Mazda radio's stuck on KUOW (seattle NPR station)

2014-2017 Mazda’s have had a wierd issue with the infotainment that’s connected to the HD signal from KUOW in Seattle. Mazda has a fix but parts are unavailable at this time

Just start pushing buttons, can’t make it worse I guess.

They’ve tried that, even things like the backup camera and bluetooth don’t work anymore. Mazda Dealers up and down I-5 are dealing with angry customers.

Ah, might be caused by Invaders From Space.

4 Likes

Was CarTalk on the NPR station when it switched?

4 Likes

It’s a side effect of getting a booster of COVID vaccine. The NPR connection is deliberate. Everyone knows that getting a booster exposes you to a secret sauce that forces you to listen only to NPR.

1 Like

In todays climate it’s tough to tell if this is a joke or not. I know a certain group of people who actually believe this. Oh well

2 Likes

No!
It’s a microchip, and the interference between Bill Gates’ chip and the Mazda system is causing the problem. :smirk:

Clearly, the only “fix” is to wear an aluminum foil helmet, and to wrap the entire vehicle in foil.
:smile:

6 Likes

There is a defect in the radio. on my aftermarket radio in my truck, if you disconnect the battery for too long or hit the station reset button by mistake all the stations will be reset to one station. but I do love all the joking answers. OR IS IT THE TRUTH??? LOL

They stopped airing Car Talk years ago, When they did it was only on Saturday mornings, Used to be at the top of the ratings for Seattle/Tacoma radio for news/talk but is well behind Kiro FM which has a signal that reaches much further.

I was worried a little that my snide comment would seem serious, so I added in the “secret sauce” to make it more ridiculous.

It’s a commentary on today’s world that people were still uncertain whether I was serious. I was not. Just reaching for an anonymous chuckle.

3 Likes

I knew you were being silly but it is hard to tell on a Forum . Unfortunately there are those that just accept everything . There are even people who don’t think the Pillow Guy is nuts. :astonished:

5 Likes

maybe his MEMORY is FOAM.

1 Like

shredded foam, just like in his crappy pillows…

1 Like

I think the mention of secret sauce indicates a joke!

1 Like

I don’t see what the problem is. Everyone should listen to NPR anyway, right? :wink: Seriously, the radio in my Corolla has 10 presets for FM and it stays tuned to KWMU, the local NPR station, 99% of the time.

1 Like

The problem isn’t as much as the radio’s stuck on one station as the rest of the infotainment system doesn’t work. No Backup camera or bluetooth. They’ve tracked the problem down to a single file that wasn’t saved with an extension. Mazda and the company behind HD radio are working with the station to figure out why a single file would cause the system to reboot at will. From other reports the Mazda dealer’s aren’t finding this quite as amusing. It’s going to cost well over $1,000 per car for the part to fix this.

One report I read it was due to 5g communication towers, and the inability of older 3g systems to deal with it,

There was that theory but that’s been ruled out. Jalopnik has a lot more detail.

Here’s a viable solution