According to the Seattle Times, the problem began on January 30 and afflicted Mazdas from model years 2014 to 2017 when the cars were tuned to the local NPR station, KUOW 94.9. At some point during the day's broadcast, a signal from KUOW caused the Mazdas' infotainment systems to crash—the screens died and the radios were stuck on 94.9 FM.
From there, the infotainment systems became trapped in a rebooting loop, never successfully completing the task. When afflicted owners took their cars to be checked at local Mazda dealers, they were told that the "connectivity master unit" was dead and needed to be replaced.
The snag? A new CMU costs $1,500—if you can find one, which you can't, because of supply chain problems.
The problem, according to Mazda, was that the radio station sent out image files in its HD radio stream that did not have extensions, and it seems that Mazda's infotainment system of that generation needs an extension (and not a header) to tell what a file is. No extension, no idea, and the system gets corrupted.
The Seattle Times contacted KUOW and Xperi, a technology company responsible for the HD radio technology, which told the paper that the company is aware of the issue. Mazda told Ars that it has distributed service alerts to dealers advising them about the problem, and although replacement MCUs are currently delayed, they should be replaced free of charge. "These customers should contact their local Mazda dealer, who can submit a goodwill request to the Mazda Warranty department on their behalf, order the parts, and schedule a free repair when the parts arrive," Mazda said.
Accidental OTA update. Wow, that's weird.
You can log into those systems via SSH - the access was closed in 2017. I wonder if you could recover one that way?
Brandon likes to listen to NPR, I'll warn him off :)
Keith Tanner said:
You can log into those systems via SSH -
I had to google SSH and it got my more confused than ever.......
My brain officially hurts after that deep dive.
californiamilleghia said:
Keith Tanner said:
You can log into those systems via SSH -
I had to google SSH and it got my more confused than ever.......
"Log in via a text interface" if that helps. Just like all the hackers do on the TV shows, not so much like the hackers do in Hackers.
Basically, I can log into the car' s computer using a laptop and a network cable if I know the user password. And I do in this case :)
I heard that on KUOW 94.9 yesterday on the way home from work. I enjoy listening to NPR on occasion but wouldn't be thrilled about not being able to tune in something else.
Cactus
HalfDork
2/10/22 12:04 a.m.
In reply to Keith Tanner :
Hack the world!
(Or at least Puget sound area)
Perfect example of how software isn't bulletproof and weird, unsuspected things can happen.
No Time
SuperDork
2/10/22 10:06 a.m.
At least it was infotainment and not something more disastrous.
In reply to No Time :
Like the Jeep hack from a few years back where a couple of guys figured out how to get into the CAN bus via the cellular connection, so you could literally call any vulnerable Jeep in the US and screw with the steering/brakes/transmission/infotainment/etc. That one was pretty serious.
Seattle Mazda drivers' radios being stuck on NPR seems like it would be normal. Now if it happened in a few other places it would be quite funny, and perhaps fix a few societal "bubble" problems 
Dear lord Mazda did you hirer first year coders who have no idea how to do input sanitation. The title shoud read crappy Mazda code breaks down. Also this is not the first time it has happened and its not the first time it has happened to Mazda.
I bet the guys at Mazda Tweaks have this one solved in a couple days, for those who are brave enough to run a script off a USB drive. If the CMU is bricked it seems like there's nothing to lose.
Note that the code for this was written about a decade ago when integrated infotainment like this was being tossed into cars as quickly as possible, and I think the Jeep debacle forced the industry to take it a little more seriously.
Paul_VR6 (Forum Supporter) said:
Seattle Mazda drivers' radios being stuck on NPR seems like it would be normal. Now if it happened in a few other places it would be quite funny, and perhaps fix a few societal "bubble" problems
I'm surprised people noticed.
Why is this only an issue in this one region?
hybridmomentspass said:
Why is this only an issue in this one region?
It seems like one radio station happened to broadcast something that the radios couldn't handle and that tripped it up. Probably just luck that no other station has caused this.
Yeah, the station broadcast an image file (basically an icon to be displayed beside the station identification) that didn't have an extension on it. The unit received it, tried to decode it, tripped over itself and rebooted. Then when it boots up, it tries to decode the file stored in memory, trips over itself and reboots. If it's stuck in a boot loop like this, it may not be possible to use a USB (or SSH) to fix the problem as it never gets to that stable point.
The funny thing is that Mazdas aren't set up to do OTA reflashes and may not even have a cellular modem, but they're still pulling in data from the ether and that data can screw up the car.
Meh.... my radio rarely leaves NPR anyway
FYI, it looks like Mazda may have purchased this infotainment system from Johnson Controls. So it may very well not be Mazda's code.
In reply to Paul_VR6 (Forum Supporter) :
I think the lefty plot around here is that the music stations all suck, so your only real option is NPR.
"uuuuh... Taylor Swift on this station or Jonas Brothers on that station? NPR it is."
Keith Tanner said:
FYI, it looks like Mazda may have purchased this infotainment system from Johnson Controls. So it may very well not be Mazda's code.
It's probably the same code running in the crappy optima batteries that cause them to fail after 6 months...
Keith Tanner said:
FYI, it looks like Mazda may have purchased this infotainment system from Johnson Controls. So it may very well not be Mazda's code.
Mazda, Fiat... All made in Taiwan!
