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Subaru Owners Struggling with Android Auto, And Nobody Knows What’s Happening

Android Auto has become a common feature of modern cars, and as far as Subaru is concerned, it’s available on most new-generation models.
Android Auto is a common feature on Subaru cars 1 photo
Photo: Subaru
But as many new buyers found out the hard way, Android Auto isn’t necessarily working exactly as expected in their model year 2017 to 2020 Subaru cars, and right now, nobody seems to know what’s happening. And these include not only owners themselves, but also Subaru and even Google.

The first time we covered the Android Auto struggle in Subaru cars was in March this year when a dealer update was believed to be the culprit of all the issues. We then revisited the topic in April to reveal a critical error on Android Auto when connecting Android phones to Subaru cars, only to eventually return and announce a new Subaru software update to improve the experience for everybody.

And here we are today reporting more struggles with Android Auto in Subaru cars, as owners claim that they’re being provided with different explanations when reaching out to dealerships and service centers.

Someone on Google’s forums explains that they were told by a service center that the Pixel 3 isn’t compatible with Subaru cars – the Google Pixel 3 is, in fact, one of the devices that fully support Android Auto and should work in any car where such a feature is offered.

One Subaru owner claims they reached out to their dealership to discuss the problem, only to be told that the cable is the one to blame for the Android Auto errors. Of course, replacing cables is one of the first things most owners turned to when they noticed that Android Auto failed to launch in their Subarus, and not even first-party cords from Samsung or Google brought things back to normal.

Someone else says the Subaru dealership has even replaced the head unit but the Android Auto connectivity issues remain, with the app always undetected no matter what.

Right now, nobody seems to have a fix for the whole thing, and Google itself is yet to acknowledge all these glitches on Subaru cars.

We have reached out to Google for more information on this and will post a follow-up story when we hear back.
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About the author: Bogdan Popa
Bogdan Popa profile photo

Bogdan keeps an eye on how technology is taking over the car world. His long-term goals are buying an 18-wheeler because he needs more space for his kid’s toys, and convincing Google and Apple that Android Auto and CarPlay deserve at least as much attention as their phones.
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