Cold weather radio failure

I don't remember hearing this one before.

Was anything at all showing on the radio display when it wasn't properly booting? I.e. was it getting power but not fully booting? If so, my 'swag' (stupid wild guess) is that there is some thermal-mechanical problem inside the radio. If so, there would be no reasonable expectation of the dealer techs diagnosing the internal specifics, only replace the whole unit.

If nothing at all shows on the radio display, it still could be that. Or it could be lack of power reaching the radio, e.g. from a thermo-mechanical problem elsewhere. Is the fuse OK? Is the fuse cracked (not blown), making contact only when warm? (Spouse once had intermittent fuel pump failure due to cracked but not blown fuse, not temperature related, visible only under very close inspection.) Shop techs should be able to track down this or a similar problem in an electrical contact along the power supply or ground line.

This isn't an exhaustive list of possible causes, just the first basic ideas that come to mind.

 

I have had the same problem after my car has been sitting in the sun during hot weather. Turn the radio on and nothing happens. Everything else in the car works fine. After driving for awhile the radio starts working normally.

 

I too have experienced this occasionally over the years since I bought it new. It has happened in really cold and really hot weather. The radio display will not show up and the buttons wont work, but I can still turn it on, change stations, modes, and volume using steering controls. After a short while (either car warms up in winter, or cools off from AC in summer) all comes back. It only occurs when it is really extreme in the temps (like below zero here in Indiana) or really hot (110+ plus when I took it down to Texas one year). I tried having it looked at by dealer when it first happened and car was still under warranty, but dealer couldn't replicate it, so nothing was done. Almost 6 years later all still works, so I pay it no mind.

 

Yeah, it's been a long, long time since I last heard about this phenomenon. Tells us again what this "cold" is like.

 

That is not the same thing. In your case, you were exceeding the narrower temperature operating range of that type of display, but the rest of the radio electronics still worked. In OP's case, the entire radio wasn't working at above-freezing temperatures, well within its intended temperature range.

 

True-just posting up my experiences with my radio.

 

I just experienced this exact same failure of the radio in my 2012 PHV. No sound at all from the speakers on any station. I didn't bother to check Bluetooth or CD sound.

It was about 39F, so really cold for the Bay Area, but not a lot colder than usual this winter.

 

This happened often with my 2010 Prius Three (JBL, no nav). It did indeed manifest during "extreme" temperatures (hot and cold). The display would show garbage and the radio memory buttons would eject the discs! While in warranty I showed the dealer the pictures I captured and they replaced the radio for free. It happens less often now but every so often it still does occurr, so I bought a replacement OEM radio for 50 bucks to install before I sell the car one day. From my background in building electronics, I surmise it could be the temperature variances creating a CTE mismatch (coefficient of thermal expansion) or perhaps the solder joints are poor and that is affecting the product. This has never happened in my wife's 2015 PiP Advanced (also JBL, but a totally different radio design).