[Mike904]

Just purchased a phone from Consumer Cellular and paired it to my Forester. It paired quickly, but when in use by a call, Bluetooth continues to disconnect and reconnect. I tried pairing my phone to another car (Toyota) it paired and worked perfectly. I tried pairing a friend's identical phone with my Forester, resulting in the problem result. I called Subaru Customer Service and was told that Consumer cellular was not on their list of approved "tested" carriers and I should look for another "major" carrier. The Subaru offered to escalate my problem with someone calling back in a couple of hours. A rep from the Subaru Advocacy group called and told me there was nothing Subaru could or would do. He said unless I had a phone with a carrier on their approved list, I would be taking a chance the phone would not work. Anyone else have a similar experience?

 

[OutbackJon]

I don't know how the carrier would affect the Bluetooth connectivity. Sounds like they just don't want to deal with you.

There are some updates to the head unit. Among the fixes listed in the updates were some Bluetooth fixes.

('14-'18) - 2016 - Sirius radio no longer...

2016 Forester....Sirius radio no longer displays a list of available stations when selecting List. (See photos below) I've refreshed the radio multiple times, including twice this week with Sirius tech support. They are now telling me it's a problem with the version of radio software in my car...

www.subaruforester.org

 

[Mike904]

I don't know how the carrier would affect the Bluetooth connectivity. Sounds like they just don't want to deal with you.

There are some updates to the head unit. Among the fixes listed in the updates were some Bluetooth fixes.

('14-'18) - 2016 - Sirius radio no longer...

2016 Forester....Sirius radio no longer displays a list of available stations when selecting List. (See photos below) I've refreshed the radio multiple times, including twice this week with Sirius tech support. They are now telling me it's a problem with the version of radio software in my car...

www.subaruforester.org

Jon, thanks for the info. The updates appear to be for systems with Nav. My Forester doesn't have that feature. A salesman at the local dealer said he has had problems pairing Consumer Cellular phones, but the Flip Phones seem to work better. He then asked if I wanted to trade for a new Forester. In fact the Service Dept. sent me to the Sales dept. because they "knew more about pairing phones than they did. This is my 6th Subaru and will probably be my last. The only local dealer has continually proved poor service. Love the car, but not the tech and the service.

 

[OutbackJon]

The updates appear to be for systems with Nav. My Forester doesn't have that feature.

There are updates in there for the non-Nav units as well. Look at the 15-205-16R_121820.pdf file. The second page lists the head units. Look on the front of your head unit for the model number. Then look at the list in the PDF for the files you need. The "DA" listings are for the "Display Audio" head units without Nav.

 

[OutbackJon]

Your 2017 Forester probably has either the FF678UM or the FF698UM head unit without Nav. Check to be sure. If that is your head unit, you need the OU9411_USB_1st.exe and OU9411_USB_2nd.exe files.

 

[Mike904]

Jon, Thanks for the time you spent on my problem. I will take this information to my Service Adviser. Hopefully they will know how to load the updates. Crazy that Subaru Customer Service either didn't know about the updates, or didn't care about my issue to investigate. Several years ago when I owned a Legacy and 2 Outbacks (not at the same time), my experience with Subaru Customer Service was better than most. Now they seem to drop the ball a lot. Again, thanks for the information.

 

[OutbackJon]

Hey, no problem. I really didn't spend much time on "your problem" as I had already researched all of this to update my own head unit. I wasn't having any problems myself, but I like to keep all of my electronics on the latest possible update. I only spent a few minutes typing replies to you. And hey, if the dealer is asking some ridiculous amount to do the update (my dealer quoted me $100 which is why I did the research) you can always do it yourself. It's really pretty simple once you read through the instructions.