My days in my 2014 Sierra are almost done

TJay74 · February 2, 2016

So wouldn't it be in their best interest to just give you 4k for the Alpine system and then wipe their hands of it?

No, I wouldnt take that offer either. They offered a full on extended warranty with $0 ded if I would just keep the truck, I declined that as well. I offered them 2 options, fix my 2014 radio so that it works correctly just like the one in my 2010 Sierra, 2008 Corvette, our 2011 Lincoln and 2016 Audi work. If they cant do that then option 2 was the other option which was to buyback the truck and let me get into a new one.

Sadly what I don't get is why the manufacture doesn't hold the fire to the infotainment vendor and tell them they have to fix this ASAP with in so many days up to and including a new ground up system at their cost or else the vendor eats the losses from any buybacks if GM is forced to buy the vehicle back because it cant be repaired. As said this is rocket science, FM radios have been around decades and the principles are still the same, equipment exists as well that can detect interference so its not like the engineers cant figure out what is causing the issue and get it fixed.

I remember Ford/Lincoln having some of this egg on their face in 2011 when the Microsoft Sync system came out. Owners were yelling left and right, took Ford about a year but they completely re-wrote the programming for the system to fix the issue and it works almost flawlessly afterwards.

amfr · February 2, 2016

Very interesting article. Best of luck to you and your problems. Must be an issue with gmc because my silverado has no issues with radio and I use Xm and Bluetooth playing spotify all the time

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jamin87ss · February 2, 2016

Very interesting article. Best of luck to you and your problems. Must be an issue with gmc because my silverado has no issues with radio and I use Xm and Bluetooth playing spotify all the time

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Ride on fm for a while, I had no issues with my truck for 12 months, but I ran xm all the time, now no xm n issues, they probably been there for the last year, I just didn't know,

We have a pile of crap fird transit van at work, drove it 400 mile trip hd didn't drop once, my truck can't make it 4 blocks

BIGDOGx · February 2, 2016

Very interesting article. Best of luck to you and your problems. Must be an issue with gmc because my silverado has no issues with radio and I use Xm and Bluetooth playing spotify all the time

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Not really as my 14 radio works perfectly fine, or maybe i'm just not understanding the problem here. Radio reception on my fm/am radio is no better and no worse then any other radio i have had in my 30 years of driving. I do have HD go in and out but other then a HD symbol showing on the radio display i hear no differences when it lights up or goes off to be honest. XM reception is perfect, blue tooth works as intended every time, navigation works good so i don't understand how gm cant fix something that works fine in my truck.

amfr · February 2, 2016

Not really as my 14 radio works perfectly fine, or maybe i'm just not understanding the problem here. Radio reception on my fm/am radio is no better and no worse then any other radio i have had in my 30 years of driving. I do have HD go in and out but other then a HD symbol showing on the radio display i hear no differences when it lights up or goes off to be honest. XM reception is perfect, blue tooth works as intended every time, navigation works good so i don't understand how gm cant fix something that works fine in my truck.

Yea the problem should be able to be fixed it is basically a brand new car. ( I haven't had my 14 even a year yet) I bought it early 15 and was the last 14 on the lot)

jamin87ss · February 2, 2016

Not really as my 14 radio works perfectly fine, or maybe i'm just not understanding the problem here. Radio reception on my fm/am radio is no better and no worse then any other radio i have had in my 30 years of driving. I do have HD go in and out but other then a HD symbol showing on the radio display i hear no differences when it lights up or goes off to be honest. XM reception is perfect, blue tooth works as intended every time, navigation works good so i don't understand how gm cant fix something that works fine in my truck.

U mean the volume/quality doesn't change when hd drops out? Goo maybe there's more issues to mine, but when it changes whether we call it volume it quality, I look and the hd is out

BIGDOGx · February 2, 2016

Nope would not even notice it except for the little hd symbol on the display going on and off at times. I wonder if it might have anything to do with the noise cancellation option, just thinking out loud here?

chuckl1218 · February 2, 2016

Nope would not even notice it except for the little hd symbol on the display going on and off at times. I wonder if it might have anything to do with the noise cancellation option, just thinking out loud here?

The issue that most (I say most because there are some who have no issues and others are worse) of us experience has to do with FM reception, not XM or other features. And yes, it is more than just the HD symbol dropping out. The best way I can describe it is...you are driving down the road listening to your favorite station in HD. Then, HD drops and it sounds like your radio went from dynamic stereo to subdued mono. The tone and all highs and lows are gone. Then it switches back. Repeat. In my non-HD 2011 Silverado, this same station never dropped out, but now it drops in and out 5 or 6 times within a mile on a reload that I use frequently.

After hardware and software update, it is much less noticeable and it does not drop as often. I've actually narrowed it down to a few areas where it could just be a weaker signal due to the overall environment. I can live with mine now. Some have had the update with no change...others have great improvement, like mine.

Others say their radio is fine...but most of the time when it drops out of HD, you should hear a difference and their should be a difference between non-HD stations and HD stations. If not, you may have HD turned off.

jamin87ss · February 2, 2016

What he said, plus I have the same issue in non hd, but once it goes flat, it stays flat

BIGDOGx · February 2, 2016

The issue that most (I say most because there are some who have no issues and others are worse) of us experience has to do with FM reception, not XM or other features. And yes, it is more than just the HD symbol dropping out. The best way I can describe it is...you are driving down the road listening to your favorite station in HD. Then, HD drops and it sounds like your radio went from dynamic stereo to subdued mono. The tone and all highs and lows are gone. Then it switches back. Repeat. In my non-HD 2011 Silverado, this same station never dropped out, but now it drops in and out 5 or 6 times within a mile on a reload that I use frequently.

After hardware and software update, it is much less noticeable and it does not drop as often. I've actually narrowed it down to a few areas where it could just be a weaker signal due to the overall environment. I can live with mine now. Some have had the update with no change...others have great improvement, like mine.

Others say their radio is fine...but most of the time when it drops out of HD, you should hear a difference and their should be a difference between non-HD stations and HD stations. If not, you may have HD turned off.

I made it a point to tune in to only fm radio at lunch and found a station that would dive in and out of hd and yeah i see what you are saying with the tones sounding a bit different. Was only really noticeable at a higher volume with music playing though, probably a reason i didn't much notice before is because i listen to a lot of sports talk radio and for music my only choice really is xm as western mass has no stations that i care to listen to.

Still i will say i cant believe GM is buying back a 2 year old truck for this issue, kudos to the guy who was able to pull this off lol.

chuckl1218 · February 3, 2016

I made it a point to tune in to only fm radio at lunch and found a station that would dive in and out of hd and yeah i see what you are saying with the tones sounding a bit different. Was only really noticeable at a higher volume with music playing though, probably a reason i didn't much notice before is because i listen to a lot of sports talk radio and for music my only choice really is xm as western mass has no stations that i care to listen to.

Still i will say i cant believe GM is buying back a 2 year old truck for this issue, kudos to the guy who was able to pull this off lol.

Forgot to mention it is most noticeable with music. Not so much with talk...

Matthew Cooper · February 17, 2016

i have a 2015 that has a similar issue with the radio sound. listening to a song and then it just sounds as you put it flat. no bass or depth to it. i have a ton of other issues with this thing to. I'm about to get a vinyl decal across the back window that says should have bought a ford and tag chevy every chance i get to see if they will step up and help fix some of the issues.