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2018 MDX GPS Locking Up problems

5K views 13 replies 8 participants last post by  wallyo 
#1 ·
Have a 2018 MDX Hy-Bird w/ advance package. My GPS screen has frozen on numerous occasions on long trips. I had pictures on the problem and some videos. The service department has replaced the GPS system twice but I still have the problem. When I bring it in now I get they can't duplicate. I am now dealing with Acura corporate on the issue. Was wondering if any one else is having this problem and what was doe to fix it. The car is only 13 months old.
 
#3 ·
No self installed electronics installed. The last time it was in the dealer indicated that maybe Car Play was causing the problem. However on my trip to South Carolina last week may radio was off and no phones were connected when the problem occured after 2 hrs and 40 min of driving. After about 30 min the system rebooted and came back to life. Will be going to the service department in the next day or so.
 
#5 ·
You could try having the dealer switch it out 3 or 4 more times.
...Just kidding - after the first swap out they should've had a clue the unit wasn't the problem..

There's a good chance it's a software problem that'll only resolve with a software update. If you post the software rev of yours maybe others can compare it with the rev on their systems and whether they've had similar experiences on long trips. There are probably a number on here that've never done a long trip in theirs so it'snot equivalent.

Your system is different than the one in my 2014 but mine went through about 3 software updates, which did improve the stability of the system - where some of the stability issues only appeared on long drives.
 
#6 ·
Thought my GPS problem was solved when Acura bought the car back under the MD Lemon Law. Because it appeared to be a rare problem and I really liked the car I gambled and bought a new 2020 MDX Hybrid. Guess what! Within the first 2 weeks on a trip to PA and back my GPS froze! After writing to the dealer owner and not wanting to go through the Lemon Law process again he offered me an excellent deal on a certified 2019 Audi Q7 Prestige from his other dealership. Hence problem solved with no additional cost to me.

Since I had the same problem on a 2018 and a 2020 MDX Hybrid it makes me wonder is this problem unique to the Hybrid or are MDX owners not really using the GPS?
 
#8 ·
We have never had the gps freeze up. My wife had taken some 2 hour trips. When we take a long trip and I am driving,I use a garmin. I have had it get lost and off the road. I unplug the dash cam. That usually fixes it.
 
#9 ·
I had a '17 MDX SH-AWD Tech that had a Navigation issue, but not quite the same. In our case, the GPS signal would be there, but the car would lose its location on the map (we'd be flying thru the woods or across a river or something similar). Then magically it would find itself again and all would be fine. There was a TSB on this issue, that referenced a SW update, which did nothing. The dealer then replaced the Nav unit, the HDD unit, and the antenna, and then reflashed the SW. AFter all of that, it would still periodically lose its location on the map. I had videos and other evidence. The dealer then requested I escalate to Acura Client Care, which I did. What happened after that was a series of "he said, she said" discussions between me and Acura corporate, with the dealer (who went above and beyond) stuck in the middle. I was about ready to go down the lemon law route when the dealer worked with me to get me out of my lease over a year early and into a '19 Advance that (knock on wood) has thus far not shown any issues after about 5 months. In my case the dealer really went out of their way to make the numbers work (to my advantage). I really loved the car other than that odd issue, which the dealer had seen on 3 different MDX's of that general 17/18 period (out of many hundred they've sold). Exactly why it happened is still a mystery. My wife believes it's related to the SW settings that involve the Nav and the rest of the car - but we never were able to prove it....

So overall, my car had a similar issue that was not resolved, Acura corporate didn't really step up like I thought they would, but the dealer certainly did.

andy
 
#11 ·
I've had my 19 MDX Hybrid Adv since Mar/19 and taken six from ABQ to San Antonio for +7500 miles. I've used both Acura navi and Carplay (Waze) or both on the 10.5 - 11 hour drives. The only time I had the Acura navi re-boot was when I upgraded my iPhone 6S+ to IOS 13.X. and it cause the top and sometimes both info-tainment screens to reboot or disconnect every 30-45 seconds. Wasn't until the last update (IOS 13.2.3) was when the reboot issue hasn't returned. I used the Acura navi for about 2 months during this time and used Waze on my iPhone connect with bluetooth for hazards/cops. Saw new update of IOS 13.3, might wait a few weeks to see if that update is good to go for others.
 
#13 ·
I don't recall the GPS freezing, but my head unit will crash and reboot about every 10 minutes with any i-device attached to the USB input. Seems you have ruled that out. Should also add that recently, I discovered it will do the crash and reboot thing even after disconnecting a device. Sad to say, I've just reconciled to the software being buggy.
 
#14 ·
I didn't mention it in my previous post, but I once tried connecting a new Google phone to see what Android Auto looked like. The system sometimes cycled through reboots almost continuously. I don't really want to use it that way, but I thought I'd mention it.
 
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