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Like many of you, I eventually developed the intermittent USB issue where the connection is randomly interrupted and the music or phone call is stopped, then it reconnects (maybe) after a few seconds. Sometimes it can happen 3 times in a row, and sometimes it doesn't happen for a day or two.

I had my 5000 mile service a few weeks ago, and the dealer said "all is well" with the USB port, so they refused to address it under warranty. Despite this being a widespread issue, to my knowledge Hyundai has not acknowledged it with a TSB. I realize that I could probably try to take a video and make multiple trips to a dealer to have it fixed under warranty, but time is money and the part to fix it is $66 and my labor is free.

As a disclaimer, proceed at your own risk, etc etc. If you are not handy then try to get it done under warranty. I've hard-wired dash cams in at least 5 different vehicles now (most are not as easy as the I5 with the Dongar), so I have familiarity with removing trim pieces and working with harnesses but I am not a mechanical guru by any stretch. Most of this is very easy with really the only issue being freeing up the blue harness. I did not disconnect any batteries for this.

The part number is 96120-GI000 (that's the letter I after G, not a 1), and I ordered it from Lakeland Hyundai for $66.74 shipped. It took a week to get to me.

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As you see the part consists of the main USB harness that plugs into the plastic floor trim piece, and two connectors - one with a white harness that is super easy to replace, and one with a blue harness that is a PITA. You can see in the upper right corner of the picture where the blue harness has a small rectangular clip on the side where you push the top part to free it. Notice also the red and white tape on the wire as this will help you locate the OEM wire under the dash.

The first steps are very easy and involve removing the plastic trim piece and cubby on the floor. Start by using a flathead screwdriver to remove the two plastic clips on the left and right side. If you slide the screwdriver under the center circle to pop it up, the clips will easily come out. Then use the flathead screwdriver in the notch under the felt piece to remove it which reveals a 10 mm hex head bolt.

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Once those three things are removed, the plastic trim piece should be easily to rock back and forth. There are four plastic clips at the top that hold the piece in. If you kinda rock it some and put gentle pressure on the sides you should be able to eventually free up the entire trim piece. Do not yank with all of your might as there are two wires connected to the USB port and the 12V adapter. There is some slack in the wires, but still be careful.

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This is what the underside of the plastic piece looks like. Unclip the 12V adapter harness and then push on the clips on both sides of the rectangular black USB harness to remove it (you can look at the new USB part for reference on where to push). Once these two wires are free you can put the big plastic trim piece out of the way.

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This is how it looks once the USB harness is removed. The white harness connection is seen in the background, and the blue PITA connector is under the dash. You can unclip the white harness connector now.

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So for my hands to fit under the dash, I had to loosen the trim piece to give me room. The lower dash is made of three plastic trim pieces - under the steering wheel, the center part, and the glove compartment. The part of the center trim piece next to the steering wheel is connected to a lot of pieces and is not easily freed. The bottom right of the center trim piece is easily loosened by a gentle tug under the corner as seen in the picture.

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Here's where the fun begins. So the red part of the wire is exposed right under the dash once you remove the center trim piece a few steps ago. This picture is taken as I'm lying on the floor of the passenger foot well. As you can see in this picture, the wire is in a plastic clip right above the red part and then it runs parallel to the dash edge before connecting to a harness that is under the wires seen in this photo. If you put the two USB parts side by side you will have an idea of where the blue harness is by following the length of the wire. You can easily free the wire from the plastic clip by the red marker, so at this point the only thing connected is the blue harness.

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I laid down on the passenger side of the front row to get the best access to the harness where my head was resting where a passenger's feet would be and I'm looking up to the right. Tugging gently on the center trim piece to give me some room with my left hand, I used my phone's light and laid it beside my head and grabbed the harness with my right hand. You can easily move the other wires out of the way and you will see the blue harness. It is connected to a silver part where there are 3 harnesses or so side by side, and at this orientation it is the right-most plug (towards the driver side). If you look at your new plug, you will see there's a plastic clip on the side where you want to depress the top part to free things up (reference the first picture). If I had smaller hands this part would have been much easier but eventually I got it freed.

After the old piece is removed then you are home free. Insert the blue harness from the new part back into the now open plug (make sure you study the orientation of the harness before removing it- the clip part should be facing away from you). Then run the wire back under the plastic dash and insert the wire back into the plastic clip by the red marker.

Then pop the corner of the center dash trim piece back into place and connect the white harness and the USB harness back into place (there's a yellow TOP sticker to help with orientation). Be sure to reconnect the 12V power adapter harness as well. Grab the center trim piece and pop it back into place by pushing where the four white clips are. Put the 10 mm bolt back in then the felt cover, and pop the two plastic clips on each side.

Hopefully I will have no more Carplay issues now. If you are as frustrated with the intermittent dropping and the dealer as I was, hopefully this will be helpful to somebody!
Hi There! I was wondering if you had an update on this and if you are having the same issue after you replaced the assembly? How are things going? I'm looking to follow your foot steps and do this, but wanted to check with you first to see if its still working as it should be? Thanks!
 
Discussion starter · #82 ·
Hey I have not had a single drop out since changing the cord out in November. So far so good!

Chris C.: If you look at the first post you can sorta see how the connectors look. The blue cable yes you need to push on the side facing the driver's seat to get it loose--it's really hard! The white one I forget where to push but it should disconnect rather easily if you are pushing at the right spot.
 
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@Chris C.
You're on the right track. That blue one is a big pain in the butt. I accidentally broke the housing off of it and then used needle nose to depress the metal tab that's actually holding it in. It's a bit easier than the stupid blue tab, but you won't see the metal tab unless the blue housing is pulled down the cable.
 
Just received my USB replacement, but getting cold feet with the installation. Has anyone done it recently with anything to add to the original tutorial?
 
Just received my USB replacement, but getting cold feet with the installation. Has anyone done it recently with anything to add to the original tutorial?
1st piece of advice. If you're under warranty, try to get your dealer to do it under warranty first. If they refuse or can't replicate the problem (likely) then doing it yourself isn't too bad. The good news is, if you break the blue clip (the hard one), it's not a big deal since you're replacing it with a new one.
Word of caution, you're replacing a bad part with a new part that will probably only last as long as the old one. Hyundai needs to come up with a better design.
 
1st piece of advice. If you're under warranty, try to get your dealer to do it under warranty first. If they refuse or can't replicate the problem (likely) then doing it yourself isn't too bad. The good news is, if you break the blue clip (the hard one), it's not a big deal since you're replacing it with a new one.
Word of caution, you're replacing a bad part with a new part that will probably only last as long as the old one. Hyundai needs to come up with a better design.
that's the thing. The fail rate for the USB port seems high, but all we're essentially doing is replacing a defective item with a defective item. That said, is every single USB housing they made defective? Surely it'd be more of a recall situation if the scale were that massive, no?

Also curious about what exactly in the chain of connections is the faulty piece. Legacy USB is an inherently problematic interface, so a hack that rewires the termination into a more reliable USB-C form factor is not out of the question.

Very frustrating situation any way you slice it.

My dealer said they'd try to replicate the error, but if they can't they'd just install my part and charge me labor. That won't be fun.
 
that's the thing. The fail rate for the USB port seems high, but all we're essentially doing is replacing a defective item with a defective item. That said, is every single USB housing they made defective? Surely it'd be more of a recall situation if the scale were that massive, no?

Also curious about what exactly in the chain of connections is the faulty piece. Legacy USB is an inherently problematic interface, so a hack that rewires the termination into a more reliable USB-C form factor is not out of the question.

Very frustrating situation any way you slice it.

My dealer said they'd try to replicate the error, but if they can't they'd just install my part and charge me labor. That won't be fun.
Oh, how nice of them to "only" charge you labor...LOL!

It'll eventually be a recall or service bulletin. But that could take a while and would require a lot of people to actually report the problem instead of DIY'n it or just living with it, which is what most of us are doing.
 
Oh, how nice of them to "only" charge you labor...LOL!

It'll eventually be a recall or service bulletin. But that could take a while and would require a lot of people to actually report the problem instead of DIY'n it or just living with it, which is what most of us are doing.
Got to imagine there are tons of normies reporting it simply because of how crucial AA/CP is for day-to-day driving for so many people. Maybe it's wishful thinking, we'll see.
 
I am not sure if USB C is the answer considering Noalux also "fixes" the issue. This shows that it is a connectivity issue so theoretically USB C will have the same problem unless they do something different with the blue and white connections for the USB C dongle which doesn't seem likely.
 
Today was my first attempt to replace the USB harness, but I didn't have enough time to really reach the blue connector. Instead, I reseated the white plug for now, and greased it up. Hopefully it buys me a few days before I can perform the full replacement.
 
Discussion starter · #92 ·
I don't think the GV60 part will fit--it has two USB C's side by side.
 
So I tried (and failed) to grease my connectors a week ago. Since I failed to get the connectors apart, I just pushed them together firmly and reassembled everything.

My Android Auto has been rock solid since. So perhaps even just wiggling the connectors has a positive impact?
 
So I tried (and failed) to grease my connectors a week ago. Since I failed to get the connectors apart, I just pushed them together firmly and reassembled everything.

My Android Auto has been rock solid since. So perhaps even just wiggling the connectors has a positive impact?
This was the result I was hoping for as well, but even after greasing the white connection my AA dropped the very next ride.
 
I took my car I5 into the dealer back in December to report this issue, and 1) they said they couldn’t replicate it and 2) because it was an Apple CarPlay issue, they printed out some legalese saying that they weren’t responsible for CarPlay compatibility and that I needed to get in touch with Apple. I called Apple, and funnily enough, the Apple rep said that they also had the same issue with a different Hyundai car! The rep basically told me to upgrade to the latest iOS, so I’m getting the runaround from both Hyundai and Apple…
 
More drama from my dealer. Now they refuse to do the work because they can't recreate the issue. Looks like I need to bite the bullet and just perform the swap out myself.
 
More drama from my dealer. Now they refuse to do the work because they can't recreate the issue. Looks like I need to bite the bullet and just perform the swap out myself.
My dealer initial response was also that they could not recreate, thus everything is fine.
But when I stayed firm as well as send them 2 videos of issue happening, as well as taking their identical demo I5 for a 1 hour + ride without issues, they agreed to do further tests, disassembly of the USB cable.
When they did that they also concluded it was faulty, and according to them a burned circuit.
After that Hyundai approved replacement under warranty, and I’m waiting for part to arrive and them to replace.
Hyundai estimated the replacement job to be 3,5 hours for the dealer/workshop. (Maybe that also cover the initial troubleshooting).

Edit: I guess dealers have a bit of challenge on issues that can be hard to recreate in the workshop (and in theory could be compability issues), as unless they can document the error or probability of it, Hyundai (or any brand) would not approve hours and parts under warranty.
According to mechanic that did troubleshooting on my car, he called the tech resp of Hyundai for my country, and he claimed he never heard of it for I5, even though I told mechanic up front about quite a few owners on forums with this exact issue, that got it solved by replacing cable/contact. I guess I could in theory be the first in my country that reported it, but no matter Hyundai centrally should share info to the tech resps in the different regions as well as dealers, so that troubleshooting would be smoother, as well as perceived customer experience a lot better for the ones experiencing the issue.
 
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