vw androd auto keeps crashing

so I have been using android auto fine for a few years with no issues at all. The car is a vw passat 2017

Then in the last few weeks it keeps crashing. It can work for many hours then have a complete paddy & just fails every few seconds.

To be honest I am not sure if the phone or the vw end crashes but the car screen keeps dropping back to a screen asking me if i have ‘android auto’, ‘mirror link’  or ‘apple’.

I have tried my wifes phone & that was the same making me think it is the car. But then if I ereset the cache in ‘android auto’ on my phone it appears to work again for a reasonable while.

All apps are up to date.

Any ideas please folks ?

I’m new to Android Auto having just replaced my car so haven’t experienced similar but when I was researching it people said most problems were related to the cable. I think a relatively short (<0.5m) good quality one is what’s recommended. Might be worth trying as you can get them pretty cheap

Could be the cable. It’s a bit fussy. Old cables can be a bit worn.

I’m having similar problems too with my 2021 Berlingo. It seems to happen worst on hot days when the car unit gets really, really hot. I’m surprised that there are no cooling vents in the unit but hey ho, I suppose the boffins at Citroen have designed it to deal with heat. I’m pretty certain that it is not the phone’s fault having swapped phones to check. The problem persists with a variety of brand new high quality cables.

So far it’s not been anything more than an inconvenience but it could be a real pain if I was using the satnav in a complex area.

I had problems with a Sony aftermarket unit.  Turned out to be the phone USBC port. Put up with it for a few months and ended up buying a new phone after replacing the USBC port which didn’t fix it.

Oh, if your phone is USBC, check it’s not packed with fluff…and use something non metallic like a cocktail stick to pick it out!

There was a really useful thread about this recently, but I can’t find it, clear cache reset app etc.

It worked great for me but I forgot to bookmark it 😞

Probably not of much help but I have similar issues (and more) with our Seat which is the same group. It’ll be fine for a while then start getting stuck in a boot loop.

It’s been back to Seat who wibbled something about firmware, fixed it for a few months and then it started playing silly bastards again.

Cheers all,

I will try a cable swap and do a fluff check but not sure the gite runs to cocktail sticks.

Currently on a very short anker but I remember it did happen in the dim and distant past and a cable swap did appear to help.

Currently in France and reasonably hot. Loosing waze or Google maps makes me realise how crap the default car mapping is.

Mine does the same (Suzuki Vitara), apparently it’s the USB socket in the centre console, or the internal cable connecting to the HU.

Don’t really fancy spending £65 on one part, to find out it’s the other £75 part

Defo fluff check – I used a needle in the port of my phone to clear it out and was amazed at how much came out.
Next step would be to (I think) clear the cache/ data of the Android Auto app; and if that doesn’t work, try “uninstall updates” from it too.

So…

I’ve a nissan Leaf and there’s well known issues with AA crashing the head unit on that…

I had it, and went through all manner of cables and phone resets… Although there’s no CLEAR answer why, someone sensibly suggested it may be due to voltage fluctuations from the phone messing things up..

The only fix (for the Leaf) was to get the AA Wireless device – i’m forever sppouting this on the leaf forums, and most seem to agree.

I just wonder if perharps a lot of different AA head units are sensitive to this issue??

I would strongly suggest stumping up the 70 quid for AA wireless and I bet it’ll solve all your issues. Also, it’s ruddy brill not having to plug the phone in/out all the time..
It’s true full experience android auto…just wireless!

DrP

but not sure the gite runs to cocktail sticks

I use a zip tie trimmed to a point

We find it is cables on ours – one of our family phones is also rather wornout, and that does not like the cable all the rest of us find OK.
I have taken to buying branded cables after having a couple of cheap ones cause issues.
I did have an issue a few months ago when Android Auto updated – but a week later it was updated again and fine.
Mrs_oab has an Apple, and we cannot trust it to use Android Auto – it will often display the correct route and destination on the phone, but the car screen takes you to somewhere else totally random or tries things like taking us on a route which is impossible – because the river Forth is there and no bridge!

Generally our Seat/VAG unit is OK, but I still do not like touch screen and will refuse to buy a car without proper controls for a bunch of stuff. It also feels like Seat/VAG have gone ‘ooooh, shiny colour touch screen and graphics’ at the cost of basics like usability, speaker & amp quality

I would strongly suggest stumping up the 70 quid for AA wireless and I bet it’ll solve all your issues.

I do not understand why my phone can wirelessly share calls, contacts etc, but needs a cable to connect AA.

Beats me as well Matt.

Today, I’m working on the principle of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it “.

It’s been faultless today. I guess it’s waiting for me to go somewhere I don’t know!

I do not understand why my phone can wirelessly share calls, contacts etc, but needs a cable to connect AA

I think it’s bascially a screen mirroring process, which for the AA device connects via wifi… I’m not an expert though!

DrP

So an update. After posting this initially all worked perfectly for about 5 days, well it would wouldn’t it.

I was thinking, oh, I’ll post an update that’s all good. I think my car can read my mind. Everything failed. This time even the car nav failed saying ‘starting navigation’. Fortunately we knew the way back.

Got home, had a brew, did some Googling. Went to the car to investigate. And it all instantly worked perfectly. The ****. And has worked since. Another 4 days so far.

Timely thread for me, mine’s started doing this.

Only on long journeys so far (1hr+) which makes testing difficult. I’ve already tried a handful of different known-good cables, including one from Amazon specifically listed as Android Auto compatible (bullshit but I figured if it had issues with AA people would have been moaning in the reviews).

Car is an ’18 plate Octavia with Amundsen head unit. All updates applied and up to now has been pretty solid.

Phone is OnePlus Nord 2 5G, all updates applied. Android 13, Maps 11.85.0300, AA 9.7.632234-release

I thought first it was the phone overheating due to charging while running maps + spotify, but I put it in the chilled glovebox and it was cold to the touch when it crashed, so definitely not that.

I had issues with my Apple Carplay in my VW transporter in that it would go all fuzzy.

Turns out a factory reset and changing some privacy settings sorted it.  Basically turn off the privacy protections.

It does also crash very very occasionally.

I’ve sellotaped a Walkman and an A-Z to the Columbus unit in my 20 plate Octavia, it is more reliable than the temperamental piece of shit that Skoda supplied.

I’ll not buy another VAG after this shit.

It can work for many hours then have a complete paddy & just fails every few seconds.

What’s a complete “paddy”?

Caher

What’s a complete “paddy”?

On mine, the music playing stops, the screen goes black, and eventually it says “Device connected” as if you just plugged it in. It then comes back on where it left off. Music doesn’t start again however.

After a number of these restarts, it will sometimes go back to a screen as if a new device is connected. Looks a bit like this (but not exactly this, I don’t have a screenshot to hand and i can’t get the fault to occur on demand).

It’s even made me go through the full setup process again once or twice as if it were an entirely new device.

Despite being a fan of android, I think Apple’s lightning charger is much better for mobiles. USB C is a fluff magnet and hard to clean out. My Seat is very finicky with my Samsung….it’s the cable every time,  it the phone’s socket is the weak link.

What’s a paddy? Basically behaving like a 3 year old!

@mult21, your issues sound pretty well identical. Despite me still thinking it is the car not the phone performing a ‘clear cache’ via the settings->apps menu for android auto appears to keep it all happy for a few days.

NB: no need to clear data as well

Had it on a (then) brand new Discovery 5 in ’21 and it was flaky.

Cables definitely do affect it, but even with a good cable it was still flaky enough for me to get sick of it and go back to Google maps on my phone and bluethooth music

MadBillMcMad
Free Member
What’s a paddy? Basically behaving like a 3 year old!

@mult21, your issues sound pretty well identical. Despite me still thinking it is the car not the phone performing a ‘clear cache’ via the settings->apps menu for android auto appears to keep it all happy for a few days.

NB: no need to clear data as well

Posted 2 days ago

@MadBillMcMad

Have you tried any of the wireless adapters? Wondering if an aawireless or MA1 would sort it.

I noticed my phone charge had got to 100% when the fault occurred today. I wondered if that’s part of the issue, a wireless one would bypass it

What’s a paddy? Basically behaving like a 3 year old!

Oh really? Sounds like a pretty outdated expression to me. Y’know, as as Irishman.

My VW head unit improved after I updated the firmware following this video