An issue with bluetooth voice call quality in a Honda Clarity

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I'm sure you doing fine. I don't disagree with your choice and the money you spend. And No, nothing is perfect, but Honda should own up to their issues and have resolutions for their customers, rather than just ignore them.
On this issue, others still need to be informed of how Honda deals with problem resolution and customer care.
 
Have you tried rebooting the HU. Push the Audio Soft switch for 5 seconds and it should ask if you want to reboot the infotainment system. It will take a few minutes to come back online. Then make a call while stationary and see if the noise is gone. If it is, go driving and see if it returns. If it is still there then I suspect it is NOT the bluetooth system but the ANC module in the car. If the noise remains away for a while then it is a software buffering issue between your phone's BT module/firmware and the Clarity HU. Maybe...

Cheers,

Cash
 
tgifko said:
I have 2018 Honda Clarity with same bluetooth issue. It sound clear on my end but other end of phone, hearing water flowing sound, engine noise etc. It is very annoying sound. It happens only if you driving over 40 miles. I took it to dealer, they cannot duplicate the issues and they will not replace bluetooth or microphone. I use bluetooth a lot and only way to communicate is put phone on speaker phone. I used this phone on Dodge Grand Caravan and bluetooth sound clear and no problems whatsoever. Dealer rep said Honda clarity is cheap car and does not come with fancy noise block system. I am so frustrated and and don't know what to do. Please help.
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Finally I went to Honda dealer in different city, I expalined issues. The background noises issues happens only when you drive higher speed than 50 miles.
First they replaced microphone, it still have bad noises.
I took it back, they replaced whole audio system assembly, now it works fine.
So the problem was audio assembly.
It took me 7 different visits to dealer just to get them to understand and duplicate the issues.
I called them many times with bluetooth on car and ear pieces to show comparison.
Finally Its working. I am happy to achivement.
 
Well, i am coming from a Ford Explorer and i could talk like i was in my living room on bluetooth... for the past 6 years,
now 1 month in the PIlot, everybody tells me they have trouble hearing me on the highway..

will try rebooting and deleting phone an repairing it.. but i must admit i put in a amplifier and sub and deactivated the noise cancelling system so i thought it was there the problem. Road noise is quite high without the noise cancelling system..

will do some tests but since i deactivated the noise cancelling, can't go bark up the Honda tree.. but you guys keep it up... it is really bad
 
super_rash said:
Well, i am coming from a Ford Explorer and i could talk like i was in my living room on bluetooth... for the past 6 years,
now 1 month in the PIlot, everybody tells me they have trouble hearing me on the highway..

will try rebooting and deleting phone an repairing it.. but i must admit i put in a amplifier and sub and deactivated the noise cancelling system so i thought it was there the problem. Road noise is quite high without the noise cancelling system..

will do some tests but since i deactivated the noise cancelling, can't go bark up the Honda tree.. but you guys keep it up... it is really bad
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One more reason for me to get back on the analog conversion of the ANC... as soon as June is here I should have more time. Or maybe someone else here has already done it and kept silent??!!?? :):cool:o_O
 
nymphaeles said:
Does anyone experience a weird background noise over a bluetooth call from inside a Honda Clarity? It sounds like water draining down the pipe. My wife told me that while I was calling her from the car, but I had no idea how it sounded. Then she called me from the car today and I realized what she meant. Whoever is in the car does not have the weird sound, only the party who is outside the car has that weird sound. That noise was so bad at some points during the conversation so that I couldn't even hear her.
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Yes. Yes. And, Yes again!

LOTS of people mentioned the lousy call quality when I would call from the car. It would be comments like "it sounds like you're going through a tunnel," or "are you driving with all your windows open?" and "I can barely hear you - can you call back later?"

I took it to the dealer and at some point they swapped out my audio unit.

I just avoid talking on the phone when I'm in the car and so don't know how bad it is at this point.

PLEASE let me know if you find a fix. I'm connecting with a Google Pixel 3 XL.
 
My BT sound quality issue (fine for me but others say sounds like windows open) recently came back and went away. In between I did the infotainment hold the audio power button reboot thing. Not sure if that is what had helped but it was probably due for a reboot anyway.

Previous time I had the issue I deleted the phone from the car and the car from the phone then Paired again. Issue did not return for a long time.

I have an iPhone X but I think it can happen with any phone.
 
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My dealer is pulling the, "Well, your phone isn't on the list, and we can't reproduce the problem," BS line. And I'm like, "Dude, my phone is made by GOOGLE, who makes ANDROID, the OS that runs all those OTHER PHONES on your list." And the guy is just, "Well, it's not on the list."

So angry at Honda right now. This dealership is terrible.

Why is Honda service so awful? I've got 3 major issues with this car, and they absolutely refuse to fix any of them unless they can reproduce them perfectly, even though I've told them, "Hey, these are intermittent problems, but they're annoying as hell. FIX THEM."

Gotta admit, I'm getting ready to Lemon Law this car at this point.
 
Dan's 2cents:
- Upgrade the OS on your cellular phone to current. i.e. check for any free updates. Install. There may be more than one that has to be run in order if you haven't done this in awhile.
- Delete the BT settings both from the car and the phone.
- Re-subscribe the phone to the car.

Other notes: If your cellular phone is more than 5 years old, you may require a new phone. And no, not kidding. These things require updates from time to time to work well.
 
Pixel 2XL. Latest version of Pie. I don't know how it could be MORE up to date. The hardware is less than 2 years old. It's as close to Bog Standard Android as you can get.

I've tried re-connecting with the car, and it doesn't help, yet my phone will connect to damn near anything else Bluetooth.

It's *not* the phone at this point. I've already done the diagnostics. That's what's so frustrating.
 
Sorry I missed that you're running a current device and already tried re-subscribing. You've done what I would do. Perhaps an update will be forthcoming that will assist. I know some phones work fine, so I don't think it's universally broken, or I suppose there may be some issue with your specific car, but that seems unlikely.
 
So, update from the dealership. I got to talk to the tech, and it saved me a ton of frustration-- he agrees that it's probably the mic, and not the phone, because the BT connection is otherwise fine. I'm glad I got to talk to him, because that way I can actually explain all of the weird stuff that's going on with the car so he has a better shot at finding the problem bits and fixing them.
 
The Gadgeteer said:
I have a Honda CRV and a Honda Clarity.
I have a similar issue right away when I got the Clarity. The dealer told me to delete the phone from the car AND delete the car from the phone and pair again. Skeptically I did as he said and surprisingly it work!

Oddly a few days later when switching back to the CRV I had the issue in the CRV even though I never had the issue in 3 years. I went through the same process and it also worked.

I don’t know the reason behind it. I never heard what the distortion sounded like on the other end but it could be the same issue. I hope this fix works for others.
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Thank you soooo much !! This worked for me !!! Spoo happy !
 
I haven't experienced that exact issue in a Honda Clarity, but I've had my fair share of Bluetooth quirks. One time, I was driving and chatting away when suddenly my friend mentioned this weird buzzing noise. Turns out, it was coming from my car's Bluetooth connection!We did some troubleshooting and found that it was interference from another device nearby. Once we moved away from it, the call quality improved. So maybe there's something in the car's setup causing interference?It might be worth checking if there's anything in the car's audio system or surroundings that could be causing the noise.
 
bethoust said:
I haven't experienced that exact issue in a Honda Clarity, but I've had my fair share of Bluetooth quirks. One time, I was driving and chatting away when suddenly my friend mentioned this weird buzzing noise. Turns out, it was coming from my car's Bluetooth connection!We did some troubleshooting and found that it was interference from another device nearby. Once we moved away from it, the call quality improved. So maybe there's something in the car's setup causing interference?It might be worth checking if there's anything in the car's audio system or surroundings that could be causing the noise.
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It's surprising how little things can affect Bluetooth performance, but it's all part of the technology adventure, right? So, definitely worth exploring the car's setup and surroundings to troubleshoot the issue further.
 
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