How many times do you need to change the same part...educate me on aftermarket radios

I have a 2012 Mazda 5. It is due for its fourth radio since I bought the vehicle new in 2012.

The first one was replaced under warranty when the car was about a year and half. The second radio lasted a little over a year before it kicked the bucket. At this point, my car was out of warranty, so I replaced it myself with a "good" used radio. Lasted a whopping 3 months.

They all died of different things. The first one was skipping radio station at random, without aany button being touched. The second wouldn't play if it was cold (below 50 F). And now the third just lost all radio reception.

I'm done! I am sick and tired of replacing the same part. Checked online, and those radios seem to have a very sketchy reliability record.

So...I'm considering replacing my radio with an aftermarket unit. Never been a fan of aftermarket radios, because everytime I've had one in a car (not installed by me) it caused problems. Admittedly, that was a few years ago (+10 years). Have radios improved in the last few years? Or would you guys try with another used OEM radio?

For reference, I'm thinking of getting something like this thingy on eBay.

How about sending the radio you have back to the manufacture to be repaired? Could be an option..

I'd go aftermarket. Put a big double din Pioneer in my BIL Honda pilot 4 or 5 years ago and it worked great. Had Bluetooth etc.

My biggest issue is always finding something that looks halfway normal. I know for BMWs, there are some decent OEM-style nav units that emulate factory button location and look that people are happy with. Look up "Dynavin" for the stuff I'm talking about, maybe that's what you're looking for?

In reply to noddaz:

All three radios have been the OE Mazda radio built by Panasonic. Do you suggest sending it back to Panasonic to have them repair it?

Didn't know that was even a possibility.

That's pretty crazy you're having so many radio problems. In 25 years and as many cars I don't believe I've ever had a radio fail in any of them (almost all factory units).

Are you pouring cola into it? Is there something environmental causing your problems?

First, I wouldn't buy some random headunit off ebay. Go to Crutchfield's website and buy something decent.

Are these radios known to be that bad or could this be a problem with the car itself? A friend of mind in the UK had problems with the radio in his Nissan (it would start skipping stations or turn the volume up to max, depending on which way the car turned) and it was actually a fault with the car.

Go to Crutchfield.com. Click "outfit my vehicle."

Jvc. / thread

I just bought a JVC double din unit for my car. Has bluetooth, came with a mic. Works great for hands free calling. Has Pandora compatibility with both android and apple, as well as being able to run the music player on both style phones. Even came with a remote...which I think is useless to be honest. I think it works great. Took a while to figure out the illumination settings to get it to match my interior, but once I did, it's perfect. It was around $150. It will integrate to steering wheel controls if you have them, but you do need some sort of patch cable.

BoxheadTim wrote: Are these radios known to be that bad or could this be a problem with the car itself?

Definitely worth considering. Reminds me of the saying, "If you meet one shiny happy person all day, they're probably just having a bad day. If everyone you meet all day seem like shiny happy people, you're probably the shiny happy person."

Edit: I love the wordfiltering.

Early years of the Mazda 5 did have audio system problems. And were rated terribly because of them. But the '12 & '13 cars are considered much better than average of all brands and models for audio reliability.

I strongly suggest you consider other issues in your car that may be causing your problem. If you just buy something else first, you have a fairly good chance of having your problem repeat itself.

I was really starting to consider that the problem was with the car. I checked all the wiring to see if I could find anything wrong. Didn't see anything. So to be sure, I did a test. When my last radio stopped working, I switched back the second radio (which I had kept) in there to see if the problems had changed. And no, the second radio still wouldn't play when cold. Switched back the third radio, and that one still lost all reception.

I'm getting really pissed at this. This car's radio has given me more problems then all the other cars I've owned combined.

Thanks for the suggestion of Crutchfield, I'll check it out.