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Hyundai Blue Link: Owner experiences & issues

6th July 2021, 14:08 by Chirag Moro

I confirmed this failure rate with other Bluelink users on the Creta review thread as well as other user forums and this seems to have been the norm for almost everybody.

BHPian iamitp recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

When Hyundai first launched Bluelink with the Venue back in 2019, I was genuinely excited. Living in NCR with searing summers and freezing winters as well a high rate of car theft, the promises of connected car tech was quite tempting.

That temptation was finally fructified in 2020 when I bought home a Creta 1.4 DCT SX(O) which came loaded with Bluelink. Over the past 10,000 km, I have used Bluelink extensively to pre-cool or pre-heat (in peak winters) my car, track its usage when I've lent it to family, monitor for door lock status and tyre pressure status as well breathe a sigh of relief knowing that my car's location can be traced if it is ever stolen using the onboard GPS and SIM. Granted that Bluelink took its own time to respond (at-least 10 seconds) when Tata Motor's iRA was almost instantaneous.

However, over the past few months, Bluelink's use-ability has taken a nose-dive due to a complete connectivity failure. 8/10 times it will not pass on the command from the app to the car even when the car is parked in the same spot as it always is with decent signal. I confirmed this failure rate with other Bluelink users on the Creta review thread as well as other user forums and this seems to have been the norm for almost everybody. I have taken up this issue at HASS who, after checking with HMIL's Bluelink team, advised standard troubleshooting procedure such as re-installing the app, signing out and then in, restarting phone - none of which offered a long-term solution.

While it is annoying to get the 'failure' notification on Bluelink after trying a command 5-6 times, frustrating to get false 'door unlocked' notification, it is truly scary to imagine that the system will fail/not work if my car is stolen thereby reducing chances of recovery.

The purpose of starting a new thread on Bluelink user experience and issues is to collate issues faced by all of Hyundai Bluelink's users across different models - Creta, Verna, Venue, Elantra, Tucson, Alcazar and i20 - and bring it to the notice of Hyundai Motors India Limited for corrective action.

Kicking off the thread, here are my Bluelink issues with Creta 2020:

Doesn't work 80% of times even when there is sufficient signal
Doesn't work if car is stationary for 4-5 days
Even when it does work, Bluelink takes 10 seconds from command to completion of action. Competitors do it in 1-2 seconds.
Bluelink reports incorrect door lock status; when door is locked it will show it as unlocked with a matching alert till I manually refresh the status in the app
No support for Biometric access in the app
The one time I used RSA button on IRVM, the call did not go through and I had to re-dial using Bluelink button a couple of times in order to connect. After placing RSA request an ETA was not correctly conveyed.
Not a single OTA update thus far

My request to HMIL is as follows:

Please change your tele-service provider as so many users across India are facing connectivity issues
Diagnose your servers for reducing the lag and failure rate of commands
Your software team should be constantly making the Bluelink app more user-friendly by adding features such as Biometric authentication, more remote functions and indicators like ambient temperature etc.
You should be developing and pushing OTAs for improving functionality of the car using Bluelink.

Here's what BHPian niranjan94 had to say on the matter:

I think some (or all) of these might apply to Kia UVO too (that's just rebranded BlueLink). For all we know, Kia and Hyundai might even be sharing the backend infrastructure for this.
On my Sonet, I face the following issues:
UVO takes 20-30 seconds from command to completion of action
UVO reports incorrect door lock status; when door is locked, it will show it as unlocked with a matching alert till I manually refresh the status in the app
No support for Biometric access in the app
Got one OTA update that seems to be always stuck at 27% for the past 2 months. I asked the SA if it was possible to apply the update offline when I went for my scheduled service and he said even they don't have a working update yet and they might get it in 4 to 5 months but no guarantee.
Kia uses Vodafone Idea for connectivity. And based on some articles, Hyundai also uses the same for Bluelink. I think they should first ditch Vodafone for a more reliable carrier to start with.

Here's what BHPian MSC had to say on the matter:

I am user of Bluelink since May 2020 when I bought the Venue SX(O).
Pros
When it works, it works perfectly fine. The commands are executed within 10-15 seconds. I live in the hills and the network is patchy in the hills. So in my case, I can give benefit of doubt to it. Even since I bought it, the covid screnario and associated lockdowns in different states, meant I am yet to take it out of Himachal and hence I cannot comment on its functionality in plains.
Almost 24 hour check on the car and it's associated things like location etc.
Full marks to support call center. Most calls are usually through to the executive within 10-15 seconds. They do help as far as possible and when in their hands.
Cons
The network. The Bluelink works on a Vodafone-Idea network sim. That said, network may work good in the plains and major National Highways network but it is highly erratic in the high hills. Once you loose the signal, the Bluelink is as good as dead.
The network / service goes down a bit too frequently. And to make matters worse, if servers go down, you can't do anything. Even the support call centers can't help you out. I had once activated the geofence option. After hospital hours while going home, I sent command to deactivate the geofence in hospital parking. The servers were down and hence none of the commands worked. Fed up, I started driving directly. My phone was literally bombarded with notifications that my car has violated geofence. The servers were out for almost 6-7 hours and for that duration, I had to switch off data services on phone so that I could have a peaceful sleep at night. Next morning, the things returned normal as if nothing happened.
The car has network connectivity. So the update for maps etc should be available directly. Here again nothing happens. One and half year has gone by and I am yet to receive any updates for maps. For that, I again need to head to Hyundai service station. What's use of connected car when it can't even download a map update itself?
If for some reason my car is stationary for period of more than 7 days, it stops relaying car status till the car has started again. Why? The car has its battery and why does it need to to switch on engine to convey the details after 7 days?
Summary
I am not too keen to renew the service when it comes up for renewal after three year period. I have a diesel manual and hence most functions like remote start stop, remote climate control etc. are not available. I seriously doubt this. If I am not wrong ,the Creta/Sonet manual has these functions activated. If it's possible in Creta, why not in Venue?
And if as usual, Hyundai gets greedy and asks for an exorbitant fees, I am sure most Diesel Venue owners will desist from the renewal.
If it worked with atleast 90% with accuracy, people may think of renewals. But it's the other way around. It usually works 25-30% times flawless and for remaining, it either requires a second command or else it doesn't works at all.
My wish
My first wish is it should work as and for what it has been designed. The intension is good but the implementation is hopeless.
The most important thing, the customer should be able to select the network service provider as per his choice. Hyundai has selected Vodafone-Idea for its obvious buisness purposes. What if my area has a poor Vodafone network? In that case, the much hyped feature is good for nothing for me.
Though I rarely use voice commands, in case car is out of Vodafone-Idea network, this feature also stops working. When you have multiple features which require network, you need to select a network with decent coverage, if not the best coverage and not the one which gives you maximum profits. Or atleast, let the consumer choose himself what he wants.
And I also hope Hyundai doesn't gets greedy as it has become since the last few years and doesn't ask for an extremely high renewal fees after the passage of three years.
Lastly, I hope the remote start stop and climate is also made available for manual transmission owners. In case the renewal charge is same for all, why should I renew for getting lesser features being active?