Stephanie Marquis sits in her Mazda3 in Olympia, Wash., frustrated by her in-car infotainment system which stopped working recently. (Photo courtesy of Stephanie Marquis)

Drivers of certain vehicles in Seattle and other parts of Western Washington are shouting at their car radios this week. Not because of any particular song or news item that’s being broadcast, but because an apparent technical glitch has caused the radios to be stuck on public radio station KUOW.

The impacted drivers appear to all be owners of Mazda vehicles from between 2014 and 2017. In some cases the in-car infotainment systems have stopped working altogether, derailing the ability to listen to the radio at all or use Bluetooth phone connections, GPS, the rear camera and more.

According to Mazda drivers who spoke with GeekWire, and others in a Reddit thread discussing the dilemma, everyone who has had an issue was listening to KUOW 94.9 in recent weeks when the car systems went haywire.

KUOW sounded unsure of a possible cause; at least one dealership service department blamed 5G; and Mazda told GeekWire in an official statement that it identified the problem and a fix is planned.

“I see the Mazda symbol, like it’s coming on,” said Stephanie Marquis of Olympia, Wash., who was sitting in her car trying to get her dashboard screen to work. “It just keeps rebooting. Now it’s black. It’s like it’s trying to turn on but it won’t turn on.”

Marquis, who works in public affairs for the State of Washington, was driving her 2015 Mazda3 hatchback from a friend’s house two and half weeks ago when the problem started. She had been listening to KUOW — even though Tacoma’s KNKX is her usual station.

The rebooting infotainment system in Stephanie Marquis’ Mazda. (Photo courtesy of Stephanie Marquis)

Her car has 47,000 miles on it and she’s loved it so far. But now she can’t use the system to make calls while driving. She took her frustration over to the Reddit sub-group r/mazda3, and started a thread titled, “Anyone else have their radio corrupted by a signal from 94.9?”

Others indeed have, according to the discussion. And Mazda dealerships in Olympia, Seattle and Lynnwood, Wash., are among those stymied by the problem.

A person who picked up the service line at Mazda of Seattle in the University District said inquiries would have to be directed at Mazda’s corporate offices, and that the dealership couldn’t speak to the issue.

Asked if the dealership had been hearing from a lot of vehicle owners, the employee chuckled and said, “We are.”

Marquis said she took her car to the dealer in Olympia and was told the problem may be related to KUOW “switching to 5G.” She called Mazda’s corporate offices and was on hold for over an hour before a rep told her he would look into it and call her back. She never heard back.

“I called the dealer and they told me the exact same thing,” Reddit user MillionDollarSticky replied.

‘We live in Western Washington, everybody listens to public radio here!’

Reddit user myalternatelife reported a stuck system in a 2015 Mazda3.

“My infotainment unit has been perpetually restarting as of last week, and it’s usually dialed to KUOW 94.9,” myalternatelife wrote. “I took my car to the shop this morning and they mentioned ~50 customers are currently in the same situation, all stuck on KUOW.”

A representative for Mazda North American Operations issued a statement to GeekWire on Monday night that mentioned nothing about 5G, the switch from 3G cellular networks, and how any of it might be connected to connected cars.

“Between 1/24-1/31, 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,” the Mazda statement said. “Mazda North American Operations (MNAO) has distributed service alerts advising dealers of the issue.”

The statement goes on to say that “dealers are currently experiencing parts delays due to shipping constraints” and that MNAO plans to “support impacted customers with replacement parts. These customers should contact their local Mazda dealer who can submit a goodwill request to the Mazda Warranty department on their behalf, order the parts, and schedule a free repair when the parts arrive.”

The Mazda representative did not reply to GeekWire’s follow-up questions about what actually malfunctioned in these vehicles and what parts would need to be replaced. Update, Feb. 9, 8:50 a.m. PT: Mazda confirmed that the connectivity master unit is the part that will need to be replaced.

Jay Janette of Seattle and his malfunctioning 2016 Mazda CX5. (Photo courtesy of Jay Janette)

Jay Janette, an architect in Seattle, took his 2016 Mazda CX5 to a dealership in Lynnwood, and before he could even finish describing the issue, the technician asked, “Do you listen to NPR?”

Janette’s infotainment system keeps trying to reboot, icons pop up and go away, and the radio has been stuck on KUOW.

“It’s fine because I listen to that station quite a bit,” Janette said. “At this point I think it’s almost a safety issue. I don’t have my backup camera or my navigation system. It’s just weird.”

Janette did say that before the glitch he did switch the KUOW HD signal that he was listening to in the car. He’s got a service appointment for an oil change this week.

“I’ve had it for six years,” he said. “Maybe it’s time to trade it in and look for something different.”

The interior of a 2016 Mazda6. (Mazda USA Photo)

Tony Meyer of Tumwater, Wash., reported the same problem with his 2016 Mazda6. During a trip to do some shopping he was listening to KUOW when the system “started acting wonky and just started a reboot.”

He thought turning off the car and restarting it would clear things. It didn’t. A trip to his dealer got him a similar theory about 5G — an issue that has been in the news of late because the Federal Aviation Administration is worried about how the signals could impact airplane safety.

A few days ago while driving, Meyer’s backup camera came on and displayed a frozen image while he was driving down the road.

“It cleared and all of a sudden it started functioning, so I changed the channel [on the radio], and I thought, hey, maybe somehow this has gotten fixed by itself,” Meyer said. “The next day I started the car and it’s right back to constantly rebooting.”

(KUOW Image)

KUOW has definitely heard from some listeners who want to know what the station’s signal did to their cars.

“We’ve gotten some feedback from listeners who say, ‘I listen to KUOW a lot anyway, but … I can’t change the station!'” News Director Gigi Douban told GeekWire.

Operations Director Dane Johnson, who oversees the day-to-day technical and facility needs of KUOW and its media products, said Monday that he didn’t know much about what was causing the car problems.

“But we do have engineers from Xperi and All In Media with direct access to our transmitters and data servers to try and work out the issue. So far I have only heard of Mazdas having a problem,” Johnson said.

Xperi makes connected-car technologies for infotainment systems, including HD Radio, which is available in Mazdas. Xperi did not reply to GeekWire’s inquiry Tuesday about what went wrong with KUOW and Seattle-area Mazdas or what it was working on to fix things.

Johnson said he was aware of Mazda’s theory about the faulty image and said the only image KUOW provides is its logo. He said the 5G theory is off base.

“5G is just a cell standard,” Johnson said. “When they talk about cars and a 5G vs. 3G issue it’s cars that have an actual cell receiver in them and are on a service like AT&T that may have problems if that provider sunsets 3G. It has nothing to do with broadcast terrestrial service.”

Along with being Mazda drivers, everyone who spoke to GeekWire was a loyal public radio listener. The glitch wasn’t going to change that.

“We live in Western Washington, everybody listens to public radio here!” Janette said.

Marquis said the experience isn’t going to make her switch to commercial radio — when she can actually switch stations again.

“It might make me think about buying another Mazda,” she said.

Update, Feb. 9, 8:15 a.m. PT: A few readers pointed out that this isn’t the first time Mazda has had an issue with a signal coming through its infotainment system. Check out this story on another mystery, involving radio host Roman Mars, his podcast “99% Invisible,” and a Mazda driver.

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