In Seattle, USA, hundreds of Mazda owners have experienced a multimedia system failure: it was stuck on the 94.9 FM wave, which broadcasts the local public radio station KUOW-FM. This became known after mass complaints from motorists, they said on the website of the radio station.
One of the drivers of the 2016 Mazda CX-5 said he discovered the problem when he returned from a grocery store. The motorist explained that the radio was stuck at 94.9 FM and he could neither change the wave nor use the navigation or Bluetooth. The only thing left is volume control. Restarting the system didn't fix the problem.
Other Mazda owners who spoke to the radio station said they drive cars around the same year. According to one of the drivers, he was one of hundreds of motorists who have turned to dealers with the same problem in recent days.
“Three local Mazda dealerships said they had received numerous calls over the past three weeks. One of the employees said that this is a sore subject, and they have been calling about this for several weeks, ”the radio said.
The exact cause of the failure is still unknown. Representatives of the radio station initially suggested that the failure could be related to the decommissioning of 3G networks and the transition to 5G throughout the country - and some cars with older versions of the software allegedly do not support this communication standard. However, this theory does not explain why the multimedia of all Mazda cars of the same year of manufacture get stuck on the same radio station.
Representatives of Mazda told the portal Gizmodo what could have caused the failure. From January 24 to January 31, KUOW-FM transmitted music album art files without the appropriate extension (.jpeg or .gif), which caused a problem on some 2014-2017 Mazda vehicles with older software.
Mazda can't offer a solution other than a complete replacement of the CMU responsible for the display, which is valued at $1,500. While some cars are no longer under warranty, the automaker is willing to offer a free repair.
bbabo.Net