Feb 10, 2022 15:00:00

What is the cause of the 'problem that the system becomes unusable when receiving a specific radio' in a Mazda car?

by

Negawa Ohashi

In some parts of the United States, a strange problem has been reported that 'when a Mazda car tunes to a specific radio station, the in-vehicle system becomes unusable', which has become a hot topic.

KUOW --Stuck in KUOW purgatory: Seattle Mazda drivers can't change the radio dial
https://www.kuow.org/stories/we-didn-t-mean-to-ruin-your-mazda-s-stereo

You're listening to KUOW… like it or not: Mysterious glitch has Mazda drivers stuck on public radio --GeekWire
https://www.geekwire.com/2022/youre-listening-to-kuow-like-it-or-not-mysterious-glitch-has-mazda-drivers-stuck-on-public-radio/

Problems that make the in-vehicle system unusable in Mazda vehicles have been reported mainly in Washington State, USA. For example, Stephanie Marquis, who lives in Olympia, Washington, received radio (frequency: 94.9 MHz) from Washington-based public broadcaster KUOW on the Mazda3 purchased in January 2022 in 2015. Immediately after that, the in-vehicle system repeatedly restarted, and the radio function, music playback function, rear camera function when reversing, etc. became unusable.

After that, Mr. Marquis set up a thread to share defect information on the online bulletin board Reddit to collect information. In response to Mr. Marquis's call, Reddit received many reports that 'the in-vehicle system became unusable after receiving KUOW radio waves', and finally KUOW's technical manager Dane Johnson joined the thread. Then, in the situation of collecting information. As a result of receiving a lot of information after that, it became clear that there was a problem with Mazda cars sold from 2014 to 2017.

In response to this problem, KUOW reported on the official website on February 8, 2022 that it will work with HD Radio developer Xperi to investigate the cause of the problem. In addition, Mazda North American Operations (MNAO) , Mazda's business base in the North American region, said, 'From January 24, 2022 to January 31, 2022, the Seattle Radio Station (KUOW) has no extension. This image file affected Mazda cars with older software sold between 2014 and 2017. MNAO has issued a warning to dealers about this issue. ' He issued a statement claiming that the cause of the malfunction was the radio waves emitted by KUOW.

In addition, MNAO plans to provide free parts replacement for vehicles affected by this defect.