[turbulence]

Hi all,

First time poster here, great forum!

Apologies if this has been posted before, but I can't see anything relevant.

I have a 2012 Kia Sportage Si and I'm having issues with the stock head unit, primarily bluetooth functionality.

Using either an iPhone 4, or iPhone 5 paired to the car via bluetooth (but not at once, and not with the iPod cable connected), I'm seeing a two intermittent issues -
#1 - Pairing that doesn't complete when turning the car on
#2 - Pairing that does complete but only for audio streaming and not phone calls

I've also found that the headunit only supports basic bluetooth connectivity - ie voice and streaming audio, but not features such as forward and back track selection, song title display etc.

I guess the long story short it - is this all normal behaviour of this headunit? And is there a firmware upgrade available for the headunit which may fix the issues, or upgrade the bluetooth profile to allow for the extra features.

Cheers,

 

[njerald]

Are you confusing pairing and connecting?

 

[turbulence]

Hi there,

Perhaps I am, but it's all semantics really as I don't believe there is a difference in this case?

I can successfully do an initial pair with the phone and the car and everything is ok.

Once the car is turned off (and on again), it is hit and miss as to whether it will pair/connect again. If it does, sometimes all bluetooth functions work (music streaming and phone calls), and sometimes certain functions won't work (and it's typically phone calls that won't work).

Is anyone aware of any firmware updates that are available for this head unit?

 

[Barbs]

Once the phone and the car are introduced (paired) then they can find each other only if your phone settings are not hiding the phone from discovery from your kia. So once u hop into your car or turn on the car again, the devices will have to establish a new connection. They are already paired.

All i do is turn on the phones bluetooth in the car and the connection happens, but if it doesn't i select the Sportage from the available devices shown on the phone. Done.

Ps i got a 2013 platinum,and have not had problems as u have described other than a manual connection.

 

[bluntman]

Initial pairing was fine, but subsequent pairing of my iPhone 4 and my NAV headunit was never 100%. After getting an iPhone 5, I have never had any problems.

 

[Barbs]

Check your bluetooth settings and the settings for the pairing, my samsung says that music and phone operation granted, so maybe its a phone setting thing.

 

[sandtrack99]

I have a 2012 Sportage LX and use an iphone 4s. I have no problems pairing the phone with the radio, but I do have frequent problems connecting the phone to the radio when receiving a phone call. Much of the time the phone and radio will not connect so I cannot hear the ringing and cannot answer the phone call.
No problems streaming audio. Only basic bluetooth without the cable.

The dealer replaced the radio but that did not solve the connecting problem.

 

[YouSnooze]

Are the phones stored into one of the three memory settings of the headunit?? The most important phone should be the "primary" one - if so it will pair/connect quicker after the first go.

 

[njerald]

I have a 2012 Sportage LX and use an iphone 4s. I have no problems pairing the phone with the radio, but I do have frequent problems connecting the phone to the radio when receiving a phone call. Much of the time the phone and radio will not connect so I cannot hear the ringing and cannot answer the phone call.
No problems streaming audio. Only basic bluetooth without the cable.

The dealer replaced the radio but that did not solve the connecting problem.

If paired and the phone settings are correct, the phone should connect automatically when the car starts, not when you receive a phone call....

It's easy to check.

 

[oh2th]

I have the same problem:
- Pairing as completed fine, and a test run to make a call works fine.
- After turning radio of and on again, the phone connects, however the radio does not say the "phone connected" message, only displays the BT-icon.
- Radio does not react to incoming calls, while the phone thinks it is connected with the radio.
- Making calls with the radio BT with steering wheel controls is not possible either.

I've got Sportage 2013 SL, with non-navi radio.

 

[christian82]

Sorry to see that you have problems with it, I only have one problem and that is when I skip a track via bt with my iphone 4 it takes awhile or so for the bt to update information about track etc on head unit. With cable its instant.

borrowed my moms ford focus 2012 with bt on head unit and when I change track with this system it updates instant. kia got crappy system or ?

 

[BrGaHa]

So what I have seen so far from my sportage.

BT pairing is quick.
Radio doesn't seem to have the 30ft BT range, eg. if I'm in the car (phone in pocket) and starts car, BT connects.
If I'm outside and starts car (phone in pocket) and move around the outside, BT don't always connect.
I like to start my car and walk around to check it, which gives it some time to warm up after its parked up for the day. I do try to remember to leave to phone in the car if i'm doing that.
I think I tried this already, turn off and on the phone BT and it will reconnect to the deck but will have to confirm.

Making and receiving call are fine once the connection is made...
Audio streaming is Ok but have to turn up the volume higher that normal.

Quick way to check if your phone is connected, cycle through the audio mode, if BT audio is an option you are connected.

Phone - S4

 

[C2AYM4Y]

I have the same problem as the original post!

I recently got my radio console replaced by the dealer ship. Everything on it worked but the sound was not.

So I pair with the new unit. MY contacts and phone work but streaming music via blue tooth does not.

Is there a firmware / update missing or did the dealer miss an installation step?

Or am I missing a step?

The iphone is paired and connects automatically but a messages tells me I need to use a usb. Is that it. Do i have to connect/pair via usb before I can stream on bluetooth?

 

[JayMarie72]

I have a 2012 Kia Sportage that I've owed for the past 6 years. I've never had any issues with pairing any device to the radio. About a month ago, I upgraded to an Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max and was able to get my device paired successfully. While pairing, I deleted all other devices paired to my radio leaving just my 12 Pro Max. Super excited over the new upgrade I took dozens of calls and listened to numerous playlists on Spotify. Well about two weeks ago, my radio displayed the "Bluetooth connected" emblem on the radio but the car itself tells me "Pairing Failed" next thing I knew my music went back to playing on my iPhone. Once I was stopped in a safe place, I looked into the situation which then resulted in me having to repair my device to my radio. This worked so I continued to use my Bluetooth. Fast forward a week, I'm getting the "Pairing Failed" reference and having to repair more often. Now, my Bluetooth wont pair to my radio at all.

The odd thing to me is I can still take calls via Bluetooth but I can not play any music via the Bluetooth. When I try to the "Pairing Failed" comes on and having to repair again. I get the car is old and the phone IOS is high tech but it was already connected and working fine.

Has thing happened to anyone else? Not sure what to do here? How does it take calls but not play music?