Did this permanently solve the problem?

 

Yes, this was my experience as well. All of the resets were a temporary fix. I still cannot operate the Podcast app reliably from the car's controller. I can start podcasts using the phone, but then the car's controls (even POWER OFF) do nothing to change what's being played.

This is one reason I will not be getting a Q40 or Q50 again when my lease is up in a few months.

 

I'm assuming you're talking about the stand-alone "Podcasts" app on the phone? If so, has that ever worked? I don't think the car is designed to control anything other than the "Phone" and "Music" app through the cars controls. Obviously you can play the audio from that app through the car audio system, but you must control the app through the phone. I've never tried controlling the "Podcasts" app. I'll give it a try the next time I'm in the car.

 

I'm sorry, you are of course right--the car's controller does not operate the iPhone Podcasts app. The problem I'm having is with playing podcasts from the phone using the car's controller--the car's screen shows the lists of podcasts on my phone (Serial, This American Life, WTF with Marc Maron, etc), and clicking on each of these titles shows the episodes of that title that have been downloaded to the phone. Selecting an episode using the car's controller should play it--but often it doesn't: Either nothing happens, the title of the episode shows up on the car's screen and the time clock ticks away with no sound, or the title of the episode shows up and the time clock is frozen (with no sound).

When this happens, I can start the Podcast app on the phone and select/play an episode through the car's system using the wired connection--but then the car controller can't stop playing the podcast until the iPhone is actually unplugged. I don't want to be handling the phone while I'm driving; it's dangerous and can lead to a ticket!