Amy RDX owners frustrated with the touchpad? I test drove and found touch pad relatively easy to use but that was just over 10 minute ride. Just nervous because infotainment / Carplay is important to me and seems like a lot of issues with Carplay issues for RDX.

 

I find no problems. Not frustrated! I also am running iOS 13 as a beta tester and CarPlay is much better. Public will be getting it within two months.
yes, there are dropouts sometimes, but rare and very quick (for me).

 

Use CarPlay daily and no issues... works great!

 

I concur. I am using iOS 13 with a new update yesterday. You can adjust the sensitivity of the touchpad. My wife goes crazy when I try to use it while driving, because it is less than precise when you can’t give it two eyes worth of focus.

 

You can adjust touchpad sensitivity in iOS 13? I know you can in the car itself.

 

Pardon my poor grammar...random thoughts in no particular order....vocational hazard.

Two separate issues. Touchpad sensitively is in car, iOS 13.1 changes the screen to include album art.

Sorry for the confusion

 

No worries, thanks for clearing it up.

 

Everything is working for me

 

Yes, IMO there is a huge issue, you cannot pan the map on carplay navigation apps! Well you sort of can, but you have to use the onscreen arrows and that's a terrible and extremely distracting way to pan. On my old vehicle with carplay I could just touch the screen and pan the map around. You also cannot touch the screen for more information, for example in Waze if you see a reported alert such as police or traffic you normally can click on it and see what time the alert was posted. This is useful because Waze isn't very accurate in its reports, especially if the report is right before or after major traffic changes such as rush hour. But to be honest I forget if I could do this only old touchscreen, it may have only been possible on the phone itself.

Otherwise the trackpad isn't terrible, but it's far from great. You get a level of abstraction that is distracting at best. It's not very accurate either and sometimes seems to stick, in particular sometimes it sticks to the side icon menu and I can't get the cursor into the app screen without being heavy handed on the touchscreen. I can't say I'm frustrated with it (besides the map panning issue), but it's definitely not a feature I'd go out of my way to look for and highly prefer the 1 to 1 feel of a touchscreen.

 

I just bought my 2020 RDX last month and my Appleplay system is already not working. This is my fourth Acura. I loved my previous Acuras but I'm not liking this new one--thanks to the Touchpad and the Entertainment/Appleplay system. My radio, Bluetooth (and associated phone) and Appleplay (and associated Navigation system) suddenly stopped working as I was driving on the highway while trying to navigate through the NY/Connecticut/NYC area. I ended up propping up my iPhone on my dashboard and using my Google nav map to navigate the rest of my way home--and I continued to have no radio, Bluetooth, phone or Sirius radio for the remainder of my trip. And, worse, when I turned off the car at the end of the trip, the icons on my failed dashboard stayed on and lit up. This ran down my car battery overnight and I had to get roadside assistance to jump my car in order to drive it to the dealer. The dealer reset my entertainment/Appleplay dashboard so that it would turn off properly. This reset also got my radio and Bluetooth to operate again, but my Appleplay is still not working. The dealer tells me that there will be a software update for my now nonworking Appleplay but he doesn't know when that will be. My car salesperson talked me into purchasing RDS with Appleplay instead of spending money on the RDX with built in navigation so that I could save $3000. Now I have no navigation system, thanks to my non-working Appleplay. Also, I do not like the touchpad function. It is difficult to use with the navigation system while hurtling down the highway at 55 miles+.

 

My car play experience is so bad, I can’t recommend this car to anyone. I would not purchase this car again. Too many other cars with functioning CarPlay and entertainment systems. Note I’ve owned Honda and Acura products since 1988. This has broken my 30+ years of loyalty to Honda.

 

I find this to be a very extreme response to an issue that will likely be fixed with a software update. Yes, Acura has been slow, and yes the infotainment system is not great. The issue is that I have yet to find another vehicle that can outperform Acura with its feature content and driving dynamics at this price point. Fine, CarPlay is bad. I have problems with CarPlay also where it was absolutely unusable, but what do you really need CarPlay for? Couple years back CarPlay didn't exist and everything was fine. Just use bluetooth and stream your music and voice navigation for the time being if CarPlay is really that unusable.

If Lexus could come up with a vehicle rivaling Acura's RDX in terms of cost and driving dynamics as well as features, well, I would definitely switch. As of right now, I haven't seen anything that could rival RDX.

 

Wait, are you suggesting that the car, the actual car itself, is more important than the infotainment system’s interface with your phone?

What are you, some relic or something?

 

=) I’m not a millennial.

 

I'm working on being a relic, but I'm not quite there yet.

I need a functional navigation system when I travel.

None of the currently available options on 2019 RDX are as functional as an @2000 stand-alone Garmin, including the crippled implementation of mapping applications in Apple CarPlay. Ridiculous.

CarPlay works OK for playing music, except for the frequent "pops" or "pauses" that remind me of playing 1970's LPs or cassette tapes.

So yeah, good job on the "tech", Acura.

My trusty hardcopy Rand McNally Road Atlas is getting more use these days. And I get to stop and pee more often so I can look at it.

As for the touchpad, even when CarPlay is kinda sorta working the touchpad acts like a laptop touchpad. Grrrr.

< end rant >

 

I need CarPlay to work use navigation. My salesperson told me that I didn't need to buy a car with built in navigation because I could pull up navigation apps on CarPlay, saving me $3000 on car with navigation. Now, thanks for CarPlay not working and software update no where in site, I have no functional navigation capabilities in my car.

 

Folks, I have been on the road with my RDX traveling from Mesa, AZ to southern Minnesota and back. I have used my iPhone 8+ and have used CarPlay exclusively for navigation. I am using iOS 13.6 (I think) and everything has worked 100% of the time. I have outlined my sure sequence for starting up, and I forgot to unplug the USB after getting a fresh Diet Coke and part with the last one. It has been faultless. Tomorrow is our last day, so I don’t need to use CarPlay. I am going to try my USB thumb drives to provide music and check that aspect of the issue. Check out my posts and ask me how I do it if you like.

Blessings to all of you!

 

Thats my observation with 13.6 Beta as well. I have not been on a long road trip yet. Were you using Navigation, Phone and Msgs via CarPlay as well during your trip? Thats the real test as in the past the more apps that are active always triggered a malfunction. I still however have momentary music dropouts but can live with that.

 

anyone every have any luck adding this acura accessory to the base radio? I can't believe the base ILX doesn't have satellite radio. I was told this part would make it work: https://www.acurapartswarehouse.com/...5-tr0-100.html
Has anyone done this? I was told the "Aux" button serves as the "XM" button. Acura dealer wasn't sure 100% but thought it would display like a factory installed satellite radio.

So... CAN ANYONE CONFIRM THAT THE ACCESSORY XM ADD WORKS AND LOOKS THE SAME?
-Thanks much!

 

iOS 13 public beta 7 was released yesterday I think. Any chance you guys can test it? Apparently it brings more improvements to Carplay.

 

YES! As long as I kept Siri muted (I am only capable of taking direction in life from one woman...I changed the Siri voice in the house to the Australian man) the navigation worked flawlessly. While it gave me options on route, it was easy to pick by just following the route.Then the other route went away. Messages came through and Waze worked, Audible worked too as we listened to a book. When we were on the last leg of our trip and I know the way home, we swapped my wife's iPhone 6 and used her Audible. The system asked if we wanted to activate CarPlay, AccuraLink and then it worked perfectly until the book reader was making me drowsy.....We just got home, picked up the dog and are resting.

 

I like the touchpad, really more functional and less blah than the old radial dial I was used to in my Mercedes.

As for Apple Carplay, I didn't even bother. It seems like more of an annoyance or distraction to me than it's really worth. I just use my phone for calls and Spotify via bluetooth.

 

I can't believe nobody has stated the obvious problem with using CarPlay with Acura's touchpad. Has nobody noticed that the touchpad doesn't work the same when using CarPlay? What I mean is that you can forget touching the pad in the relative position you would normally touch the screen. That works fine normally, but it doesn't work at all when using CarPlay. Instead, you have to keep swiping up/down or across the touchpad until you highlight whatever you're trying to "press" on the display screen. It drives me absolutely nuts and I hate Acura for not finding a better solution. Anyone who has ever used Waze on CarPlay will know exactly what I mean when you try to acknowledge a warning only to shut off Waze because the highlighted button on the screen changes as soon as you touch the pad ANYWHERE.

 

Ditto I agree 10000% with you there

 

It is definitely an obvious problem, but one that was mentioned in many reviews when the system first came out. I recall thinking why are they having one part of the system as absolute positioning, and the other a swipe like Lexus? At this point, just having the system work quickly and correctly would be a win for Acura.

 

It is a minor annoyance to me, not much more than that.

 

Same here, Just installed IOS 13.1 beta 3 and was hoping but did not fix the touchpad issue. I m just glad I can stream Apple Music without maybe a minor hiccup now and then, now if they, whoever that is can fix the right side mini window weirdness that would be great.

 

I am ok with the touchpad interface on my '19 RDX. The jury is out on whether it is better than a touchscreen (like in my 2019 Volvo XC60), but I knew all that before I bought it and was willing to give it a chance. And yes, I also knew about the tracking being different in Carplay than in the Acura apps—annoying, but probably a Carplay issue. Most modern interfaces have something to complain about, but they ultimately get the job done when you know the routine.

What I wasn't prepared for was a glitchy system that shuts down for no apparent reason. On a trip using Waze (have you tried actually entering an address in the Acura nav?!) and music via iTunes, the screen froze and nothing worked. Not just annoying on a highway in an unfamiliar area going 70, but downright dangerous. All the same glitches that others have posted, I had the same issues. The 3-finger reboot, the screen being on and frozen after the car shut down, skipping during songs, random blackouts and then back on a minute later. Around town for short rides, everything seems fine.

Whether you use Carplay much or not, that's inexcusable in a $46k car. What's worse is Acura's flippant treatment of its customers by not acknowledging and then fixing or compensating for it. This is my 4th Acura, and probably my last. Acura, are you listening?

 

i agree with you 100% For a $46k car , you think Acura should have put more effort in beta testing the system before launch . I honestly don’t think they know what they are doing . In my experience with the RDX I have gone to my dealer for repairs 8 times this month in regards to the infotainment. They have replaced the head unit , tuner and amp and performed numerous programming and resets . I’ve gotten client relations , a field engineer flown in from CA and have the engineer who designed the infotainment involved after numerous complaints to Acura corporate . So as of yesterday all they can tell me is “when you experience any infotainment issues , pull fuse 35 off the drivers kick panel to reset the system . Wait for “The Update”. My dealer will not even take my car in no more .

 

Completely agree - maddening that it's two totally different experiences...

 

After many months of frustration I found a post on here that recommended resetting everything back to factory settings. That means losing all presets and starting over like the day you bought the car. Well I did it and it was like the first day again except that the CarPlay works. No drops or disconnects. This is what I pairs for. Now shame on Acura corporate and Acura Service for not fixing this when I took it in. Shame on Acura for not reaching out to customers and telling us how to fix it. How many owners who don’t read this forum are struggling with this issue?
to recap:
I updated iOS on iphone
did the three button diagnostics and reset
then I reset entertainment system to factory settings.
everything is good now.
details on all these steps are in the forum postings.

 

Please keep us posted. I did exactly what you have done a few weeks ago but the drops and disconnects still happen. Good Luck.