SOS Call System Failure Message

[Mark333032]

I'm passing on a little tip here which I was given from the BMW coding site **************. It may only apply to UK cars but here it is anyway

I had an annoying fault whereby at random times on startup an "SOS Call System Failure" message would pop up. Seems this is quite a common problem here in the UK at least. A coder wanted £60 to code it out but after posting a question on the ********* site, I was given the solution.

You need the Bimmercode app (cost about £30) and a bluetooth ODBII port dongle (I use a Vgate iCar Pro which cost about £20). I already had both anyway and had used it to code out stop/start and to turn the radio off when you open the driver door.

Open the Bimmercode app and go to Instrument Cluster/Expert Mode/3301 CC_ID_Sperre/CC_ACTIVIERUNG_5/Custom Value. You should see 'FF' listed in Bytes 0 to 7. Scroll to Byte 5 and change it from FF to F7 and press 'Done'.

Then back out to the 'Instrument Cluster' menu and hit 'Code'. The 'SOS Call System Failure' message is now gone and has stayed gone this last week. The only thing the car asked me to do was reset time. Nothing else was impacted.

[Opie55]

I had that happen to me in the US while the car was still under warranty. The dealer re-flashed something and it has not come back. But the coding trick is good to know. Just know that unless you already own one, Bimmercode no longer recommends the VGate OBD dongle, or any wireless dongle. Get a recommended bluetooth dongle instead - I have the VeePeak.

[bimmer12]

+1 for VeePeak. Has worked flawlessly for me so far, and is much cheaper than the other recommendations, at least in Canada.

As for this specific coding, is this a "fix" for the underlying issue, or is it just to hide the message or trick the car (e.g. disabling the system or the failure check)? Do you know if the SOS function still works by any chance? Regardless, will keep this in mind in case I run into the issue myself, thanks for sharing.

[Mark333032]

Well...as I was checking through iDrive to make sure everything was still working as it should, the car suddenly dialed BMW Emergency Services. I apologised to the nice person who answered saying I dialed by mistake. But, it was an intermittent fault anyway. That has never happened again so it was my mistake. I suspect all I have done here is deleted the SOS failure message. It's not a concern though as if I needed emergency assistance, I'd use my mobile phone to dial 999 which cuts out the middle man (BMW Emergency Services) or for a breakdown, I'd call my own recovery service

[overboostJA]

Originally Posted by Mark333032

I'm passing on a little tip here which I was given from the BMW coding site **************. It may only apply to UK cars but here it is anyway

I had an annoying fault whereby at random times on startup an "SOS Call System Failure" message would pop up. Seems this is quite a common problem here in the UK at least. A coder wanted £60 to code it out but after posting a question on the ********* site, I was given the solution.

You need the Bimmercode app (cost about £30) and a bluetooth ODBII port dongle (I use a Vgate iCar Pro which cost about £20). I already had both anyway and had used it to code out stop/start and to turn the radio off when you open the driver door.

Open the Bimmercode app and go to Instrument Cluster/Expert Mode/3301 CC_ID_Sperre/CC_ACTIVIERUNG_5/Custom Value. You should see 'FF' listed in Bytes 0 to 7. Scroll to Byte 5 and change it from FF to F7 and press 'Done'.

Then back out to the 'Instrument Cluster' menu and hit 'Code'. The 'SOS Call System Failure' message is now gone and has stayed gone this last week. The only thing the car asked me to do was reset time. Nothing else was impacted.

I am so happy i found this. it worked for me! two days and the "SOS Failure" light is gone. im so happy.! Thank you!

[maron]

Originally Posted by Mark333032

I'm passing on a little tip here which I was given from the BMW coding site **************. It may only apply to UK cars but here it is anyway

I had an annoying fault whereby at random times on startup an "SOS Call System Failure" message would pop up. Seems this is quite a common problem here in the UK at least. A coder wanted £60 to code it out but after posting a question on the ********* site, I was given the solution.

You need the Bimmercode app (cost about £30) and a bluetooth ODBII port dongle (I use a Vgate iCar Pro which cost about £20). I already had both anyway and had used it to code out stop/start and to turn the radio off when you open the driver door.

Open the Bimmercode app and go to Instrument Cluster/Expert Mode/3301 CC_ID_Sperre/CC_ACTIVIERUNG_5/Custom Value. You should see 'FF' listed in Bytes 0 to 7. Scroll to Byte 5 and change it from FF to F7 and press 'Done'.

Then back out to the 'Instrument Cluster' menu and hit 'Code'. The 'SOS Call System Failure' message is now gone and has stayed gone this last week. The only thing the car asked me to do was reset time. Nothing else was impacted.

I'm honored to help you

[Malik550]

Been living with this fault since I got the car, I'm going to try this today!

[Malik550]

Had the same issue forever, just followed the instructions here and coded it away! Thanks.

[aaronblack]

Originally Posted by Mark333032

I'm passing on a little tip here which I was given from the BMW coding site **************. It may only apply to UK cars but here it is anyway

I had an annoying fault whereby at random times on startup an "SOS Call System Failure" message would pop up. Seems this is quite a common problem here in the UK at least. A coder wanted £60 to code it out but after posting a question on the ********* site, I was given the solution.

You need the Bimmercode app (cost about £30) and a bluetooth ODBII port dongle (I use a Vgate iCar Pro which cost about £20). I already had both anyway and had used it to code out stop/start and to turn the radio off when you open the driver door.

Open the Bimmercode app and go to Instrument Cluster/Expert Mode/3301 CC_ID_Sperre/CC_ACTIVIERUNG_5/Custom Value. You should see 'FF' listed in Bytes 0 to 7. Scroll to Byte 5 and change it from FF to F7 and press 'Done'.

Then back out to the 'Instrument Cluster' menu and hit 'Code'. The 'SOS Call System Failure' message is now gone and has stayed gone this last week. The only thing the car asked me to do was reset time. Nothing else was impacted.

Got myself the VeePeak BLE+ and Bimmercode, but I can’t seem to find “3301“ under Instrument Cluster/Expert Mode.

I understand it’s probably due to yours being a 6 series. Anybody know how to do this on a 1 series E82? This is the only thread that comes up when I search for coding SOS with bimmercode.

[Danny111]

THANK YOU so much to posting this, I've been look for this last year and it all sorted now


Thanks once again

Originally Posted by Mark333032

I'm passing on a little tip here which I was given from the BMW coding site **************. It may only apply to UK cars but here it is anyway

I had an annoying fault whereby at random times on startup an "SOS Call System Failure" message would pop up. Seems this is quite a common problem here in the UK at least. A coder wanted £60 to code it out but after posting a question on the ********* site, I was given the solution.

You need the Bimmercode app (cost about £30) and a bluetooth ODBII port dongle (I use a Vgate iCar Pro which cost about £20). I already had both anyway and had used it to code out stop/start and to turn the radio off when you open the driver door.

Open the Bimmercode app and go to Instrument Cluster/Expert Mode/3301 CC_ID_Sperre/CC_ACTIVIERUNG_5/Custom Value. You should see 'FF' listed in Bytes 0 to 7. Scroll to Byte 5 and change it from FF to F7 and press 'Done'.

Then back out to the 'Instrument Cluster' menu and hit 'Code'. The 'SOS Call System Failure' message is now gone and has stayed gone this last week. The only thing the car asked me to do was reset time. Nothing else was impacted.

[Russbmw]

If anyone else has this, another thing is to check the little speaker that is on the under-dash trim (above the pedals on a UK car....not sure about US).

If this speaker is not connected (or connected properly), or perhaps has blown, the system will flag this message up.

I know because when I fitted my throttle tuning box, I disconnected and removed that trim section, then before re-fitting everything turned the car on, and this message came up.

Turned it off, put the trim back in place with the speaker connected, turned on and no warning message.

The SOS system uses that speaker.