iPhone 4.1 - Car Audio doesn't work anymore...

Seems to affect all direct USB connections. Have a 2010 Lexus RX350 w/ Mark Levinson stereo. Since updating 2G 64GB iPod Touch from 4.0.2 to 4.1, audio playback is clipping/crackling and muddled. I also have occasional synch problems where the iPod isn't recognized or I cannot FF songs via steering wheel controls.

Also noted by others here:
http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/news/comments/ios-4.1-causing-in-car-usb-playba ck-problems/

C'mon apple. Get it together and test better. Doesn't make much sense to affect core functionality with an update.

I'm using USB in my 2010 Prius, and it's fine. No sound problems yet at all.

I have the same issue with my 2008 BMW 335xi. When I upgraded to iPhone 4, I converted my old 3G to an ipod. I've taken out my old SIM card and turned airplane mode to "off." working better, but still get the message that

"your iphone is not designed to work with this accessory" every time I turn the car on.

No fixes apparent yet.

I have the Alpine CD-9884, and am also having an issue. It worked ok for the most part with iOS 4, and iOS 4.0.1. But since upping to 4.1, it doesn't successfully connect at all. Now when I connect my 3GS, the Alpine will see it but then it seems to fail during handshaking. Then it tries once more, before giving an error code.

The only way I've been able to get this to work at all, is to enable Aux mode on the head unit. It will then play using the dock cable, but of course I no longer have iPod control or data transfer (no titles displayed on the head unit).

I'm going to experiment with different levels of restore (set up as a new phone instead of letting iTunes restore from the backup, disabling App sync on the new install, etc), but after reading the posts here, it seems my only options are either living with it, or downgrading to an earlier iOS until Apple fixes this.

I got the "Unsupported Version" Message after I upgraded my iPod Touch to 4.1 with my TSX using the USB. After connecting two or three times, each with the message appearing, it finally appeared having access to all playlist and artist, playing music fine. No loss of quality of music as others have reported. Maybe connecting and disconnecting might help other folks, thought I would throw that out there, it might work with other cars.

After I updated my phone to iOS 4.1 it would not synch with my BMW, Mini Cooper S or Ram Pickup - each having a different system. You could not use the steering wheel controls, the names did not appear on the display and so on. My partners phone was not updated, and worked fine on all three cars.

I tuned off the phone (holding down the power for 5 seconds, etc.) Connected to the dock in the Ram, started up the Ram which in turn caused the phone to power up. After everything completed - it worked fine. I tried in the Mini and the BWM and they worked fine too. Looks like rebooting while connected reset everything - hope that helps.

Same here. Have an iPhone 4 and an Alpine ida-x305s.
OS3 = Good but there was clipping with the bluetooth audio (like someone was quickly pausing/playing the track every 30 sec.)
OS4.0 = Fixed bluetooth clipping but searching was sloooooooow
OS4.1 = Fixed slow searching but now the usb audio clips like the bluetooth used to do.
***? Don't they test this sh** before they release it?

I am having the same problem with my dock connector on my 1 series. Earlier the system was able to recognize the device as an Ipod and I was able to access the the ipod using car controls.
Now it recognized the device simply as an Aux-Input.

I was reading some forums online and people with Bose Dock player are facing similar problems

I'm using a USA Spec interface to connect my iPhone to my infinity QX4 factory radio. It's always worked flawlessly for every generation if iPhone and OS version until 4.1.

I still get audio connected, but my phone no longer charges. That is especially annoying since I had to pay $40 for a new cable back when the 3GS cane out because of the pin configuration change. What a waste. I can't think of what they could have changed with the software to break this.

I have the same Eclipse unit as the OP and am experiencing the exact same issue after the 4.1 update. I have tried multiple hard resets, turning off bluetooth and wifi, as well as removing all the audio files from my phone (which was suggested in another forum) and my unit still refuses to recognize the iPhone via the USB connection. The Apple technical support guy I spoke to seemed to be aware of the issue but had no info about a possible fix. I suggest anyone experiencing this issue contact Apple -- the more noise we make the better the chances of this problem being addressed quickly -- if at all.

Just tested it in a Chevy Malibu with a USB connection. After the upgrade to 4.2 version, the music cuts out in 30-50 seconds time and you have to reconnect to iPhone to get it to play just to have it cut out again.
4.0.2 worked fine before.

This is on iPhone 4 ....

Just to clarify, I think the last poster meant iOS 4.1, not 4.2.

Using an Alpine ida-x305x everything worked fine in ios 4.0 except navigating through songs was slow. I patched to ios 4.1 and now when I connect I get a pop up: "charging is not supported with this accessory". Also, the audio cuts out from time to time and the connection resets. I've reset the head unit with the read button and confirm it does (because the date goes back to Jan 2009) and shutdown and restart the iPhone and there is still no improvement of the issue.

So after about a week of not being able to listen to my iPhone via the USB connection, today the head unit in my car experienced an "awakening." Just for kicks, when I got in my car this morning I decided to connect my iPhone and to my surprise not only did it play through my Eclipse unit -- the response time was even better than it had been under 4.0 (song/artist/album lists loaded and scrolled faster). I parked my car for about an hour and when I came back it still worked. I then parked my car again for about four hours and unfortunately I couldn't get it to connect again (once again, the head unit flashed "Reading" repeatedly). I then tried every possible variation I could think of but was unable to duplicate the morning's results. During the past few days I had been connecting my 2G Nano to the head unit so I started to think that maybe that had somehow facilitated the handshake between the iPhone and the Eclipse but after various attempts it proved not to be the case. So now I'm back to square one -- having witnessed a minor yet temporary miracle.