2014 cx-5 infotainment shaking

Hi everyone.

Every morning, my 2014 cx-5 infotainment screen starts shaking heavily or sometimes doesn't even turn on until about five or ten minutes of driving. After that, it's good for the day and has no issues. Thoughts on how I can troubleshoot this?

Sounds like the connector to the screen is loose or dirty.

craigo said:

Sounds like the connector to the screen is loose or dirty.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply Criago. So a few developments.

1) The screen is totally blank now, but the unit still "works" in that I can listen to the radio, change the station, volume, etc. I just can't see what I'm doing.
2) I opened up the access and checked all the cable attachments. They all seem to be connecting fine, nothing seems loose.

What would be the best way to clean the cables to test that?

If that doesn't work - what other things could I try to diagnose whether its a bad cable or a bad screen?

Thanks again!

Do you mean physically shaking, or the image is shaking?

kingzing1 said:

Thanks for the reply Criago. So a few developments.

1) The screen is totally blank now, but the unit still "works" in that I can listen to the radio, change the station, volume, etc. I just can't see what I'm doing.
2) I opened up the access and checked all the cable attachments. They all seem to be connecting fine, nothing seems loose.

What would be the best way to clean the cables to test that?

If that doesn't work - what other things could I try to diagnose whether its a bad cable or a bad screen?

Thanks again!

Click to expand...

I had a similar issue on my old 2015 CX-5, where the screen and or screen lamp failed. Started with a few glitchy days, and then later became permanent.

You could still listen to it as before, and you could even touch the screen in the appropriate spot for a command, and it would react as required, just no display. (I could shine a bright flashlight at the screen, while looking from an angle, and I could faintly see the working screen. Which meant in my mind, that the touch, and display were still actually working, it was just the screen illumination backlight that was no longer working properly.

The vehicle was still within the bumper to bumper warranty, so the dealer replaced the complete head unit, and problem was fixed.


If you are tech savvy, you could disassemble the head unit, and inspect, clean and reseat the internal ribbon connectors that interconnect the head unit display to head unit logic.

It would probably be simplest to just swap with a salvage recycler wrecking yard unit. Just be sure to get the matching appropriate BOSE/non BOSE unit.(headbang)

Thanks- I like the salvage recycler idea. If I'm just going to rip and replace the whole head unit, would it make sense to install some 3rd party unit? Not sure if there's anything interesting with Android Auto that I could install. Or if they are all garbage, I can just go with the original OEM scrapped unit.

Thanks again, guys.

Is your existing one a Bose unit

Nope, no Bose.

Also, just to follow up on everything. Took the car into the dealership this morning to see what they would say (on the phone they said this often just needs a "software update" to correct).

They did a full system reboot (full disconnected the battery) and the screen now works. However, they said it would likely fail again so would need to be replaced (at a bargain basement price of $975). I'm going to wait to see how long it takes to fail again, then just do the replacement myself.

So for anyone else who has this issue - pulling the fuses and reconnected the head unit cables didn't work for me, but disconnecting the battery and rebooting everything did.

kingzing1 said:

Nope, no Bose.

Also, just to follow up on everything. Took the car into the dealership this morning to see what they would say (on the phone they said this often just needs a "software update" to correct).

They did a full system reboot (full disconnected the battery) and the screen now works. However, they said it would likely fail again so would need to be replaced (at a bargain basement price of $975). I'm going to wait to see how long it takes to fail again, then just do the replacement myself.

So for anyone else who has this issue - pulling the fuses and reconnected the head unit cables didn't work for me, but disconnecting the battery and rebooting everything did.

Click to expand...

Good to hear, hope that does it for you!

Found a non-bose one for $125... https://www.ebay.com (commissions earned)