2017 Kia Picanto Radio- radio stations changing randomly

[TNWK]

Hi All, 

 Just bought a Kia Picanto. So far so good. Except, the radio is driving me nuts. The problem goes- I set a radio station (using preset) and drive while listening to it. All of a sudden, the radio starts "tuning" for another frequency. And this does not stop. Nothing in the manual (the manual actually has an older version for the radio and instructions) in terms of how to fix this. Did some research online and sort of found that this is due to the AF (alternate frequency) function on display and turning it off would fix the problem. It was never turned on to begin with. Also, even if I tried to "turn it off" while the tuning was happening simultaneously, that led to nothing. 

Radio stations changing while I drive is so annoying and dampens the experience otherwise. If there is someone who has experienced this and would know a permanent solution I'd much appreciate it- after all, there has to be over hundreds of Picantos on the streets of Sri Lanka (I bought Package 3). 

Thanks, 

[kush]

What you have is not the original Kia. It is a cheap Chinese crap. So stop looking at the car manual for instructions.

It must be in seek mode, try tuning manually and presetting the stations you like should work.

[TNWK]

  On 3/26/2018 at 4:22 AM, kush said:

What you have is not the original Kia. It is a cheap Chinese crap. So stop looking at the car manual for instructions.

It must be in seek mode, try tuning manually and presetting the stations you like should work.

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Wow. That sucks.

I actually did the latter. Tuned to the station that I wanted and set each specific station (TNL, Kiss, Yes....etc) as preset stations of my choice. However, that didn't seem to work either. While I've chosen say Kiss and listening to it, a few miles into my drive, it would start to seek and go up an down in the stations and pick some random station, if I'm lucky. If not it will keep seeking for eternity and wouldn't let me even select the station I want to- as if disabling all touch functions. (I guess now I know what you mean by cheap Chinese crap). 

Any solution other than that? 

[Davy]

If the radio has RDS, try switching that off? I'm not sure if Sri Lankan radio stations transmit data via RDS, but if they do, the channel you're listening to might be receiving an alternate frequency through RDS. When the radio detects that the station signal is momentarily lost, it tries to tune to the alternate frequency which might not be having a good signal strength. Therefore it jumps frequencies  again and so on.

[TNWK]

  On 3/26/2018 at 5:49 AM, Davy said:

If the radio has RDS, try switching that off? I'm not sure if Sri Lankan radio stations transmit data via RDS, but if they do, the channel you're listening to might be receiving an alternate frequency through RDS. When the radio detects that the station signal is momentarily lost, it tries to tune to the alternate frequency which might not be having a good signal strength. Therefore it jumps frequencies  again and so on.

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For better or worse, the Sri Lankan Picanto (2017 model) radio does not have RDS. 

[asrock]

Does this car has steering controls for the radio?

[TNWK]

  On 3/26/2018 at 7:40 AM, asrock said:

Does this car has steering controls for the radio?

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Yes, volume functions and mode. 

[dilrukds]

Don't have any issue in ours. Maybe you should take it to KIA.

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