2017~2024 CX-5: Why doesn't NAV mute the radio when it speaks directions?

[wlong01]

Don't use OEM Nav much but last night I had to occasion to. Found it annoying that the NAV voice speaks over the radio instead of muting the music. Difficult to
follow directions with the music comming out of all the speakers except the drivers side speaker. Didn't want to turn the volume down in case it silenced the directions. I was in heavy traffic on the interstate before coming to a toll bridge that links multiple states and did not want to miss the exit.
Will test today by muting the radio and see if the NAV directions still come through.

 

[ceric]

You can raise the volume of guidance voice in relative to your music volume level.
I personally don't have this problem since I keep music volume level low (15 ish or less).
The guidance voice only comes out of the front left speaker and it does mute the music from that speaker.

 

[Conrad 16.5]

Mazda did a poor job in the design of their system. Just muting one speaker while the others blast on is stupid.

 

[wlong01]

You can raise the volume of guidance voice in relative to your music volume level.
I personally don't have this problem since I keep music volume level low (15 ish or less).
The guidance voice only comes out of the front left speaker and it does mute the music from that speaker.

Didn't see anything in NAV settings but I might of missed it. This is on our 16 so there might not be a setting, I'll have to check again.
I'm not sure but I think it completely mutes the radio on our 19.

 

[Conrad 16.5]

One way to increase the volume of the Nav voice is, while the nav voice is announcing something, turn up the volume using the volume control. This HAS to be done while the nav voice is active. You'll notice that the color of the volume indicator is a different color for the nav and music volumes.

I believe that the nav volume can also be increased somewhere in the settings, but I can't point to it directly.

 

[GFrosty]

Didn't see anything in NAV settings but I might of missed it. This is on our 16 so there might not be a setting, I'll have to check again.

On my 2016.5, the info on the settings is in the 2016.5 CX-5 Navigation Owners Manual, section 4.2.1 Guidance Settings.

Basically, on the console, choose: Navigation, then Guidance Settings, then Volume. Assuming your radio is at a modest to moderate level, you can then set the guidance volume sufficiently loud to come through. (Yes, it mutes the radio ... just not much, at least on my own 2016.5.)

https://www.mazdausa.com/siteassets/pdf/owners-optimized/2016.5/cx5/2016.5-cx-5-navigation-owners-manual.pdf

 

[RedBaron]

Didn't see anything in NAV settings but I might of missed it. This is on our 16 so there might not be a setting, I'll have to check again.
I'm not sure but I think it completely mutes the radio on our 19.

Easier than going into the settings... if music is playing (no Nav) then the volume control ONLY adjusts the music volume (not the Nav). If the Nav is 'speaking' then the volume control ONLY adjusts the Nav volume.

Those levels stay set even if you turn the car off/on.

 

[wlong01]

Easier than going into the settings... if music is playing (no Nav) then the volume control ONLY adjusts the music volume (not the Nav). If the Nav is 'speaking' then the volume control ONLY adjusts the Nav volume.

Those levels stay set even if you turn the car off/on.

That's good to know. I didn't want to increase the volume thinking the music would drown out the NAV voice even more. I'll play around with it.

 

[wlong01]

I found the volume setting in the Nav Guidance screen. Thanks GFrosty.

For some reason I glossed over it when I was looking through the screens. It's a the very top away from all the the other settings. It doesn't look like the other settings. It's not where your eyes go when you're scanning the screens. I guess since it has a horizontal scroll bar they put it at the very top of the screen.

 

[jadmt]

I just got back from a long road trip and no matter what I did I could not adjust the nav audio loud enough. I tried adjusting the radio all the way down before nav audio came on and then while nav audio was talking tried turning it up but that just turned up the radio. this is with apple car play and it was frustrating. 2023 cx5 turbo. I tried using the knob and tried upping the volume on the phone itself and nothing worked. the directions on the screen were great but would have to look at the screen and driving in Seattle traffic was not always easiest to do.

 

[CarpeDiem]

I’m not sure what to tell you. My 2021 using Car Play behaves as others have stated, the NAV voice is adjustable with the console knob when it is speaking, and the music is muted when the NAV voice comes on. It has nothing to do with muting just one speaker or with adjustments on the phone itself.

 

[jadmt]

I’m not sure what to tell you. My 2021 using Car Play behaves as others have stated, the NAV voice is adjustable with the console knob when it is speaking, and the music is muted when the NAV voice comes on. It has nothing to do with muting just one speaker or with adjustments on the phone itself.

crazy thing just as I got home the nav voice was super loud. I had given up on it and out of the blue it started blaring. possessed I guess. I literally could not hear it over the music even tho I had the music on super low. I even tried it with the music all the way down.

 

[GFrosty]

I just got back from a long road trip and no matter what I did I could not adjust the nav audio loud enough. I tried adjusting the radio all the way down before nav audio came on and then while nav audio was talking tried turning it up but that just turned up the radio. this is with apple car play and it was frustrating. 2023 cx5 turbo. I tried using the knob and tried upping the volume on the phone itself and nothing worked. the directions on the screen were great but would have to look at the screen and driving in Seattle traffic was not always easiest to do.

Hm.

My 2016.5 CX-5 GT works as I'd expect. (Not that that necessarily helps in your case, of course.)

• NAV volume can be selected beforehand, via the console Settings config.
• When NAV is giving audio directions, volume can be adjusted on-the-fly with the radio volume knob.
• When NAV is not giving audio directions, radio volume can be adjusted as normal, using the radio volume knob.
• On my car, at least, it helps to have the radio not blaringly loud, as the NAV only mutes the radio output a bit. And it helps to have the NAV volume setting a bit higher than I'd prefer. Isn't perfect, and I suppose I'd have designed the "muting" function to be more aggressive (even absolute), but it works well.

2023 Mazda CX-5 Navigation Owner's Manual (PDF) @ MyMazda/MazdaUSA:

https://www.mazdausa.com/siteassets/pdf/owners-optimized/7g-navi/navigation-owners-manual_v1.pdf

I'm assuming you've already gone through the various console/settings choices, to pre-configure the desired volume levels and whatever other Voice Guidance and Audio- and NAV-related choices you'd prefer. Perhaps resetting these controls prior to your next drive will override whatever refusal it's doing now.

 

[7eregrine]

Adjusting via the knob while speaking does NOT apply to Carplay/AA. Would be cool if it did.

 

[jadmt]

Hm.

My 2016.5 CX-5 GT works as I'd expect. (Not that that necessarily helps in your case, of course.)

• NAV volume can be selected beforehand, via the console Settings config.
• When NAV is giving audio directions, volume can be adjusted on-the-fly with the radio volume knob.
• When NAV is not giving audio directions, radio volume can be adjusted as normal, using the radio volume knob.
• On my car, at least, it helps to have the radio not blaringly loud, as the NAV only mutes the radio output a bit. And it helps to have the NAV volume setting a bit higher than I'd prefer. Isn't perfect, and I suppose I'd have designed the "muting" function to be more aggressive (even absolute), but it works well.

2023 Mazda CX-5 Navigation Owner's Manual (PDF) @ MyMazda/MazdaUSA:

https://www.mazdausa.com/siteassets/pdf/owners-optimized/7g-navi/navigation-owners-manual_v1.pdf

I'm assuming you've already gone through the various console/settings choices, to pre-configure the desired volume levels and whatever other Voice Guidance and Audio- and NAV-related choices you'd prefer. Perhaps resetting these controls prior to your next drive will override whatever refusal it's doing now.

I tried all that and the bizarre thing is it started working right as I got home. must have been a glitch.

Adjusting via the knob while speaking does NOT apply to Carplay/AA. Would be cool if it did.

it actually did start working right as I got home. I could turn it up and down with the knob and it would talk over the radio...strange indeed.