In a bizarre event, the infotainment systems on older Mazda vehicles in the Seattle area have been suddenly “bricked,” with Mazda still trying to figure out the full nature of the problem, according to local Mazda dealerships.
The infotainment systems in over a hundred cars in the area failed since late January. This was likely due to the broadcast over HD Radio of an NPR station whose metatags delivered a problematic signal, reported The Seattle Times. This caused the infotainment systems on vehicles around the years 2014 to 2017, to fail.
The radios would then only play the station KUOW. Navigation, Bluetooth and the clock stopped functioning. The radio would constantly cycle through trying to reboot, said The Seattle Times.
We contacted three local dealers who confirmed the problem. Doug’s Lynwood Mazda said about 60 customers have called about the glitch. Lee Johnson Mazda said over 100 customers in the Seattle area were impacted.
One dealer, as well the local newspaper, said a fix requires the installation of a new CMU, Connectivity Master Unit, that costs $1,500. Several Mazda dealers said Mazda is still working on the problem.
Xperi, HD Radio’s parent, did not respond to our inquiry.
For a full report see The Seattle Times here.
