Change the BYD Song Plus and Seal U language
Song Plus and Seal U are one family on this site. Seal U is the name used for the Song Plus in several export markets. This page is about the language of the large center screen. The cluster is separate. Do this while the car is parked. The steps name the job of a control. A label is quoted only when a published guide actually uses it, and even then it is that guide’s car, not yours by default.
This page does not replace the owner’s manual for your model year and market.
Which cars this covers
A secondary write-up of a Seal U EV infotainment guide describes a language choice under system settings and names Simplified Chinese and English. That write-up is not BYD’s own handbook for every year, and a China-market Song Plus can look different. Firmware lists often discuss a DiLink 3.0 family, with version strings that begin 13, on many of these cars, and other builds on higher trims and later years. Check the string on your screen before you trust a version you read somewhere else. Gray-import Song Plus cars are the ones that most often have a Chinese-only menu. The video on this page was filmed on a Song Plus center screen, so a Seal U of another year can disagree with it.
Video of this screen
The clip is a Song Plus center screen, filmed by ELEKTROKVADRATIK, going from a Chinese settings page to an English interface. Seal U is the export name for this family in several markets. The menu in the clip is one software build, not every Seal U.
Steps
- 01
Park and wake the center screen
Put the car in Park and bring the center screen up. Stay there until the screen has finished redrawing or restarting. The driver display is outside these steps.
- 02
Open settings and match the job, not a screenshot from another year
Open the settings area. The Seal U write-up mentioned above places language under system settings. Your Song Plus or Seal U may use other words. The video shows one Song Plus. If your screen does not show a control for the display language, do not keep going because the video did.
- 03
Choose a language from the list the car actually has
Where a list exists, that guide names Simplified Chinese and English. Later software in some markets adds more. Select, confirm if asked, and wait. The center screen should come back in the new language. A list that contains only Chinese is not a list you can stretch.
- 04
Read the cluster and try the assistant
Warnings on the cluster and the voice assistant do not have to follow the center screen. Speech, when another language is offered, is often a download and can be limited by the region of the software.
- 05
Stop when the entry is missing
A gray-import Song Plus with no language entry does not have the pack installed. Translating the characters with a phone is a way to read. It is not a way to add a language. The dealer or update problems below are the rest of it.
When the menu will not change
Song Plus from China, menus only in Chinese
The China software image often has no export language list. A dealer or a workshop with a manufacturer-supported update for that VIN is the usual route. Export-market over-the-air packages often never arrive on a China-spec car. Do not install a USB package you cannot match to the DiLink generation printed on the car. A mismatch can blank the screen.
Seal U and Song Plus do not share one menu
They are one family and not one software image. A step that worked on the Song Plus in the video can be absent on a Seal U of another year, or the reverse. When they differ, follow the screen in the car, and treat the missing words as unknown rather than invented.
An official update is not the same as any file named update
Some markets do add languages in a later official release. That release is identified by the dealer against the VIN. A file from a forum, even one that mentions Song Plus, is not that release. Cars whose software was replaced unofficially can also stop receiving the official channel.
Reset, cluster, and voice
A factory reset returns the default language of the image, which on a China image is Chinese. The cluster can stay Chinese after the center screen changes. The assistant’s language is its own setting and may offer nothing but Chinese.
Common questions
Is the video a Seal U or a Song Plus?
It was filmed on a Song Plus center screen. Use it as a picture of that car’s software. A Seal U can differ, and this page does not claim the labels match.
The menu is Chinese and there is no language entry. What now?
Settings cannot add a pack the image does not contain. Ask a dealer whether this VIN is eligible for a supported update. A China-spec car often is not eligible for the export over-the-air service.
Will the words match the Seal U guide quoted here?
Only on a car whose software matches that guide. The guide is one description of one Seal U EV layout. It is not a promise about every Song Plus year.