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SiriusXM Volume Scratchy
- Thread starter DerbyDave
- Start date
curious: how many people having this issue have a dashcam / music drive connected? i took my drive out last night to take some sentry video off and add some additional music, and forgot to put it back in...and i haven't noticed the scratchy volume in either drives last night or this afternoon without the USB plugged in. it's probably coincidence, but figured i'd throw it out there just in case...
that's the weird part: there's no scratchiness on the streaming or USB sources either way, but since i disconnected the USB drive i have no scratchiness on SXM or FM either. like i said, probably coincidence...but who knows?
I'm so glad I found this thread. I had notice a scratchy/staticky sound on FM radio on my 2021 Model 3 since last year. I think it's started being very noticeable after the update that allowed the side camera to be used as blind spot monitors when we switch lane. Before that, I had only noticed FM issues when the rear camera was on and I was reversing.
Since then, I noticed that the FM radio would sometimes be perfect and sometimes be really bad. It's worse when driving, worse if I switch lane (side cameras are on) or when I change volume (I only noticed this recently). No issue on Bluetooth. I thought it was some interference between the antenna and the electrical wiring for the cameras.
I already got it serviced twice. The first time a mobile technician came and said he did clean the connection or something. It didn't help. Second time I had to bring it to the service center and they kept it for a week! They obviously didn't work on it for that long. After 1 week, they said they weren't able to replicate the issue. I went back and drove 5 minutes and obviously the issue didn't happen during those 5 minutes. They installed a signal booster.
Nothing helped and I started recording when it was really bad. It's quasi random and I did notice it was better after a reboot, which made me suspect a software issue.
Reading this thread, I'm 100% I have the same problem as others and this is indeed a software problem. It doesn't fix my problem but I'm kinda glad my car isn't unique. I was gonna request another service, sending them the recordings, but I now believe this would be useless. Hopefully Tesla will push a FW update that will fix it. As I've said, I'm pretty sure the issue wasn't there when I got my car in 2021, I'd have noticed. At times, the radio is the worst I've ever had with scratchiness/static all the time.
Since then, I noticed that the FM radio would sometimes be perfect and sometimes be really bad. It's worse when driving, worse if I switch lane (side cameras are on) or when I change volume (I only noticed this recently). No issue on Bluetooth. I thought it was some interference between the antenna and the electrical wiring for the cameras.
I already got it serviced twice. The first time a mobile technician came and said he did clean the connection or something. It didn't help. Second time I had to bring it to the service center and they kept it for a week! They obviously didn't work on it for that long. After 1 week, they said they weren't able to replicate the issue. I went back and drove 5 minutes and obviously the issue didn't happen during those 5 minutes. They installed a signal booster.
Nothing helped and I started recording when it was really bad. It's quasi random and I did notice it was better after a reboot, which made me suspect a software issue.
Reading this thread, I'm 100% I have the same problem as others and this is indeed a software problem. It doesn't fix my problem but I'm kinda glad my car isn't unique. I was gonna request another service, sending them the recordings, but I now believe this would be useless. Hopefully Tesla will push a FW update that will fix it. As I've said, I'm pretty sure the issue wasn't there when I got my car in 2021, I'd have noticed. At times, the radio is the worst I've ever had with scratchiness/static all the time.
vcor
Tech Specialist
It will be interesting if a few more owners test the removal of all USB connections to see if it eliminates the scratchiness. If so, I suspect the USB drive is starting to fail, causing excessive read/writes, which may consume more CPU bandwidth that results in this strange side effect. I've never had the issue, so I can't confirm either way.
it's probably coincidental. i can confirm that plugging the drive back in caused the scratchiness to return, but removing it hasn't gotten it to stop again like it did the other day. plus, my drive is a brand new high endurance samsung SD card in a mini SD reader, which is tesla's recommended method of installing a USB for dashcam / music.
what i am wondering, though, is if having both on the same drive might have something to do with it (although based on other replies here that also seems unlikely).
I have the exact same setup as you except on 2 separate drives (one for dashcam, and one for music. It still has the scratchiness.
Installing 2023.2.12 now and crossing my fingers.
And I guess the fingers will need to stay crossed until the next update. 2023.2.12 did not fix SXM cracking for me. I didn’t drive it yet to see if it fixed the pause.
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Took car into service center today. Technician heard the scratchiness and checked his records and confirmed this is a known defect with audio sources from FM antenna and SiriusXM antenna. Said nothing they can do, will have to be fixed in firmware update.
Interestingly I already have an open arbitration case pending against Tesla for the bricking of SiriusXM favorites feature, so I will just add this to the case if not resolved very soon.
Interestingly I already have an open arbitration case pending against Tesla for the bricking of SiriusXM favorites feature, so I will just add this to the case if not resolved very soon.
my advice: add it. it's not going to be resolved unless they're forced to fix it.
they don't care. it's pretty obvious at this point, considering this issue has and the favorites issue have been around for over a year and they haven't done a damn thing other than tell us all that WE are nuts. elon has no problems having them add extra fart noises, though.
what a clown.
Hi, I’ve also had this problem with my 2019 Model X in the UK, I have the scratching on DAB and FM radios only. It’s exactly the same thing as the audio clip above where the radio seems to crackle or buffer a lot. I was glad to find this post as it meant I could hope for it to be a software related problem and not a hardware problem.
I’ve just installed a software update V11.1, it was described as ‘minor bug fixes’ and now even tho when I adjust the volume the radio still seems to crackle/buffer, but now once the volume is adjusted the music seems fine with no crackle/buffer for actually listening when you are driving. I’ve had it at a set volume for about 10 min so far without an issue, so hopefully this isn’t just a coincidence. Hope this helps someone else out as it has been driving me nuts for the last few months!
I’ve just installed a software update V11.1, it was described as ‘minor bug fixes’ and now even tho when I adjust the volume the radio still seems to crackle/buffer, but now once the volume is adjusted the music seems fine with no crackle/buffer for actually listening when you are driving. I’ve had it at a set volume for about 10 min so far without an issue, so hopefully this isn’t just a coincidence. Hope this helps someone else out as it has been driving me nuts for the last few months!
Think I spoke too soon- the noise came back after about half an hour, although a 2 button reset does seem to fix it again for another half hour. (The 2 button reset didn’t use to make a difference for me).
Just out of interest do you guys that have the crackling subscribe to premium or standard connectivity? I cancelled my premium subscription around Xmas time and can’t think if the dates are similar for when this problem started? Just guessing at ideas
Just out of interest do you guys that have the crackling subscribe to premium or standard connectivity? I cancelled my premium subscription around Xmas time and can’t think if the dates are similar for when this problem started? Just guessing at ideas
Thanks Dave, does yours do it on TuneIn radio/app?…. I’m thinking as all the radio stations are on that as well as DAB/FM if TuneIn doesn’t have the issue I’ll re-subscribe to premium?
Update/solution- So thanks to Daves post above it got me thinking about this scratching/buffering appearing for me around the time I cancelled premium connectivity- in the UK teslas have ‘TuneIn’ radio, I’m not sure if other countries have the same app?… but anyway, tunein has all the dab/fm radio stations that I listen to, plus lots of ones you can’t get on DAB/FM, but it uses data rather than a traditional aerial, and is only available with premium subscription.
I’ve re-subscribed to premium and Tune-In doesn’t have any of the scratching/buffering that DAB/FM has, even adjusting volume is completely problem free. So for me the £9.99 a month to get crystal clear audio again is my solution, not perfect as it costs, but at least it works!
Thinking back, I always used TuneIn instead of DAB / FM before I cancelled premium a few months ago, so the dab scratching could have always been there, but as I never used it, I’d have never heard it.
I hope this helps someone else in the same situation
I’ve re-subscribed to premium and Tune-In doesn’t have any of the scratching/buffering that DAB/FM has, even adjusting volume is completely problem free. So for me the £9.99 a month to get crystal clear audio again is my solution, not perfect as it costs, but at least it works!
Thinking back, I always used TuneIn instead of DAB / FM before I cancelled premium a few months ago, so the dab scratching could have always been there, but as I never used it, I’d have never heard it.
I hope this helps someone else in the same situation
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