Reset a Frozen Infotainment Screen

The Subaru XV (Mk2/GT, 2017–2022) — sold as the Crosstrek in North America — runs the Subaru Starlink head unit, a 6.5-inch screen on base cars and an 8-inch unit higher up the range. It drives the audio, navigation, reversing camera, the climate shortcuts and Apple CarPlay / Android Auto. The GT XV is one of the more freeze-prone Subarus of its era, but it reboots from a single knob, with nothing lost.

How the XV GT Starlink reboots

The power/volume knob to the left of the screen doubles as the reset switch. Holding it forces the head unit to power-cycle its software while the car stays fully powered, which clears a black screen, a stuck CarPlay session, a dead touch layer or dropped audio.

Soft reset: hold the power/volume knob

1. Keep the ignition ON (or the engine running) so the unit stays powered through the restart.
2. Press and hold the left-hand power/volume knob.
3. Hold for about 10 seconds — up to 15 on some GT units — until the screen goes dark.
4. The Subaru / Starlink logo reappears as the head unit restarts.
5. Release and give it around 30 seconds to bring back the home screen, audio and camera.

Safe — you keep all your settings

This is a software restart, not a wipe. Radio presets, paired phones, saved destinations, your home-screen layout and your Starlink login all survive. CarPlay and Android Auto reconnect automatically when you plug back in. Repeat it as often as the screen plays up — there is no downside.

If the screen stays frozen

• Unplug your phone first. On the GT XV, the single most common "freeze" is actually a CarPlay or Android Auto dropout — owners report it striking roughly once a week on some 2019 cars. Pull the USB cable, let the native screen recover, then reconnect with a quality data cable in the correct USB port.
• Cycle the ignition fully off. Switch off, open the door, let it sleep, then restart for a cleaner reset than a running-engine reboot gives.
• Lock it for 10 minutes. Subaru dealers suggest turning the car off, locking the doors and leaving it about 10 minutes so the head unit deep-sleeps and reboots.
• Update the software. Subaru pushed several Starlink updates for the GT generation specifically to cure CarPlay drop-outs and freezing, including a wave of dealer TSBs in mid-2019 after earlier updates fell short. The update is the proper fix; resets only clear the symptom.

Factory reset (erases your data)

Reserve this for cars where reboots no longer help, or before you sell. Open Settings → General and choose Factory Data Reset, confirm the warning, and press the green reset button. It wipes presets, paired devices, saved destinations and your Starlink account, then restarts at factory defaults. Do it parked and have your login ready.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is the Crosstrek the same as the XV for this fix? Yes — Crosstrek is simply the North American name for the GT-generation XV. The Starlink hardware and the knob-hold reset are identical.

My CarPlay drops out about once a week — is rebooting the answer? A reboot clears it for now, but the GT’s recurring CarPlay dropout is best fixed by the Subaru software update plus a known-good OEM data cable. Unplug/re-plug the phone as the quick fix.

Will the knob-hold delete my paired phone or presets? No. Only the Factory Data Reset in Settings erases paired devices, presets and saved destinations.

The screen is black and the knob does nothing. Switch off, lock the doors and wait 10 minutes, then restart. If it stays dead, it is a head-unit fault for the dealer, not something more holding fixes.

Does the 6.5-inch base screen reset differently from the 8-inch unit? No — both use the same power/volume knob and the same 10-second hold.

If a warning light came on at the same time as the freeze, check the stored trouble code at autodtcs.com to confirm whether the two faults are related.