Team-BHP (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/)

-   In-Car Entertainment (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/car-entertainment/)

-   -   Solving the Mahindra Thar's Android Auto Disconnection problem (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/car-entertainment/273233-solving-mahindra-thars-android-auto-disconnection-problem.html)

Can't believe it's 3 years since launch and Mahindra still hasn't fixed it! The damn Android Auto keeps disconnecting from the phone. Personally, I use Bluetooth streaming as the volume levels are noticeably louder & I need that in the soft-top convertible (as outside sounds come in easily).

Here are tips:
A Team-BHP Fan who prefers to stay anonymous writes in:

Even XUV 700 seems to be plagued with this Android auto disconnect problem.

The workaround I have implemented on XUV is that I first connect my Android phone wirelessly and then connect charging cable to the phone to minimise battery loss.

For thar a similar approach can be taken but I guess an external device will be needed to help with wireless connection because thar doesn't support wireless connectivity natively.

Cheers !

Hi
I connect my phone using the oem cable that comes with the phone. When the cable was getting frayed, I bought a high speed data cable which did not work. Only the OEM cables work. Via the cable, AA is stable till I engage reverse gear. Once the rear camera display comes on and then goes away when you engage 1st gear, only google maps is displayed on half the screen!!
The other half is blank. Only way to get it to work is to unplug the cable at phone end or to shut the engine off and restart!! It becomes cumbersome when you have to do it mid drive!! It sure can be improved!!
Cheers
Rajeevsulu

Personally for me, in My 2023 Thar which I have driven for 8,500km for now, this was never the issue. Android Auto is rock solid and worked great for me for my travels, from Day 1 of ownership.

Maybe I just got lucky, because one person's experience does not hold any statistical value. However, I have empirical evidence to believe that the choice of cable is a make or break deal for Android Auto.

I use cables from a brand called "Cable Creation", and I have had a very good experience with those cables. Here is one cable that I use: https://www.amazon.in/gp/product/B01CZVEUIE

This works well for Android Auto without any disconnection at all. Then I also have a longer (3ft long) cable from Cable Creations and that also works great!

However, once by mistake, I plugged in some other USB cable that I had lying somewhere in the glove box, the one I had no problems with in the past. But this time, it took a while for the headunit Android Auto app to get started and recognize my phone, and instantly I could see the connection was unstable. Same phone, same car, same headunit. Just another cable (which also worked in the past) and this time bad connection. I switched back to my usual cable and again Android Auto fired instantly and everything was smooth. I tried it again with the other cable (just to verify the issue) and again a bad connection. Back to my usual cable and again all fine.

So my suggestion is to please keep trying different cables of reputed brands and see if you find a "stable cable connection", and maybe this will solve the problems!

I suspect this problem has more to do with the hardware behind the dashboard. Its also about Android Auto being fussy as the software works on a wide range of hardware.

My experience is from a different vehicle. I recently retro fitted a Road Top Android Auto/Apple Car Play box to my car. I face the exact same issue. No luck with a new cable either. Wired Android Auto disconnects at random intervals.

The same cable connected to the stock stereo fitted in a Mitsubishi Outlander offers a stable connection. Works flawlessly.

Its is practically impossible to position your phone with zero movement in your car. Even if you do find the phone stable, the cable will move, with vehicle movement. I am not sure if that is the main reason for disconnects.

I got into Developer Mode on my phone (As my phone is running Android 10) and enabled Wireless Android Auto. This offers a more stable connection than wired.

It might be worth prying out the head unit on a Thar and check if it has a wireless antenna terminal. For all you know, they would have skimped on plugging in a WIFI Antenna which limits the wireless capability of the unit.

I had a similar disconnecting issue with Android Auto with a Pioneer aftermarket unit (DMH-Z5290BT).

The fault was entirely with a cheap aftermarket cable. Tried it with my original OnePlus cable, it was absolutely fine. Tried again with my Dad's original Samsung cable, and that also worked perfectly. Tried both OnePlus and Samsung with each other's cables, and no issues whatsoever.

Heck, I had a similar issue with my PS5 remote constantly disconnecting from the console when using the remote in wired mode. That too was solved by purchasing replacing the ₹200 cable with a more expensive one that was almost ₹900.

If anyone is facing USB disconnection issues, with any device, I'd suggest trying a better quality cable.

Android Auto in general has a disconnection problem, and its well documented across brands of phones and entertainment systems. A good branded cable is always better in reducing disconnections, but not always workable, esp when doing long drives (my experience).

If your phone supports Wireless Android Auto, then you must get the Motorola MA-1 adapter (I got it from the US https://www.amazon.com/Motorola-MA1-.../dp/B09PQ95GY4 - costs ~ Rs. 8k there). Its heaven sent and have had a disconnect maybe once in 5-6 drives, and reconnects on its own after that.

The downside is that you need to keep the phone on charge, as it drains the battery too. You connect the MA-1 to where you would connect your cable, set it up (its quite fast), and you're on.

I was in the same situation with my android auto getting disconnecting at every bump and patch. To the extent, I used to get anxious once I get into my car. I've have a Pioneer Head unit that supports wired Andriod Auto (and carplay)

I browsed for solution in Team-BHP threads https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/car-e...ad-unit-3.html

Then I bought Wayona Type C Made in India Type C Short cable from https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/car-e...ad-unit-3.html

Now I'm driving stress-free in all kinds of roads. Even if there is disconnection, it reconnects again without any issues. And I don't have to fiddle with the cable once I connect the phone :)

PS: This thread can be merged with other topics of similar subject.

Some phones have a battery saver feature that kills apps if they are idle for a while. I have seen the Android Auto getting "optimized" and therefore killed as it was not used on the phone directly. This led to a disconnection. After removing the "optimization", the disconnection problem was gone.

Fellow BHPians, please don't take me wrong - whatever follows is an ardous 3 years of figuring this out. So when I'm saying this is, I real am saying this humbly-

• If you do not have a Thar, then your view is not adding value here. Read on to know why though.
• If you have a 2020++ Thar, have driven it for 3 hours or so non-stop with Android Auto on throughout, continuously - do let me know.

Here is how much I've toiled, bitten nails, scratched the hair right off of my head. Here's a mini-story of Me vs. Thar's Android Auto implementation.

I have a 2020 Thar (and a running ownership thread too that badly needs an update...). And the behaviour of Android Auto from Day 1 has been this -

• Connect the phone, it comes up without an issue. Good.
• Play your music, start navigation - the whole shebang works. Very Good.
• At a random juncture - could be 5 minutes, 30 minutes, 2 hours - it'll disconnect. And this is not a Android Auto/ software disconnect, this is like the phone was physically unplugged from the USB Port. This will happen at nice, trafficy junctions in a new city where you're depending on Maps navigation that Android Auto is projecting, and you'll end up taking a wrong turn that'll set you back by 30 minutes. Very, bloody bad rl:

This can happen in smooth tarmac. Bad roads. Standing still - didn't matter. It'll just up and die on you randomly.

So most of you blamed the phone, Android killing background tasks like Android Auto, the USB Cables, etc. Let me address that -

• Phones - Motorola Z2 Force, Huawei P30 Pro, OnePlus 7 Pro, OnePlus Nord CE2, Nokia 5, Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra, Samsung Galaxy Note 20, Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5.. and I'm sure I'm missing a few more
• Configuration - All the phones had Android Auto excluded from any aggressive background task killer, battery optimisation, etc. I also had two of these phones run Vanilla Android through LineageOS with OpenGApps plus disabled battery optimisation for Android Auto
• USB Cables - don't even get me started. In addition to pristine OE cables that came with these phones, I tried a few dozen brands and size combinations. In fact friends returning from the US started avoiding me coz I'll make them carry half a dozen different type-c cables. I have these brands, and for most of them at least two cables - one short and one long/ normal length:
  • Anker
  • Rampow
  • Cedo
  • Cable Creation
  • Belkin
  • Wayona
  • Monoprice
  • AINOPE

After this, I started digging into logcat (Android's built-in system logs). And every time a disconnect happens, this is what is logged -

The phone is saying that the USB was disconnected from it - unplugged. And I have video evidence (which was shared with M&M as a part of a TAR (Tech Action Report?) my MASS raised - more on that later) that shows no one unplugged anything, and the phone was pretty much connected to the ICE throughout. And after a few seconds, Android logs this -

So, like I said - the issue is not with software on the phone or Android Auto. It is with the ICE disconnecting the phone, more like the USB Controller resetting for whatever reason.

Great. Or so I thought. I've reached somewhere. And I went to my MASS armed with these info -

• Video of Android Auto disconnecting (3 different videos)
• A manual log of disconnection frequency
• My phone's logcat
• My entire kit of phones + OE cables + aftermarket cables

And my MASS raised the TAR that I mentioned earlier. They were asked by M&M (over multiple visits) to -

• Connect their laptop to my Thar and take some logs
• Change the USB port in my Thar
• Update to a (at that time) unreleased test version of their ICE software

None of this made a difference.

For BHPian Wooka, they have changed the ICE (silverbox), and the entire wiring. No difference.

Alright, so I've done what I can with my Thar. But how can I confirm that the issue is not with my phone or cables or configuration?

A/ B testing, of course! Me and a buddy of mine aimlessly drove for about 3.5 hours in his Nexon EV (first generation, one is the first to be delivered in Hyderabad).

I even had the audacity to use my non-stock, rooted, AOSP build to stream Top Gun Maverick through Android Auto.

Guess how many times it disconnected? Z-E-R-O.

Did the same in another friend's XUV7OO AX7L from Coimbatore to Bangalore. Zero disconnects (!).

So that brings me to the conclusion that M&M (or Nippon, their ICE OEM) messed up bad. This is hardware defect/ deficiency, and cannot be fixed. But wait, why is this only affecting Android Auto? Apple Carplay is solid in my Thar - and I hate that, being an Apple detester :uncontrol

I'll not know the answer, not unless M&M allows me to dig with the internals of their Nippon system. And I don't think M&M will fix this either. Heck, even XUV3OO doesn't have this issue - and I'm told the ICE is based off of that. Stress is on this - where the phone gets disconnected at a hardware level when using Android Auto, not because of bad cable or something else.

So I'll not know the answer. Fine. But I can't live with this either. So I continued my searches for a solution. Day in and out. Break in sleep. Boring meetings. Bio breaks. Mad searches for a solution!

Obsession - that's what this became.I was contemplating throwing away that crappy HU and go aftermarket. But...

TPMS - Wooka reminded. I'll lose the temperature and PSI reading, and will have to live with the indication in MID. Or go for aftermarket TPMS - nah, don't want that.

If you've decided that I'm a nut case by now, won't blame you. But if you've taken as many wrong turns ad I have. In Bangalore. Or Goa. Or Trivandrum. Or Hyderabad. During peak hours. Because of Android Auto giving up right when you're getting to a junction, leading to a frustrating roundabout - you'll go nuts too. And the darned Silver Box is not without its irony, satire - it'll not disconnect Android Auto when I'm in familiar areas in any of these cities.

So after a few more hours of searches, I stumbled upon Carlinkit. An brand that I haven't heard of before. They seem to have boxes that convert wired Android Auto or Carplay to wireless, complete media solutions, etc. Didn't look much into them, and focused on products of interest instead.

The first product I tried was their wired Android Auto to wireless Android Auto converter for INR 5,760 during the sale, though I was sure it ain't going to help solve my issue. Checked the returns policy, made the order. If anyone's looking for a wired to wireless adapter, buy this. It's pretty seamless and works well. But unfortunately, the issue in my case is with my HU. Android Auto kept disconnecting away to glory, no change.

The next product I tried was a pat on my own back - a Carlinkit Android box that connects to the Carplay interface.

Not once did I have an iPhone disconnect from the ICE in all the long drives I've done - much to my chagrin. And my iPhone weilding cousins and friends glee.

So I bought this box for 14,360 during the sale. Set it up. Fired it on. Tried ambling about the city. No disconnect in those ~45 minute to 1 hour drives. Good. Did two 4 hour drives - non-stop. No disconnects.

I almost did a topless (jeep's) Eureka! run like a mad man did centuries ago. I've solved what's been bothering me for almost 3 years.

All I wanted was for the Android Auto to not disconnect for 3 hours - which is mostly my non-stop drive time. And it took me to the brink of madness and back before achieving... ummm... Nirvana!

This Carlinkit box I have now - I'll write a short review soon - is actually an Android HU-adjacent. It has a SIM slot and SDCard slot. It comes loaded with Netflix, YouTube. It has Play store to download, say Hotstar or Prime. It just uses/ hijacks the Carplay interface to display a full-fledged Android system that tries to imitate Carplay home screen. I'm not using any of these functions, and I've set it autostart it's Android Auto connector. So in about 30 to 40 seconds of turning on the ignition, my phone gets connected to wireless Android Auto through this box. My phone connects to the wireless connection and Bluetooth of this box, and the box uses the Thar's mic for phone calls seamlessly (like even I used to connect wired). There is no perceptible difference in audio playback or phone call quality. The Android Auto interface is as smooth as what it was when my phone was connected directly.

For those who's interested, there's actually a cheaper option that I stumbled upon later - https://amzn.eu/d/7WA3CDR. I haven't tried it, but it seems to offer just the functionality I needed instead of being a full-fledged Android OS system. And I'm sure there will be more such solutions if we look.

But I've stopped looking. This issue is closed for me - no thanks to M&M for the 3 years of hassles they couldn't solve.

What I have observed is that every time Andriod auto fails to connect, the Bluetooth connection to the phone is also not established and it fails to establish the BT connection till the car is restarted. And if the Bluetooth gets connected, plugging in the cable always results in Android Auto starting without any issue.

Google says, there is a disable Bluetooth option for AA, but I am not able to find that option in my Pixel 7.

Hi Phoenix, your post could qualify you for a PhD :thumbs up. I can really empathise with you as I'd similar experience. But got fixed with a short cable from Wayona (I've posted above) and I think you've tried that brand as well.

My learning for cable has been A. Short cable B. High data transfer speeds C. Reviews specifically mentioning Android Auto fix

As an interim solution, i'd a spare phone at home which I used purely for navigation in the car.

Any particular reason you want android auto Vs spare phone? Just curious to know.

Can someone try a cheap USB 2.0 cable and let us know? It would be rated for a max of 480 mbps, should cost only about 300 Rs or less.

I have. It did not work. I had to go back to the original cable. Mine is a Xiaomi phone so i went back to Mi data cable which costs 499.I keep a standby cable in the car for I don't want to go through what Phoenix above went through
Cheers
Rajeevsulu

That's how I managed to drive 60k KM in 3 years - by having my second phone running maps parallely, and picking it up when the Thar does it's thing.
I did - someday I'll post a collage of all phones, cables and what not I ran through these 3 years.
Did Android Auto work without disconnection for 2 - 3 hours for you - I remember you doing long drives non-stop, so if it worked without disconnection (neither by you switching off or unplugging nor the HU doing it's thing), it'll be interesting to compare your HU with mine!