Last night my friend called me while I was on my way home from work. We spoke for about fifteen minutes and after the call, I pushed the disconnect button and nothing happened. No button would respond, steering wheel or dashboard. Hands Free Link message stayed on the display.

After about ten minutes I shut the car off at a red light and restarted it to no avail. Still in hands free mode. I went a little farther and pulled into a parking lot where I shut the car down and waited for the interior lights and headlights to turn off. When I restarted the car, all was well.


I'll wait until it happens again before mentioning it to the dealer as it was the first time but was wondering if anyone else experience anything similar or was this a one-off random event.

LL

 

It could be the phone also. I had a Treo 680 for a short time and it would lock up the HFL also keeping the stereo muted. In the same conditions you describe, the only way I was able to 'free' the car from the Bluetooth link was to pop the battery out of the Treo and reboot it. Then the HFL was fine.

I have since reverted to my RAZR V3 and it is flawless with HFL.

If it happens again, try powering off the phone, and see if that releases the HFL. Then you will know whether it is the phone or the cars HFL module.

 

I used to have this issue on my TL with a Blackberry 7100 series. The only way to fix it was just as TampaRL mentioned, to remove the battery from the device. It's your phone more than likely, not the car.

 

I had something similar happen as well and I too had to remove the battery from the phone.

 

Thanks all. It's a RAZR V3 which has been fine until now. I tried the "end call" button on the phone but it didn't help. Next time (if there is a next time) I'll try powering the phone off.

LL

 

I had the same issue few days ago and I spoke to the dealership. They suggested me to reboot the phone and there is nothing in the log files or error codes of RL for the incident. They tried to replicate the problem by keep the car with them for a day and they could................... They rebooted the phone and everything is set. They claim that it is the phone which is bothering the HFL.....So i belive them. I used Razr before Palm680 and never had this proble,. So I believe it is the Phone not the car.

 

this happens occasionally when i start my car in the morning. i have a treo 755 btw. sometimes i wonder if it's because i have the treo on calendar screen and not on the main screen. the hands free link icon on the rl stays on although the phone appears normal and no call is being made. at this point i am unable to use voice calling with the hfl. the only way to rectify this situation is to power off the phone, at which time the hfl will drop saying "no phone is detected." then when i turn the phone on again all is well. i also wonder if this has to do with poor coverage in my parking garage and the phone going to roaming mode which inadvertently links up with the hfl?

 

I did some research when I had the Treo 680. My carrier is ATT, so it may be different for other carriers as the phone manufacturers tend to aler the phone's software in order to make it somehow 'exclusive' to that carrier.

There were overwhelming complaints on the Treo 680 bluetooth issues. Not solely with Acura's HFL, but other vehicles and many bluetooth headsets and devices. Everything from lockup of HFL, losing pairing, dropping the 1st call evertime, not unlinking with the car / headset / laptop, etc, etc. I finally returned it within my 30 day trial. Now I am back to the RAZR and HFL has again been a seamless feature I use without doubt.

I guess I was spoiled by the Moto RAZR which has never hiccupped in my HFL use. I would say he several Moto phones I had, they seem to have robust bluetooth stacks.

If I did not have such a positive experince with the RAZR, I would have not guessed it was the Treo, but instead the HFL which was flimsy. I have read other Treo users having success with HFL, but typically they are Verizon users (many other carriers too) and the software is different.

It is frustrating for the user. Acura points to the cell carrier. The cell carrier points to the phone manufacturer who returns you to Acura. In my case I was annoyed with Acura HFL as the website shows the Treo 680 / ATT as PASSED test on ALL features (which is why I selected the Treo exclusively). I don't know WHAT tests they ran, but there is a ton of bad performance issue on the web with Acura HFL / Treo users. I wrote to HFL and descrivbed my issues, and they did reply, but I have yet to see the PASSED test ratings change on the HFL website.

Now the smarphones are coming with WM6. And like ANY Microsoft product, I will WAIT awhile for the consumer Beta testing and then I will research what works well with HFL. They jam so many features and options in these operating systems there is little doubt the infinite combinations of equiptment partnerships have been reasonably tested. I do not plan to plop dow $300-$400 on a Smartphone a commit to another 2 year contract to test the equiptment for Microsoft, the phone manufacturer and HFL.

Sadly th Blackberry Curve (ATT branded) has PASSED test with all HFL features and I was jonesing for the Curve. But now I am hot on ATT 3G speed and WiFi capability which the Curve does not have. I know, I know....persnickety I am. But I do own an RL!

 

Tampa - I picked up a Motorola Q Global for AT&T and am surprised at how good it is. It paired to the HFL with no problem and the data connection to the AcuraLink server worked! I made a few calls and they went off without a hitch. We'll see how it works long-term but right now it's pretty good. Better than the RAZR and KRZR in terms of call quality and clarity - which is to be expected since it's a 3G device. Windows Mobile has its quirks - it can bog down with a lot of programs open and you have to go to the task manager to kill them to free up memory. I think this will change in WM 6.1 which is on the horizon. It accepted and can fully use a 8GB microSDHC card. Check it out - it's a great phone.

 

Thanks dw! I did look at the Moto Q9h and I was impressed. Other than the lack of touch screen, I was very impressed. And as stated, I find Moto's Bluetooth stack robust. I expected it would integrate well with HFL.

I did 'test' one at my ATT store. There is a rep there that loves Acuras and didn't mind checking out the RL as we tested the phone. It paired very quickly and it seemed to have better quailty sound than my RAZR. I was unable to get the data connection to work, but then I suspected that was due to my not having the appropriate data package with my RAZRs SIM card (which I used to test the Q).

So I have been waiting in the wings for feedback on the Moto Q9h from Acura users. You are the 1st who has reported the datalink works! Thanks!

Unless I wait for the WM6.1 release....I may have just found myself a Christmas present to myself.

 

It's funny, I bought the Q Global, and literally the next day I saw the story on Boy Genius Report about an updated version with WM 6.1 and WiFi. It will be probably 6 months or so before it hits the market but it's crazy how fast this stuff changes.

I wish I had done a little more research a year ago when I bought my KRZR K1. I didn't understand at the time that 3G was for data and voice - my house is in a marginal reception area for both AT&T and Verizon but the 3G signal for AT&T is strong. I picked my wife up a V3xx for Christmas and it's great as well.

Give it a try for the evaluation period (I think it's 30 days) and see if it works for you. It's really a great phone. Check out the reviews at phonescoop.com and check out HowardFourms.com as well. Great sources of info for this stuff.