Bluetooth won't stay connected, affecting safety

[Richard L.]

My android (Galaxy S10) phone will not stay connected to my 2022 Mach-e. It has gotten worse over time. Disconnects every few minutes. After reading other forums, I've tried the following:

-Logging out of Fordpass. No change.
-Using Android Auto vs Bluetooth connection. No change.
-Using Android Auto via USB cable. No change.
-Turning off wifi to prevent the phone from trying to find/join networks. No change.

What other troubleshooting is there? My mustang was produced in Sept 2022. Vin 3FMTK3SU6NMA56940.

I have an S22 Ultra and no issues with Bluetooth. Suggest you try clearing the Bluetooth cache and restarting the phone.

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[Ride_the_lightning]

The Bluetooth protocol was never designed to support vital safety critical systems. If you are using it for anything safety related, please stop.

 

[Deleted member 16048]

The Bluetooth protocol was never designed to support vital safety critical systems. If you are using it for anything safety related, please stop.

Agree'd, it is NOT a safety issue that your Bluetooth isn't working properly. You're choosing to be unsafe by using it instead of driving responsibly. There is a big difference here.

Just to note, the S10 came out in 2019, so it's a 4 year old device. With its age, and 4 year old tech. It's likely your device is nearing the end of its life, or is having hardware issues on its own when connected to newer Bluetooth technology.

The correct troubleshooting would be to isolate the issue. First, fully erase your device (After backing up data of course.) and see if the issue persists with a completely fresh device. If the issue persists, connect a different device. (Another android of the same model, or it can be different.) Make sure that device is erased and clean as well. If the issue persists, then it's likely a Mach E issue. If the issue was resolved with the new device. It's an issue with your phone and time to upgrade it.

The key is to isolate the issue. Never assume it's the cars issue, or the phones issue until you can isolate it and reproduce the issue.

 

[Logal727]

Other than taking it in to a dealer I don't see what else can be done. The real solution would be for Ford to fix their shit but that's not likely to happen.

The USB connection problem is pretty common for me, it's unreliable.

I'd say take it in, as hit and miss as mine has been, once it connects wirelessly it usually stays connected.

As for the safety issue do you mean it's just distracting while driving?

you're assuming it's the car's fault, which it likely isn't

 

[dtbaker61]

My android (Galaxy S10) phone will not stay connected to my 2022 Mach-e. It has gotten worse over time. Disconnects every few minutes.

What other troubleshooting is there?

try:
- UNINSTALLING Fordpass from phone
- unpairing MME on phone (both BT pairings for regular BT and PAAK)
- delete phone from MME
- reset PAAK, delete backup code
- download/install fresh FordPass on phone
- re-configure PAAK in MME
- add 'regular' BT pairing after PAAK and backup code are set up again

https://www.macheforum.com/site/thr...-uninstall-re-configure-of-fp-and-paak.21759/

 

[Ride_the_lightning]

Agree'd, it is NOT a safety issue that your Bluetooth isn't working properly. You're choosing to be unsafe by using it instead of driving responsibly. There is a big difference here.

Just to note, the S10 came out in 2019, so it's a 4 year old device. With its age, and 4 year old tech. It's likely your device is nearing the end of its life, or is having hardware issues on its own when connected to newer Bluetooth technology.

The correct troubleshooting would be to isolate the issue. First, fully erase your device (After backing up data of course.) and see if the issue persists with a completely fresh device. If the issue persists, connect a different device. (Another android of the same model, or it can be different.) Make sure that device is erased and clean as well. If the issue persists, then it's likely a Mach E issue. If the issue was resolved with the new device. It's an issue with your phone and time to upgrade it.

The key is to isolate the issue. Never assume it's the cars issue, or the phones issue until you can isolate it and reproduce the issue.

This is also why I don’t rely on PAAK. Bluetooth was originally designed for headphones and peripheral devices. It has never worked reliably for me on any device in its entire existence, from my wireless mouse in 2006 to my AirPods today. It works good enough for those purposes, but still fails to connect, or randomly disconnects, way too often to rely on for anything vital. The increasingly crowded 2.4 ghz spectrum probably doesn’t help.

 

[dtbaker61]

This is also why I don’t rely on PAAK. Bluetooth was originally designed for headphones and peripheral devices. It has never worked reliably for me on any device in its entire existence, from my wireless mouse in 2006 to my AirPods today. It works good enough for those purposes, but still fails to connect, or randomly disconnects, way too often to rely on for anything vital. The increasingly crowded 2.4 ghz spectrum probably doesn’t help.

PAAK has been 99% reliable for me for 2 years, except a brief period after a Samsung phone update changed *something*. took me a couple days to figure it out, and that is was not a MME OTA or FordPass problem; once I removed, re-installed, and re-configured PAAK.... its been fine.

 

[prof68]

Have you tried rebooting the sync system? I have a 2023 mach-e and a samsung 9 phone. Soon after I got my car my bluetooth kept dropping, which drove me crazy. But since I reset the system more than a month ago I haven't had any problems (none of my settings were lost in the process). To reset the system, Press and hold both the Volume Down and Seek Right buttons on the steering wheel controls for 10 seconds.

 

[Deleted member 16048]

This is also why I don’t rely on PAAK. Bluetooth was originally designed for headphones and peripheral devices. It has never worked reliably for me on any device in its entire existence, from my wireless mouse in 2006 to my AirPods today. It works good enough for those purposes, but still fails to connect, or randomly disconnects, way too often to rely on for anything vital. The increasingly crowded 2.4 ghz spectrum probably doesn’t help.

Couldnt agree more here. That 2.4 network is flooded now since it’s cheaper to make smart things with it. Soooo much interference.

 

[alexgorod]

I can be wrong, but I think that actual communication happens over WiFi and Bluetooth is only needed to initiate the connection. So instability is more likely due to WiFi interference - there was a place on my regular route where the connection was dropped every time and then got restored a minute later. There is a police station on the road in this place... It's not happening lately, maybe some OTAs or phone updates changed something.

 

[DevSecOps]

The Bluetooth protocol was never designed to support vital safety critical systems. If you are using it for anything safety related, please stop.

This is sarcasm right? Bluetooth is used widely in the medical industry, from Blood Oxygen Monitors, EKG monitors, Blood Pressure Monitors, Diabetic Monitors, Fall Detection devices... the list goes on. Heck, if you have an Apple/Android watch it uses BT for those and more. Just because one thing wasn't originally designed for something doesn't mean it can't be used for it. Aspirin was developed for non-life threatening arthritis and is now used for life threatening cardiovascular diseases.

@MirandaH -

I wouldn't reset your phone as some suggest. That sounds like advice from a tech support agent reading a script and should be a last resort measure. Especially for something as trivial as BT since the firmware version on the radio won't change with a reset.

How many active BT connections do you have going on when the disconnect happens? Phones support between 5-7 active connections at a time.

Wireless Android Auto only uses BT to establish the connection and then it's handed off to WiFi on the 5ghz frequency. I don't think it has anything to do with AA.

Is the connection issue with FordPass and the car or is it with just phone calls? There's multiple BT connections created between the car and the phone. You mention it's mostly during phone calls so I would assume that FordPass and PaaK work fine?

Like others have stated, it's most likely the phone and not the car. Testing with another family members phone (as mentioned by others) would rule out the phone or the car and is a great first step. If you decide to re-establish the connection between the phone and the car, be sure to remove the device in the car, reset PaaK from the car and remove the old BT connections from the phone before re-establishing them.

 

[superdave80]

Just to note, the S10 came out in 2019, so it's a 4 year old device. With its age, and 4 year old tech. It's likely your device is nearing the end of its life, or is having hardware issues on its own when connected to newer Bluetooth technology.

Even if he bought it the day released, it isn't 4-years old yet. It is not near its 'end of life'.

My brand new iPhone 13 just started to have disconnect issues while talking hands-free (blast of static, then phone switches to it's internal speaker). It still shows the phone as connected, but just won't use the car speakers. I received 4-5 updates in the last few weeks, so my guess is something introduced a bug in the system.

Given the Mach-E's tech reliability track record, I'd look at the car as the issue first.

 

[AhardFSU]

OP, have you tried a soft reset on your phone? Don’t do a complete reset where you wipe everything off the phone. That’s unnecessary. Also, how many BT devices do you have connected to your phone?

I know that when Im listening to something on my AirPods on my iPhone and I walk up to my Mach E, it’s takes more than a couple of seconds for the car to recognize the phone. Just try to rule things out via trial and error as most have mentioned.

 

[Stang505]

Having similar issue with Samsung S20+. Phone keeps disconnecting and reconnecting in both wired and wireless mode. Disconnect seems to occur when I get a notification, email, on the phone. I've tried the do not disturb option on phone but same thing. I've tried most common suggestions, but still figuring it out.

 

[Heddlu]

Same here, S20 5G, disconnected every 2-3 mins, unable to connect to AA both wire and wireless, ford pass keeps saying non responsive requesting forced stop. It's driving me nuts

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