Satellite Radio drops out regularly

Discussion in 'Clarity' started by Heino, Sep 20, 2018.

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  1. Heino

    Heino Active Member

    I’ve owned my Clarity for almost 3 weeks now, and have been enjoying the free satellite radio trial. However, I frequently notice that there will be times I do not receive any audio at all... even from places I know there was previously great reception.

    This happens when I first get in the car... so I will not have any satellite radio for my entire commute. Surely, the Satellite radio provider isn’t having this many technical issues?

    It happens at least once per every 2 days.
     
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  3. K8QM

    K8QM Active Member

    In regards to XM reception our Clarity (6 months), Accord (13 years) and after market receiver in a Highlander (2 years) all are very similar in regards to reception. They all drop out in certain locations but other than those spots reception is 100%.

    geo
     
  4. neal adkins

    neal adkins Active Member

    I have experienced the same issue 3 or 4 times. It seems that if it doesn't get the signal soon after startup it doesn't keep searching. I have found that when this occurs that it usually works properly after I restart the car.
     
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  5. BrettB

    BrettB New Member

    Mine drops out all the time - trees, overpasses, even heavy clouds. My Accord was the same way. I honestly can't imagine how they maintain a subscriber base given how bad the service is. Also I find the audio quality marginal - it has an unpleasant over-compressed sound (that is particular to the satellite radio).

    I've never had it flat out not work at all, though.
     
  6. Heino

    Heino Active Member

    I will have to try restarting the car... not the best option in my opinion. Wish I could just restart the XM radio directly.
     
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  8. insightman

    insightman Well-Known Member Subscriber

    I've never rebooted the audio system so I don't know how long it takes, but I'm sure it takes longer than restarting the car itself. However, it's a possible alternative if you don't want to pull over to restart the car.
     
  9. K8QM

    K8QM Active Member

    Press and hold the power "button" on the infotainment system to reboot just it.

    geo
     
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  10. su_A_ve

    su_A_ve Active Member

    We only had XM on our '12 Ody. Never an issue and loved the service for $30 every 6 months (NEVER pay retail!). But when we got our '18 Ody, we noticed more drops than before. And they are in line with the drops I get in the Clarity now.

    The old model did not have pause/resume live play or things like that. I actually just learned that the radio also stores up to 2 hours for your preset stations so it's possible it's trying to get more bandwidth down than what the old model would get (just the live stream station). Just speculating thought, but definitely more drops than in the old model.
     
  11. Heino

    Heino Active Member

    This did the trick... I rebooted the infotainment system, which takes about a minute or so... and audio started playing again.

    This could be a software bug. Can we report this to Honda somewhere?
     
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  13. Parja

    Parja New Member

    Are you using the climate pre-conditioning at all? I've found that using it will lock up the satellite radio for the next driving session. Cycling power on the car or resetting the audio will restore it.
     
  14. Heino

    Heino Active Member

    Actually I do... all the time. That would 100% explain things, however, still sounds like a software bug.

    Why choose between a nice preconditioned vehicle, or satellite radio on the ride home? :D
     
  15. Parja

    Parja New Member

    Yeah, for sure it's a software bug, and an annoying one at that. I just hope I can get it to happen next time I'm at the dealership.
     
  16. zman

    zman New Member

    I’ve experienced the same at least three times in the last three weeks. After reading this thread it probably is when I dabbled with climate preconditioning. I’m fairly certain it’s not the typical “cloudy” or “under a bridge” satellite reception problem.
     
  17. Heino

    Heino Active Member

    I’ve reported this bug to Honda using the link in the oil change interval bug thread.

    https://crrs.secure.force.com/service/hondaownerw2c

    I suggest folks who are having the same audio issues, follow this link and submit a problem report so we can get this fixed.
     
  18. su_A_ve

    su_A_ve Active Member

    If you remote start the car either by the keyfob or HondaLink app, XM may not work at all. Either powering off the car or restarting the audio head unit makes it work again. Bug, but AFAIK not sure if Honda is working on it. Last time I took it to the dealer, there was a scheduling issue and could not show the diagnostics tech - had to drop off the car. And of course they could not reproduce the issue.
     
  19. zman

    zman New Member

    Now that the weather is getting colder and I am using remote climate conditioning more often, this is becoming quite an annoyance. Just wanted to bump the thread to bring visibility so others can also report the issue to Honda so we can get this fixed. I reported using the link that Heino provided above: https://crrs.secure.force.com/service/hondaownerw2c
     

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