Activating Siri via Bluetooth on 2016 e-Golf SEL

[Jakesterpdx]

I just took a test drive of a 2016 e-Golf SEL, and the CarPlay integration is awesome. However, there are times on short drives where I'd rather not mess with plugging it in, so I connected my iPhone over Bluetooth and was able to play music and make phone calls just fine, but I could not find a way to activate Siri over Bluetooth. I even tried holding down the home button on my phone, and while that activated Siri, she couldn't hear me - I think the microphone in the car wasn't passing audio over to it - so I literally had no way to interact with Siri unless I plugged in.

In other cars I've driven, there has been a button to do this. For example, in my Lexus, if I held down the call button for a few seconds, it would activate Siri. I tried everything I could think of at the dealership, but had no luck. And of course the sales guy was clueless.

Any ideas?

 

[JoulesThief]

I just took a test drive of a 2016 e-Golf SEL, and the CarPlay integration is awesome. However, there are times on short drives where I'd rather not mess with plugging it in, so I connected my iPhone over Bluetooth and was able to play music and make phone calls just fine, but I could not find a way to activate Siri over Bluetooth. I even tried holding down the home button on my phone, and while that activated Siri, she couldn't hear me - I think the microphone in the car wasn't passing audio over to it - so I literally had no way to interact with Siri unless I plugged in.

In other cars I've driven, there has been a button to do this. For example, in my Lexus, if I held down the call button for a few seconds, it would activate Siri. I tried everything I could think of at the dealership, but had no luck. And of course the sales guy was clueless.

Any ideas?

Sure, it's a Volkswagen Golf, not an Audi, not a Lexus. Unlikely you'd get it added at this price point.

 

[dublectric]

Hi Jakesterpdx -

I don't have a 2016, and I don't often use Siri, but I do often use the voice dictation on my iPhone in my 2015 SEL through the Infotainment system via Bluetooth. Just now tried Siri in my car - I too couldn't find any button on the Infotainment system which would activate Siri, but when I push/hold the Home button on my iPhone, it worked fine. I even hid the phone itself down in the passenger footwell and talked normally, and Siri heard me just fine, so the car's Bluetooth mic was working fine.

This is with an iPhone 6 Plus, iOS 9.1... it worked fine with 9.0.x as well. I don't recall exactly, but I think it even worked with iOS 8.x.

Unfortunately that doesn't necessarily help you with a 2016 Infotainment system, but as a data point, at least the BT mic works fine on a 2015.

 

[Jakesterpdx]

Sure, it's a Volkswagen Golf, not an Audi, not a Lexus. Unlikely you'd get it added at this price point.

Um, the CarPlay functionality in the e-Golf is lightyears ahead of anything that Lexus has. I'm sorry if a Lexus owner pissed you off before, but I was just giving an example of one of many, many cars that have this simple functionality of activating Siri via Bluetooth. Freaking Toyota Corolla has this feature, if that somehow makes you feel better.

In my opinion, it's a pretty big oversight if the VW doesn't have it, not because it's some high-end feature that's only found on luxury vehicles, but because it's so common these days.

 

[Jakesterpdx]

Hi Jakesterpdx -

I don't have a 2016, and I don't often use Siri, but I do often use the voice dictation on my iPhone in my 2015 SEL through the Infotainment system via Bluetooth. Just now tried Siri in my car - I too couldn't find any button on the Infotainment system which would activate Siri, but when I push/hold the Home button on my iPhone, it worked fine. I even hid the phone itself down in the passenger footwell and talked normally, and Siri heard me just fine, so the car's Bluetooth mic was working fine.

This is with an iPhone 6 Plus, iOS 9.1... it worked fine with 9.0.x as well. I don't recall exactly, but I think it even worked with iOS 8.x.

Unfortunately that doesn't necessarily help you with a 2016 Infotainment system, but as a data point, at least the BT mic works fine on a 2015.

Thanks, dublectric! The more research I've done, the more it looks like the 2015 did indeed have this functionality, and it was somehow dropped in the 2016 model. I appreciate your helpful reply, though.

 

[kirby]

Did you ever solve this problem or is this just not avail with the newer infotainment head unit?