HANDS-FREE HEADACHES
When phones lose connection
Problems with vehicle connectivity to personal electronic devices are quickly climbing to the top of the list of customer complaints.
The most common issue happens when a smartphone or regular cellphone won’t operate on a vehicle’s hands-free system.
First make sure the vehicle you are trying to pair with will accept your phone. Almost all carmakers have lists of compatible phones available through their websites.
Make sure you are looking at the Canadian version of their sites, as there are differences between the U.S. and Canada with some vehicle manufacturers.
Car companies have struggled in the past to keep up with the latest developments in smartphone technology and communication protocols. Even today, some of the most popular new vehicles aren’t compatible with the hottest phones on the market.
Phone pairing with most vehicles and phones is a fairly intuitive procedure. But make sure your phone is “visible” to the vehicle by selecting “make visible to other devices” in the phone settings section.
On the vehicle’s infotainment control, select “phone” and before choosing “add device” make sure you delete all existing phones listed (unless you are borrowing someone’s personal auto). This can make it much easier to find your phone listed on the vehicle’s display screen when it pops up. Almost all vehicles won’t let you start this task unless it’s stationary with the automatic transmission in park or the manual gearbox in neutral.
From the menu on the auto’s phone screen select “add device” and the system should automatically start searching for phones in range. You may have to select a corresponding command on the phone to get both systems searching for each other at the same time.
If you’ve used your phone for other vehicles in the past, you’ll get a list of vehicle systems to choose from on its menu. You may have to refer to the vehicle’s owner’s manual to find the correct name of the system. Some vehicles will display a password which has to be entered on the phone but lately many have dropped this requirement.
If you’re successful, your vehicle’s display should have a Bluetooth icon lit up in one corner of the screen and you’re off to handsfree driving.
If your phone suddenly stops working once it has been paired with a vehicle, the first thing to try is to delete it from that vehicle’s system and try to re-pair it.
Make sure the “make visible” option is active on the phone.
Most carmakers are continually issuing software updates to improve compatibility with smartphones; if your vehicle suddenly decides to stop communicating with a phone it was previously functional with, contact an authorized dealership to check if there’s an update available.
Most manufacturers will cover the cost of this update within the terms of their vehicles’ base warranties only. Updating costs vary from dealership to dealership and can cost as much as $100 or more.