Subaru Outback Forums banner

Beware of Subaru Dealership Audio Update Issue

2K views 9 replies 4 participants last post by  osrental 
#1 ·
I have a 2017 Outback with navigation.
Prior to a Subaru dealer downloading an update to my radio from Subaru, my Bluetooth worked perfectly. I use apple products and I was able to connect an I phone 7, 11, 13 and iPad to my radio with out any issues. In fact my Bluetooth connected to my car even though my phone was as far as 50 to 80 feet away and in a building.
The update number the dealer downloaded to my radio was NU9511. They downloaded this update in November of 2022.

Unfortunately I still cannot get my Bluetooth to work.
 
#2 ·
Could try deleting the phone on the headunit, and then deleting the car connection on the iphone, see if it pairs then (if you haven't done this already).

A factory reset on the headunit might help - that's the "delete personal data" or whatever the option is under general settings. That will remove all the radio presets and any customization you've done.
 
#3 ·
Thank you for your suggestion.
All the above have been tried multiple times,
I have deleted the connection on my phone and on the radio as well to no avail. Initially I thought this would resolve the issue. The initial dealer even did a procedure that drains back up power from the radio after disconnecting the battery in an effort to reset the radio. Exhausting the assistance that my local dealer was going to offer I reached out to a new car delivery specialist at another dealership and she showed me another way to delete all the settings and personal info from the radio which did not resolve the issue.
To be more transparent I bought this car new and it maintained the connection even with battery changes. However on a Tuesday in November of 22 my Bluetooth was fine I dropped my car of to have some work done to it and when I picked up my car on Thursday from the dealership that downloaded the update my Bluetooth never connected again. To me that’s a corrupt update.
 
#7 ·
Probably not a factor in this case, but I have personally seen instances where an IOS update solves an issue. Unfortunately, on my older vehicle (14 Sierra) an iOS update rendered parts of my Bluetooth connection inoperable, and since the vehicle is so old I know GM will not be issuing any further updates on their end.

A 17 Outback is newer so conceivably an update on the vehicle end might require a certain iOS level to be compatible. So if your phones are not up to date, wouldn’t hurt to try that.
 
#10 ·
Thanks I’ll check this out but looking quickly might be over my head. In any case thank you for the info.

I believe that the phone and radio presets were there when I got the vehicle back however the phone would not connect so thinking it just needed to be reinstalled to the radio I deleted it then tried to reinstall it. I never really used the the navigation. I prefer Waze which now that I have to use the usb to connect to my radio seems to be unreliable as far as preset destinations. Also unfortunately I am unable utilize my audio system in the car for calls. I even purchased an apple oem cable hoping that would resolve that issue but it didn’t.
I will say that I have always preferred to have my repairs done at dealerships in the past.
This mainly because I prefer oem parts and their techs I felt are more experienced with the product and trained in the vehicle. Unfortunately the service writer and service manager were really a huge disappointment being an advocate for my issue with Subaru.
Ironically I had an unrelated problem with phone call sound quality prior to the appointment which I was able to resolve thru microphone settings.
And I asked the dealership twice, once over the phone when I verified my service appointment and then again on the early bird envelope when I dropped the car off not to do anything to the radio but they took it upon themselves to check for updates.
And that was the end of my Bluetooth.




Wow, thank you very much that’s a lot of info to take in. When the car was returned to me, I do believe that the radio had some presets that I had put on it and even when they did the discharge of the memory by draining the capacitors, I remember noting that the presets were still on the radio and when I mentioned that the radio presets were still there to the dealer they didn’t seem to feel that was an issue.
And yes, the phone was also still on the radio and as I mentioned, I uninstalled it and tried to reinstall it to no avail. It appears that update was Intended to correct a problem with XM radio and nothing to do with Bluetooth if I’m reading that correctly. I’m not sure if I’m able to do the reset, that you mention. But I’ll try to go through the material and see if I can.
Honestly you have been more informative than the dealership with trying to resolve this issue.
Thank you for your time and insight.
I’ll let you know how I make out.
Quite possible.

when you got your car back when they did the update - were your presets still there? And the phone pairing? And any saved navigation stuff? Part of the update procedure is to perform a memory initialization… it’s a different screen than the delete data thing you’ve tried. It wipes everything. Skipping that step could cause some things to be off.

I can’t remember if that option only appears after the update and it needs to be pressed, or if it’s always there in the service screen.

you can grab the technical service bulletin in the firmware history reference thread… there is a procedure to check the version, and perform the memory initialization from that service menu.

If there were problems loading that firmware, the dealer could have tried to reapply the firmware. That’s a step in the procedure if there are problems. I’m guessing that the dealer did not do that after you went back?

I did the memory initialization procedure.
Unfortunately this did not correct the problem.
Other manufacturers have radio exchange programs that are reasonable, unfortunately Subaru doesn’t participate in one.
You either buy a new radio for 1200.00 or find a used one that works.

Thank you all for your advice and technical info,
I am so appreciative of your generosity.
Stay well.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top