Weak FM radio reception in 2010 Prius?

OK, I am revisiting the FM issue after some one mentioned there is power at the antenna.

Since folks have gone to new radios, is it possible that the power connector to the electronics at the antenna are no longer connected?

In other words maybe the RF filtering or amplification there, is now disconnected directly at the antenna.

I only bring this up because I came across an old antenna gen 2 replacement web site.

Look at the Pre-amplifier circuit gen 2 which is 8 pics down.

Just a thought.

 

Thanks for picture sharing, but this is not a case. Me and some others checked this. Only the different FM radio and antenna design would solve the problem. By my experince PiP new FM design solved it - better radio and additional diversity aerial in the glass.

 

Obviously they've corrected it on facelift.

 

I have a 2010 Prius with the base radio that has horrible reception and I have a 2011 Prius with the JBL radio that is amazing. While replacing the stock radio in the 2010 with a new base Toyota radio, I discovered that the base radio works great if i unseat the antenna about 2mm out the back of the radio. I used a plastic zip tie to wrap it around the antenna plug and attached it to the case of the radio to keep it from moving it in or out. If the antenna is seated in the back of the radio I only get two radio stations. If I unseat it about 2mm and hold the antenna cable in place with the zip ties I get 12-15 stations which is a significant increase. NOTE: be careful not to unseat the antenna cable too far or you will lose all signal. I would have never thought that I would have to cobble a Toyota to work properly but I didn't buy the car for the radio, LOL! It seems that Toyota knows this and they are letting their guard down with their quality!

 

Could it be that easy.
Weather permitting I will try the 2mm of separation. I will try hot glue or black rubbery butyl to hold it in place, provided the change works.

thx.

 

I have a Pioneer HU and the reception is still crap. But next time I am in the dash I will give this a try.

 

Had an interesting experience today. I had started my 2010 Prius and was waiting for my son to place his baseball equipment in the trunk. He lifted the rear hatch and my reception, which was nice and clear, became slightly hissy. He closed the rear hatch and the reception came back nice and clear. Weird.

 

The antenna is on the roof and when your son opened the rear hatch, he blocked the FM signal going to the antenna. it is nothing to worry about.

 

Yea I agree. Not something to worry about. But all of my years of owning a car and using ham radios have I ever seen an antenna so poor that most of my signal disappears with a little interference.

This was more of an information post so that some of the more antenna technically savvy members may relate a ground plane issue, antenna attenuation, or balancing issue to the effect that I noticed.

I do appreciate the response though. Thank you.

 

i was under the impression that the roof antenna was for the phone reception and the radio antenna was incorporated in the rear side windows

 

The right rear side window antenna is a diversity antenna, which helps to obtain the better input signal for FM radio. But this modification has been started with facelifted models, e.g. MY 2012+. There is no dedicated mobile phone antenna.

 

Yes the reception is definitely worse than my civic hybrid. Looks like they are cutting corners whereever they can get away with it. It almosts soundslikeEMI when it happens.

 

the worse thing is that, they've already the solution as they've put into the facelift version but they don't allow us to get the improvement even we're willing to pay for the cost.
Weak FM radio reception in 2010 Prius? | Page 33 | PriusChat

 

We all know that the Prius team follows these boards as they have commented on certain posts occasionally. However, they have sold millions of these cars and the costs to provide an upgrade/fix would be huge. As this is not a safety issue, I see little hope of Toyota of stepping up to the plate to do the "right thing."

 

it's not only that, they refuse to provide the service to upgrade even if we pay them. we've brought this to consumer court, but as usual the court didn't favour consumer in M'sia.

 

Still no answer (solution for this issue, sad ), and assume the 2mm antenna connector was not a fix, too easy to be true, suspect with being his only post, or there would have been a bunch singing praises in the background. I wonder, and want to check if per chance the radio has a grounding issue. Hope to check this, and likely will not be the case. I have just one station I listen to 100% of my listening day, and put up with the static, I am use to it now, but what a pain, and to think Toyota has turned there back on this issue, for sure because the cost to fix must be in the order of replacing/fixing the faulty designed radio circuitry. I can imagine there were many new unsatisfied buyers in 2009/2010 that returned the cars to the dealer when no solution was available. I bought this 2010 used in 2013 (sorry, probably my profile at this writing is still 2004 (crashed), 2005 (given to my daughter) rather than the only working one today (2010 with all but the Moon Roof).

!!!!!!!! Impatiently waiting for a solution !!!!!!

 

The answer is that 2010 owners (of which I am one) are stuck.
An interference issue of some sort. Tried a Pioneer deck from
Crutchfield - also had terrible (weak) reception with FM - different antenna
options did not help either.
Not pleased with Toyota's handling of this. Will also make
sure never to buy the first year of a New generation of Vehicle either. Too buggy.

 

not sure this is just a 2010 issue. i just bought a slightly used 2013 persona and everything about the audio is worse than any other stock vehicle i have sat in. from the flat sound the speakers give out to the poor reception of FM stations that that are local and never had an issue with before. also the sat signal cuts out about 8 times on a 40 min trip. very unhappy with this aspect of the car but still not a deal breaker as most can be fixed with aftermarket parts.

 

OK, I have a 2013 Prius 3 with the stock base radio. FM Reception for 2 years was fine, and substantially better than my Gen 2, which was terrible (AM basically useless, FM not great). Sudddenly I started noticing the FM reception was getting spotty. Since I am not in the best reception area, I just figured it was a quirk of the weather, but after a few days I noticed a) it didn't get any better and b) it was on ALL stations, even close ones that should be crystal clear. When not moving reception is mostly OK on good stations. When moving, the sound drops out occasionally, and is replaced by static, like a bad cell call. I will be taking it in to Toyota for it's just-short-of-years-so-I get-it-free-under-toyotacare service, and I will have them check it out, but I am not hopeful. Oddly enough, my AM reception is fine, if not better now. If I get a chance I will record a sample of how it sounds and will attach it later. I hear talk of a service bulletin but have not found the link (I didn't go through all the pages of this thread).

Added: Reading some other discussions of this issue, I am starting to think that the antenna amp may be on the fritz/intermittently cutting out - since it would not generally effect the AM reception. Am I correct in my understanding that the antenna amp components are in unreachable, ridiculous places? If it was poor grounding or a bad connection, I'm sure I would here that in the AM signal.