Infotainment Head Unit
The unit in the centre of the dashboard, and on a modern vehicle it is the cabin's computer rather than a stereo. As well as audio it commonly carries the climate controls, the driving mode selection, the reversing camera and parking sensor display, the vehicle settings menus, the phone connection and the navigation interface — so losing it can take the heater controls and the reversing camera with it.
The dominant fault on older vehicles is an aftermarket replacement. A non-original head unit fitted into a vehicle whose original was on the data bus needs a proper vehicle-specific interface to translate steering wheel controls, chimes, speed-dependent volume, the reversing signal and the ignition state. Fitted without one, the vehicle receives messages it cannot accept — and two consequences follow that installers rarely mention: the network may never sleep, flattening the battery over a few days, and the vehicle's own diagnostics become unreliable in ways blamed on unrelated systems.
On newer vehicles the issue is coding: an original unit from another car of the same model is often tied to that car's identity, and on many vehicles to its immobiliser.
Also known as: head unit, car stereo, stereo, radio, infotainment, media unit, double din, centre screen, touchscreen
Referenced by 49 codes
Codes involving this component (49)
- U0046 Vehicle Communication Bus C Moderate
- U0047 Vehicle Communication Bus C Performance Moderate
- U0048 Vehicle Communication Bus C (+) Open Moderate
- U0049 Vehicle Communication Bus C (+) Low Moderate
- U0050 Vehicle Communication Bus C (+) High Moderate
- U0051 Vehicle Communication Bus C (-) Open Moderate
- U0052 Vehicle Communication Bus C (-) Low Moderate
- U0053 Vehicle Communication Bus C (-) High Moderate
- U0054 Vehicle Communication Bus C (-) Shorted to Bus C (+) Moderate
- U0184 Lost Communication With Radio Moderate
- U0185 Lost Communication With Antenna Control Module Moderate
- U0197 Lost Communication With Telephone Control Module Moderate
- U0334 Software Incompatibility With Radio Moderate
- U0485 Invalid Data Received From Radio Moderate
- U0486 Invalid Data Received From Antenna Control Module Moderate
- U0498 Invalid Data Received From Telephone Control Module Moderate
- U0556 Invalid Data Received From Front Display Interface Module Moderate
- U0558 Invalid Data Received From Front Controls/Display Interface Module Moderate
- U0565 Invalid Data Received From Camera Module - Rear Moderate
- U0162 Lost Communication With Navigation Display Module Low
- U0186 Lost Communication With Audio Amplifier A Low
- U0187 Lost Communication With Digital Disc Player/Changer Module A Low
- U0188 Lost Communication With Digital Disc Player/Changer Module B Low
- U0189 Lost Communication With Digital Disc Player/Changer Module C Low
- U0190 Lost Communication With Digital Disc Player/Changer Module D Low
Other components in Electrical and Charging
- Data Bus 563
- Battery 218
- Gateway Module 158
- Stability Control Module 122
- Battery Temperature Sensor 115
- Alternator 45
- Brake Booster Pressure Sensor 39
- A/C Refrigerant Pressure Sensor 33
- Brake Light Switch 32
- Cruise Control Switch 31
- Ignition Switch 31
- Cooling Fan Relay 28
- Starter Relay 25
- A/C Compressor 25
- Clutch Switch 24
- ECM Power Relay 21
- Roof Antenna Module 19
- Immobiliser 15
- Lighting Driver Control Module 15
- Starter Motor 14
- Transmission Control Module Power Relay 14
- Fuel Pump Relay 13
- Secondary Air Injection Relay 13
- Battery Monitoring Sensor 10
- Driver Information Centre 10
- A/C Evaporator Temperature Sensor 8
- Telematics Control Module 8
- Navigation Control Module 6
- Headlamp Levelling Actuator 6
- Hydraulic Pump Relay 5
- Head-Up Display 2
Information, not instruction
CarGeek is a reference, not a service manual. Its pages are written from public sources and from what other people have found, never from a manufacturer's own service information, so they can be wrong or incomplete for your particular vehicle. Some of what they describe carries real risk: high voltage, fuel under pressure, stored energy, hot and moving parts.
Have anything you intend to act on checked by a trained person against the manufacturer's own procedure for your vehicle. Nothing here replaces that procedure.
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