Not sure why Uconnect and FCA need to be so cagey about these updates. Just put them on the Uconnect site for anyone to download. It is not like they will work on other brands, the files are encrypted so competitors can't disassemble them to learn their "secrets" and just put a disclaimer on the download site that says "use these at your own risk". Seems like they would gain more goodwill from their customers than the current setup.
I think some of it is paranoia from when a security company was able to hack into an FCA vehicle over the cell connection. A few years later we end up with the "firewall" between the radio and the rest of the truck.
But I think most of it is hubris and profits....they really believe the OTA system is stable and reliable and its far cheaper for stuff to just fly through the air into the truck than having a dealer take time to download and install because that would cost money.
Forget having a customer do it, they cant possibly know how to follow directions. In all honesty, there are probably plenty of owners who would mess it up. The minority (people on these forums) can do it no problem, but we are still the minority.
UConnect is a subsidiary of FCA but there is clearly a disconnect in the relationship. The lack of communication is astounding....dealers that just start replacing radios instead of troubleshooting (some even at the cost of the customer), radios that have no way of downgrading to earlier versions, etc. Its almost like its "just another something" that no one really concentrates on fixing or improving.
The whole OTA process is flawed, they should shut it all down and make updates only available via USB. If they are worried about security, dont even let me download the update, but DO make it freely available if you go to a dealer.
