Nisan is planning to provide telematics connected car services to both new and older Nissan car owners. The company will offer services on lines of future car owners and is offering a subsidized hardware update for early Nissan LEAF adopters who have TCU units with 2G connections.
Nissan to Market Connected Car Telematics Services
Nissan will use internet-connect car telematics services in the future to offer maitenance alerts starting in Japan and India in 2017 and more countries through 2020.Nissan will also market the device required to access the service, which can be retrofitted into existing models. In the future, 30% of its existing vehicles could be equipped with the hardware.
Nissan Offers LEAF Owners Upgrade Option
Nissan sent a letter to 2011-2014 LEAF owners. The telematics systems on these models connect through AT&T 2G. AT&T will re-purposing the spectrum and has sunset the 2G network as of December 31, 2016. The cost to replace the TCU unit is $199 and takes two hours to complete. Nissan suggests that owners make an appointment before visiting a dealer for replacement.
Here’s the text from the letter sent to owners
OWNER NOTIFICATION
Dear Nissan LEAF Owner:
Nissan is committed to providing the highest levels of customer satisfaction. With that in mind, we want to offer you of-important information regarding a Nissan customer satisfaction initiative that provide you with a opportunity to update the Telematics control
Unit (TCU) in Your vehicle.
Your vehicle is equipped with a TCU designed connect to the 2G cellular network in order to operate the Nissan Connect EV, formerly CARWINGS, telematics program. AT&T has stopped accepting enrollments on the 2G cellular network, and will discontinue its 2G cellular network coverage on December 31, 2016 without an upgrade to the TCU, NissanConnect EV features(including Remote State of Charge Check, Remote Climate Control and Driving History) will not available after December 31, 2016 and may be impacted prior to that depending upon AT&T’s proprietary decisions regarding discontinuing 2G cellular network coverage
If you are not enrolled in NissanConnect EV, you will not be able to access the Nissan Connect EV app features without a TCU hardware upgrade.
If you are currently enrolled in NissanConnect EV: Once the 2G cellular network is discontinued, you will not be able to access the Nissan Connect EV app features without a TCU hardware upgrade.
WHAT NISSAN WILL DO
If you elect to upgrade your vehicle’s TCU, an authorized Nissan LEAF dealer can perform the upgrade for you. You will have to contribute a co-payment of $199 which will be applied to the cost of the parts and labor for the upgrade. If you choose to upgrade your vehicle’s TCU and pay the applicable co-payment, Nissan will cover the remaining cost of the parts and labor for the TCU upgrade.
This upgrade will take approximately two (2) hours to complete, but your Nissan dealer may require your vehicle for a longer period of time based upon its work schedule. If necessary, please check with your dealer regarding the availability of alternate transportation while your vehicle is being upgraded.
WHAT YOU SHOULD DO
Nissan encourages you to contact an authorized Nissan LEAF dealer at your earliest convenience in order to arrange an appointment.
We understand your time is valuable so your dealer will work with you to make this service as convenient as possible. To minimize any inconvenience to you, it is important that you have an appointment before bringing your vehicle to the Nissan dealer for service. Please bring this notice with you at your service appointment. Instructions have been sent to your Nissan LEAF dealer.
After the upgrade to your vehicle’s TCU is complete, you will need to log into NissanConnect EV using your vehicle’s information screen.
You can more information at Nissan Owner Services 1-877-664-2738 or the Nissan website.