Apple CarPlay problem with 2019 Acura RDX and iPhone X

You may have to do this reboot more than once. My 2019 RDX had multiple disconnects every time I drove it. Maps or Waze cutting out when you need crucial directions is no fun. Ultimately, the screen froze and would no shut off even when the the car was off and sitting for 20 minutes. It took me a couple of reboots following the YouTube video before it righted itself. It has now been about 17 days without a glitch. Good luck and please report back if you find this does or doesn’t fix the problem. Thanks for the feedback.

I have this problem on my 2019 RDX - it started with the last software upgrade. Acura knows about the problem but does not seem to know how to solve it. I have both an IPhone 7 (work) and an X.

The infotainment systems freaks out but only when using Apple Car Play. It does not shutdown when using Bluetooth to hear podcasts or Spotify on your phone. BTW, it truly freaks out - the map doesn’t know exactly where I am, no radio, no satellite, not a thing.

There is a YouTube video that shows how to reset - press the 3 buttons at the top of the touchpad simultaneously - or pull the fuse or disconnect the battery. Sometimes the car resets itself overnight - sometimes no.

Apple, please work with Acura to fix this!

There is no fix. The system is simply overwhelmed by ApplePlay.

All the re-setting and deleting of old information, won't fix anything for more than an hour or two.

The only current solution, is not to use Apple Play and simply use a Bluetooth connection.

Acura is well aware of the problem and aware they'll be paying compensation to the owners. That said, they're not working very fast to fix the problem, which is disconcerting ... many of us bought RDX's, because ApplePlay was available.

There is a Class-Action, started on July, 11 2019, against Honda (Acura) because of the RDX 2019/2020 problem.

https://www.hbsslaw.com/cases/acura-rdx-infotainment-system-defect/pressrelease/acura-rdx-infotainment-system-defect-class-action-lawsuit-accuses-honda-of-selling-acura-rdx-with-infotainment-defect

There's no apparently reason why my CarPlay works nearly flawlessly in my 2019 RDX, but it does. It works way better than CarPlay on my Mercedes. There's no inherent major flaw in the system, any longer. If you have a problem, it must be specifically related to your phone/infotainment setup.

If I were still in that boat, I would: Do a hard reset on my iPhone and rebuild it from scratch. I would delete everything in the infotainment center and remove any preferences or devices shown on the system ... then reset it, using the reset sequence you can find online and then by disconnecting the battery of the car, for an hour or so.

Then start all over, re-pairing your phone with the system.

My phone and CarPlay works all day, every day. It seldom has a glitch. The worst that happens, is the system disconnects if I bump the phone or yank on the cord. If that happens, I just reset the cord connection and everything goes back to normal.

That means to remove yourself from the CarPlay user list AND the Bluetooth user list, and then use the three button hard reboot (see YouTube video for infotainment center reboot) to reset the infotainment system. Maybe you’ll be lucky, but this didn’t make any difference for me. I did all of these things too and still have continued crashes not withstanding the Monday update.

After posting my comment above, Accura customer service (national, not my dealer) called to ask me if things had improved since I filed a complaint and received their suggestions. I reported my progress and she further suggested turning off WiFi before connecting CarPlay. This sounds a little like voodoo, but I guess it's worth a try.

Welcome to the club

I am sad for you, but happy for the rest of us that the issue is not limited to the 2019 model, that gives me more hope that they will work on fixing it.

The description of your problem is the same as most people at this group. Please, call Acura Customer relations, +1 (800) 382-2238‬, and you can even enter Extension 87251, ALAN is his name. You can say Leo told you to call him as you have mu same problem - he said he never heard that issue before - If all of us keep calling, the will know as a issue.

I also posted a youtube video of the issue, that Alan watched and is aware.

I'm glad there's a class action lawsuit (because it holds Acura financially accountable for this issue), but before you join it, know what you're agreeing to. Read the terms carefully. Usually they say something to the effect of - by joining the class you agree to not take further legal action against the defendant. What that means is that you cannot sue Acura or (I believe) file a lemon law claim. I am NOT a lawyer, but I highly stress that you read the full class action agreement. Also, every class action notice I've received says that by not doing anything (in other words - explicitly opting out) you are joining the class.

From what I know about class action lawsuits (from the ones I've been a part of) they take a very long time, but when they're settled, the defendant will pay out an agreed upon amount to the plaintiffs (plus lawyer fees). We can do a hypothetical scenario... Acura sold around 50,000 2019 RDXs in the US (from actual sales figures). Let's say Acura agrees to settle for $5M (after lawyer fees) and 10% of the RDX owners join the suit (5,000), then each plaintiff would get $1000. Acura may likely offer another compensation option to reduce the number of plaintiffs payment in cash - something like free oil changes for a year (which would increase the cash payout for those that don't choose oil changes).

The attorneys for the plaintiffs will request mailing addresses for ALL owners of affected vehicles sold (let's say 50,000) and mail the class action notice. Everyone would be included in the class unless they opt out. Let's say nobody opts out and use that hypothetical settlement amount of $5M. Each plaintiff would receive $100.

Again, this is all hypothetical and based on what I know from the classes I've been a part of (around 20). Each one is different and has various settlement terms.

If you take anything away from this, let it be this - read the class action notice and weigh your options.

PS - if there are any attorneys out there that have more info or can correct me if I'm wrong about anything here, please chime in...

Dave

I have an RDX with the tech package.

Because of the CarPlay disconnect issue, I now just hook up an iPod nano (7th generation) and play music from there using the USB connection feature of the Infotainment system.  Since latest November update the connection to the iPod nano has been stable, it displays album art, and the sound is just as good as when I was using CarPlay.  Before the November Infotainment system update, the connect to the iPod was not stable, but the November update fixed this for me.  The Bluetooth connection to music has always worked for me, bot using the iPod I get the album art plus it is easier to navigate from one playlist than trying to do that with the Bluetooth connection to music.

Also after the November update, the connection to Sirius XM works much better. It loads a lot faster and there is no more random "end of buffer" type errors that I was getting before.

And I use Bluetooth for the connection to my iPhone as far as receiving phone calls.

Of course I wish they would fix the CarPlay disconnect issue, so I could use the full functionality of CarPlay, but until that happens at least I am able to listen to music uninterrupted and receive phone calls.

Thanks Leo for all your effects to get to the bottom of this issue.

<< It may not happen with a smaller device like an old iPod or USB stick

as they draw less power and might not cause the same issue as a phone

trying to charge.>>

I have noticed that when the phone is plugged in, it draws a fast charge and very quickly tops-off at 100%. Is it possible that the level of charge in the phone when it is plugged in affects the five-minute drop-off?

A good news update: after I performed the "Factory Data Reset" as described on page 354 of the 2019 RDX owner's manual, as recommended by Acura tech support, I've activated CarPlay on nine short trips and in each case it stayed on and didn't drop off at the 5-minute mark. These were all short trips, none longer than 25 minutes, but they were all longer than 5. I have not had nine consecutive successful cycles since I started keeping a log in November.

After I performed the factory data reset I've used CarPlay on 15 successive trips, including two 70-mile segments, with no drops, no issues whatsoever using music, podcasts, maps, dictating messages to Siri, etc. This may not be enough to prove that an "intermittent" problem has been resolved, but I have not had 15 consecutive successful outings since the problem first surfaced. I'm beginning to think I'm in the clear.

Factory data reset has been working for about five days now. Yesterday, I had a couple of hour long drives with stability so that was encouraging. Let’s keep the updates coming on how long this lasts before we have to reset again. For some crazy reason, I’m actually hopeful we have something here. I know, I know - dang optimist!

BPpark wrote:

Thanks, that helps. By way of a remedy , is this something Acura can address in future system updates, or in a hardware upgrade? Or is there no fix?

I'm not sure if I was unclear in my previous post. The fix is the reset. What anyone should be doing with these systems that have issues like this is factory resets every so often. That may not be a "viable" solution, I suggest people accept that this is the best solution for now and it's just a good habit to develop. Expecting an integrated system to perform flawlessly for the life of the vehicle, TV or smart device is an unrealistic expectation.