iPhone with Carplay mic issue

[RicWalLar]

Had my MG3 10 days now and it's great.
I'm trying to get to grips with Carplay (which I've never had before, except on a couple of rental cars when I didn't try making phone calls with it) and my iPhone 11.

It connects ok (with a cable) and I can make and receive phone calls. But whilst I can hear the other person through the car speakers, they can't hear me at all. If I disconnect Carplay (by pulling the plug) they can hear me OK through the phone obviously, but as soon as I reconnect the cable they can't. It seems as if the mic on the car isn't functioning with the phone, though Siri does hear me when Carplay is connected.

I know Bluetooth isn't used for Carplay connection but I've tried this with Bluetooth on and off just in case, but it makes no difference.

Any ideas what's going on? Thanks.

 

[RicWalLar]

I may have resolved this. The top left button on the steering wheel has a picture of a head and, possibly, voice coming from it. The manual says this is a "Speech Recognition Function Button" and pressing it toggles turning on and off the phone's connected voice recognition function.

What pressing it actually does is bring in Siri, so I had assumed that this is what it's for, as there is no further advice in the manual. But in fact it also seems to activate the microphone for phone calls, so after pressing it and making/receiving a call, the caller can hear me. Bingo!

I don't know whether it needs pressing each time I start the car or whatever makes it work (again, no help in the manual) but it does seem to resolve the problem.

Can anyone throw any light on how this actually operates?