Reset a Frozen Infotainment Screen

When the central touchscreen on your Maserati Levante (M161, 2016–present) freezes — the map locked, the Maserati Touch Control unresponsive, or the picture stuck on the logo — you can reboot it yourself in well under a minute. The Levante’s MTC+ system is built on the FCA Uconnect platform, so the reset combinations are the familiar Fiat-Chrysler ones. There is one Levante-specific wrinkle worth knowing: the 8.4-inch Uconnect units fitted to 2017–2019 cars are known for screen delamination, which can look like a freeze but is not fixable by a reset.

What system you are dealing with

The Levante launched with the 8.4-inch Maserati Touch Control Plus (MTC+), an FCA Uconnect-based head unit under a Maserati skin, and later cars moved to larger, faster Uconnect-derived screens. All of them respond to the standard Uconnect reset combinations. A frozen image is usually a software hang in the head unit and a reboot clears it — but on early cars it pays to rule out the hardware delamination issue first (see below).

Soft reset: reboot the touchscreen

Start here — it loses no data.

1. Turn the ignition to Run (engine running is best, so battery voltage stays steady) and leave the car in Park.
2. Press and hold the volume knob and the tuner/menu knob at the same time.
3. Hold both for 10–20 seconds.
4. The screen flashes the Maserati logo, then goes dark.
5. Wait for the logo to reappear — the system has rebooted and reloads your settings automatically.

If your Levante has a single volume control rather than two knobs, press and hold the volume knob alone for more than 20 seconds until the screen blacks out and restarts.

Is this safe? Will I lose anything?

Yes, it is safe and erases nothing. Paired phones, navigation favourites, presets, and your audio and comfort settings all survive a reboot — the reset restarts only the infotainment software and leaves stored data untouched. It has no effect on the engine, transmission, all-wheel-drive, or any safety system, and you can do it parked with the engine running.

If it stays frozen

• Use the engineering-menu route: with the car in Run, press and hold the red (temperature up) and blue (temperature down) climate buttons together for about 8 seconds until a service/engineering menu appears, then select Reset Radio or the equivalent reset entry.
• Switch the ignition fully off, open the driver’s door, and let the car sleep for 10–15 minutes so the head unit powers down, then restart.
• Check the 12 V battery — a weak battery dipping voltage at start-up is a frequent cause of repeated freezes and reboot loops on the Levante.
• Rule out screen delamination on 2017–2019 cars: if the touch layer is lifting, separating, or the touch response is dead in patches rather than the whole image being frozen, that is a physical fault that no reset will cure — it needs a screen or unit replacement.

Factory reset (erases data)

If the unit is corrupted rather than simply hung, a full power-down clears its volatile memory: disconnect the 12 V battery (the Levante’s battery is in the boot, on the right-hand side), wait 10–15 minutes, then reconnect to force a cold rebuild of the Uconnect software. Expect the clock and some presets to reset afterwards, and the windows may need a one-touch re-initialisation. A menu-driven restore that wipes paired phones and personal data — returning the head unit to factory state — is done from the Settings menu where the option exists, or by a Maserati dealer using the FCA diagnostic system if the menu is unreachable.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is my Levante screen frozen or delaminated? A frozen screen shows a stuck image that a reboot recovers. Delamination — common on 2017–2019 8.4-inch units — shows as a lifting or bubbling touch layer or dead patches, and a reset will not fix it; the unit needs repair or replacement.

Will the reset disconnect my paired phone? No. The volume-and-tuner reboot keeps all Bluetooth pairings and presets. Only a full factory restore removes them.

Why does the Levante freeze after sitting for a few days? A long standstill lets the 12 V battery drift low, and the Uconnect unit is sensitive to voltage at wake-up. Test the battery if it keeps happening.

Can I reset it while driving? No. Always stop, leave the car in Park with the ignition in Run, then reset.

It reboots but freezes again right away — what now? Repeated freezing usually means low battery voltage or a unit that needs a software update or repair. Have the battery tested, and on early cars check for delamination before assuming a software fault.

If a dashboard warning light appeared alongside the screen freeze, look the code up first on autodtcs.com to find out whether the two are related before booking work.