it’s not easy to log into the subaru tech info system and grab them – also some have had problems getting updates this way – sometimes your login works to get to where the files are stored, sometimes it doesn’t. I haven’t heard of anyone having trouble getting it resolved successfully within the 72 hour time frame you get for your $35. You need to search the document for updates (TSB 15-236-18R), then hope that the link to the files in the document will allow you to log in – it’s taking you to another subaru network, and SOMETIMES your login will work there, other times not. Some have zero problems, others never get it to work. The help desk there is not that quick to respond and you are on a 72 hour time limit. If you were smart and got your subscription on Monday, you have a 72 hour business day. If you received it on Friday, you will not receive a response before the time runs out.
Dealer diagnostics and labor fees to do this are probably not far off the cost of a subscription to the map. A map subscription is $120 for 2 years of updates. Maps are released twice a year – at the beginning of the 2018/2019 story, the maps were released a bit sooner, not because of the maps, but because of the firmware updates involved. And everyone had them because it was a free 3 year subscription when the car was new.
so $120 will get you 4, maybe 5 updates via USB. Also, between major updates, you can use WiFi map update to update individual states. They are released once in between major updates (or so I have experienced). No firmware comes to you this way, but you do get incremental map updates. Or, if you don’t like using the USB method and only want to update a few states, you can always do it this way. But there are no firmware updates.
Not every map update is guaranteed new firmware, it just always includes the latest. Which you may already have. example – update 5 was Rel_UA.20.38.70 … map updates that were the same firmware were REL_UA.20.41.70 / REL_UH.21.13.70 / REL_UA.21.41.70 / Rel_UA.22.05.45 – so 4 updates, the firmware was always the same. Which is good – there were no updates.
the only reason the 2019 unit is still getting updates is because there are still other models using that head unit hardware revision. Once they’ve moved to that big screen, I expect the updates to stop completely. 2018 hasn’t seen an update in a few years now.
Things to consider if you are considering a map subscription to use USB map update to get the latest update.
NOW – the annoying thing about the USB update process – it’s slow. Slow to download to the computer, and then creates a thumbdrive image, which is also slow, and you have to disable any power saving features – even if the screen is turned off (the computer is still running) the annoying program will fail in the writing process, and you have to redo the last half of it again. Then the update on the machine will take about 45 minutes. Just an FYI it’s not all sunshine and roses with the map update stuff. But it works.
Also – there is a WiFi firmware update on that radio, but it doesn’t seem to get updated that often, worth a try though. It was discontinued for a few years with the 2018 models when the firmware release was messing with the radios, causing them to be replaced, and by the time subaru brought it back, most people assumed the WiFi update would never work again. . Connecting the vehicle to WiFi and then checking for updates in the general tab in the settings is where it’s at… sometimes you have to enable “automatically check for updates” and then back off to get the manual check to respond.
