Apple CarPlay keeps disconnecting (2021)

Hi, update, after trying new mfi and iPhone leads, no success, I used a can of compressed air, then WD-40 contact cleaner, a few times inside the USB socket, power off, left overnight, it’s been two days, but it’s working, had a long journey through France yesterday, it didn’t disconnect, it might not have solved the issue, but fingers crossed, if it fails again, I’ll be back on here.🤞

Here is what I've seen. I just purchased a new 2022 Kia Soul. I am seeing the repeatable 'certain area' disconnects at one specific spot on my daily drive. It is my feeling it has to do with the 'WIFI' CarPlay connection that auto manufacturers have gone to. Being in the IT field, there are many outside factors that can affect a WIFI signal and I believe the issue is there. The manufacturers made a big mistake in making the cars 'WIFI only' instead of allowing the choice between WIFI or cabled. I have owned 3 Kia Souls and this is the first with an issue. The two previous cars connected CarPlay through the USB connector and never had an issue. You can never rely on a connection that can so easily be hampered by outside interference. Ultimately, it looks a bit like the fault of both sides, the car for relying exclusively on WIFI with interference issues and Apple for not being able to recover from the disconnect without a phone restart and a car restart. I don't see an easy fix for stopping WIFI signal issues but it will be up to Apple to fix the phone's recovery from the interruption. The ultimate fix would be to make the USB connection and alternate option again. That can only happen if they didn't remove any circuitry that allowed the connection.

Hey,

I am also facing this issue with my new Kona Electric since I picked up the car.

Recently when I - once again - was trying to figure out why the **** CarPlay keeps disconnecting I noticed that everytime the connection gets lost, the audio system shows that tiny icon on the top right corner of its display indicating that a bluetooth connection is established. I thought that maybe the audio system might switch the connection from WiFi based CarPlay to bluetooth and then again back which is why I've set up a shortcut on my phone that is going to disable bluetooth when CarPlay is connected and the other way round.

Yesterday I've done a 2 hour trip with my family and my CarPlay connection broke exactly once, right at the beginning of the trip. But that might eventually have happened in case the audio system first establishes the bluetooth connection and afterwards the wireless CarPlay connection. Possibly there would have been not a single connection loss if I would have disabled bluetooth manually on the phone instead of letting a shortcut do so.

Before disabling bluetooth, my connection dropped like every 3 - 5 minutes approximately, which was an absolute pain.

I had a 2020 Hyundai Sonata where Apple Car Play never disconnected. Then someone t-boned me, and I got a 2021 Sonata. The only reason I bought the same car again was BECAUSE of Apple Car Play. I deliver food, and it's critical that this feature works for me. All these disconnections are so dangerous when I'm driving. I agree with the person on this forum that said this is a lawsuit in the making. I'd really like some answers. I went to the Hyundai dealership, and they said there was nothing they could do. They said they weren't even aware of the problem, but I seriously doubt that. I recently upgraded my OS on my phone but nothing changed. So frustrating!

The frustration is that when they "upgraded" cars to wireless they disabled the ability to connect via a hard wire. Now that the wireless connection is buggy, there is no fall back while a fix is developed. With hundreds of these reports on the web I am shocked they moved forward with this. I mean... Quality control testing? How was this outcome successful?

@de_mg Can you clarify. Are you saying you disabled bluetooth and just used Wifi?

Isn't Bluetooth needed for Phone Calls and Media Streaming (Spotify, Amazon Music)?

Wifi is used for the projection of the phone to the car screen.

What's why I don't understand the problem. Seems you need both subsystems. However the phone is 2ft from the infotainment system. So you should never be out of range of Bluetooth or Wifi. The flaw to me is the wifi not the bluetooth. There are too many things that can interfere with wifi and it that gets interrupted it drops the entire signal to the phone and all streaming stops and phone projection.

Hyundai offered me an ex gratia payment of $1,500 after I won the NCAT case. They didn’t want to replace the car as it would likely still not work, and they didn’t want to deal with NCAT again. They know full well this is a major issue, and have for all of 2021.

The $1,500 was to get me to take a refund on the car and buy a different one.

Also please note that Hyundai haven’t admitted any fault to me, and have actually been fantastic through the process. Sutton’s City Hyundai, in Sydney, have been disgraceful.

Hyundai has done their best to fix the issue, and Sutton’s has done their best to blame me.

@dcwarpath:

That was a good question and I just went out to my car to do a test (as I indeed did not listen to music or receive any phone calls during my 2 hours trip). It turns out that the audio system needs bluetooth - but only for establishing the initial connection. Once it is connected and CarPlay is active one can just disable bluetooth and music streaming as well as doing phone calls still works.

Thanks for your comments everyone… my CarPlay is “hardwire connected”. The 2019 changed that but mine is a 2018. I have arranged a get-together with the dealer’s service department. Both sales and service tell me they haven’t heard of this before (I know them well and believe them.) That said they’ve heard of it now and are eager to investigate. I’ll keep you all posted. Stay tuned… and BTW, there have been many comments here Re Hyundai. Mine is a KIA. Same car… just spelled and pronounced differently, so again, stay tuned. 😊

Took my 2021 Elantra to the dealership today and they updated the display unit. I drove my car through one of the same spots where the wireless CarPlay disconnects and sure enough, it disconnected again. The dealership was very hesitant at even recognizing this issue because I asked a few of the service reps about it and they were very tight-lipped at responding. I glanced at my iPhone 12 (IOS 15) several times during the disconnection and the phone's display, which was on Apple Maps during the drive, did flash a few times but still remained connected to Apple Maps during the disconnection but CarPlay was disconnected and I couldn't get it reconnected before my car was shut off.

[Edited by Moderator]

I have the same issue however it’s gotten to the point that Hyundai can’t fix the issue so they are refunding my car! I’m furious with Apple and Hyundai at their poor communication with each other. Apple seriously needs to listen to peoples issues with the wireless CarPlay and fix it or discontinue the product

@micky_b2000 I'd live to contact you directly about this. I am going back and forth with Hyundai now. They claim technical support at Hyundai never heard of the problem which is a load of garbage. Do you have a case number I can refer to regarding this issue? Hyundai obviously clearly admitted a problem here. What was the make and model of the car you had? They refunded purchase price? I'm dying to know more.

@dcwarpath Technical support know all about it and I have a reference number as I lodged a complaint. I have a Hyundai Venue active. However they have tried to fix the issue multiple of times. They gave me a Hyundai i30 and a Kona as a rental while I was waiting for my car to be fixed and both those cars had the same issue. It’s their entire fleet (ones that have wireless Apple CarPlay). I’m currently going through the refund process now and I have to prove to them that it’s an issue (need to physically pick a staff member up and drive them 40 minutes to the city to show them where it cuts out). They said they would refund purchase price plus my window tinting, ceramic coat, front sensors and the fee to pay off my loan. However that’s not in writing so I’m concerned they won’t.

[Email Edited by Moderator]

How is refunding your purchase “keeping a customer?”

I would admit it’s Apple’s issue given proof that it is, but the fact that this is not a universal issue coupled with several people stating a Hyundai update fixed their problem indicates it’s not, or at least isn’t in all cases.