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Want to keep radio off at vehicle startup

132K views 127 replies 73 participants last post by  BirdmanOB 
#1 ·
Greetings,

Have a new 2018 OB Limited 3.6R. It has the 8" Multimedia Nav system.

There are times when we don't want the radio to come on at vehicle startup. I know how to turn off the radio by holding down the volume control and it turns off the radio and screen. That part's OK. At that point I'd like to be able to turn off the vehicle and have have the radio off at the next car restart.

Upon vehicle start, I realize the nav system starts up automatically, but is there a way to keep the radio/media from starting up also? Any tips would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Dave
 
#4 ·
Just have it set to bluetooth audio when you shut it off but dont enable bluetooth on your phone. When you get in and start the car it will try to connect to bluetooth but won't be able to, so you won't hear anything. Convoluted way to just...welll,,,,turn the volume knob down when you get in. As a previous poster has touched on, don't overthink it.
 
#9 ·
We have the same issue with our 2018 OB. Very annoying. I had hoped the volume setting in the Sound Settings area was used as a default at startup. That way, you could set it to 0 ... alas, it appears that is simply a third way to change the volume though why any one would do it that way instead of using the knob or the steering wheel controls is beyond me.
 
#10 ·
I have the same car in Touring trim. Turning the volume knob all the way to zero before shutting off the car is the only sure fire way to prevent it from playing music when you turn on the ignition. Good news is it works, wether you turn the screen off to black or not.

As an aside, the option to black out the screen is in no way an "off" setting. The system can not be turned off, period. The black screen will not prevent music from playing, in fact the volume knob still works to control the volume of whatever is playing while the screen is set to black.
 
#12 ·
As stated in many other threads, the best workaround is to tune the radio to SiriusXM channel 0, which is silent. Set the #1 preset button to this channel by holding it in for a few seconds. If you normally listen to radio, always switch to preset #1 before you turn off the car. If you normally listen to CD or USB sources, just leave preset #1 engaged. You will get silence when you turn the car off, and when you restart it.
 
#69 ·
This radio issue is so annoying. I just sent a complaint to Subaru America online here asking for a software fix for this.
If enough users email about this perhaps they'll include it in an update.
Submit here in the email form:
https://www.subaru.com/customer-support.html
This is an issue on the 19s too. It is the biggest complaint I have about my 19 OB. DUMB design.
 
#16 ·
If I can get into the habit it will have to be turning down the volume before switching off the car.
But honestly, what a clumsy way to keep your radio from yelling at you in the year 2018. I still think we should bomb Subaru with lots of email requests for this to fix with a software update.
Great car otherwise and really love it but stunned how Subaru's designers could mess up so big in such a basic issue. It doesn't seem that exotic a scenario to imagine that a user does not always want the radio to come on when starting to drive, does it? Oh well...
 
#25 ·
... Does the USB power go out when the ignition is off?
Yep. It will come back on in acc mode. When you turn the car off everything goes off except the radio will continue for about 5 minutes, or until you open the driver's door. But Bluetooth remains connected during that time as well, as I've had music/Pandora streaming from my phone and it will continue playing when the engine it turned off.
 
#29 ·
Yep. It will come back on in acc mode. When you turn the car off everything goes off except the radio will continue for about 5 minutes, or until you open the driver's door. But Bluetooth remains connected during that time as well, as I've had music/Pandora streaming from my phone and it will continue playing when the engine it turned off.
My radio stays on indefinitely till the drivers door is opened. Ran the battery down twice. Posted another thread about it and I think others found the same issue. I don’t have the latest update yet so I don’t know if that fixed it.
 
#19 ·
Oh yes, the backing up...
I ran into this too. When the rear camera comes onto the display the silent button does not work until you get out of backup gear. and if I'm not wrong even the volume can't be turned down In that phase. so if you ended your drive with beautiful loud mozart from your phone, you may be greeted with blarring radio ad noise until your done with backing up. Grrrrrrrr..... Who is that design intern that they let screw this up so badly?!
 
#22 ·
... so if you ended your drive with beautiful loud mozart from your phone, you may be greeted with blarring radio ad noise until your done with backing up. Grrrrrrrr.....
Shift into Neutral, press the mute button, and shift back into Reverse. Or just press the mute button before shifting into Reverse. Either way, problem solved.
 
#21 ·
In 2015 (to 2017?) models, the mute button does not work in reverse but at least you can still use the volume control knob (that round thing to the upper left of the touchscreen) to turn it down, even when in reverse.

I can kinda sorta see why someone might have thought disabled steering wheel audio controls when in reverse might be a "safety feature" (you're backing up, stupid! PAY ATTENTION!!) On the other hand, it's hard to pay attention to what's going on around you when the sound system is blasting. Killing the "turn off the dang noise" buttons? Really? This seems to have been an unwise choice.
 
#26 ·
In 2015 (to 2017?) models, the mute button does not work in reverse but at least you can still use the volume control knob (that round thing to the upper left of the touchscreen) to turn it down, even when in reverse.
...
Just tested my 2018. While in reverse, the steering wheel volume control works, the dash volume and mute work. So they fixed that for '18. Still don't understand why there isn't a startup maximum volume level setting.
 
#32 ·
Nope. Its a serious design flaw. You have to turn teh sound system off completely every time BEFORE shutting off the car.

The other one that pisses people off is that the sound system will fire up whenever a phone or bluetooth item connects. It will randomly start playing crap like Pandora, even though you never initiated it. It's intermittent. It simply turns things off and on whenever it wants to. All you have to do is plug your phone (any OS - Android, iOS, Windows...) into the USB or have it in your pocket. The entertainment head will abruptly play/launch whatever it feels like, whenever it feels like it. Even when I have expressly turned the sound system OFF. DANGEROUS!!!

Usually mine kicks off Pandora (I won't ever use aha) but I've had it launch all sorts of things. FM, books on tape...whatever. Even when devices are hardwired through USB, the head disconnects and connects randomly. It will also do this whenever it decides to re-pair the device. I've had half hour trips where the phone randomly toggles from available to unavailable and back the entire time. Really really poor design and execution.

There have been instances where I've been so startled that I almost got in a wreck. It's a class action lawsuit waiting to happen.

Subaru software engineers really need to get their act together. The entertainment head is the WORST part of the entire vehicle.
I'll be replacing it with an aftermarket unit as soon as I can. My OB has fewer than 20k miles...
 
#33 ·
Mine has never done that. Since I'm usually on SiriusXM, that's what starts when I turn the car on. My phone connects to BT and that's all. If I was on FM when I turned it off, that's what starts again. If I had been playing something on my phone (such as Pandora), it usually doesn't resume on startup. I can't recall for sure, but I think it just starts playing music from my phone. And if I connect the phone via USB, Car Play does not do anything other than connect. The radio continues playing whatever station I was on. If I have the nav screen up, the phone does not switch me to Apple Maps. Unless I take action to enter Car Play and select something there, the radio doesn't do anything different.

Maybe they've changed things with the '18 model.
 
#35 ·
Just received this email reply from Subaru of America on the radio issue. Perhaps there is hope...

"We appreciate you bringing your feedback on this design feature of your new Subaru. Our Product Management Department is looking into a change to this characteristic so that the audio does not automatically come on when you start your Outback. We hope to have the update later this summer. "
 
#40 ·
My wife has a 2018 OB and this "feature" where the entertainment system comes on after a restart even if you've turned it off before shutting down is really not good. Does anybody know if this has been corrected in the 2019 versions?
It's corrected in the 2018 with the latest firmware. Hold the volume button for 5-6 seconds and the radio turns off, and remains off at re-start. I can't quote the firmware version number, but it's what I downloaded and installed from the subaru-maps.com web site 2-3 months ago.
 
#41 ·
What's wrong with a radio that you turn on when you want it on, and you turn off when you want it off? Why does it come on when you start the car even if you turned it off before you turned the car off? Why does it stay on when you have already turned the motor off? What makes the engineers at Subaru think they know what we want our cars to do, instead of letting us control items like the radio on our cars the way we want to control them?

The only way I have found to get rid of the noise of the radio when starting the car is to turn the volume to zero before leaving the car the time before.
 
#42 ·
What's wrong with a radio that you turn on when you want it on, and you turn off when you want it off? Why does it come on when you start the car even if you turned it off before you turned the car off? Why does it stay on when you have already turned the motor off? What makes the engineers at Subaru think they know what we want our cars to do, instead of letting us control items like the radio on our cars the way we want to control them?
Because it's no longer a "radio" but an "infotainment head unit." Even though you might not want to hear the radio, you might want to use the navigation or read the text messages. so yeah, it turns "on" when you start the vehicle. It was a decision based on what they thought would be better for typical user. If they chose to not have the head unit turn on upon starting, I guarantee there would be a billion threads started here how stupid those Subaru engineers who couldn't figure out how to implement a simple thing like turning on the **** radio!
 
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