I thought Prius owners with Bluetooth & GPS may want to know of a conflict I experienced today. This experience applies to a 2010 model and may, or may not, apply to earlier models. While en route to a project out of town I had the GPS guiding me. I had been to this particular project a while back and had some vague recollection of about where the exit was. About 6 miles or so before my exit I got a phone call and was discussing business for just a short time. After I hung up the GPS directed me off the next exit. When exiting, I noticed the environment didn’t look familiar to me. Then the GPS directed me to make a left, when I knew I should be making a right turn. In an attempt to ascertain the situation I pushed the zoom out button (the negative sign) and realized I passed my exit. She was turning me back around! Lesson learned: The Bluetooth has priority over the GPS. The screen shows the phone connection and no verbal commands, or the visual 1/2 map (a suggestion to Toyota) , are delivered to the driver during the phone connection. I’ve not tried it yet but I think if I had pushed the MAP button during the phone conversation I would had at least a visual reference, but not likely verbal commands. I am not 100% sure about this but intend to give it a try soon to validate it. So, if you’re relying on the GPS and are expecting a critical command the GPS, be alert to the fact you will loose verbal & visual guidance when on the phone, or when it rings. I am not sure if there are any other Bluetooth issues (i.e. IPOD music via Bluetooth) with the GPS or not.
Thank you for the Info. Actually I am not surprised of what you said. The inbuilt SATNAV is so rubbish I only used it 3 times. It annoys me to no end how crap the sat nav is considering how expensive the inbuilt SATNAV is. So to have conflict it is normal. I guess they think that a phone call is more important than where you are actually going. I loved my GARMIN portable SATNAV.
If you hit the MAP button during a call you will get the directions again on your NAV. I had it happen once and that was the workaround.
Bobsprius, Re: "If you hit the MAP button during a call you will get the directions again on your NAV." I assume you get the visual; not the audible. Am I correct? Thanks
my phone works the same way. calls always take precedence over directions. and my phone will do the same as the Pri, simply navigate a u-turn. when you think about it, its really does make sense. i am gonna have to remember to try the map button during a call when navigating though.
DaveinOlyWA, I disagree. When I THINK ABOUT IT, it doesn't make ANY sense. I am relying on my navigation system to get me to my location and when a phone call is presented it is no longer ME making the decision to abandon GPS. Someone other than me decided that a random telephone call was more important than my need to rely on my navigation system. I'm the driver in command of my Prius, not guy/girl that set up the firmware/software logic. The system makes the selection to eliminate my GPS without ANY warning or notification to me. This is the wrong logic and needs to be corrected . A split screen (with a map visual) should appear and the GPS audible should continue regardless.
Actually, YOU were exactly the person that made that decision. You made the decision to answer the phone, thus deciding that a random telephone call was more important than voice directions. If you want voice directions, then just don't answer the phone.
BUT.... when you hang up, the NAV still gets you where you want to go right?? so how is it not doing its job? FYI; my "random" phone calls generally have a duration of less than a minute. little risk of missing my turn
This is old news. My 2004 does the same thing. I rarely use the phone when driving and yes I do have BT. It is amazing how distracting even a handsfree call can be.
Thanks for the great advice! You guys are great! I learn so much from this site (smiling here, no disrespect intended). Now I just learned that there is NO problem with the GPS. It's us stupid people that have the audacity to answer a phone call that comes into our Prius. Imagine that! And if we do answer, we should only talk for less than a minute or, better yet rarely use the phone when driving (even if it's your passenger talking via the bluetooth connection). And when your in the city expecting a turn any minute and that darn phone rings....your GPS is out to lunch. The problem isn't the car, it's the stupid person that called. They should have known you where driving! On a more serious note, the point is there's a conflict between the GPS & Bluetooth than needs to be resolved by Toyota. I can listen to the XM and the GPS at the same time. And I want to use my Bluetooth and GPS at the same time. Without conflicts in the system.
It is too bad. The phone and the GPS should not be sharing resources like speakers and displays. I have an aftermarket GPS and BT phone. I can chat all the way until I get to my location. The voice from the GPS intrudes into the phone call, but anyone who calls me in my car should expect that I am paying more attention to the road than to talking. It can be argued that if one is speaking on the phone, s/he needs the GPS even more to look out for them. There certainly should not be any diminution of GPS function. It is a $2000 GPS afterall.
according to BobsPrius; if navigating to a location and you receive an incoming call, you simply hit the map button after the call connects and although you wont get the verbal instructions, you will still see the route then? ok, so inconvenient and maybe user settings that control the hierarchy would be appropriate, but interrupting the radio or a telephone conversation is hardly the same thing. i am going to try it today hopefully to see how elegant it works. if its that easy, i dont really see much of an issue since the Nav voice interrupting during a conversation would be VERY RUDE and i prefer it not do that.
then we'd have to deal with complaints about how the NAV cut in and interrupted your phone call.... How rude of the NAV lady! LOL
Two things: 1. Folks, be nice. 2. The phone has always had priority over NAV. This has been the case since the 2004 Prius, thus for us long-time users, it's quite expected behavior. It is possible to press MAP during the conversation to "see" your turn-by-turn directions. It's also possible to press it a SECOND time which will temporarily cut-off your caller's audio to announce the next set of instructions. Once it's complete, your caller's audio will restore. (I did this once by accident and my wife thought I had hung up on her because I had stopped responding). For those of use who use our hands-free for conference calls, I'm quite glad the phone has priority. Last thing I want to do is unmute my line and ask someone to repeat themselves because I was listening to turn-by-turn instead. Besides - being involved in a conversation AND being "distracted" again by automatic turn-by-turn directions in an unfamiliar area over a phone conversation? That sounds like a recipe for an accident!
DaveinOly, I'm traveling later today and will try it also. By the way I agree that the GPS voice is rude- Bluetooth or talking without Bluetooth connected. Recently one of my associates thought some lady was on the line with us! Thanks for the info HTML, also good info.
Update- just completed a 300 mile trip and played with the GPS and Bluetooth/phone. When a call comes in (as noted by a few of you here) you can: 1) Answer, then push the MAP and see a full map screen - No voice commands however, or, 2) Choose not to answer then push the hangup button (red phone icon on the screen) and the phone goes to voicemail (as applicable). If you push the MAP button twice the phone is muted, 3rd time the phone is back on. There is a delay however, once you push the button it takes a few seconds. The phone screen will not be brought back which leads me to my next comment. After you pick up the call, (unless you have a desire to watch the call timer, or phone signal strength) the only reason I can think of to show the phone screen is maybe to push the hang up button.
