I have an elderly relative who has a 15 Acadia. The headlights and dash lights have been blinking or not working at all. She took it to the dealer and she was told she needed to have her radio reprogrammed. They charged her $150 for this.

I have never heard of such and did an internet search without much luck. Am I the only one this sounds fishy to?

This sounds strange. Are you sure that she understood what they told her?

Body Control Module may control the radio in her car or may be part of the same system. Not unreasonable to think a glitch in the BCM could cause that problem IMO.

Sounds like a game of telephone. I suspect that what she was told at the dealership was probably true, if not clear, and the message just wasn’t clearly and correctly received.

^^^^^^^^^^^^
Yep. Makes sense now.

"Well, we're need to reprogram your car then you'll need to reset your radio. It'll be $150."

"Why yes Max, they told me they reprogrammed my radio, that's why I had to reset the radio"

Many cars have a multi purpose display the presents HVAC, sound and navigation. One might refer to the display as the radio. That display, with contortionist manipulation of buttons and knobs, controls settings like lights, alarms, door locks, etc. My car is a 2011 so the system has very basic function. My wife has a 2017 with more advanced function. She needed some settings changed and the dealer, never afraid of charging for any type of work, didn't charge anything for that "work". It sounds like your relative was charged for a software update to the system, perhaps because the car is out of warranty. IMHO it's a questionable charge since either the base function provided the capability (the car had been working since 2015) or the software was flawed, in which case the update should have been free.

If its a headlight not working issue, its safety related. Should have been free.

quote:

Originally posted by cruiser68:
Body Control Module may control the radio in her car or may be part of the same system. Not unreasonable to think a glitch in the BCM could cause that problem IMO.

Plus if they had to trace an electrical issue they may have to disconnect the battery and it will invariably need reprograming.
Doubtful they would only re program a radio and charge $150.