Are Volvo Programmers Really That Stupid?

 

We recently traded in two cars and bought a Volvo. Fancy car. Nicest car we've ever owned. Plus, it's a computer on wheels. Everything's automatic. Except the clock. Bizarre. And annoying. So I started tweeting at the company:

1) @volvocars Can your software engineers solve the Arizona clock issue? The only way I can get the correct time in my XC40 is by setting it manually. Your team is aware of this malfunction:
http://volvo.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/9546/~/setting-the-clock
"Note: Automatic time may not display the correct time in Arizona."

1r) Replying to @acbaird Hi Alan, unfortunately since Arizona does not have daylight saving time the clock must be adjusted manually.

>>Bzzzzt. Wrong answer, Volvo. Your patronizing condescension has simply pissed me off:

2) @volvocars has 3 dealers in Phoenix, plus 1 more in Tucson, so I assume you sell at least a few cars here in Arizona. And every other company in the world has learned how to adjust for AZ time. Aren't you ashamed to admit your software geeks can't figure out this simple problem?

>>After a couple of hours, I decided that wasn't vicious enough. So my latest tweet includes screengrabs. ;-)

3) @volvocars L: Windows, R: iPhone. Google Maps and Waze are able to display Arizona time, based on GPS data. My Mazda, VW and Toyota could all figure out the correct time from GPS. But my Volvo clock loses THREE MINUTES EVERY MONTH because it must be set manually. Embarrassed yet?

>>You can see that I'm on a holy crusade for oppressed Volvo owners everywhere. ;-)


Setting the Volvo Clock in the Good Ol' Arizona Summertime.
Swipe down on the Home screen, tap "Settings" at the top left, tap "System" at the bottom, tap "Date and Time" near the top, tap "Location", tap "U.S. Mountain Time" after scrolling way down near the bottom, tap "Back", uncheck "Auto Daylight Saving Time", uncheck "Auto Time", manually set the Time, tap "Back" and push the "Home" button.
I've discovered that the manual Time setting needs to be updated weekly, in order to keep the clock reasonably accurate. There's a video about this, on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/CourtesyVolvo/posts/3098066620236304
NOTE: NONE OF THIS MANUAL WORKAROUND IS NECESSARY. CHEAPER CARS SET THEIR CLOCKS AUTOMATICALLY. A LUXURY CAR LIKE VOLVO SHOULD DO THIS, TOO, BUT THE VOLVO CORPORATION FEELS NO SHAME. The company is treating its Arizona customers like crap. Volvo now has three dealerships in Phoenix and one in Tucson, so they're selling a sh*tload of cars here. But unless every Volvo owner in Arizona complains to his/her dealership, and every AZ dealership complains to company headquarters in Gothenburg, Sweden, the malfunction won't get fixed. The irony is this: Volvo would need to invest only TEN MINUTES of programming time to make things right. (I use three different programming languages, so I know whereof I speak.) Instead, the company forces its Arizona customers to perform this useless and frustrating Hokey-Pokey for nearly eight months every year. UPDATE: Many Volvo owners are already complaining about this issue online. LATER: The Tuba Time Warp Challenge. If Volvo programmers can design a car clock that's able to adjust to the correct time all the way from Tuba City to Steamboat Canyon on Arizona Route 264 during the month of July, then all is forgiven.