Head Unit Reboot while Driving

I traded in a perfectly functioning 2016 Prius2 in March 2020 for a 2020
Prime XLE and wish I hadn't. Every month since I bought the car the Head
Unit reboots within a minute or two of turning on once or twice a month.
Most of the time this happens the first time I start it in a day, but
occasionally on the second time (such as this month on May 2nd). I have
NONE of the extras such as Sirius, Assistance, etc. Here are some
additional details:


I play old Korean Pop songs from the 1960s, 70s and 80s as MP3s that I
prepare myself on a USB stick. I repeatedly reported this to the dealer for
over a year along with the dates of occurance. After a 5 March reboot I
contacted Toyota and opened a case on 8 March. A 7 April reboot caused me
to contact the dealer again and they said they could not duplicate it
(naturally) and said to remove the USB and use something else so I paired
the car with my Samsung S10 and played (the same MP3 songs) via Bluetooth
until the Samsung battery exploded and I replaced it with a Toshiba. On 2
May the systemd rebooted on Bluetooth as mentioned above.


A new case is now open with Toyota and I have been contacted by a REAL
PERSON who wants me to take it to the dealer who will check the USB and
Bluetooth source and reset the Head Unit. For a second time I asked her
about over-the-air interfacing to the car and she had no answer, so not
knowing whether or not software updates are pushed to the car here is my
hypothesis for what is happening:


If updates are pushed over-the-air and a command send to reboot on the next
power-up, this would explain why the system reboots the first time it is
started in a day (if the update is sent the previous say) or the second time
in a day (if the update is sent while on the first time). NONE of the
reboots occured after the second time the car was started in a day. Of
additional note is that one of the times it rebooted on the second time was
when I had traveled to Tennessee to visit my daughter. When I left her
house, it was Ok, but rebooted when I powered on after filling up with gas
prior to hitting the highway. My normal home base in near Ft. Meade
Maryland.


The visit to the dealer is supposed to happen in the next few days and I
will update here afterwards. Can anyone confirm whether or not there is any
downloaded information to the car when NO services are contracted? TIA.
Now if we could only get the system to display cover art without the Parking
Brake being on...HOW STUPID!!!

 

Finally had an appointment at the dealer and naturally they claimed that they knew nothing of what Toyota wanted done so I told them (they claimed yet again that they could not duplicate the problem...naturally). In any event, I now cannot listen to my music from USB or via Bluetooth (since my phone is now un-paired) and now only listen to talk radio and am watching for the reboot to occur again. My guess is that sometime in early June it will happen again.
BTW, the Toyota 'Brand Engagement' Rep confirmed that software updates are occasionally sent wirelessly to the car, but that owner intervention is required to activate them and it is very rare. We'll see...

 

I don't think so. This is a 2020 Prius Prime XLE and according to the manual, Map data is on a microSD card and furthermore "Map data updates are available for a fee" and I have not paid for such. Thanks for the hint though.

 

No, I am not talking about the Toyota app on a phone (which I do NOT have). There apparently updates of some sort that are sent wirelessly to the car (very infrequently according to Toyota). Since my HU reboot only happens on the first or second start of a day when it occurs (once or twice a month for over two years), I suspect that something else is being sent that forces a reboot a short time after the next power on. If this is the cases, then it is yet again another example of poorly designed software in the 11" head unit.

 

I am speculating that they use cellphone technology to communicate with the car in a manner similar to the emergency calling feature (which I opted OUT of as well). Toyota has identification data for the car (VIN number, RF unit identifier, etc) since they made it and installed all the parts. I tried to get the dealer to unplug the RF unit and place it in my hands but they refused. We'll see if the reboot happens next week (when June starts).

In a possibly related issue, when I started the car today, the head unit did not power up, although the car started and drove. I pressed the Audio power button once to turn off, and another time to turn on, and the whole Head Unit powered-on with the chimes, logo and warning. I'll pass this along to the "Brand Engagement Representative" the next time I contact them.

 

I checked all the examples, and I don't believe that I am experiencing the same thing as most of the older reports. My experiences are limited to one or two a month, predictably in the first 90-120 seconds after starting (first or second of the day only) when they occur and don't have any of the other (repeating, changing display, etc) effects, but thanks for providing the links.

 

Update: It happened again. Reboot within two minutes of starting (first of the day) exactly 4 weeks after it did the same on 2 May with Bluetooth music playing. This time no USB, phone un-paired, listening to 103.5 FM radio. In addition to the first-time event of last Friday (Head Unit not starting at all for a couple of minutes), something seems to be deteriorating. I notified the "Toyota Brand Engagement Center" (again) and was told that they can't do anything unless the dealer (independently-owned) can duplicate the problem we are "at a stalemate".

So, I called my dealer (Brown's Toyota of Glen Burnie, Maryland) who initially said that all they can do is set me up with an appointment to see if they can duplicate the problem (which they won't since I have to start my [only] car to get there) so I gave them three alternative ways to check:
1) Give me back my old Prius2 (in the same condition as when I traded it in) and we'll swap even-up.
2) Give me a free loaner for up to 1 1/2 months so they can start mine every day until it happens.
3) Swap my Head Unit out for another so they can put mine in another car and start it every day to check. This might not work if the Head unit has a means of querying the car to see if it has changed.

The dealer rep said that she could not agree to any of these and said that they (dealer) would have to bear the cost of any of these. I reminded that I am bearing all the costs of travelling to visit them, wasting time on needless phone calls and stress (plus not being able to listen to my Korean music now). I asked her to check with her management and she said that she would check with the Maintenance Chief.

So, it seems as though Toyota isn't REALLY interested in fixing their products and I can't comment about this dealership without devolving into profanity.

 

New development! The 'Brand Engagement Advocate' called on 6 June confirming that they wouldn't buy my alternatives but she is trying to contact the Brown's Toyota Service Manager. David (the Service Manager) called today, 10 June saying that a software update allegedly addressing random reboots was released o/a 28 May, after my last visit on 19 May. I was in the Dealer's shop 35 minutes later and the new firmware was installed. A version ending in 2500 was installed a few months ago, and the new version ends in 2520. We'll see if this solves the problem and I'll keep this thread updated.

This may be a minor issue, but I paid for a car designed, built and programmed by professionals, not amateurs and Toyota needs to learn how to build reliable software, particularly now that all manufacturers seem to be moving to very dangerous ground with over-the-air software updates.