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Stereo knobs Non-responsive

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Audio and Electronics' started by croyal, Oct 25, 2007.

  1. croyal

    croyal New Member

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    Hello All.

    Often, the volume and tuner knobs on my factory stereo don't respond correctly. For example, when the volume knob is turned in either direction, volume control display shows either:

    1. No visual response that the knob is turning, or

    2. Visual response but staying at the same number (no matter how much the knob is turned) or

    3. Visual response but the digits move within a small range e.g. 05-06-05-04-05-05-06-05-05-06-05-04-05 etc. or

    4. No visual response. But later (minutes, hours, or days) the volume control display appears and the volume changes itself- as best i can recall- possibly in the same direction I was last attempting to use the knob. Ghost in the machine? This has only happened with the volume knob and not the tuner knob. Or...

    5. Works correctly (unpredictably).

    The Steering wheel button controls work fine. Is this knob problem common or worth a trip to the dealer? I have an April 2006 model and have survived by not using the knob often. But, I still want to know what's going on.

    Thanks for your thoughts.

    Chris
     
    #1 croyal, Oct 25, 2007
  2. Bill Merchant

    Bill Merchant absit invidia

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    Hi Chris, welcome to PriusChat. I think your radio knobs, hence radio, are defective. If you're still in warranty, I'd try to get the radio replaced.
     
    #2 Bill Merchant, Oct 25, 2007
  3. criley

    criley New Member

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    The buttons on my steering wheel just stopped working for the Audio system and the buttons below the nav screen do not work either. I can control the audion system with the nav screen. Any thoughts? I was going to check if a fuse is blown or a wire came loose, but I would not know where to start. Please help.

    Chris
     
    #3 criley, Oct 29, 2007
  4. Vagabond

    Vagabond Active Member

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    have you added any mods to the car?
     
    #4 Vagabond, Oct 29, 2007
  5. hobbit

    hobbit Senior Member

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    Since the stereo knob is "soft" instead of an actual pot, it's
    probably a rotary encoder like one axis of a mouse. Since such
    things have two quadrature outputs, it sounds like one of your
    outputs has gone pifft and the remaining one is causing the data
    to just bobble between two nearby values without actually progressing
    in either direction.
    .
    _H*
     
    #5 hobbit, Oct 29, 2007
  6. DougSlug

    DougSlug Member

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    Has this been a common complaint? My volume knob has done this twice in the year-and-a-half I've had my Prius. I realized what was going on (loss of a quadrature phase output), but found it unlikely in such a new car. Of all the things that could be unreliable in the Prius, it seems surprising that it would be the volume knob.

    - Doug
     
    #6 DougSlug, Oct 31, 2007
  7. croyal

    croyal New Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(DougSlug @ Oct 31 2007, 06:38 AM) [snapback]532834[/snapback]</div>

    How long is the warranty period? I'm just over a year and at 17k miles.

    If not replaceable under wannranty is there a way to fix the knobs- just as you can clean the inside of a mouse?

    Chris
     
    #7 croyal, Oct 31, 2007
  8. qmanqman

    qmanqman Active Member

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    Sorry to dig up an old thread but it was either that or start another. I've read a good half dozen threads just like this one and they all end the same . . . no resolution.

    My car intermittently does this same exact thing. Sometimes the volume control knob works. Sometimes it doesn't work. Sometimes when it doesn't work the volume level on the display changes back and forth between two numbers (ex. 25,24,25,24,25,24, etc) and sometimes you see nothing on the display for volume control.

    The volume control knob works most of the time and the steering wheel volume buttons haven't shown a problem yet.

    Anyway is this just something that we've learned to live with or is there a solution?
     
    #8 qmanqman, May 13, 2024
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