Radio turns on with start

[SeanNelson]

Sorry to be dense here, but I can't tell in all this discussion if there's a solution to my problem

OK, you seem to have a two-part problem:

1) Radio plays instead of podcasts when you start the car. Can't help you there.

2) Radio plays too loudly when you start the car. There may be some hope for this one:

My understanding is that the infotainment system remembers the audio volume separately for each input. The trick is that you have to adjust the volume while that input is playing. If you adjust the volume while playing USB, it doesn't affect the volume of the radio, etc. So I think what you need to try is to turn down the volume of the radio while the radio is playing, and turn up the volume of your podcast while the podcast is playing.

 

[Bobolinko]

Hi all

If anyone wants to do this and does not have, or does not want to ruin a perfectly good headset. just go to a Dollar Store near you and you can get a headphone with a jack that the color matches your desire for one buck. Once out of the store simply chop the plug off the cord and use that for your Sound Mute device. I have had mine for already over a year! never even looked back at the "Problem" coz everything else works just as it is expected to do, and if ever I need to use the Aux Jack, all I have to do is yank out that small plug.

BTW I have a black one, and flattened the top part where the wires were and used a black magic marker to make it all black, and nobody has even noticed the plug in the socket, coz it's so small!

Aloha

 

[SeanNelson]

If anyone wants to do this and does not have, or does not want to ruin a perfectly good headset. just go to a Dollar Store near you and you can get a headphone with a jack that the color matches your desire for one buck. Once out of the store simply chop the plug off the cord and use that for your Sound Mute device.

Seems like a lot of fuss when all you need to do is turn the volume down to 0...

 

[user 1719]

Seems like a lot of fuss when all you need to do is turn the volume down to 0...

I, for one, can never reliably remember to turn the volume down. Plus, my preference is for the volume to automatically come on, at the last level, only when I have that same source connected again.

All of this is most easily achieved (for me) by having a cord plugged into AUX. It was a simple, one-time thing to do compared with the "lot of fuss" of remembering and constantly re-adjusting the volume when I return to the car.

Of course, as many have pointed out already: why the Bolt entertainment system software is designed like this, especially without any way to select different behavior, is the real culprit.

 

[SeanNelson]

Seems like a lot of fuss when all you need to do is turn the volume down to 0...

I, for one, can never reliably remember to turn the volume down. Plus, my preference is for the volume to automatically come on, at the last level, only when I have that same source connected again.

All of this is most easily achieved (for me) by having a cord plugged into AUX. It was a simple, one-time thing to do compared with the "lot of fuss" of remembering and constantly re-adjusting the volume when I return to the car.

Here's what I'm not understanding: I assume you have to remove the dummy plug from the AUX port in order to hear the radio. Is it really that much easier to remember to plug/unplug that than it is to simply turn the volume knob up and down?

 

[user 1719]

Here's what I'm not understanding: I assume you have to remove the dummy plug from the AUX port in order to hear the radio. Is it really that much easier to remember to plug/unplug that than it is to simply turn the volume knob up and down?

Ah. Thanks for explaining. I see your point. I believe you needn't actually remove the plug, but you would need to manually select the source to be radio. And then manually select it back to AUX when leaving the car -- to have the effect I was wanting -- which would be a total pain (worse than unplugging/replugging the dummy plug).

However I, myself, never listen to the radio; only music, podcasts, audio books on my phone. And the source automatically switches from AUX to my phone when I plug in my phone (which I do to activate Apple CarPlay and to charge my phone), and it automatically reverts back to AUX when I unplug my phone. (Assuming I leave in the dummy plug all the time.)

 

[mchapmon]

I too get annoyed by the radio always being on. The only way that I can find in the owners manual to turn it off also powers down the infotainment system, but I like being able to glance at the Energy Flow screen occasionally. Since I rarely listen to the radio, I keep the volume at 0 so I get the queit I am looking for. It still displays the radio station info on the lower portion of the round part of the dash display, below the current vehicle speed.

I'm not impressed with this setup, but then, I am old enough and tech limited enough that I would truly like to have a CD player in the car.
I am keeping an eye open for a CD player that will plug into one of the USB ports and play whatever music I want to hear with the CD's that I carry in the center console, under the removable plastic tray.

 

[user 1719]

It still displays the radio station info on the lower portion of the round part of the dash display, below the current vehicle speed.

You can select what information you'd like displayed in the round part of the dash display. (E.g., you can display something instead of the current radio selection.)

See the discussion in the Instrument Cluster section of https://my.chevrolet.com/content/da.../2017/Chevrolet/BOLT EV/Get to Know Guide.pdf or also in your Owner's Manual.

 

[Anonymous]

Greetings:

I wish to add a new/different wrinkle to this discussion. I'll start by stating I just had the latest software updates applied two weeks ago.

I listen to recorded books from a USB stick in my Bolt (owned it for 8 months now). Turning the volume to zero or putting a plug in the Aux port might stop the 'radio' from playing when I start up, but I don't want the recorded book to continue playing when I can't be listening due to either of these possible solutions. I want/need the recorded book playback to STOP until I tell it to START again!

The problem, as I understand it, is that Chevrolet has for some reason linked the 'radio' to the info display. If you'll notice, you can hold down the 'off' button, which they consider a mute button instead, for an extended period and that will turn off the 'radio' by turning off the entire display! They give you a friendly warning about it! And yes, they'll tell you this is the way it's been designed...

This is the ludicrous part. The two should not be linked. Personally, I see no reason someone would ever want to turn off the display. But to be able to turn off the 'radio', or in my case to stop the playbook of the book I'm listening to, well that should be easily and readily fixed!

And to someone's point about the system remembering the volume level you had the various sources set to, hogwash! When my wife drives the car, she listens to an FM radio station. She always has to turn the volume down to around 12 to 15 for FM. The USB source has to be turned up to around 35. The system NEVER adjusts the volume level for those two sources. You're either blown out when switching to FM or can't hardly hear a thing when switching to USB.

There are definitely some issues Chevrolet needs to fix in the programming of the InfoTainment system. This type of scenario also exists in my wife's 2016 Equinox.

 

[BillM]

I agree with the remarks in the previous post.

Further, I would like to have the additional option, “shuffle by album,” when the infotainment System is controlling Apple devices. It makes more sense to play album oriented material like symphonies or audio books with their tracks in order before shuffling to something else. The by-album mode is a USB control command that Apple devices are, according to Apple developer notes, supposed to understand. I know this is possible because the 2011 LEAF I had prior to my current Bolt did offer the shuffle by album mode.

 

[vaylen]

This thread was started over a year ago. I'd like to hear from Chevrolet about the progress on resolving this problem. Telsa would have fixed it with an over the air update long ago.