McLaren MP4-12C software fixes done – deliveries re-start

McLaren MP4-12C - back on track

The birth of the McLaren MP4-12 C should have been a cause for real celebration; the first new McLaren in a generation (almost) and a Brit competitor for the Ferrari 458. But there have been problems.

Like all small car makers, McLaren has to buy-in most of the clever computer whiz-bang stuff all new cars have, which means McLaren’s tech-bods have to work out how to make it all play pretty together.

That’s often not easy, as McLaren has discovered. MP4-12C owners have complained of a variety of issues with their new cars including battery drainage problems and warning lights with a mind of their own.

Ron Dennis resorted to writing to all MP4-12C owners to apologise for the problems and offering them a coffee table book by way of apology. Which must have hurt (not giving away the book, but launching a car that wasn’t perfect).

But we’re hearing from MP4-12C owners that there’s a new firmware fix that corrects the issues reported so far, and McLaren are so convinced the 8.2 firmware update has fixed what’s been glitchy that they’ve actually restarted deliveries of the MP4-12C.

All those owners who have already got their cars will be asked to bring them in for a firmware update, but it’s not a quick flash memory job that takes five minutes. It’s said, depending on how early the software is in the car, that it will take between one and three days to install.

Which sounds on a par with the US emissions update they used to do down a modem in the ’90s for the McLaren F1.

By Cars UK