Annoying buzzing noise from Swing Plus unit screen. Skoda says it's normal.

[gkon7]

Hi All!

I bought a 2021 Fabia a while ago and it's been 3000 km's with it. It has Swing Plus multimedia head unit on it and there's an annoying buzzing noise issue that driving me crazy. It's certainly coming form inside the screen and not the speakers. The tone of sound changing when I change the brightness and It's clearly audible while engine running, driving and the only way to ignore it is playing music. And it's very important that may be for a couple minutes or hours in a month the noise stops then comes back after a short period. I went to dealership earlier and they said there is no problem but after I insist they accepted the problem and replaced the unit. On first day with new unit, there was no issues for a couple of hours then it started again. Returned it to service and they inspected the car for two days and said that they contacted with Skoda Factory and got the answer as this is the normal working sound of the unit and they don't have anything to do. When I ask about why they made a replacement before I got the answer that that was for customer satisfaction. The worst thing is they show me another 2021 Fabia and the noise was present on it too so I think the Swing Plus has production issues. Now I am stuck with this annoying sound every second of driving my car and I am starting to hate my car.

 

I am good at DIY stuff and open to all suggestions without voiding the warranty. I am even considering replacing the unit with aftermarket Android ones in the end.

You can see the problem in the video I posted. I didn't boosted the sound. It's clearly audible even with my old phone with bad mic.

 

Thank you in advance for all your support.

[Ootohere]

Welcome.

A mod can move your post to the Mk3 section so i will flag it. Hopefully someone can help there. 

[gkon7]

I am sorry about the mistake. I did not notice it. I'd be glad if a mod move my post.

[nta16]

Sorry I can't help but I do agree that it is very annoying, reminds me of tinnitus type sound so you could try the various types of recordings to cancel or reduce it's affect, but can you not just leave the unit switched off as much as possible until it's fixed.

 

I wonder if these Swing Plus units perhaps are made up of lower quality parts and components and or the affects of the pandemic have further reduced the quality of parts, components and assembly.

 

Or perhaps it's some kind of interference picked up from some other part of the car if for a couple minutes or hours in a month the noise stops, what is not operating at these times that is operating at all other times - but I think this is a lot less likely than it being just the unit itself.

 

Hopefully other 2021 owners with Swing Plus will be able to tell you if they have that noise - or it might make them aware of it when they weren't before and drive them mad too.

   

Edited 19 October, 2021 by nta16
speeling and stuff

[gkon7]

1 minute ago, nta16 said:

Sorry I can't help but I do agree that it is very annoying, reminds me of tinnitus type sound so you could try the various types of recordings to cancel or reduce it's affect, but can you not just leave the unit switched off as much as possible until it's fixed.

 

I wonder if these Swing Plus units perhaps are made up of lower quality parts and components and or the affects of the pandemic have further reduced the quality of parts, components and assembly.

 

Or perhaps it's some kind of interference picked up from some other part of the car if for a couple minutes or hours in a month the noise stops, what is not operating at these times that is operating at all other times - but I think this is a lot less likely that it being just the unit itself.

 

Hopefully other 2021 owners with Swing Plus will be able to tell you if they have that noise - or it might make them aware of it when they weren't before and drive them mad too.

   

 

First of all thank you. Yes I disabled "Show clock on stand-by mode" option the screen turns of when I don't use it. But I use navigation over carplay a lot and you can tell how it feels on a multi-hour trip.

[nta16]

You're probably not going to like this answer - if you're on a multi-hour trip that'll be over a long distance (or very bad traffic jams) for most of the trip at least, you could pre-plan by using a paper printed road atlas and road maps, it's what we used to do back in the last millennium.  It has advantages of making you aware of the journey and route and possible alternatives, keeps you in touch with your travelling, surroundings and driving, no worries about battery life, screen reflections, backspots or loss of signal.

 

I've used portable SatNavs back in the early days of waiting for the device to find 5 satellites (when it could) and no voice options and they are useful if you don't know where you're going in a complicated congested location but often they take you a longer route and can literally lead you to where you shouldn't go and you've no idea because you haven't mentally followed the route or planned the location because of the SatNav (or (T*atNav as old truckers call them) has done all your thinking.

 

I've never owned a SatNav or car with one built-in and I used to travel a bit for work, photo of my guidance systems. -

Edited 19 October, 2021 by nta16

[ettlz]

Mine does that too (Feb 2019). Most likely coil whine in the DC-DC converters that drive the display.

[gkon7]

13 hours ago, nta16 said:

You're probably not going to like this answer - if you're on a multi-hour trip that'll be over a long distance (or very bad traffic jams) for most of the trip at least, you could pre-plan by using a paper printed road atlas and road maps, it's what we used to do back in the last millennium.  It has advantages of making you aware of the journey and route and possible alternatives, keeps you in touch with your travelling, surroundings and driving, no worries about battery life, screen reflections, backspots or loss of signal.

 

I've used portable SatNavs back in the early days of waiting for the device to find 5 satellites (when it could) and no voice options and they are useful if you don't know where you're going in a complicated congested location but often they take you a longer route and can literally lead you to where you shouldn't go and you've no idea because you haven't mentally followed the route or planned the location because of the SatNav (or (T*atNav as old truckers call them) has done all your thinking.

 

I've never owned a SatNav or car with one built-in and I used to travel a bit for work, photo of my guidance systems. -

 

I like your answer too. But I live in Istanbul and unfortunately here is a huge huge city and a traffic hell. About 20-50km's of in city driving can be as long as 2-3 hours. So %90 of people in here always have an online map with traffic in front of them.

But I like going distance-wise long trips too. I surely can consider the information you provided. Thank you very much.

 

7 hours ago, ettlz said:

Mine does that too (Feb 2019). Most likely coil whine in the DC-DC converters that drive the display.

 

That's bad news. So it has not something like a break-in and doesn't even stop after almost two years. Maybe this idea was already ridiculous but it's hope. 😞

[nta16]

6 hours ago, gkon7 said:

But I live in Istanbul and unfortunately here is a huge huge city and a traffic hell. About 20-50km's of in city driving can be as long as 2-3 hours. So %90 of people in here always have an online map with traffic in front of them.

In that case I too would use a SatNav with traffic info.

 

What about using a separate portable SatNav device instead, a pain and expense I know but anything to ease the annoying buzzing noise, especially on top of such horrendous traffic.

 

Let's hope someone posts that they had this problem but it just went away with time, like you put you can hope.

 

Other than perhaps a change and/or upgrade of the unit, if that's possible, you could be chasing parts and electric supply wire(s) perhaps with no improvement on your unit, other than if some sort of noise cancelling if it's possible I'm fresh out of any ideas, sorry.

 

[Jad0]

I have a 2019 Skoda Fabia with this exact issue.
 

Since I bought it 3 months ago, I flagged it right away and they were going to test with another unit however supply issues made them unable to test another unit so far…

 

Thank you very much for sharing to turn off the clock to stop the noise while driving. 
 

If I get any fix will share the result

[gkon7]

4 hours ago, Jad0 said:

I have a 2019 Skoda Fabia with this exact issue.
 

Since I bought it 3 months ago, I flagged it right away and they were going to test with another unit however supply issues made them unable to test another unit so far…

 

Thank you very much for sharing to turn off the clock to stop the noise while driving. 
 

If I get any fix will share the result

 

So I think this confirms that the Swing Plus units have this issue. I also mailed Skoda HQ about the situation five days ago but they did not replied so far. It's a big disappointment. I hope somebody with electrical knowledge can advise us something that we can try out.

[Jad0]

Hey, resolved by turning screen brightness to very bright. No new unit tested yet though and will let you know it new unit can use darker brightness. 

[nta16]

Thanks for reporting back.

 

Yes that makes sense, I didn't think of brightness but then I'm a bit dim myself.

 

 

 

(Is that the sort of thing that gets me 'Groans'.)

 

[gkon7]

In my case, the noise is always present on max brightness.

[AnnoyingPentium]

19 hours ago, nta16 said:

(Is that the sort of thing that gets me 'Groans'.)

 

Yes

[nta16]

34 minutes ago, gkon7 said:

In my case, the noise is always present on max brightness.

Really annoying, perhaps you have better or different hearing or your unit just makes more noise.

 

Try contacting Skoda or where you bought the car from again, perhaps a recorded/registered paper letter to any high level director of manager of either , or both, of the business with a copy of the email you sent saying you didn't get a reply.  Also try phoning them, sometimes if you are lucky you might get someone willing to help or at least point you in the right direction.  With issues like these you have to remain persistent and calm which gets increasingly more difficult  but you have to.  If you throw enough mud at a wall some of it might stick.

 

Good luck.

 

[gkon7]

Quote

 

We have received a message form the importer Yuce Auto Motorlu Araclar A.S. They wrote that your car has been controlled whereas any abnormal noise or any other defects were found on the car. Of course the perception of sounds is individual, but we can confirm that the assessed sound is a normal operating noise for a given model and equipment of the car.

 

 

So I contacted Skoda HQ and this is the final reply. It seems that this dud screen really produced with this defect and they don't care about it. This is unbelievable. I don't have anything other to say.

[nta16]

Thanks for reporting back.

 

Yes well, they might also be saying due to circumstances the quality of the item is as it is now and they accept that quality.  At lower cost quality there can be more variance, some parts or components of an item may more variable in their build quality meaning some items will be better than the exact same model next to it in production.  Higher quality items with have stricter controls and less variability in how well they work.

 

Same might also be said of the overall product , the vehicle, and customer service.

 

I would look up what people with tinnitus have to do to distract them or help them with noise.

 

All the best.  

[Phoenixd]

Yep, 2019 fabia and my screen has always made a high pitched noise when on but no audio playing, I switched the clock off so that it at least stopped when the head unit isn’t on. Always assumed it was normal for any display just like a tv whines when it’s on with no sound? 

[AnnoyingPentium]

My 2006 Fabia does it with a 2019 Kenwood aftermarket HU but not with my older Alpine. Could just be these modern components. 

[nta16]

7 hours ago, Phoenixd said:

just like a tv whines when it’s on with no sound? 

Must be either as put modern components and/or your hearing as my old tellies don't do this at all, I've just checked - but - the very old 8" telly in the kitchen that was designed for use as a screen in a car so has a power adapter plug does buzz a lot with the sound off but it is very old .

 

[Notahonda]

Have the same issue with our  late 2019 Model Fabia and reported when we took for 1st service a year ago now, wasn't impressed with the response from the dealer, see snip from the service report, basically fobbed me off as if I was an idiot,  explaining nothing wrong as they all do it, I did say what's the point having crystal clear DAB radio if all you can hear is the electronics oscillating above the volume. They said nothing else they can say or do about it. Great thanks for your help😆 

 

 

Interesting point about increasing the Brightness , I will try that and report back if has any effect

 

Kind of regretting swapping from a Honda Jazz, that car was brilliant even at 16 years old when we replaced it. The Fabia is a good car but just doesn't cut it like the Jazz I'm afraid, not to mention the never ending issue with Stop Start not working intermittently , one for another thread  I know.

 

 

 

[nta16]

12 hours ago, Notahonda said:

Kind of regretting swapping from a Honda Jazz, that car was brilliant even at 16 years old when we replaced it. The Fabia is a good car but just doesn't cut it like the Jazz I'm afraid, not to mention the never ending issue with Stop Start not working intermittently , one for another thread  I know

Generalisations now - the thing is when you own something like a Honda you have no idea how good it is unless you have something to compare it with.  But the Honda Jazz you could buy in 2019 probably wouldn't be as trouble free as your 2003 model because of the many electronic and parts 'improvements'.  Then you have to compare the 2019 new price of the Fabia to the Jazz.

 

Put up a thread about the start/stop issues as that might be a simple fix, being a Honda owner you're probably only used to servicing and "issues".

 

Edited 4 December, 2021 by nta16
spelling

[Notahonda]

So tested the brightness setting out and managed to resolve the issue, was at medium, changing to darker and then darkest made the noise worse, can confirm noise has stopped when on either Brighter or Brightest setting,  so if it’s a component issue then it might in time get worse I guess, so thanks to all for the good posts on here, keep up the good work

[nta16]

Yeah it seems likely to be some small very cheap part but it might not get worse, if it does you can go from brighter to brightest - and - if your lucky this might coincide with the screen losing its brightness, only time can tell but you might be that lucky devil. 🤣

 

Now if you put up a threat about your start/stop issue that might have an easy and proper solution.

 

I well remember being in a Honda Dealership in 2004 and thinking how big the Jazz was for a supposedly small car, nothing like the Honda Civic of the 70s. 🙂