Voice recognition for making calls to contacts is the absolute worst!!

I have a new/used/2014 Leaf I got a couple months ago, and a new/used/2015 Prius4 I got a month ago. Everything in the Leaf infotainment system is better than the Prius. I'm kind of surprised.
Previous car was a 1991 Subaru, so both cars are a HUGE jump into the 'modern' world of cars. I didn't really have a bias either way. I'm trying out both a BEV and a hybrid. The BEV is great, but it can't do the distance or haul as much. Great commuter wheels though. Got to admit, the electric is surprisingly nice.

 

I know exactly what you mean. It's odd, because some days it works pretty good for me and other days I can try ten times to call someone and the recognition is so far off. I'm not sure what type of phone you are using but if you have a iPhone, you should try the Siri Eyes Free function. It uses the car microphone to access Siri for all sorts of things. Just push and hold the off-hook button on the steering wheel abs Siri will be at your disposal. See this video to see how it works. Siri is so much better at understanding commands!
See-

 

I can vouch for the Siri method working well for me; but it does depend on how the numbers are stored in the phone's Contacts and can be vulnerable to 'ambiguity'!

In my version of the car, once the phone is paired up, I can have access to 'Recent' calls which can be quicker to use on the car's touchscreen.

 

Never had an bit of an issue myself. Just curious, have you possibly not done the "voice training" in the audio system? Laugh at this, but it's important that when this is done that you talk like you do everyday. I've seen people do this and try to talk so clearly and proper that when they do talk to the system, it has no clue what they are saying.

Just a thought.

But the Siri route is fantastic. I use Cortana on my phone and it's also just a flawless.

 

I'm not sure how different the GIV model system is from the GIII, but I use the on-screen buttons and have had no problems, though it is awkward scrolling through the list of contacts. And of course I have to stop moving. I have a Oneplus 3T Android phone.

 

Another Siri user here and I never have any throuble calling who I want to call using the Siri function.

Just say e.g. "joe bloggs mobile/home" and it does its thing. If I want to call the last dialled person I just say "redial"

Make sure you have your contacts number set up correctly and you should be good to go.

 

Just to clarify, you are just talking about the Voice Command System for making a phone call? Your Bluetooth phone connection is working OK? I gave up on voice command long time ago, so only use the favorite list on the touch screen now.

 

The voice command system Toyota developed is terrible. Use Siri by holding the phone pick-up button or hold the home button on your iPhone and it will do the same thing. It works almost every time for me. Otherwise, just press the pick-up button once and find the contact on the touchscreen.

 

I've trained and retrained it. I'm sure if you have apple its workable with the siri eyes free but its impossible to do voice dial on an android without becoming frustrated. I swear the voice recognition is the same as a friends 04 Lexus and I have the 16 Advanced technology package...fustrating for sure.

 

I have stayed away from it do to my attempts in earlier models failing. SIRI works pretty well.

Example/ET phone home. Radio comes on.

 

I agree with the others about using Siri instead of entune voice recognition. I wish it would connect connect a little faster; some times I press and wait for the beep, then miss the window before Siri becomes confused and we try to talk over each other. I can also to text messages with Siri eyes free. Just say “send text message to —“ and follow the prompts. Great!

You can also also access your paired contacts w the touchscreen.

 

My problem is more widespread. It usually gets my phone calls but recognizes 25% of my commands for other things. Very very frustrating as you say. I tried another like car at the dealership and it did the SAME thing. So Toyota, whom i called today, seems to chalk this up to my being happy with a design issue. I'm unhappy that Toyota doesn't take charge of this one.

 

Welcome to Prius Chat @judith Espinola . You are far from alone in finding the car's voice recognition inadequate to ring out. Like @Jon Watkins , you would be better using Siri if you have an iPhone or Hey Google if you use an Android phone.