Ray Magliozzi
Dear Car Talk:
My new used car, a 2016 Honda CR-V, has a radio that turns on and up all by itself. How can this be possible?! I have watched the radio volume go up when I’m not touching anything.
I’d sleep better at night if you could explain this to me. Thank you!
— Vicki
I suggest you buy a family-size pallet of Sominex at Costco, Vicki, because I’m not sure I can be much help. My best guess is that the behavior is related to the radio controls on your steering wheel.
On the right side of the wheel, you have cruise control buttons. And on the left side, you have media controls and some settings menus, I think. Among the media controls are a “source” button and “volume” buttons — up and down. If that set of switches has a short in it, or if one or more of the buttons are jammed, loose, or worn out in a way that makes it easy for the contacts to touch, that could explain both behaviors.
The “source” button lets you select between, say, Bluetooth audio from your phone, a CD player, and the radio. If you’re driving along, listening to the latest Car Talk podcast on your phone (beware of drowsiness while operating heavy machinery), and you go over a bump and make the “source” button’s contacts come together, it could switch to the radio, which would seem to you as if the radio turned itself on.
Similarly, if the “volume up” contacts are nearly touching, or otherwise able to activate themselves, that would cause the volume to suddenly go up, seemingly out of nowhere. And when that happens, you’d see the “volume” screen display indicate the volume is increasing.
If it’s a frequent and annoying occurrence, you can ask your mechanic to check out that switch cluster and see if he can figure out what needs to be cleaned, replaced, or hit repeatedly with a hammer until it stops messing with your radio volume, Vicki. If the problem isn’t obvious, he can help you test my theory by temporarily disconnecting those steering wheel switches. Then you can see if the aberrant behavior stops. Meantime, sweet dreams, Vicki.
Got a question about cars? Write to Ray in care of King Features, 300 W. 57th St., 41st Floor, New York, NY 10019, or email by visiting the Car Talk website at www.cartalk.com.
