unit you're talking about? Looking through the Japanese accessory manual for 2016 fits, I find panasonic and clarion for the sat nav units, alpine for two of the audio head units, and JVC/Kenwood for the two cheapest.

Complaining to honda isn't going to do much good.

 

I must have missed this somewhere - here's a link to the thread describing the HDMI hack (feel free to add more links if there are other threads).

https://www.fitfreak.net/forums/3rd-...are-works.html

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Come on fellow FitFreaks!

It only takes 15 seconds to send off a quick email to Honda requesting for Android Auto / Apple Carplay support (ie. less time than responding to this thread!)

With poor Honda Fit sales in the US, Honda needs to quickly add support and start marketing the hell out of Android Auto / Apple Carplay to College/University grads, who are looking for new relatively cheap vehicle.

Cheap gasoline hammers 2016 Honda Fit sales in U.S. - Torque News

Heck, even Hyundai is rolling out free software updates to support Android Auto!
https://www.hyundaiusa.com/myhyundai...ad/androidauto

So go out and send a quick email, and if you feel the need to respond to this thread, just help answer the Poll for "Yes".

 

2015-2016 Honda Fit sales were off -50% because of a horrendous and self inflicted supply problem. Most posters on this forum already knew this. Honda could not supply Fits at that time. Two months later and the supply side seems to be much better. Sure, cheap gas has an effect, but also affects all sub-compact competitors as well as most other compact cars.

Toyota and Ford are teaming up to do their own infotainment system. I'm sure other car manufacturers will be doing the same. None of them want to cede their infortainment systems to Apple or Google.

If and when Honda comes up with a system for reliable software updates by end users, then I'll be more interested. This has not happened.

 

First they have to learn what an update is.

 

Many more views and still no movement in "Yes" to emailing Honda. Come on folks, we need to voice our concerns!

If you need help in drafting an email to Honda, here's some very valid reasons:

1) SAFETY - The current infotainment system is not completely handsfree for Navigation on the fly. Android Auto and Apple Carplay, in this regards, using intuitive voice commands, is light years more safer.

2) COMPETITIVENESS - Hyundai is already rolling out free software updates on some of their 2015 models. Similar to what happened in the Japanese electronics segment where Samsung and LG to some regards have overtaken in Smartphones and TVs, if Honda does not move with the times, Korean car manufactures will also overtake the likes of Honda and it's already looking that way.

3) CUSTOMER SATISFACTION / BRAND LOYALTY - Basically, Honda can make the car experience SAFER, enjoyable and more convenient for the customer, that goes a long way in keeping the customer loyal to buying another Honda in the future and bragging to friends/family how great Honda was for supporting Android Auto and Apple Carplay.

4) SALES / MARKETING OPPORTUNITY - As mentioned, Honda supply problems caused poor sales which was further aggravated by lower gasoline prices. If Honda can properly Market the all of the glowing Magazine Reviews / Awards along with upcoming support for Android Auto and Apple Car Play, and learn from the Android Auto / Apple Carplay software bugs from the Accord/Civic and correct them on the Honda Fit, the Fit will be a big hit!

I know there are counter arguments that can be made to the above, but let Honda make those arguments in your email to them.

At least they will know there is demand!

So start sending FitFreaks!!!

 

I purchased a used 2002 Mini Cooper S with 48,000 km in 2004. I wanted to check if there were any outstanding recalls for the car. I wnt to a local dealer and the service rep placed my key in a reader (NFC?) on his desk. That key reader provided a whole range of facts about the configuration of the Mini.

One of the first few things he said was that there was one recall item and that the radio would also need to have an update. Part of that update was to make my radio head unit properly compatible with the Apple iPod integration kit.

There absolutely IS a case for a manufacturer to update/upgrade the software in a head unit.

Honda should do something about these head units. The user interface SUCKS.