“Most recently, we said would be out at the end of the first quarter” of 2016, Johnson said. “We looked at it and said, ‘Wait a second, let’s delay this and package it together so that when they do the download, they get both the CarPlay software and the updated navigation map software in one load,’ ” Johnson said. It’s also an apparent reversal from December 2015, when Hyundai told the Detroit Free Press that the CarPlay upgrade itself would cost extra. The map upgrade originally was going to cost around $150 per owner, Johnson said.
#2016 HYUNDAI SONATA DIRECT DOWNLOAD SOFTWARE UPDATE#
Hyundai decided to package the Apple CarPlay software with the required map update and make the bundle available for free. The latest delay stems from a required upgrade to the navigation system’s mapping software. When the retrofit finally happens, it will consummate Hyundai’s announcement more than a year ago that the Sonata would be its first car to support CarPlay. (You can typically find the month a car was built on a sticker in the doorjamb.) CarPlay now is standard on the 2016 Sonata, which has a new, 7-inch touch-screen as its base multimedia system (an 8-inch screen with navigation still is optional). Hyundai will offer a free software update to retrofit Apple CarPlay into all 2015 Sonatas equipped with the optional 8-inch screen with navigation system, as well as into all 2016s built before CarPlay was added with an assembly-line change on Jan. Related: Will Smartphone Integrations ‘Future-Proof’ Your Car? CARS.COM - With some Hyundai Sonata owners reportedly steaming over the delayed introduction of Apple CarPlay, Hyundai now says it plans a free retrofit of CarPlay into certain 2015 Sonatas, as well as into early 2016 Sonatas that missed it, though it still may be “months” away, according to a spokesman.