Android Auto 16.1 update fixes broken steering wheel controls caused by squiggly line bug

It's easy to think of Android Auto as static, but it's just as fluid as the rest of Google's software products. It's not been too long since the Android Auto 16 update started rolling out to those lucky few, but Android Auto 16.1 is already hot on its heels.

But oddly, Android Auto 16.1 doesn't change all that much, and just makes a few tweaks. What gives? The latest Android Auto update seemingly just rolls back one of the last update's big changes, and it's because it broke a fundamental feature in a number of cars.

Android Auto 16 broke steering wheel controls, and this update fixes it

One of the new additions in Android Auto 16 was purely stylistic, and it was a new "squiggly line" used in place of a standard progress bar. It applied across a number of media apps in Android Auto, including Spotify and YouTube Music, and, simply put, it replaced the standard flat media progress bar with a squiggly one that matched recent style changes in the Google Pixel phones.

Google presumably just intended this as a small and fun touch, but it had rather more serious implications. Not long after the update, users began to complain that their steering wheel controls no longer worked — and they also discovered the problem went away if they rolled back to a previous version of Android Auto.

Android Auto 16.1 doesn't do much, but one of the things it does do is remove the squiggly progress bars. While Google hasn't announced the reason for this change, it's possible it has narrowed down the squiggly line as being the bug's culprit. Since it was just a style choice, removing it changes nothing for your essential experience, and it simply means you can listen to your music, audiobooks, or podcasts without your steering controls going kaput.

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If you have the Android Auto 16 update and have found your steering wheel controls are no longer working, then you can wait for the update to hit your device, you can roll back the update to something earlier, or you can download the Android Auto 16.1 APK and install it yourself onto your phone. But be warned if you go the latter route; installing APKs from the internet can put your phone at risk, so only do so if you're desperate.