The Nightmare Android Auto and CarPlay Have Become on Honda Cars

So the two systems come standard on several new models launched by the Japanese carmaker, in some cases even supporting the wireless connectivity mode.

But unfortunately, while both Android Auto and CarPlay come in so handy to pretty much everyone out there, Honda drivers sometimes figure out themselves that using the two isn’t necessarily as straightforward as they would expect it to be.

And what’s worse is that nobody seems to know precisely what happens, so the recommendations they’re provided with make little to no difference at all.

The problems

The struggles Honda drivers are forced to deal with when trying to run Android Auto and CarPlay are extremely varied. And they include everything from app crashes to random disconnects, all happening for apparently no good reason.

For example, in April 2020 we covered a widespread Android Auto bug hitting Honda cars and causing app crashes and freezing for the likes of Google Maps. Surprisingly, when reaching out to Honda dealerships, some owners were told they needed to replace the head units.

“Today I brought my car to the dealership and they just called me to say the head unit will need to be replaced. They said it is defective so I am not sure who to trust anymore,” one user said at that point.

Earlier this year, Honda owners came across other similar problems, this time causing Android Auto to no longer launch at all when connecting phones to the head units. The affected models included the 2019 CR-V and the new Accord. And after reaching out to Honda support and dealerships, some people eventually decided to go for the most extreme solutions: buy a new car where Android Auto was working properly.

These problems, however, aren’t exclusive to Android Auto. Not a long time ago, Honda owners who were using CarPlay behind the wheel noticed a bug that caused the head unit to completely crash in the middle of the drive. This triggered an automatic reboot, and it goes without saying this isn’t something you’d like to happen while driving.

The fixes

In almost all cases, Honda’s customers had no other option than to turn to the generic workarounds. On Android Auto, these include clearing the cache and the data, reinstalling the apps, and resetting the mobile devices. For CarPlay users, the most common recommendations were to re-pair the iPhone and the head unit.

It goes without saying all of these made little to no difference, so at the end of the day, Honda owners had no other option than to reach out to dealerships.

And in many cases, not even Honda’s engineers could find a way to fix the Android Auto and CarPlay nightmare, eventually spreading not necessarily accurate information suggesting Apple is the one to blame for the whole thing.

One of our readers recently pointed me to a long thread on reddit where Honda owners are complaining of all of the above, discussing just how difficult it is to get a stable and reliable Android Auto and CarPlay experience behind the wheel of their cars.

Several Honda technicians emphasize that the cable that drivers use to connect their smartphones to head units makes a huge difference. In other words, you should just stick to high-speed cables, and if possible, to those provided by the mobile device manufacturer in the first place.

Of course, this doesn’t mean all the problems are gone, but this way, you can at least eliminate the cable from the list of possible culprits.

If nothing works, there’s no other option than to just reach out to Honda itself for help.