B&O Unleashed Terrifying Problem

[Dackjob2]

Ya, hoping it doesn’t happen again. Hoping it hasn’t or doesn’t damage the speakers. I did complete a complaint with NHTSA.

 

[TJE]

Ya, hoping it doesn’t happen again. Hoping it hasn’t or doesn’t damage the speakers. I did complete a complaint with NHTSA.

I did the same, at this point it's pretty much all we can do. Dealers will say they can't replicate it, and when people have taken it in while the static was happening l, the dealers just disconnect the battery. They don't actually look to see why it's happening. Some guys have contacted Ford directly, but have gotten nothing.

 

[apachedriver64]

Happened to me on Friday with 6,000 miles on it, scared the hell out of me! My truck has had all sorts of small little QC issues and electrical gremlins going on but this one really scares me. My audio also did not come back until I shut the truck off for about 10 minutes.

 

[TJE]

Same problem for me today. Explosion of sound followed by constant beyond full volume roar. Restarted multiple times, still level 11 roaring noise from the stereo. Put earplugs in and started to drive to the dealer then smelled a hint of electrical so went back home and called the tow truck. By the time the tow go there 45 minutes later and started up to load, noise stopped. Drove it a bit thinking it might come back and noticed truck not shifting over 7th gear at 50 mph. Thankfully I took video with sound so I have proof. Could not load the videos here as they are too large, but if anyone wants me to send them give me a PM and I will email them to you.

Damn, it has been a while since people have complained of this issue, I was hoping maybe a few of the OTA's fixed the problem. Apparently not.

 

[Bannerman]

Same problem for me today. Explosion of sound followed by constant beyond full volume roar. Restarted multiple times, still level 11 roaring noise from the stereo. Put earplugs in and started to drive to the dealer then smelled a hint of electrical so went back home and called the tow truck. By the time the tow go there 45 minutes later and started up to load, noise stopped. Drove it a bit thinking it might come back and noticed truck not shifting over 7th gear at 50 mph. Thankfully I took video with sound so I have proof. Could not load the videos here as they are too large, but if anyone wants me to send them give me a PM and I will email them to you.

I have an almost two year old and with a second due literally any day now. This better not ever happen while I have the kid(s) in the truck.

 

[eferg]

Is this problem only present in the 18 speaker version? I've got the standard 8-speaker BO system, and it's not great, but good enough for what I need.

 

[TJE]

Is this problem only present in the 18 speaker version? I've got the standard 8-speaker BO system, and it's not great, but good enough for what I need.

From everything I've seen/read it's the Unleashed (18 speaker) only

 

[eferg]

From everything I've seen/read it's the Unleashed (18 speaker) only

Phew. One of those occasional instances where it pays to have the lower end version of something. There are some fancy perks that just seem like they'll be a headache down the road, and this was one of them to me. I also passed on the sunroof for the same reason. Hopefully this gets figured out, but it seems like an issue from the proprietary amplifier.

 

[romerT]

This happened to me in my 2022 as well. My son and I were driving and the super loud crackling came over all speakers. Crazy thing is it didn’t stop for about 30 minutes even after turning the truck completely off getting out locking doors etc. it was so loud I could actually still hear it while standing outside the truck with all doors closed. Took a few videos to document it but never had it looked at. Hasn’t done it since.

 

[Escape Hatch]

This happened to me in my 2022 as well. My son and I were driving and the super loud crackling came over all speakers. Crazy thing is it didn’t stop for about 30 minutes even after turning the truck completely off getting out locking doors etc. it was so loud I could actually still hear it while standing outside the truck with all doors closed. Took a few videos to document it but never had it looked at. Hasn’t done it since.

Change the source on the stereo and then back, solves my occurrence.

 

[Thundertracks]

Same issue in my 2021, less than 2 weeks ago. Loud pop, crackling sounds for almost 10 minutes. Then it stopped, went to work next morning no issues since. Scared the hell out of my dog. B&O unleashed also.

 

[Spooder]

Change the source on the stereo and then back, solves my occurrence.

I did not try changing the source (was car play). But could not turn down (showed zero) and could not turn off with power button. I will try that next time, but frankly I hope there will not be a next time.

 

[TJE]

All anecdotal evidence, obviously, but it sure seems like it happens once, or it happens all the time. Lots of people had it happen shortly after picking up their truck, with nothing since (some it's been over a year). Others it's been happening frequently (every month, or even every week). That isn't to say if it happened once 6 months ago that it won't happen again, just things I've observed on other forums.

 

[Spooder]

Dealer reports that their diagnosis found that the system threw a code when the sound event happened and they will be replacing some "part". I did ask them to check the speakers to make sure none were blown. I was really surprised that this was found and am hopeful that I never experience this again. If I can get more info on what the code was, or what was replaced I'll let you know.

 

[Loganp]

It’s happened to me 3 times since buying. report it to NHTSA and hopefully, if there’s enough reports it will get recalled and fixed

 

[Spooder]

Checked my service receipt. "scan tool operation with FDRS was performed retrieved diagnostic trouble code U0253 lost communication with accessories protocol interface module" lots of tests of power and ground points - final fix "new APIM module is needed" APIM module replaced and so far so good. Hope this helps some of you.

 

[Dirt_Sample]

Tbh the premium sucks, so i can't imagine the standard is anything but mediocre. That's just me though, haven't heard the standard.

I have to agree, the B/O sound system is nothing to write home about, the dealer told me to order the unleashed amp and install it, it supposed to improve the sound.

 

[Bigco1012]

So I've read about this problem on the other forums quite a bit, but hadn't seen much here. Essentially there is an issue with the Unleashed sound system where there will be a constant popping/crackling noise at full volume, and the volume can't be turned down or off until the truck is parked and turned off. From what I've read there seems to be a connection to wireless Android auto/Apple car play.

I just had a slightly less ear shattering, but still very unpleasant experience.

The wife and I were running to the convenience store and when I went to turn up the volume using spotify on Android auto, there was a loud pop/crackle. Then I had no volume. After a few minutes I switched to XM and it happened again, this time it continued to click (not the full volume white noise crackling/popping that some have reported). It continued until we got the store and then stopped after I turned the truck off and opened the door to get out. Before we got back in the truck I turned off Bluetooth and wifi. XM functioned normally on the way back, no issues.

A few other things to note, the constant clicking continued no matter what I did (volume change or hitting the power button). My truck does default to Android auto wireless, and my phone was at 2% (I had read someone else noticed their phone was about dead when it happened to them).

Has anyone else had any experience with this? There's a thread on the GEN14 forums about it, a few have had it happen repeatedly, most it's been a one time occurrence. No one seems to be able to get Ford to do anything about it, mostly because it's not easy (or possible) to replicate.

Hey I saw this and figured I had to comment since my truck seems to have started doing the same thing. I bought a 2023 lariat that has the B&O unleashed in it. I bought the truck around 3 weeks ago and this week it just started this up. It only has 675 miles on it rn. However In my situation I’ve been able to figure the cause well for mine atleast. Whenever I put it into reverse and it’s playing audio through car play it makes this awful sound you guys are describing for about 2-3 seconds then corrects itself as if nothing happened and won’t do it again until I go in reverse again. So I kept toying with it trying to see why reverse was such a trigger. After messing with it I found out that it will also do it when I try and turn on the 360 camera view using the button on top of the screen and it would also stop within a couple seconds when triggered that way as well. So I’ve come to a conclusion that mine atleast is being triggered by having to load the 360 camera view and either the vehicle has a lag within the system while loading this onto the screen which makes the audio do this or the audio from car play must not be sending during this loading period. But it will always correct itself within a couple of seconds and the audio will come back as normal. Idk if anyone else experience is similar to mine but I figured I’d share. I too am also looking for a resolution to this problem as I have an appointment with ford coming up but the truck is still doing it.

 

[Mistermr]

We’ve experienced it 3 times in the last year. Same thing big bang then crackling almost like glass shattering. We’ve noticed it happened during the screen startup and system switching to wireless CarPlay. Since the last time, we turned off wireless CarPlay and switched to wired only and no issues since. As for quality unleashed was not worth the cost. Added dynamite sound panels to all doors and door trim panels which helped all the rattling at low volumes but back window still rattles. As for loudness you can still talk to someone at max volume so looking to upgrade to aftermarket eventually.

 

[TJE]

According to several members on the Gen14 Forums, there is now an update you can do with FDRS or at your dealer.