How to Reboot Your Car's Infotainment System

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Consumer Reports has no financial relationship with advertisers on this site.

For drivers who enjoy listening to podcasts and music or those who desperately need navigation help, a car’s infotainment system can be crucial to their happiness. And nothing sours that happiness faster than a system that refuses to cooperate or has a screen that goes blank.

In fact, in our most recent exclusive Auto Survey, one of the most common reliability complaints from owners of newer models involved infotainment problems, such as when the display screen goes blank or freezes, or the navigation system stops working properly.

Hardware reliability can be an issue with some systems, but we’ve found in our testing that in many cases there are tricks to getting them back up and running quickly. Sometimes it can be as simple as unplugging your phone from the USB port and plugging it back in. Other times, simply turning the system off and on again can do the trick.

Occasionally, something more drastic needs to happen. That’s where these reboots come in.

To be clear, these are meant to be quick fixes to bring the system back to a fresh state, says Mel Yu, CR’s automotive analyst, kind of like hitting Ctrl-Alt-Delete on a Microsoft-powered computer.

Below are the quick fixes we’ve identified for many systems, as well as the model years they apply to based on our experience at the Consumer Reports Auto Test Center or what we've learned from talking to automakers. We were not able to identify quick fixes for all brands.

If the reboot doesn't work or you have to reboot on a weekly or daily basis, you should take the car to your dealership, Yu says. There, the dealer can update your firmware or inspect the system for a hardware problem.

And you should be aware that electronics often have a shorter warranty than other parts of the car, Yu says. For example, in some vehicles, the warranty for electronics in a new car is only one year, much shorter than the five years or 60,000 miles for other “bumper to bumper” items, or the 10 years or 100,000 miles for the powertrain, which is essentially the engine and transmission. Buyers may be able to purchase an extended warranty that covers infotainment systems for longer periods.

Audi

MMI (2015-2017 model years)
• Press and hold the Menu key, the rotary knob, and the button that sits at the upper right of the rotary knob.

MMI with virtual cockpit (2017-2019)
• Push forward and then hold in place the Nav/Map and Radio buttons while pushing down the rotary knob for about a second.

MMI with two screens (2019)
• Hold the volume button down for 10 seconds.

BMW

CCC system with nav (roughly 2004 through 2010)
• Press and hold the eject button for the DVD and CD drives, then press the audio system power button for about a second.

CIC (2010-2015)
• Press and hold the audio volume knob for 25 seconds.

iDrive 4 (2014-2017)
• Hold down the iDrive knob, then press the CD/DVD eject button and audio system power button for about a second.

FCA (Includes Dodge, Jeep, Ram)

Uconnect with 8.4-inch screen (2013-2019)
• Put the car into accessory mode by hitting the ignition button but without having your foot on the brakes. This turns on the accessory systems of the car. Then hold the temperature up button (red) and the temperature down button (blue) simultaneously for at least 8 seconds. The engineering menu should appear. The last menu item on the first page is Reset Radio. This will reboot the system.

Uconnect (2013-2019)
• Press and hold down the mute and source button for up to 10 seconds.

Ford

My Ford/Lincoln Touch (2014-2017)
• Press and hold the Fast Forward and the audio system power buttons for at least 5 seconds.

Genesis/Hyundai/Kia

(2014-2019)
• Press and hold down the audio system power button for at least 10 seconds.

General Motors

For Cadillac, Chevrolet, Buick, GMC vehicles

Mylink/Intellilink (2014-2016)
• Press the Home and Fast Forward buttons for at least 10 seconds

GM infotainment (2017-2019)
• Press the Onstar call button, then hang up.

Honda

Hondalink with one screen (2016-2019)
• Press and hold the audio system power button for 3 seconds. Then a menu will pop up and ask you if you want to reboot the system.

Infiniti

Intouch (2014-2019)
• Press and hold down the audio system power knob for at least 7 seconds.

Lexus

• Press and hold down the audio system power knob for at least 7 seconds.

Mazda

Mazda Connect (2014-2019)
• Press and hold the Back button, the Nav button, and the Mute button for at least 10 seconds.

Mini

(2007-2011)
• Press and hold down the audio system power knob for at least 20 seconds.

Nissan

(2009-2019)
• Press and hold down the audio system power button for about 10 seconds until the Nissan logo appears, signifying that the reboot is underway.

Subaru

For models with the Starlink system
• Press and hold down the audio system power knob for at least 10 seconds.

Tesla

Main Screen (2012-2019)
• Press and hold down the two scroll wheels on the steering wheel for at least 10 seconds.

Toyota

Instrument Cluster (2012-2019)
• Press and hold down the buttons above the two scroll wheels for at least 10 seconds.

Volkswagen

MIB and MIB 2 systems (2012-2019)
• Press and hold down the audio system power knob for at least 10 seconds.

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