Hi and welcome to the forum.
Last year I ordered a brand-new
Cupra Ateca and I was expecting it to come with the navigation option.
But when the car has arrived, I found out that there was no navigation, much to my dismay.
Then the
dealer explained to me that due to some alleged mapping dispute with the government, the Turkish importer of VW Group cars was unable to get the cars with the navigation but they do get them with the "navigation preparation" (PR code 7UH) which basically means it can be activated at the
dealer by purchasing it any time after the delivery. But unfortunately, Cupra does not sell navigation licenses separately unlike, for example, Audi do. So having the "navigation preparation" seemed useless, if you want it activate it via official ways.
Official is the keyword here, because there's an unofficial way to do it, via retrofitters of course. A capable retrofitter can install the required navigation FeC (Feature enabling Code), do some
coding changes and get it working. But there's another hurdle along the way: SFD2. Since some varying months of 2024 for different model lines, some control units in cars have this protection scheme called SFD2, which is mandated by EU. It is basically there to prevent people from making software alterations/setting changes to their cars' electronic control units, citing safety requirements. Before that, it was much more easier to retrofit things (e.g. install new hardware and/or activate features). Now, for the cars with SFD2, only
dealers has authorized to make any change using VW Group's own software, but the
problem is that the
dealers never get involved in such retrofitting business.
So is it impossible to activate the navigation?
Of course not, because there's always people doing things via backdoors, or some possibly illegal ways.
I live in Turkey and in the last 5 years that I owned VW Group cars I had developed some relations with the retrofitting circles.
I asked around and found that they can provide their services to activate the navigation in my SFD2-protected new
Ateca.
I went with this offer and after some struggle with missing
coding, we managed to activate it but I should add that it was expensive due to SFD2 thing, compared to other retrofitting works.
Long story short, it is possible if you find the right people.
But it would be possibly expensive and if the software in related control units need to be updated in a
service visit, they would return to their factory settings and all the activation &
coding work would be deleted. Last month I brought my car in the
dealer for its yearly
service and they told me there was a baseline update in which all control units that have newer firmware versions would be updated, but I told them not to do it because that would delete my navigation activation.
Also, if you decide to do it, a lookup for your cars' build codes would prove useful.
Your car might also have that "navigation preparation" code or it might have "no navigation" code.
I'm not sure that this preparation stuff would be required to be able to activate it.
Hope this helps & regards,
Serdar
