Mysterious glitch traps some Mazda drivers on Washington public radio station
Some Mazda drivers are trapped on a Washington public radio station, and they are confused.
Many people took to Reddit to share their frustration over a seemingly bizarre and mysterious incident.
“We’re all stuck on KUOW,” one user wrote on Feb. 1.
The infotainment system is a screen that allows a driver to send texts, make calls and use a navigation system.
Others said their infotainment system had been forcing reboots over and over — and their radio station had been set at KUOW-FM, 94.9.
They weren’t the only Mazda owners to show up at a mechanic. The Reddit user said about 50 other people were asking a mechanic about the same issue.
Scott Smith told KUOW that he had returned to his Mazda after grocery shopping and found his infotainment system going back and forth through the menu options.
The man couldn’t change anything, but he could hear KUOW, an NPR member station.
“Luckily I am an NPR listener so that’s fine,” Smith said.
The issue happened when a signal from the radio station to the “Modern HD Radio” in the car that’s connected to the infotainment center “fried” a part of it, The Seattle Times reported.
Mazdas from 2014 to 2017 were impacted, the news outlet reported.
“A radio station in the Seattle area sent image files with no extension, which caused an issue on some 2014-2017 Mazda vehicles with older software. Mazda North American Operations has distributed service alerts advising dealers of the issue,” Mazda of North America said in a statement to KING-TV.
Mazda drivers impacted by the issue can get replacement parts if they contact their local Mazda dealer and put in a request to the warranty department, the news outlet reported.
KUOW said in a statement that it has “been in contact with Xperi, the company who owns the technology behind HD Radio, and have given them complete access to our transmitters to investigate what is causing this issue. Our operations team is doing everything they can to support them in finding a quick resolution.”
This story was originally published February 10, 2022 at 4:30 PM.
