Trapped in the car with NPR.
That’s the predicament some Mazda drivers in the Seattle area have found themselves in thanks to a glitch in their vehicles’ “infotainment” systems.
While they don’t know what’s causing it, what they do know is that their radio dial is stuck on KUOW 94.9 FM, the local NPR affiliate.
“I tried rebooting it because I’ve done that in the past and nothing happened,” local resident Scott Smith told KUOW when they decided to investigate why they had such a captive audience.
“I realized I could hear NPR, but I can’t change the station, can’t use the navigation, can’t use the Bluetooth.”
Smith’s car is a 2016 Mazda CX-5, and it seems hundreds of other drivers with vehicles from a similar timeframe are finding themselves in the same predicament.
Though the exact reason for the glitch remains a mystery, there are theories, the most popular involving the recent introduction of 5G networks for smartphones.
Some car companies issued warnings to vehicle owners last year that if their onboard entertainment systems were from a time when 3G was still the standard, there might be issues. However, that still leaves one question completely hanging in the air… why KUOW?
Station spokesperson Michaela Gianotti issued a statement to let listeners, both voluntary and involuntary, know that they are “in contact with Xperi, the company who owns the technology behind HD Radio, and have given them complete access to our transmitters to investigate what is causing this issue.”
Smith is on the waiting list for a part that might fix the glitch, but he “was one of hundreds” in line for the repair.
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