Restoring HD Radio reception 2021, 2022, and later

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Kayaktivist

Member
Joined
Oct 21, 2021
Messages
9
MY 2021 and later Leaf no longer receives HD radio signals!! Took me lots of phone calls and got bounced around before I finally got official confirmation from Nissan USA Consumer Support Division.

Their recommendation to get HD radio reception is to install a head unit from a 2020 or earlier model year. If head unit gets changed, all the NissanConnect features needs to be transferred on the back end to the new head unit. Can only be done by a dealership.

I'm hoping there's a simple module and perhaps software reversion that we can do to regain this functionality. I realize most folks don't care about HD radio reception, but I'm hoping for someone on this forum who is interested electronics to come up with a creative solution. Is anyone aware of an existence of a service manual for the NissanConnect head unit? That should have documentation around the HD receiver module.
 
Yikes. I suggest that people who have a 2021 Leaf - including me - confirm the lack of HD radio reception. I'm not saying that Nissan is wrong or lying here, but if they were it wouldn't be the first time. (Usually dealerships lie and Nissan helpline people are just wrong.)
 
This is interesting, there are a lot of HD radio stations in my area and I enjoy the quality difference a lot. My wife's 2018 also has HD radio, but I never asked her if she noticed if it was working or not. Time to experiment! :D
 
Kayaktivist said:
MY 2021 and later Leaf no longer receives HD radio signals!! Took me lots of phone calls and got bounced around before I finally got official confirmation from Nissan USA Consumer Support Division.

Their recommendation to get HD radio reception is to install a head unit from a 2020 or earlier model year. If head unit gets changed, all the NissanConnect features needs to be transferred on the back end to the new head unit. Can only be done by a dealership.

I'm hoping there's a simple module and perhaps software reversion that we can do to regain this functionality. I realize most folks don't care about HD radio reception, but I'm hoping for someone on this forum who is interested electronics to come up with a creative solution. Is anyone aware of an existence of a service manual for the NissanConnect head unit? That should have documentation around the HD receiver module.
Click to expand...

Ok, obvious question, did you make sure HD was turned on in the radio settings? I just noticed that my wife's 2018, it's always on, but in my 2020, you can actually turn it off (I did by accident a while back and thought my HD was broke also)
 
As per my photo below, where it says "HD Radio" on the right side. It is actually a button that can turn the HD mode on and off when you press it. Does your FM screen have a similar looking setup, not sure if anything changed GUI wise on the 2021, 2022, etc.

LtLKqdK.jpg
 
No option for HD radio that I can find on my 2021 SL+. There are definitely HD stations in our area.

I was a bit disappointed that HD radio wasn't included on my new highest-trim Leaf. Even more disappointed to now learn that older Leafs DID have HD radio.

Maybe they just expect everyone to subscribe to SiriusXM.
 
Just to confirm, 2018 to 2020 models have the HD radio, but after, +2021 year they dropped it? I know there is a lot of doom talk about HD radio dying, did some quick research, appears Nissan is not the only manufacturer to do this. :(
 
I was a bit disappointed that HD radio wasn't included on my new highest-trim Leaf. Even more disappointed to now learn that older Leafs DID have HD radio.
Click to expand...

Older Leafs also have CD players. There came a point, somewhere around 2017, when Nissan started subtracting features as well as adding them, I'm afraid.
 
Looks like I can't post pics unless I pay to become a supporter? This is why the FM screen looks like on a 2022. No button for HD options.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lfLmgN-d_d06k5DWBMEAYrBfsxSj3p1V/
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1VYYn7tCJGt0sI8rP6c5sKGbE3cX3j4u4/
 
You can usually post photos that are online by linking them here using the "Img" tag in the post editing options, but this is one of those cases where that results in just the word "image" appearing. Right clicking on that loads the image, but also usually 'traps' the viewer's browser so that they can't return here from the image hosting site. Just posting the urls as you've done is good enough.
 
Kayaktivist said:
Looks like I can't post pics unless I pay to become a supporter? This is why the FM screen looks like on a 2022. No button for HD options.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lfLmgN-d_d06k5DWBMEAYrBfsxSj3p1V/
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1VYYn7tCJGt0sI8rP6c5sKGbE3cX3j4u4/
Click to expand...

Well, google won't let you I think, I've tried to link to google drive before, but google blocks it. You can use a free hosting site like https://imgur.com/ that's what I use.

I can still see from the image, wow it is missing completely. I noticed there is a big "SiriusXM" button now, so I guess the push is for everything to satellite now. I like HD Radio, but I understand with the "fees" one has to pay to use it (not the users, but the broadcasters and equipment manufactures), why it is not liked by them.
 

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