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Uconnect 8.4 issues

jamesmac

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I am sure there are a number of threads detailing issues with the radio, but I am going to list the issues I have in both of mine (2020 Ram 1500 Big Horn Night, 2020 Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo night).
Both radios are doing a number of things, other symptoms I have only seen on 1 radio with the Ram being the worse offender. Both radios are identical - uConnect 8.4c with Nav and Alpine tuning. We use SiriusXM in both as local radio here is terribad.
Both radios will occasionally reboot themselves - sound cuts, a moment later the Ram or Jeep logo appear as if the vehicle was starting. What is disturbing is this happens when the vehicle is in gear and moving (I am not sure how deep the electronics interact with each other, so am concerned that this eventually could cause the engine to shut down or something strange).
Sometimes while listening at a comfortable volume, the sound cuts, then doubles, fading back to the original volume quickly. The whole process takes about a second, possibly 2. When this occurs, it happens multiple times in a row - 4 or 5 is normal in a 2 minute window, although it did happen once in the Ram for an entire hour.
The Ram radio has completely locked up at least twice (not seen this one in the Jeep so far) and you can interact with the touchscreen, but if it has anything to do with SiriusXM, nothing happens - volume won't change, station won't change, although the screen shows the new station name as if it did. The song name also won't update to whatever is playing. Oddly, if I switch it to AM or FM, it seems to work, but going back to Sirius causes the issue to show it hasn't reset. The climate, phone, app, etc buttons all seem to work when this happens.
I have had the radio suddenly all turn to static as if the speakers had all blown, so you can hear the channel, but it is very fuzzy. This happened once and affected Sirius, AM, FM, Bluetooth and my phone through the speakers. I was able to pull over and confirm all speakers were affected.

ALl of these issues seem to disappear if I restart the vehicle, but turning the radio off and back on doesn't change anything, so it seems to require a full power cut. I have had the rear view camera fail twice as well (both the same day).

I have had the dealer look at them multiple times, no fix. They say they aren't allowed to replace the radio under orders from FCA (which makes sense if radios are randomly affected). They keep trying to update the software - but only the Jeep has ever had software they could update. I have seen OTA updates happen in both vehicles, but nothing seems to fix it - in fact, last week, a dealer update caused the Jeep to gain the symptom of the volume dropping and climbing randomly.

I do have a Case Manager involved, but they seem to be in the dark - I suspect this is an act as I am seeing so many people complaining about similar issues, and FCA refusing to replace, this must be a known issue to them - seeming to go back to 2013.

Has anyone ever been able to get issues resolved on their radios? Or are we stuck with the problem?
 

jamesmac

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Quick update.
After getting my Ram back from the dealer yesterday, I was told that there is an update, likely OTA, coming this quarter. Hopefully this will be the fix that so many people are looking for with their radio units, but I am not really hopeful given this seems to stretch back to 2013 without a fix. Hopefully I am wrong.
 

MikeyB

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today's OTA update took mine from working perfectly to random black screens, no front cameras, and worst of all - no more Apple Car Play. I think I remember reading on here about people having similar issues last year and some of them resolved on their own after 24 hours...Hope that's the case with mine!
 

MikeyB

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today's OTA update took mine from working perfectly to random black screens, no front cameras, and worst of all - no more Apple Car Play. I think I remember reading on here about people having similar issues last year and some of them resolved on their own after 24 hours...Hope that's the case with mine!
Update - Luckily all seems to be working correctly again after a few hours!
 

jamesmac

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Well, I found a possible fix in another thread. There was a technical bulletin issued in Aug of 21 with an update that is supposed to resolve a large number of issues of which I have 3 or 4.
I put a call into the dealer and had to leave a message, so hopefully they will call back shortly.
I know my calls to the FCA Canada Case Managers hasn't resolved anything.
 

20Bighorn22

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I am sure there are a number of threads detailing issues with the radio, but I am going to list the issues I have in both of mine (2020 Ram 1500 Big Horn Night, 2020 Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo night).
Both radios are doing a number of things, other symptoms I have only seen on 1 radio with the Ram being the worse offender. Both radios are identical - uConnect 8.4c with Nav and Alpine tuning. We use SiriusXM in both as local radio here is terribad.
Both radios will occasionally reboot themselves - sound cuts, a moment later the Ram or Jeep logo appear as if the vehicle was starting. What is disturbing is this happens when the vehicle is in gear and moving (I am not sure how deep the electronics interact with each other, so am concerned that this eventually could cause the engine to shut down or something strange).
Sometimes while listening at a comfortable volume, the sound cuts, then doubles, fading back to the original volume quickly. The whole process takes about a second, possibly 2. When this occurs, it happens multiple times in a row - 4 or 5 is normal in a 2 minute window, although it did happen once in the Ram for an entire hour.
The Ram radio has completely locked up at least twice (not seen this one in the Jeep so far) and you can interact with the touchscreen, but if it has anything to do with SiriusXM, nothing happens - volume won't change, station won't change, although the screen shows the new station name as if it did. The song name also won't update to whatever is playing. Oddly, if I switch it to AM or FM, it seems to work, but going back to Sirius causes the issue to show it hasn't reset. The climate, phone, app, etc buttons all seem to work when this happens.
I have had the radio suddenly all turn to static as if the speakers had all blown, so you can hear the channel, but it is very fuzzy. This happened once and affected Sirius, AM, FM, Bluetooth and my phone through the speakers. I was able to pull over and confirm all speakers were affected.

ALl of these issues seem to disappear if I restart the vehicle, but turning the radio off and back on doesn't change anything, so it seems to require a full power cut. I have had the rear view camera fail twice as well (both the same day).

I have had the dealer look at them multiple times, no fix. They say they aren't allowed to replace the radio under orders from FCA (which makes sense if radios are randomly affected). They keep trying to update the software - but only the Jeep has ever had software they could update. I have seen OTA updates happen in both vehicles, but nothing seems to fix it - in fact, last week, a dealer update caused the Jeep to gain the symptom of the volume dropping and climbing randomly.

I do have a Case Manager involved, but they seem to be in the dark - I suspect this is an act as I am seeing so many people complaining about similar issues, and FCA refusing to replace, this must be a known issue to them - seeming to go back to 2013.

Has anyone ever been able to get issues resolved on their radios? Or are we stuck with the problem?
Similar issues with 2022 Ram Bighorn. Static sound when open and/or close door as if plugging in a guitar to an amp. Lose XM. Channel changes but doesn't work. Backup camera goes blue. Dealer did a hard reset. Work fine for a few days. Now doing it again. Back to dealer next week. ???
 

davidhaile

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I bought a 2022 RAM 2500 Tradesman 4x4 Crew Cab - delivered last November and I have 9700 miles on it already. It is a great truck EXCEPT the Uconnect 8.4 is barely passable. A few consistent problems:
  • iPhone 7 left in car and wireless connected via AirPlay and also connected through USB cable to truck. I turn off truck, go into store, return to truck, start and drive and AirPlay is working fine. Every single time - a few minutes after I'm happily cruising down the road listening to a podcast or music, the audio cuts in and out while the podcast keeps sending its audio. I press Pause, wait a few minutes, then Play and all is well. I have to step back in the podcast to see what I missed.
  • iPhone 7 connected via AirPlay - sometimes it loses the phone and will not reconnect until I turn the truck off and on. This doesn't happen very often but when it does it is really irritating.
My 2019 Mercedes Sprinter van had none of these problems with AirPlay.
 

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