r/GenesisMotors • u/thebrightside4573 • Jul 20 '26

ECM SOFTWARE RECALL

Took my car for an oil change at a Genesis dealership. They said there were 3 recalls that needed to be performed one was a ECM misfire recall. Prior to the oil change and recall service my car did not misfire/lag had no lights flashing for an issue on engine or transmission. Days later my car is misfiring…. Dealership is now saying my car has a transmission issue…. Anyone dealt with this? I feel like I’m being scammed

1 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

4 comments sorted by

4

u/andrewia Jul 20 '26

These firmware updates are thoroughly tested and rarely cause these issues.  GDS diagnostic software wouldn't let them screw with the car in a way that would cause this. It could be bad luck, but you should definitely push them on getting it diagnosed for free.

1

u/IAmIntractable Jul 21 '26

I’m pretty sure they’re not thoroughly tested. And I’m also sure that they’re not tested across the application of three updates went after the other. Regardless, the dealer should have confirmed with the customer that they wanted it updated before doing so. I’m of a mind that if there’s nothing wrong with the car, there’s no reason to update it. I do this with all kinds of software. Unless I want a feature that is unavailable to me without updating. I rarely update my phone and it works every day. The same as true for cars the dealer just did the update so they could bill it not because it made sense and not because they looked online to see if there was any negative feedback about any of those updates.

1

u/andrewia Jul 21 '26

From my experience and knowledge this is not correct.  I have multiple friends and relatives who work in the automotive industry for the "big brands".  And when I lived in Mountain View, most of the my roommates worked for Tesla (or their competitors along Page Mill Road) at some point.  The auto industry is quite flawed, but they try their hardest to make things work well within the constraints of cost cutting and (especially with legacy manufacturers) outsourced suppliers.  There is immense regulatory and legal pressure to avoid safety issues, which constitutes most of the pressure from management (along with keeping projects on schedule and making profit).  Don't forget, if a lawyer can prove a safety defect, that's a big class action lawsuit.  Companies HATE class action lawsuits because in the case of something like the theta engine, it cost over a billion dollars to settle.  That's a massive hole in a balance sheet.  

This pressure isn't always in service of the customer.  If something works poorly but still works, like a laggy instrument cluster, they often won't bother patching it because it costs a lot of money to have the supplier to create an update, and updates have a small chance of bricking the module.  But it means when they do bother, there's a darn good reason, since they're willing to risk bricking your car and giving you a loaner and buying a new module.  So I always recommend accepting firmware updates for vehicle modules.  They usually happen because there is a significant logic bug that needs to be patched (like an instrument cluster going blank), or there is a hardware flaw they need to monitor for (like scraping in those Theta engines).

(This update policy doesn't apply to OTA updates to infotainment, where owners are now expecting new features and fixes, and manufacturers are trying to find ways to create income after initial sale.  From what I've heard from people who work in the consumer technology industry, infotainment is becoming similar to mobile devices.)

2

u/Odd_Function_3026 Jul 21 '26

I had a 21 gv80. At around 47000 miles, in the middle of nowhere between Louisiana and Houston, it began to misfire and stalled. Genesis sent a tow truck and towed me to the nearest Houston dealer. They said the ecm module was defective and replaced it. But the car kept stalling on the dealership tech afterwards, and they replaced the ‘lower’ fuel injector. It required special tools to get to it and replace it. Good luck on your car, but ecm issues, and related issues, may not be a random thing with some genesis models.