Car controls not working properly

[Toastation]

Plan

Premium

Country

United Kingdom

Device

Oneplus 3T

Operating System

Android Pie (OxygenOS 9.0.4)

My Question or Issue

For the life of me I can't get my car controls to work any more - or at least not reliably. The only way Spotify reacts to the car controls is if I press a button on the app (for example, shuffle or repeat). This obviously is not realistic for when I'm driving. It's almost like the app needs to be refocused on the phone for it to react.

I've tried clearing data, uninstalling and reinstalling, turning off car mode, clearing cache, and nothing works.

Thing is, the car controls work fine with any other music apps I have (SoundCloud for instance) so it looks like Spotify is the culprit.

My car is a 2018 Mercedes-Benz A200 if that is of any help.

Cheers,

Benjamin Packer,