When I got the new Prius a few months ago, I spent some time training and using the voice recognition. I couldn't get much reliable operation. Suri on the other hand finds my contacts perfectly. I thought I got it to respond to the command for a radio station number. But I'm in two different area's so I have 30 stations programed, and haven't memorized all the station numbers. So for now I'm manually scrolling up and down from the steering wheel. Is there any voice commands that work well? Any tricks you can share?
I have a similar problem that you described with my 2016 Prius Four. I called Toyota who said to visit a Toyota dealer. The dealer has no resolution and refuses to put anything in writing that they are unable to repair this issue. More info on this and other 2016 Gen 4 electronic issues posted here: Did Toyota delete the mph/kph selection in the speedometer of your US 2016 Prius?
I only tried "Play Album" and that worked fine. I like scrolling through my usb manually before I start driving though so I only used it once to see if it worked. It would be handy if the album I pick before I drive runs out of songs but that hasn't happened yet.
I made the mistake of using it to dial once. Even if it recognized words well, it takes so long to get through the menus that it is far less distracting to use Google Assistant. Yes, it is pretty awful.
I just say e.g. "call jim mobile" and it works a treat. I think using Siri to take the commands is a bit quicker however.
I found more success with voice recognition when I spoke rather softly as opposed to hollering like you're trying to speak to somebody on the phone. Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
I only use it to change Radio Stations and Sources. I have found it to be quite reliable for that. My standard phrase is "Tune to [Source] [Channel or Frequency]".
