Hello everyone. I joined this group just for this issue. My wife has a '17 EX and I have a theory to add and an issue that also comes up.
My theory is that the newer phones are much faster therefore the head unit cannot keep up which causes the crashes. Here is how I came upon this... My wife has an iPhone 11 running iOS 15, although the issue started before 15, and I have the 8 Plus also on iOS 15.
Whe she uses her phone with Apple/Google Maps, it does crash alot. She drives around the LA area for her job. Plus I know this first hand because we do Uber Eats together in Los Angeles and it helps us get to the customers a bit better than the native Uber maps. When we go somewhere and she drives, her phone is used and she always runs the maps. Whether directions are used or just general mapping, it does crash often. I have also noticed when I am not with her and shes using maps and calls me, the call will lock up and she sounds like a broken record. I have to call her back in 1-2 minutes because in those cases according to her, it reboots both screens and unit.
Now when we go out and I drive, I use my phone. I don't use maps unless necessary. But lately I have been using them to see if we get the same issue with my phone. There is a difference. My phone rarely crashes the system compared to hers. I would say my phone would crash once compared to hers at 3-4 times in about an hour of driving.
These are just my findings using 2 different iPhones. My guess is since her phone is newer, it sends the info faster than my phone thus causing the radio to be overworked and just crashing. Could Apple maybe write a code that can slow down data transmission via CarPlay? Yes but will they? My guess is no. But also Clarion, the OEM radio provider for Honda should have anticipated phones becoming better and faster thus make the unit a bit future proof.
Keep in mind that when she uses Apple Music, Spotify or phone calls without running any of the maps, the unit work fine as intended.
Now for those of you who are asking about aftermarket solutions, there is one for the 9th gen Accord. Unfortunately it's only for the LX and Sport models since they have the 1 screen and that OEM radio is provided by Pioneer. I know this because I work for a Metra Distributor here in LA. My rep has informed me that there are no solutions at the moment for the EX, EX-L and Touring models. It's mainly due to the dual screen, Lane Watch and Honda Sensing. Just to give you an idea, the setup from Metra is the 99-7804B which works for the LX and Sport. If one does come out for the EX and higher, it will be based off this model, but will include a more complex interface and harness to help retain the extra add-ons these trims have.
I may try FreeWoRLD's hack to see if my wife gets an improvement. She even threatened to jack my Alpine from my 4Runner and throw it in her car but she knows she cant so she started doing the next best thing... She takes my runner when she has to do these events and leaves me the accord which I don't mind, just hate the audio since I have a setup in my truck and she's still on stock.
Last thing I just remembered, has anyone called Honda corporate to make a complaint? I have but not sure if it helped any but if more people start calling or blasting them with emails, then maybe something could happen.