Android auto making outgoing calls not working

[TheBigBezo]

I have a Samsung S20 and both outgoing and incoming calls fail to work most times. I have to cycle to and from Bluetooth. Additionally, randomly I won't be able to hear the other caller and they have to hang up and call me. I'm not sure what the issue is but it's the only major frustration point that I have. I frequently talk to people while driving so having it cut out so frequently is increasingly wearing on my patience. I don't know if it's maybe an android or Samsung thing.

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[TheBigBezo]

I went ahead and contacted Ford Support, it took me going through all of their generic troubleshooting steps before they would escalate it and make a ticket. I would highly recommend anyone with the same issue push it to support and see if we can't generate noise for their Sync team to look at this.

 

[TheBigBezo]

Ford let me know the Sync team is tracking the issue with Android Auto and calls. I gave them a link to this thread. Hopefully this means a fix will be pushed soon.

 

[TaxmanHog]

Ford let me know the Sync team is tracking the issue with Android Auto and calls. I gave them a link to this thread. Hopefully this means a fix will be pushed soon.

That's great!!

A matter of fact yesterday, I made an outbound call, first try recipient could not hear me and hung up, second attempt, they could hear me.

 

[FordLightningMan]

It's not an Android Auto thing. I rent a lot of cars for work, I make tons of phone calls while driving, and Android Auto calls are never an issue outside of my Lightning.

A fix that sometimes works for me is to play a song on Amazon Music when I first get in the car. Then when a call is made afterward, 3 out of 5 times it will work. If I don't play a song on Amazon Music first, the success rate is 0 out of 5 times.

Sync has a lot of little things that are tough to get used to, which add up to being a pretty sub par experience. For example, with XM radio, many other infotainment centers will show the songs playing on a station before you click on them. It makes browsing much better, that doesn't seem to be an option here. Also why do I need to keep that card open on the right of the screen in certain views? Let me close it!

 

[TaxmanHog]

I'm not an amazonian customer, so you're saying my XM/Sirius is the root problem in my use case?

 

[vandy1981]

Ford let me know the Sync team is tracking the issue with Android Auto and calls. I gave them a link to this thread. Hopefully this means a fix will be pushed soon.

That's great--we've had the same issue with multiple android phones in our Lightning for a few months. We have no problems with android auto in other vehicles. Hopefully they push a patch soon because it's really annoying.

 

[FordLightningMan]

I'm not an amazonian customer, so you're saying my XM/Sirius is the root problem in my use case?

Maybe it's XM interfering with the call? I can't say for sure, but Sync doesn't know to switch the audio to Android Auto by default.

Even with Amazon Music app, when you start a song there is no audio. If you pause and unpause the song, that's the fix to make the Android Auto sound come out of the Lightning speakers. There's no pause and unpause button for a phone call, so the same fix isn't possible in the AA phone section. By bringing in the sound first using Amazon Music with this pause and unpause trick, then you can use the phone. Maybe the same trick would work with other streaming services on AA, I only have Amazon so I can't test further.

In any event, the fix is a pain in the butt and not practical as a long term fix. If someone calls you before you do the trick, the call won't work.

 

[TheBigBezo]

I'm a Spotify user, only ever listen to that. Spotify auto starts when I get in. I noticed it improved when I recently upgraded to a new S23+ from my S21. That said, when I tried dialing from phone itself, the no audio bug happened,

Maybe it's XM interfering with the call? I can't say for sure, but Sync doesn't know to switch the audio to Android Auto by default.

Even with Amazon Music app, when you start a song there is no audio. If you pause and unpause the song, that's the fix to make the Android Auto sound come out of the Lightning speakers. There's no pause and unpause button for a phone call, so the same fix isn't possible in the AA phone section. By bringing in the sound first using Amazon Music with this pause and unpause trick, then you can use the phone. Maybe the same trick would work with other streaming services on AA, I only have Amazon so I can't test further.

In any event, the fix is a pain in the butt and not practical as a long term fix. If someone calls you before you do the trick, the call won't work.

I have been encountering this issue using Spotify, I almost never use XM because I keep playlists saved to my phone. I think you're on the right track that Sync isn't handling audio switchover well. I've also noticed sometimes it lags a ton going from phone audio to music audio. Sometimes my music will restart much louder or quieter and then fix itself after a delay of 3-6 seconds.

 

[jazzmanmonty]

Amazon music has been buggy on mine.. Sometimes when i try to play a song i hit play button and its constantly loading. I have to go back out to sync, change the radio source, then force stop android auto on my phone, then select back to android auto (have to go through all this because the physical source button on pro keeps skipping over android auto option.. just am, FM, and thumb drive toggle) then finally play the damn song on amazon music. I cannot omit one of these steps or it won't work. This happens about 50% of the time, and nothing has changed with each Ford Powerup update. It doesn't matter if I'm wired or wireless.

With Sync in my Lincoln, there's a similar intermittent problem with not hearing first caller, but then there's also the problem of a very bad echo that doesn't go away regardless of phone, wired, just sync bluetooth, or android auto wired/wireless. Driver hears just fine, but caller on other end gets the echo.

Therefore, I conclude that the Sync platform is crap across the board.

 

[3LCD]

Add Plex to buggy inconsistent behavior. I don't have call issues though.. But Android auto does need some love vs Apple Carplay.

Hell it would be nice to be able to mute a Microsoft Teams call ftom the screen.. Have to do that on my phone.. Wasn't an issue on my old Kenwood unit with Android Auto..

 

[OrangeCrush]

Hell it would be nice to be able to mute a Microsoft Teams call ftom the screen.. Have to do that on my phone.. Wasn't an issue on my old Kenwood unit with Android Auto..

+1. I don't understand why Ford thought a hard mute button on steering wheel is not needed but has buttons for vol +/- and seek+/-. A mute and a play/pause would've been consistent with those. There are 4 buttons to control the dash menu/display though.. And what's up with the volume knob click that doesn't do anything (other than holding it down enters calm mode)! Ford UX baffles me.

 

[TaxmanHog]

Therefore, I conclude that the Sync platform is crap across the board.

Seems to be the common denominator

 

[FordLightningMan]

My only fear is that Ford moving to a new platform soon, means this issue is never fixed. I hope they prove me wrong, but making a call in a car should be something even a $18k vehicle can do on delivery in 2023.

 

[TheBigBezo]

Good afternoon, The engineers are aware of the issue and they were able to reproduce the symptom on another Lightning. They did point out that the issue will only happen on the first call but if you hang up and take a second call there will be sound. This should be resolved with a future update, but I will let you know if they provide any further information on the specifics.

Email I received today, looks like good progress plus troubleshooting tips of you encounter this issue.

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