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Infotainment System (ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!!!)

40K views 129 replies 32 participants last post by  Nitsuj 
#1 ·
READ:......For those select few who have no issues (which I find so hard to believe) no need to reply to this thread - not being rude, this is for users who HAVE issues.

Let me cut to the chase. 6 Software updates, TAU and CMU (if that's what you call it) replaced twice, along with a new infotainment screen.

Dealer sent my car to Mazda Canada to have it fixed. Along with that, I provided them with 14 video clips of all the issues I experienced for proof.

Got it back last week with Version 31 and it re-boots daily, BT bounces back to the phone, freezes plus the BT audio is still crappy - that's thanks to the crappy 2.1 ADP chip.

Let's not clutter this thread up, list your issues one by one that you are experiencing today as I want to print this off and send it to Mazda. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!

Who wants to continue having these re-occuring problems? ....... I thought so. :p
 
#2 ·
I know you don't want to hear this, but the vast majority of us DO NOT HAVE PROBLEMS. You are one of the select few who do. My BT chip is just fine. This is not to say YOU don't have problems. For Mazda to properly diagnose YOUR problem, they need to know it is not widespread. I have a theory that it is the coding behind the BT connection streaming protocols. Did you try your infotainment system without any BT device attached? Does it still freeze? Then did you try it with only BT phone and no BT audio attached. The problem with these kinds of things is that you and Mazda are just throwing things against the wall to see what sticks rather than taking a deductive approach to problem solving. Mazda knows a lot about engines, transmissions, and suspension, but knows practically nothing about computer related issues. In fact, they are probably outsourcing the coding of their firmware. I really don't think it is the hardware in most of the cases. Do you really think dealers know how to diagnose computer software? Microsoft and Apple have problems as well and they beta test 10's of thousands of people.

I get that you are angry, and I also get that this is not really YOUR problem to solve. I also doubt whether Mazda Canada or Mazda USA knows enough about the firmware for your unit and your phone to solve it. It is probably just poor coding. The reason it works well for the vast majority of us is that we probably use the system more simply. I don't do any streaming. Yes, it sucks, but the more information you can provide, the greater chance the problem can be identified and solved.

In the meantime, I suggest that instead of getting angry, you temporarily connect your phone through USB and then continue to get firmware updates until the damn thing works for you. And then you can enjoy the car you bought even if it is not to its full potential. Good luck...
 
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#5 ·
As I recommended to seanc61, I don't think the people at Mazda know enough about computers to help you. Remember how sensitive this system was to emojis? Perhaps you should send your stick to Mazda and have them identify the problem. Did they recommend that to you? If not, recommend it to them. The problem is not going to be solved by guesswork.
 
#4 ·
I don't have any issues and have had v25 all this time. The system works pretty flawlessly. I did have an issue with some settings getting randomly reset but mitigated that by turning off GPS clock sync.

I do, however, feel for anyone who does have issues, tech can be a real bummer when it doesn't work right.
 
#6 ·
My biggest issue I've i had is my back up camera only turns on half the time when blue tooth is connected which is a safety issue cause I've almost had 2 accidents cause of it... other than that i run the torque app and Pandora at same time flawlessly on v29.. but the safety issues with my camera are about to force my hand at a direct solution cause it needs to work every time regardless i think!
 
#7 ·
My only issue to date is the diabolical tuner performance. It drifts in and out and it sounds like it's going from mono to stereo and back, or the highs cut in and out. Makses no difference with HD or without. I think I am on V27 and I have not had any work on it done by Mazda yet.
 
#8 ·
So, it looks like @seanc81, @dragon66_61, and @Tom17 are all from Canada. Is the infotainment system firmware different in Canada than in the U.S.? Do you guys have more problems than we do in the states? What phones and phone networks are you attached to? What phone OS's do you have? If Mazda can't do this diagnostically, maybe we can find some common ground here on the forum?????
 
#10 ·
I don't there would be any difference between canada and the states. The updates were available pretty much at the same time, V31 anyways. I don't stream music from my phone, and the odd call I make over bt with my iphone works just fine. It's just the annoyance of my USB freezing up, and I've tried another stick.
 
#14 ·
I think I can help, I had a defective harness, they replaced it and most of the freezes have stopped and it seems to more stable now. Harness are hard to replace, but you might tell you dealer to try that.

All the best components are poopy if the harness that connects them all is defective. Mine have some copper pins smashed or misaligned or iffy connections from what i was told.

Might work Sean.
 
#15 ·
I can chime in here, properly for this thread too. Seriously lets not turn this into "well only you have problems" because IT IS NOT TRUE by any means. If that's what you want to post, please just keep it to yourself.

Indeed, "many" people don't have problems. However those same "many" people are simply not using the features as advertised, or they "accept" things because of the rest of the WoW factors involved in with their new ride. Friends mom has a Mazda 3 with the same Infotainment setup, she doesn't notice any of these little things because the radio plays when she turns on the car and she's all smiles in her new car. Never notices anything else. I came from a perfectly fine 2010 (expect it being smashed by another car) so I expect top quality in the new features in my 2014. They have been very lacking, making me upset that I had to buy the new model year before the kinks were fixed. I bought a BETA product and I know it. I live my life as a daily BETA tester, and I too have had the system lock up/reset on me going down the road in the past. So absolutely embarrassing for Mr. PCGUY to have to pull over to "reboot" his car.

My background - I'm a senior computer analyst. I setup and configure complex shit all of the time for sensitive lab equipment, whiny PhD's, etc. My job is to find those weird details that other people don't see. Solve the complex issues that others can't grasp. It's so hard for me to accept watching the screen and seeing these silly problems since that's the type of thing I ensure our users at work DON'T have. There are indeed issues with the system, no doubt about it. Some people simply see more of the issues than others for many many factors.

I'm on v31, have had several software updates. I also have new TAU software and a newer/different hardware build than many people I've seen here.

MY PERSISTING ISSUES with v31 (I could write a massive list but I'll focus on what still happens that I've seen since my last update).

-USB playback of MP3's can be unpredictable. This has been ongoing since v2x for me. With previous versions, I've had an issue where when many songs change (on it's own, not by command) it plays about ~1 second of another song before playing the proper song. The screen does not signify this at all, you only hear it. If it's on RANDOM then what you hear is ~1 second of between songs is some totally random other song. If it's NOT ON RANDOM, you hear ~1 second of the next song, then it starts again and replays the ~1 second when the actual song info pops up.
I have a theory as to why this (and perhaps other USB issues) may happen. I believe the Mazda software puts far too much weigh into how long the ID3 tag says the song should be. I know some of my songs have tags that are slightly off, because I've found them. Hell, most people have have some songs like this especially if they've been collecting MP3's for years. It's most prevalent when an ID3 database lists the song length with it's ~second of silence at the start and end, then the copy of the song you have doesn't have the silence. To ANY OTHER MP3 player this doesn't matter, but the Mazda chokes on it.

-USB playback seems to have become worse with v31. Now along with the above problem, all songs kind of skip/jump about 5 seconds into the song for a moment or 2. It has already loaded the album artwork when this happens as well. This has never happened before until v31. It's embarrassing for me when passengers even notice this, since of course I'm bumping the BOSE as it's meant to be and there are obvious stumbles.

-USB playback, if a file has multiple pieces of album art attached (some simply come that way), the system literally freaks out. I have 3 Static X songs that are like this, and I know anytime they come up because the system freezes for about ~25 seconds of silence when it comes on. Once it starts to play, the info on the screen is all over the place. I've literally watched the seek bar (where it tells you how far into the song you are) go negative on these songs. It never really corrects it's self until you get to a new song, which also takes several moments to do since the system keeps freaking out the whole time it plays these.

-Audio commands. When I first got v31 installed I played with this, and it surprised me how well it worked for some things. At first that is, then it seemed to become more "dumb" (as other threads have noted it suddenly acts as if you are talking another language and can't understand anything properly). I didn't use it much prior to v31. I tried to call Mom the other day, pressed the button, entire Infotainment quit without any "please say a command" prompt. Hard lock, no buttons did anything. Screen still on. Audio went silent. Had to reboot the car. Tried it again, and it happened again. I've been able to reproduce this several times, no idea why suddenly now. Tried it out yesterday, it prompted me for a command, then what I said got completely translated into things that are no where even similar to what I was saying. Telling it to go "back" resulted it in it playing some wild song that sounds nothing like what I said to do.

-Bluetooth. It seemed to get better with my new TAU, however I still have the dreaded "unable to retrieve messages" or whatever error for texts. Literally, I can get a text, it reads it just fine. 5 mins later, get another text and it's unable to get anything else from there. Once it's unable to retrieve, it can never retrieve until a car reboot.

-Bluetooth, I have email notifications enabled. I've never seen it work once. Ever. Granted I don't mind, but I do have it enabled and regardless of it's an IMAP email, Gmail email, etc it never lets me know as it says it should.

I'm running Android 4.4.4 on an LG G2 (Verizon). I'm using AOSP (Android open source project) so I'm literally running the most vanilla Android you can get, no extra junk from LG, no thrills from Verizon, no custom GUI, no crazy extra phone addons, vanilla Android. It's super sleek and fast, and basic just the way I like it. The fact that it can work perfectly fine one moment, then quit another really shows that there is an issue here. These issues have persisted since Android 4.2 for me, across various builds of AOSP from different developers.
 
#17 ·
Indeed, "many" people don't have problems. However those same "many" people are simply not using the features as advertised, or they "accept" things because of the rest of the WoW factors involved in with their new ride.
I completely disagree with that sweeping statement. Until every mz3 owner, worldwide, has been personally interviewed about how they use their system, that statement has no basis. It's based solely on your experience, and the posts of other people, on Mazda forums. It doesn't take into accounts the thousands of people that have no interest in forums, that may, or may not, be having any problems. These forums represent a very small amount of worldwide owners, and in many cases, attract the owners who are having problems and are seeking solutions.
 
#16 ·
That happens to me too, the extra half second or so at the very end of the song. It's been happening to mine for a while so I'm kind of used to it already. I'm just happy when my USB isn't freezing up. Also I've noticed on the odd song that the timer will actually go longer than what the length is supposed to be, so it'll go an extra 30 seconds sometimes. Also a little odd.
 
#21 ·
Here's the deal... It really doesn't help people much just to hear complaints on a forum. If you want to complain, go directly to Mazda or start some sort of group campaign. It does help to have a perspective on the issue and a way to address the issues yourselves. The perspective gives an individual a sense of how and when these issues might get fixed and in the meantime, a diagnostic approach would tell people how to identify those things that would get in the way of enjoying the car. The purpose of a forum is to get ALL opinions/perspectives, not just yours...
 
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#23 ·
Just talked to a tech specialist/app programmer on connectivity issues with both iOS and Android. Two things most people never consider are memory issues and internal conflicts. Evidently both of these will affect how the phone performs with outside systems. It slows down the connection and starts giving more timeouts than the system can handle. He recommends rebooting your phone at least once a day if you do much streaming. In addition, you need to make sure you have enough free memory -- both internal and external -- so buffers are not compromised. I don't know if either of these factors are affecting any of you, but it is possible. Phones aren't perfect either, you know..
 
#26 · (Edited)
I'm not going to over moderate by sifting through every post. rvoll posts weren't off topic they were an opposing point of view.

When the OP started this rant thread he stated he only wanted posts from other people that had issues too. That's not how it works. You can't pick and choose the responses you want to hear.

My point in my last post was that the thread is being watched. If anything needs to be deleted it will be a mod that does it.
 
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#27 ·
well in the last week I had 2 instances where it lost the navigation, and today after losing navigation, the next time I turned the car on, nothing. no navigation, no radio, bluetooth, nothing at all, not even a bsod. It's stayed that way through 4 or 5 stops and hours inbetween. Dealer is gonna hear from me tomorrow. glad I had my backup gps program on my phone, as I rely on it for work.
edit : version 25
 
#28 ·
While I was on v25 I had this happened a couple times. First it'll say I have no navi and radio/xm won't work. Thought I could reset it by turning off the car and on again but nope, next time I turned car on the screen did not even turn on. Stayed like that for the rest of the day until I read somewhere here about disconnecting battery to fully reboot it. I then disconnected battery, waited 30 seconds then reconnected and everything in working order. Second time that happened I had to disconnect battery again. I told the dealer about this while getting my oil change and they said that's what they've been doing too, just disconnecting battery to reboot system :(

I had an iphone 4s and noticed that after I got the 5s and paired it to my car, I got the blue screen a few times while starting the car. Not sure if it has anything to do with it or just a coincidence. After updating to v31 I haven't had these issues anymore.
 
#30 ·
The purpose of a forum is to talk about WHATEVER you want to talk about. RVOLL, who do you think you are to tell anyone what they can say/post?????

At this point I don't care if I get deleted form this forum....but I want to say this....

YOU ARE SO FUCKING ANNOYING, BEYOND FUCKING ANNOYING.

To everyone else, thank you SOOO much for listing your issues, I've captured them all, greatly appreciated.

Cheers!
 
#32 ·
One other thing I should note in regards to my Bluetooth issues...

I do indeed flash (reinstall low level software) to my phone regularly. I've used many pieces of software on my phone, including the stock software. My text notification issues have persisted through all various forms of software, stock or not stock LG software. I've also had phone software that I could pinpoint issues in the Mazda that were actually related to the customized software that I was running. I know I can cause problems for the Mazda system, but of course I try to avoid that.

I could totally understand how if someone had a cluttered phone, it could cause issues. If there wasn't enough "memory" on the phone sure you can have an issue. Phone makers these days hack-up the Android OS so much it is very hard to support from someone such as Mazda, since there are so many variables.

However, the thing to keep in mind is that these issues crop up even while running stock software straight from LG as well. I can make my phone like new, out of the box. No extra apps, no texts, nothing. The issues can still come up. I can be running true Android the way Google meant for it to be, with nothing extra from LG or Verizon. Way fewer apps and things running on the phone. The issues, again, can still come up. It doesn't happen 100% of the time, but I'd say I have maybe a 75% chance of my Mazda downloading my text messages properly without error.

Sometimes I get the dreaded "unable to retrieve messages" notice in the car. Once it has happened once, it won't get anything at all until I reboot the car. Yes the car, not the phone, but the car. Sometimes, it literally just never does anything. I get a notification, it tells me who the text is from, I hit read, and it goes to the read screen with buttons blanked out. Never reads the "this message is hidden for your safety" or whatever, never gives you the option to press Play to get it to read it, nothing.

iOS from Apple is of course much more controlled, but you see people having issues there as well when it is much more predictable as to what the user will be running vs Android devices.

My new TAU software seems to have made things a bit better. It sync's contacts when I start the car faster/more reliably. If it can't sync properly it seems to do a better job retrying. There are for sure still issues however that come up not once in a blue moon, not once a year, not once a month, but literally weekly. Again, regardless of what software I have on my phone or how "clean" it is. I'm like, obsessed with streamline/fast/efficient/clean. I'm for sure not the person that has a gunked up phone causing Mazda to stumble.
 
#33 ·
@PCGUY112887

Believe me, I totally understand where you are coming from. Years ago I ran a computer tech support function as part of my executive duties and I still build, and used to program, computers. Like you, many times I'm on the bleeding edge of things. As you know, when you do that, you can create conflicts even though you think you are doing everything right. Because the infotainment system in our car is so new, my experience tells me that I must keep the use of the system basic or I would be suffering just like you. So I don't use BT streaming, don't use AHA or Pandora, and on my USB drive, I use folders and a very simple tag structure. No emojis or multiple album pics and only about 16 gigs of music. Every time the system is upgraded, I reset it to factory specs and disconnect the battery so I have a clean system. Every 6 months, I reload my phone to stock specs with upgraded apps.

And I hear you saying that you shouldn't have to do this and you are absolutely right. But after spending my career (I'm retired now) in large corporations, my expectations for new things they introduce is very low. I bought the car to drive and I don't want the infotainment beta getting in the way of enjoying the car. My stuff works flawlessly, but I really work at it. You shouldn't have to, but you know the old saying about an ounce of prevention.

In reality, the vast majority of drivers won't use advanced features or be as sophisticated as you and your other cohorts. That's why they don't have problems. I think the difference is in our priorities and expectations. If I were going to buy a car mostly for tech, it would not have been the Mazda 3. But I bought a car mostly for driving, and it is good for that.

I really do believe that many of the problems are caused by junk both in the infotainment system and on our phones. When you install new TAU software, for example, you are cleaning your system. And sometimes streamlining a system can do more harm than good due to things you (or I) can't possibly know. I don't even root my current phone because it is not a test bed -- it's for just using it.
 
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#35 ·
Must be a "perfect storm" of several factors creating these problems. I'm running a Samsung s4, Kit Kat, on the Verizon network. The phone is not rooted and I have an average amount of apps and keep the system clean. I'm still on v25. I don't feel the need to update and fix something that's not broke, or break something that's working, but that's just me. I did have the "unable to retrieve messages" when I upgraded to Kit Kat. Once I deleted and paired, both the car and phone, I've never seen that again. It honestly seems like it's just hit or miss with these cars. Some people are having a terrible time (some self-induced, others not) and other people never have a hiccup, and like me, use all the functions. I would feel just as frustrated as many of you, had I encountered these problems with my infotainment system after paying all that money. Knowing myself, I'd have already bought another car. Haha If no single solution is pinpointed (which seems to be the case), then with any luck, and much input to Mazda, these things can be solved, in time. I know, it's easy for me to say, having no problems. I just hope that everyone that's encountered problems, lets Mazda know (corporation and dealers). If they don't hear about a widespread problem, they'll have no desire to put out the fire. With all that being said, I knew that the first year, of a totally redesigned car, would be a gamble tech-wise. There's many examples of that, through the years. The first year of Ford sync comes to mind. Had it not been for my love of the handling and performance of my 2010 mz3, I would have gone with a system that was a couple of years into production. It is indeed sad that we have to look at it that way, but that's the reality of modern high-tech cars. I realize we're all looking for something different in the cars we buy, I'm more handling and performance, while others are more tech driven. Best of luck to all of you Mazda compadres, and please keep Mazda informed of your problems. Not just the dealer, but the corporation. The squeaky wheel gets the oil.
 
#36 ·
While you don't want to hear from folks who don't have problems I would like to add some data on how I use my system and allow other folks who are having issues to possible try using their system different and see if their issue go away. If we can identify specific uses that cause the ITS to be unstable perhaps Mazda can release more targeted fixes.

First some background:
I've had my car since Sept 20th. I didn't even make it off the lot before I had my first issue (Nav not found). I then had multiple issues where the ITS would reboot, or show the backup cam while driving 45mph, lock up, black screen, etc. I was one of the unlucky few who got a car with V16 still on it. Mazda called me, told me my car should have never left the lot with V16 and had me bring the car in to be updated. They paid for a full tank of gas, and gave me a $100 giftcard for my trouble. After getting V20 my issues were mostly resolved except the hud not opening sometimes. I'm now on V31 and Mazda replaced my HUD for free.

I've been ITS issue free since I got V25 and here is how I use it.
- I have a 30-40 minute commute each way to work and drive 6 days a week.
- the longest drive I've done is to Portland, about 3 hours nonstop with no issues with the Nav on.
- I use a Lumia 1020 running WP8.1, blue tooth is connected, but I use it only for calls and text most of the time.
- The times I have used BT for music streaming have been issue free.
- For music I have my Zune connected to AUX. Yup I don't rely on the car for music at all.
- I never use the radio, AM/FM/XM. I never activated XM
- I never use the car's voice commands
- Have the Nav running most of the time, but not actually navigating. I sometimes leave it on the Mileage App or check the HD Radio Traffic Map.
- Don't have anything connected to USB


At the end of the month I have a 10 hour drive to California, with up to about 5.5 uninterrupted. I'll post back here if I have issues during that trip.
 
#37 ·
I have v29 and an iPhone 5S running latest iOS. Only issue is audio playback via Bluetooth...every 15-20 seconds there's a slight stutter. Matter of fact it stutters every 15-20 seconds 100% of the time.

Accessing music via USB is completely trouble free as are phone calls. I mentioned this to the tech this morning and he told me v29 is the latest version. I guess v31 is....I'll mention it again next time I'm in the dealership.
 
#39 ·
I drive an hour just to get to work so I spend a lot of time in my Mazda. Here are some of the consistent issues I have:

Several reboots while driving for no reason.
Bluetooth has problems keeping the connection, songs skipping like its a CD player.
Hitting "Agree" on startup takes FOREVER to register. Sometimes I have to press it 2-3 times.
Voice commands register maybe 50% of the time? It'll end up just bring the dia lpad to the screen.

v29, iPhone 5s

Please, just give me CarPlay. That's all I ask.
 
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