If you drive with a clamshell foldable closed and connected to Android Auto, you may not be able to place a call right now. Owners of Motorola Razr and Samsung Galaxy Z Flip phones report that outgoing calls fail in exactly that setup.
Incoming calls are not affected. The fault only runs one way, which is part of what makes it easy to miss until you need it.
What Actually Breaks
The trigger is the phone being shut while it stays connected to the car’s Android Auto session. Open the phone and calling works. Close it and outgoing calls stop going through.
That is a narrower fault than a dropped connection, and a more awkward one. A driver who cannot dial hands-free is a driver tempted to reach for the handset. That is the exact behavior Android Auto exists to prevent.
Where the Investigation Stands
Google’s Android Auto support team has asked affected users for details to help with an investigation, in a thread on its own help community. Android Authority reports that Motorola is also looking into the problem.
As of September 30, no root-cause explanation or fix date has been published by either company. Reports of the fault stretch back months rather than days, which suggests this is not a fresh regression from a single app update.
Some affected owners connect the timing to Gemini replacing Google Assistant on their phones. Treat that as a pattern in user reports rather than a diagnosed cause.
The reports are not all coming from one place either. Android Authority links to threads on both Lenovo’s Motorola support forum and Google’s Android Auto help community describing the same closed-phone failure.
What Flip Phone Owners Can Do About the Android Auto Call Bug
As of September 30, no official workaround has surfaced. The practical answer is to set the call up before you set off, while the phone is open and the car is stationary.
If you are hitting this, the Android Auto help-community thread is the place to add your device and software details. That is exactly the information Google’s support side has asked for.
It is also worth keeping expectations calibrated. A support team gathering reports is not the same thing as a fix being scheduled.
Source: Android Authority
