https://www.crvownersclub.com/threads/2022-clock-fault-offic...
There's something more to it though, since if it was using the wrong epoch, the date would be off but the time would still be correct. Week 143 on the 1999 epoch would be May-ish 2002 but the observed behavior is that the clocks are all stuck around 4:00 on Jan 1, 2002 (and shown as a Sunday, when it was actually a Tuesday). Since the 1999 epoch started on Aug 22, 1999, I am wondering if that's another piece to the puzzle and why they suggest it will auto-correct in August.
It's an interesting problem and I'm curious about the root cause, but in reality this will just be the push I need to get a newer radio that can do CarPlay/Android Auto.
Problem solved
Plus the general digital archaeology needed to get a decade old project / branch and get it and the developer tools back into a state where you can compile and test it. Probably hard to get a fix in a few days if its only just been found. That's if a non-safety critical issue on a 10+ year old car that will fix itself in 8 months is considered worthy of fixing.
In more general I suspect car companies are a bit reluctant for self-service updates like that because of the potential to brick something. If the clock problem is just tied to an infotainment display, losing that would just annoy the customer until it got to a dealer. If it for example disabled the instrument cluster, then that's a safety issue and might make the car illegal to drive (depending on local laws). If its at a dealer, a failed update can be fixed directly by the technician (replace part, or use alternative programming method etc.).
Although newer cars (particularly Tesla) are perhaps seem a bit more happy to do things like OTA updates. You really hope they don't take a "build fast and break things" approach to development. And have good self-recovery systems.
The bad news: you can fix your car's firmware by plugging in a random USB fob.