Just updated my RAM and my wife’s 2020 Jeep Cherokee today. The dance one has to do to get and input the authentication code is ridiculous- before I retired I routinely updated firmware and software on my datacenter devices costing 3X what either vehicle did, and never had to go through such a ridiculous process.
A few notes on the update process:
1. You don’t need the engine running, just ignition on and a battery charger connected. BUT, you do have to stay in the vehicle with door closed and monitor. My RAM will turn itself off after about 15 mins or so, so I left the cabin fan running at a speed just loud enough to be noticeable; when the fan spooled down I quickly turned the ignition back to “run” before the radio could power off. I didn’t feel like adding another hour of idling on my Hemi or bricking my radio.
2. If you normally pair your phone with the vehicle, unpair and/or turn off Bluetooth on the phone before powering on the vehicle.
3. The screens shown in the instruction booklet that comes with the updates can take much longer to appear than what the instructions say. My RAM update took over an hour.
4. I was advised by the support technician, who I called when I couldn’t get the auth code screen to appear, to do the last step in the instructions TWICE. IOW, when the prompt appears to remove the USB stick, power off the vehicle and open/close door, wait 60sec (so all goes dark), then power on vehicle w/o touching brake and let radio boot up. Then power off and repeat the process.
This is the last update I’ll do on either vehicle. The Jeep has Car Play, which works much better than the onboard Nav, and on the RAM even without Car Play I can get verbal instructions through the radio. And if I feel I need visual mapping I can buy a decent Garmin GPS for less than what HERE wants for a map update, and the Garmin comes with free lifetime map updates.
Best,
RI