iPhone 4S as music source

[Davem]

OK, I'm a newbie to both the phone and Bluetooth devices but I know I'm experiencing weird behavior when trying to play music from the phone. Haven't received any calls but have made a few and no problem there. It's a new Golf TDI with Nav and as soon as I start the car BT detects and pairs with the phone no problem. I can select BT or MDI and control/hear music fine until I stop the car and then restart it. Then I can't hear the music even though the elapsed time is moving and the volume is turned up. It's as though the BT is muting the music because it "thinks" I want to make a call. I've been able to get it back, only when BT is selected and if I used the voice command button on the steering wheel to activate voice command and said "cancel voice activation."

The car is going in on Wed. for the CEL and I'd like to know beforehand if VW has an update that will fix this. Does anyone know?

Thanks much!

[xeno555]

When having different inputs in use when the car is shut down, it picks one to return to, though usually not the one you were last listing to.

[Davem]

That's interesting. I haven't noticed that happening but the car is only a week old and I haven't spent much time in it yet.

I've researched the problem I described, though it appears more people have had problems with their ring tones being muted, causing them to miss incoming calls. Anyway, I have not found a definitive answer to any of the problems people have reported with iPhones running iOS 5 and VW's BT. Some folks think it's an Apple problem, others think it's VW's. Whoever, whatever, I hope it's fixed soon.

BTW, I am not impressed with the Sirius sound in the car. It sounds thin, lacks presence and kind of sounds like it's run thru light reverb. The portable XM receiver I use in my 07' Civic, run into the Aux input of the factory stereo, sounds much better. This is one of the reasons I'd like to see the iPhone issue resolved, plus we could save the $15/month subscription charge.

The TDI is going back to the shop in 4 hours and I hope to pick it up one week later with all issues fixed. Wish us luck!

[davidvw]

Davem,

I'v also had the same issue and spent some time at the dealership trying to work out what was going on. If I plug the iPhone 4S (iOS v5.1) into the MDI it plays for a while then there is no audio, although it apprears to continue playing.

From what I can see, the MDI audio source works intil the bluetooth is paired and is ready to stream music via a2dp, which takes about 1 minute. The RNS-510 then swaps to using bluetooth but the phone is not sending any audio this way.

If you watch the RNS-510 display, initially it will only show the MDI button - no bluetooth symbol. after the phone pairs, the bluetooth button will display and the audio will stop. You only get the Bluetooth button (source) on the newer versions of the RNS-510 software. Pressing the MDI and bluetooth buttons doesn't fix the audio though.

The only way I have found to stop this happening is to either disconnect/reconnect the iPhone after the audio stops, or not connect the phone until after bluetooth has paired. This is a real pain as I want to jump in the car, plug in the phone and drive away. If I do this then I reverse out of the car park into traffic and the music stops! Now I have to wait a minute or two before I can get going.

Anyone else have any ideas?

Dave

[aminor]

I am also having this problem. It is inconvenient, and I would really appreciate anyone's advice on how to "fix" it.

[Davem]

Hi again,

I just got the car back again after turning it in today for this problem, which was not fixed during the 8 days it was in for the CEL, but was slightly dented! Anyway, they fixed the dent but were not able to do anything about the iPhone (5.1.1). The tech told me that as of now the system will only work with one source connected at a time, either BT or MDI. Of course that blows because if you want to hear and control music with the car controls you can't use the phone features that utilize the BT. However, thanks to Dave's research (see above) there is a work around that will permit both sources to be active simutaneousley. Basically, waiting for the BT to pair with your phone, then disconnecting and reconnecting the MDI cable seems to work. Still hope Apple and/or VW fix this so it works like it should.

BTW, since it was in I also asked if they could look into the Sirius audio quality issue I mentioned. They said all software was up to date and they could not do anything about it. Said there may be an update soon that could improve the reception...

[cjw50310]

Hello,

I'm finding that if I allow my phone to connect through BT, then plug in the MDI cable both appear to work as expected. Not terribly handy if one is running errands, I will admit.

Chris