The 2024 Subaru Crosstrek Wilderness Has New Software. We Won't Be Using One of the Bigger Changes.
At the halfway point in our yearlong Crosstrek loan, we got our first over-the-air software update, and it added a feature some Subaru fans have been clamoring for.
“Smartphones in the pockets of America’s youth have replaced automobiles in their hearts,” former MotorTrend tech guru Kim Reynolds once wrote. “The era of the ‘finished’ car that stays exactly the same, day after day, for the seven years you own it, is toast.”
0:00 / 0:00
When Reynolds wrote that, way back in our February 2014 issue, over-the-air updates were virtually unheard of in automobiles. Tesla was the first to introduce the tech, in September 2012, on the Model S—the subject of his story. In the decade since, over-the-air updates have become standard industry practice. Like smartphones before them, our vehicles now carry the expectation of always featuring the latest software the manufacturer can offer. And our yearlong review 2024 Subaru Crosstrek Wilderness is not exempt from that expectation.
Over-the-air updates aren’t exactly new for Subaru owners. The company has been pushing OTA software changes since before the turn of this decade. But as our long-term review Subaru Crosstrek’s chaperone—and as a former “youth” Reynolds wrote about a decade ago—I was nonetheless taken by surprise one day in April when a notification flashed across the screen. “The software update is ready,” it told me. “Would you like to install it now?” As a journalist, how could I do anything but click confirm?
Subaru Crosstrek Over-the-Air Update: One Big Addition
Truthfully, I actually waited. Like many of those “young” Americans (we millennials are old now), I tend to fall prey to adoption procrastination, the phenomenon wherein users of digital products delay implementing new software updates. The note informed me I could delay twice before the update would install itself, so I did, hoping to learn about what to expect from the update before installing it.
However, the next time I hopped in the Crosstrek, I was informed the software had been installed. So much for procrastination. At first glance, nothing appeared to be different, and everything I’d used before seemed to be in the same place and work the same way. So I put it in gear and drove off, the OTA update fading into the background.
As it turns out, though, everything wasn’t in the same place. Among a host of bug fixes and minor software revisions was a new button I’d never seen before, just next to the auto stop/start button on the 11.6-inch central touchscreen. A button I’d never pressed. A button begging to be touched, just to see what it does: AVH.
