When I had my car in for a problem fix with the ac during this winter I asked them if they could upgrade the infotament system at the same time.
They said that they wouldnt upgrade it unless there is a reason to upgrade it (like if you are having problem with the bluetooth or anything else)
I made up that I have a problem connecting my phone sometimes (never had a problem with that) so they eventually upgraded it to the latest version.
It sounds wery strange, why didnt they just upgrade it.
Why must there be a reason?
Isnt it reason enough that I just want the latest version?
Maybe I misunderstood something.
I suspect it's because there is risk of something going wrong every time you upgrade and a bad flash could brick the CMU, which would mean warranty parts and labor costs involved. The dealer may feel the updates aren't worth the risk unless there's a problem that needs to be fixed or if a major new feature has been added.
Another problem is that, if it's anything like my nearest dealership, the service department is frequently heavily booked and scheduling time for a tech to do the update when this is the only service being done is undesireable from a revenue generating standpoint, so they might push back on it if you're not getting any other billable or warranty/recall work done. My understanding is that the flashing process is extremely slow. Takes way longer than it seems like should be necessary. I've heard estimates up to 45 minutes to an hour to do the update and then check everything out to make sure it flashed correctly. Granted, this is something that could be started and the tech can walk away and do other billable work in the shop while the flash is working. He likely doesn't need to sit there babysitting it the whole time.
Basically, it's likely a more agreeable request for a dealer if you ask for it at the same time you get an oil change done or something like that. That said, my understanding is that they're supposed to be providing this service upon request without any qualifiers like getting other services. I agree with Greaseman. Poor customer service, but possibly understandable if they're swamped with other billable work for other customers with more critical problems that need work.
Edit: Read through the TSB Snoogie posted. Says 0.3 hrs to do the repair. That's far quicker estimate than I've heard for doing these firmware flashes. Quickest I've heard was about 20 minutes and that's not including time spent verifying the software works as intended after flashing.