Hi everyone.
I have a 2012 Dodge Journey Crew that, within the last two months, has lost the ability to play music by hooking phones up with USB cables followed by the UConnect phone being stuck on Loading...Please Wait. My car is about 2,000 miles outside of warranty (of course) and I have a dealer appointment I am now dreading because of threads I've been looking at.

Is there any way to reset the phone module myself? I loaded one available update but it was not one that did anything I noticed.

 

Worth a shot but have you tried disconnecting the battery to reset everything?

 

I haven't tried that but will give that a shot - thanks.

 

By chance, is there any hints in the owners manual ??

 

No - I called UConnect support and they walked me through the much-mentioned method of holding down the VR and phone buttons for 30 seconds, opening the door for 30 seconds and then closing it. Support said this probably wouldn't fix it, but I wanted to try the easy thing first.

She said the dealer will need to perform a hard reset, which sounds just like what I would do to my computer. Unplug the UConnect module from power and let it sit for (in this case) two hours. Then reconnect and "reprogram" the module. I can just feel the bill on this, again, since I'm right out of warranty.

When I asked what causes this, she told me that the car goes through a refresh routine overnight and sometimes gets stuck and doesn't finish. This is not at all comforting because it can happen again and I will have to go to the dealer to fix it - again.

I kinda want to go back to just having a car with a radio and everything else mechanical. I don't like what the future is looking like with all the electronics in my car. A computer on wheels that has glitchy software that will probably go end of life, meaning I will have to buy completely new modules for everything at some point just to remain supported/able to drive my car. Sigh.

 

Most time it's battery drain.Supplying all of the "toys" with juice is a chore for the battery when the motor is off,turning the alternator to charge the system.What you might concider is a Battery Tender.It's a simple plug &play you can purchase at many autoparts store.It helps keep 12-14.5 volts in the battery,prevents the toys from going into sleep mode causing the problems your having.It's a easy install that you can do yourself,just follow the instructions and be good to go.Just a thought..........

 

Interesting - never heard of a Battery Tender. I looked at their website and went, "ummm..." Is this something I have to plug in and hook up to my battery every day or is it more passive than that? Just not getting a picture of how this is used.

 

You plug it into an accessory outlet that is powered when the vehicle is off.

 

Ah - got it. Thanks for the tip!