I know this an old thread and I've read every comment associated with it. I have a 2020 that's never had an OTA update. I've tried it all including bluetoothing my phone, Onstar, and home network trying to to perform an update. Short of taking it to the dealer, can anyone tell me if there's another way? Thanks in advance.

 

I'm no help, but I will watch for the replies. Mine is a March 2020 build and NO updates period.

 

In my experience, the best way is to connect the car to your home wifi. Then after a drive or parking for the night start the update to run and have a few hours uninterrupted. It's usually done next time I check it. Way better luck doing that than sitting and watching it.

 

OP, if you don't have an OnStar connected plan, you need to connect to your home Wi-Fi (not Bluetooth). Also, it is possible your car does not have any OTA updates available. They vary based on when built, options, etc. If you are connected to a Wi-Fi network and you check for updates manually and receive an error message (something like "unable to connect"), that actually means there are no updates available.

OTA Updates - General Information

 

Oct. 2020 build and zero OTAs recorded also.
It did an OTA in the dealer parking lot when I was picking it up.

Guessing the history function that records them does not work on some cars?
Maybe yours too if u r showing zero updates.

The whole OTA is buggy at best on all cars.

 

It's a bit strange that car built in Oct. 2020 has received no updates at all, while the car built one month earlier has received at least half dozen updates (such as mine). You would think that cars were built around certain time frame should get the similar updates, but like John (Zymurgy) said, this is highly dependent on when the car was built and its options.

In terms of connectivity, in previous threads someone mentioned that updates could be pushed down by the cellular network as well. I am not sure though if your car's OnStar data plan is off (which is for most of us here since we don't renew or subscribe to the data plan), how does GM do that. I did notice that in a few instances when my car was in the garage where it connects to home WiFi, it had no update, but after I drove it out, coming back to see update notice on the screen. so I assumed that certain updates was pushed down via the cellular signals when I was out driving.

The only thing that kind of bothered me was the one case for an update for brake when the "drive aggressively", while at the time there were several people reporting that their cars became jerky in low speeds after did the latest update, so I avoid that update that came down during that time. If I recall correctly, John also said he's not doing it. What I noticed was, when I chose to delay the update, the message said to the effect that "we will remind you again after a few days", and that remind came up a couple of time, and after I delayed them, it eventually never showed up again. I am not sure if GM recalled it or not, and no info if that update indeed caused slow speed jerking and lunging.

I wish GM would maintain an open webpage for all of us that shows all the updates they released, what they are for, and what cars are impacted by their manufacturing date and options, etc. Not hard to do, really, as if you run Windows Update it will show you what are the updates available for your computer, so if MS can do it, so should be GM, but where are the GM customer service folks in charge of this? ...

 

YES!!! This^

There is some fault with the OT updates. I checked with my dealer, and they tell me there are no updates outstanding. My car has had only 1 update, but no history of it in the infotainment system. So did it actually update? Not sure. Never been alerted to another one, and the update history screen is blank.

I guess my car was just built perfect

Don't get me started on ON STAR~!
I do NOT pay for ON STAR. ON STAR can suck it!
I needed to use my active service once some years ago during an emergency, and it showed no service. Had to drive another 30 miles before it connected.
It works of cell service, not satellite. Something GM tries to keep really really quiet.
BS service. I tried to talk to an advisor not long ago from the Vette, and the service was unbearable. Could not understand what they were saying. Tried a few times to ask them about updates. Gave up. Hopeless. Hey GM, you listening??

 

I saw it stated somewhere (owner's manual?) that if you decline an update several times it will stop asking you to update.

 

Deferring or Declining an Update is discussed in the post I linked to in post #4.