According to GeekWire, the problem began around a week ago. When reports surfaced on Reddit and other sites of Mazda Connect systems in the Pacific Northwest becoming “corrupt” and stuck playing KUOW after tuning in, with all other infotainment options disabled. Many of the vehicles appeared to be in the process of rebooting. Hundreds of baffled owners showed up at local Mazda dealerships, who were also perplexed. One service department apparently kept blaming the problem on a recent switch from 3G to 5G cellular networks. This is a theory that is gaining some traction following the 5G vs airlines incident.
Some Mazda drivers have been successful and astonished. Seattle residents realize this week that they could no longer change the vigor presumption. Oregon plays an item by driving after listening to the section NPR presumption KUOW (via GeekWire).
Owners of several Mazda automobiles with exceptional years spanning from 2014 to 2017. They were tuned successfully to the station were ecstatic. It’s been going on for weeks, according to KUOW.
Immoderate radicals who listen to KUOW on their Mazdas discovered their car’s vigor is permanently stuck tuned to 94.9 FM in the last few weeks. It’s just affecting KUOW Mazdas since 2016, and we have no idea why.
What the unwitting commuters have discovered is a glitch in the car’s infotainment system, which broke after trying to load the HD Radio broadcast representation submitted by KUOW. Because the representation record lacked an extension, the infotainment bundle was unable to decode it and had no procedure for dealing with it.
According to several Reddit users, the problem appears to be getting worse. Some owners reported losing Bluetooth connectivity and CD playback quality, as well as a disabled backup camera and powerless USB charging ports. While troubleshooting, one idiosyncratic advised avoiding removing the car’s 12-volt artillery, arsenic you tin have the quality to nearby perceive to KUOW.
This all sounds like something that might be corrected with a software update, but the remedy turns out to be regenerating the CMU. The $1,500 hardware machine component of the infotainment system.
The bully quality is that Mazda is advising dealerships that this repair should be considered a “goodwill” repair. This means that it should not be an outgo issue for consumers who are affected. The deplorable quality is that the piece is not available everywhere due to spot shortages. This could take weeks or months.
Finally, the issue is essentially a bundle bug that may be resolved with an update. Although many Mazdas are now too old to receive OTA updates, it should at the very least be a method for dealerships to install upgrades for consumers.
This should serve as a warning to all manufacturers to begin using a package update approach. This is so that dealerships and customers have fewer difficulties. Tesla and other companies pioneered the quality to add caller features and hole problems. Jaguar Land Rover just integrated Amazon Alexa via an OTA update.
References:
- https://magmint.com/mazda-head-items-are-getting-bricked-by-a-neighborhood-npr-station-in-seattle-magmint/
- https://flipboard.com/@theverge/tech-news-e3qmqbb8z/-/a-MCxVOX-eRw67phN8DyaQRA%3Aa%3A43611565-%2F0
- https://whatsnew2day.com/mazda-headunits-get-bricked-up-by-a-local-npr-station-in-seattle/
- https://news.bdtype.com/mazda-head-units-are-getting-bricked-by-a-local-npr-station-in-seattle-28664.html
- https://arstechnica.com/cars/2022/02/radio-station-snafu-in-seattle-bricks-some-mazda-infotainment-systems/
