Does anyone know for sure when the last Navigation Maps update for the 2019 RDX happened? I've had mine since May and I don't recall ever getting one. Some of my maps seem a bit out of sync with reality, especially where speed limits are concerned. Acura CS is absolutely no help whatsoever when I ask so maybe someone here can shed some light? I have the .pdf where they trumpet the free quarterly map update but that doesn't seem to be happening.

 

I’ve had my RDX for 15 months, and there has been no official update. There was a short period last October when HERE, who provides the map updates for Acura, had an update for the 2019 on their web site, which was quickly pulled. Those of us who downloaded and installed it now get a “map out of date” message when we use the nav. Between this message and the HUD directions not matching the nav screen, the native nav is useless. I now use Google maps via Apple Carplay.

 

There have been no map updates, despite Acura saying there would be quarterly updates in their press releases, and yearly updates on their sales brochure.

Just one more case of Acura promising something routine, failing to deliver, and stonewalling. On a positive note, the nav is generally useless except as a rolling map, and the roads where I live hardly change.

 

IIRC there have been two updates since June 2018, delivered through a cumbersome and glitchy USB thumb drive ( via internet-connected computer ) delivery scheme, and both were pulled in a matter of hours. ( Probably when the "customer service" lines at HERE and Acura went nuts ).

And as noted by DrWoo the only "benefit" seems to be getting frequent "map out of date" messages, which started AFTER the updates, not before.

I suspect, and hope, they are rethinking the delivery mechanism for the map updates.

 

Yeah, that all jibes with what I've heard from Acura, both on the CS line & from the dealer. They all seem to have forgotten the part about the "quarterly updates" & the yearly update just gets the Android Auto treatment of "it's about to be released."

As a former long time Honda owner, I really expected more from Acura when it came to customer service. My experience with my Mazda & Hyundai cars makes Acura look like they have no desire at all to deal with customers after they have your money. There's a lot to like about my RDX; very little to like about how Acura runs it's customer service business.

 

I really like the car as a car, except for the well documented infotainment system failures.

However, if I had a clue as to how poorly Acura corporate and my Acura dealer treats its customers, I would have paid more and gotten an X3, Q5, or XC60. I don’t think those cars are better as cars, but the other stuff counts too.

 

Agreed. It is a great car and a little transparency in the tech problems upfront wouldn't have diminished that in any way. But I guess the fear of it not rolling out as "perfect" to the general public was too much and they fudged. That just leaves those of us who ponied up our hard earned $$ to deal with it.

I've tried contacting HERE as they do show 2019 & 2020 for the RDX but it just tells you that your current map is the most recent available. All of this would be moot if I could just have Android Auto and use Google Maps.

 

It is perfectly clear that when 2019 general availability happened about 16 months ago, the base car was ready but the infotainment system was not and they knew it. It was a conscious decision to not hold the car up for the infotainment system and basically used us as surrogate beta testers. But they did not have a support structure set up to both take in issues other than business as usual mode and communicate progress as is the norm with IT beta testing.

 

Don't confuse the over the air updates, which the last was on 8/28/17 (D.1.1.4) with the map updating. its done to update the software not map.
You can find the date the map was from in the vehicle setting. If a new version comes out I'm sure there will be a fee for it. Based on the map update I paid for in my 2014 RDX, its not worth it. Very little was changed

 

You may be right, then that makes this paste from the 2019 Acura RDX Press Kit page 38 dated 2018-05-29 wrong.

The RDX's all-new navigation system, developed in cooperation with HERE, offers many improvements, including
enhanced graphics, customized vehicle icons, 3D buildings and terrain, turn-by-turn directions displayed in the
instrument cluster and more. The system includes free quarterly map database updates for five years.

It is obvious that they have backpedaled from the quarterly map updates unless t=0 has not occurred yet. The cost is free according to this, but until one is made available, who knows?

 

The D.1.1.4 update did update our Canadian maps so now this split screen works. https://mobilesyrup.com/2019/09/20/a...UDaAr-QKGAxXeM

 

So I'd be looking for free quarterly map updates for five years when the first one comes out, so you should be getting map updates for free until about 2050 or so - or maybe the year 2525 (in the year 2525, if Acura is still alive....Ain't gonna need to tell the truth, tell no lie...)

 

That's a feature of Apple CarPlay running under iOS 13, which was recently released. That's not the built-in Nav.

Apple Maps gets it's own map data on-the-fly via cellular data service. It gets updated at Apple's servers, probably pretty often.

The built-in Navigation system uses map data supplied by HERE, but it's stored in the infotainment system, getting dustier by the minute.