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2012 Forester Hands Free system problems.
It appears that the system has a bug in Bluetooth connection management when more than one phone is paired. When only two phones are paired the failure pattern is predictable: it won't connect if phone present comes before the last connected phone in the phone list. When more than two phones are paired (say four) and the present phone is not the last one that was connected, the failure does not seem to have a pattern. To overcome an auto connect failure requires a 5 or 6 step "select phone" command sequence. That gets old real quick, particularly when there is a high rate of alternate driver activity.
Also, the system does not announce which phone of multiple paired phones it reconnects (when it does), so the driver is not immediately aware when the phone that's reconnected turns out to a passenger (who was the previous driver). Being aware of this possibility, the driver must either check the Phone List to see which one is connected, or check his phone to verify that the CAR MULTIMEDIA device is connected.
Also noteworthy: The phone name in the Phone List is the Bluetooth Device Name not the name you verbally gave the phone. If you want these two kinds of names to reasonably match, you will want to set the Bluetooth Device Name on the phone. Initially the Bluetooth Device Name is set to a factory default - something pretty nondescript like "Droid2".
I reported all this to the dealership but they acted pretty disinterested, so I don't know if it's just my vehicle or I'm doing the unit testing that Subaru didn't.
Also, the system does not announce which phone of multiple paired phones it reconnects (when it does), so the driver is not immediately aware when the phone that's reconnected turns out to a passenger (who was the previous driver). Being aware of this possibility, the driver must either check the Phone List to see which one is connected, or check his phone to verify that the CAR MULTIMEDIA device is connected.
Also noteworthy: The phone name in the Phone List is the Bluetooth Device Name not the name you verbally gave the phone. If you want these two kinds of names to reasonably match, you will want to set the Bluetooth Device Name on the phone. Initially the Bluetooth Device Name is set to a factory default - something pretty nondescript like "Droid2".
I reported all this to the dealership but they acted pretty disinterested, so I don't know if it's just my vehicle or I'm doing the unit testing that Subaru didn't.
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But, that's just my 2 cents on it.