2010 Prius - Satellite Radio Signal Weak

I bought my Prius in late August. One day soon after the purchase, my XM radio would not produce any sound but the text was present on the screen. I turned the volume up but still could not get sound. Then the next time I drove it, it worked fine. Since then, I've had no problems with the radio. The problem occurred only that one time. Trees were not an issue, although I sometimes lose the signal briefly when passing some trees near the highway.

 

Macdonald,

I have not yet had it happen to my New Prius but did have the same situation happen in my Honda Civic so what I found was to turn off the radio and wait a few seconds and turn back on and it was resolved. Waiting did nothing to get the signal back. Hope that helps.

 

Just to add more data. On a recent trip from Portland, OR to the Redwoods in CA, the XM reception was quite frankly awful. On highway 199, which granted has a lot of trees, it was completely unusable.

But even on at least a dozen short stretches of I-5 between Grants Pass and Eugene, I got nothing but static.

I love the service, and really would be interested in purchasing when my trial is up -- but reception really needs addressing (whether it's the antenna, the buffer, or both).

Guess I'll contact Toyota (not the dealer) about it.

Ron

 

In Phoenix with a Prius III I've never had an issue yet with sat reception.

However in Vancouver with a Prius III it's really awful, cuts out every time you drive past tall buildings - which is a lot.

We have another car with built-in Sirius in Vancouver that never cuts out in normal driving.

 

I was out in the Arizona desert and did not have any trouble with mine. Sounds like it is easily blocked by buildings and mountains. It ok for the most part but if they do end up wanting more than I paid for this 1st subscription I would not bother. INvest in iPod and downloads

 

I don't agree with "invest in iPODs and downloads". While I know you are thinking about music, there is so much more from satellite radio than commercial-free music. Massive sports (I have "best of Sirius" on a lifetime subscription), news, weather, traffic etc. My signal does go out for a second or two in a few spots, it is not a problem, just an issue with the technology, which is only 8 years old.

Rich N.

 

Depends on what you listen to. My XM cut out in a lot of places where the Sirus does not. I could live with that. But the difference in quality of the XM compared to my iPod Touch with bluetooth is not even worty of comparison. The XM in my area didn't sound any better than a 1960's AM portable radio. However the bluetooth in my iPod is incredible (or at least as good as I'll ever get out of the Prius radio, which is itself a marginally acceptable unit). I decided to invest in purchasing in music I can take with me when I travel rather than putting all that money into a car specific unit.

 

Well, that's due to the way Sirius and XM place their satellites.

XM satellites are placed in geosynchronous orbit, 22000 miles above the equator, this means that for areas like Seattle (where I live) and Vancouver, anything higher than about 30 degrees south of you will cut you off from their satellite. Tall trees, buildings etc.

Sirius, on the other hand, uses an elliptical orbit that passes over the 45 degree mark, which for Seattle and Vancouver would be essentially overhead. So for Sirius, bridges will cut off signal, and also the signal will vary depending on the current position of the satellites.

For higher latitudes, Sirius is a better option. Nearer the equator, XM is the better option.

This is the main reason I'm not subscribing to the XM in my Prius. I've had Sirius for years, and the difference in reception is unbearable.

 

That begs the question - how to convert the Prius from XM to Sirius while keeping all functions within the standard console?

 

I KEEP TRYING TO TELL TOYOTA THAT THERE IS A SIGNAL/ANTENNA PROBLEM WITH MY GEN III (MOONROOF MODEL) PRIUS. I HAD A $30 PORTABLE SIRIUS RADIO THAT I JUST STUCK ON MY ROOF AND PUT THE RADIO INSIDE MY CAR AND I HAD EXCEPTION RECEPTION! now i get: HIT A ONE WHEEL BUMP WITH A CLEAR SKY AND LOSE RECEPTION; STRANGE INTERMITTENT SIGNALS: (SOME PLACES YOU WOULD EXPECT TO GET SIGNAL AND SUDDENLY DON'T GET IT...OR IT COMES ON...GOES OFF.... COMES ON and this is when you are STANDING AT A STREET LIGHT!!)

I have had XM reset my signal. I have had Toyota check it (drove it around the parking lot and said the signal was great) They will not do a deep investigation of the issue without seeing some kind of signal, but I don't know what they mean. they just pass it off to be an XM problem. PLEASE HELP ME!!!

 

Just got a 2010 Prius III and was super excited about the built in XM. No more wires and cables to get in the way. However, it is next to useless here in New Hampshire. Even on a 4 lane highway it cuts out, sometimes it cuts out so much that it changes the channel back to the XM information channel. I have NEVER had issues with XM here in NH, I've been using it for about 5 years in my previous cars with a standalone unit. Is there any diagnostics that can be done? I would understand if this was the middle of the summer and I was on a backroad covered in trees, but on the highway?

 

Hi Folks. New here.

I bought my 2011 with the "standard" satellite radio. I'm in NJ in a somewhat rural area and the radio sux, plain and simple. Trees to the south and west are the main problem for me.

After taking it to the dealer TWICE, they would only say that it works properly, and they relly pissed me off when they said "Refer to your manual. It states that reception is not guaranteed!"

I submitted a complaint directly with Toyota and after insisting that my case be escalated to the next level (only took about two hours), I got the same story - "It's not defective. It's working, so we won't replace it. blah blah blah."

Based on two rentals I had with satellite radio (Ford Focus, and forgot the other one), driving over 1500 miles and several days, I didn't have the problems with either of those rentals.

I'm done trying. My anger is almost high enough right now to drive the car thru the dealer's window! (Though I won't) Grr.

What other radios are known to work better? Can they use the same antenna and car connections? (seems silly not to). Do they have the cool voice activation features that the stock radio has?

Thanks
Doug

 

Doug I finally got them to replace the antenna on my 2010 a couple months ago. Now reception is better than ever. They seemed to know about the bug, and they definitely did fix it. Luckily mine had gotten progressively worse and i was able to duplicate the problem for them.

 

Same here. I was 200 miles out of warranty, of course. Cost me $578 to get it replaced, but the new one works like a champ. Can't believe that I let them convince me it was just regular object interference when I first complained of it during week 1 of ownership. Seems like some of the third party marketers would have come up with a cheaper replacement given the prevalence of the problem.

 

Ive had XM for a few years now and rarely had loss of signal. I currently own a 2013 Prius III and the signal is horrible. Its seems to drop every few miles. I live in MA and never had XM issues as bad as i do now. I have a $200.00 a year subscription to XM and i cant use it in the car..... First Toyota i own and it hasn't been a good experience so far with the audio

 

My 2012 Five with the upgraded 7.1 unit is not very good with XM. It will fade out when I pull into my garage, where the antenna is under the sheet metal garage door, and going under and highway overpass, and gas station canopy cover. It seems to have no buffering at all. It fades as soon as I drive under an overpass.

 

I have a 2010 Toyota Prius IV and I have had two of these vehicles and both of them the satellite radio signal cut out so much I didn't want to even use it anymore. Under trees, clouds, bridges, buildings, etc. The signal always cuts out.

With that being said, I got frustrated and replaced the head unit with a new Pioneer touchscreen with a satellite antenna that was mounted in the rearnext to the radio antenna on the roof. Signal never cut out again. Even under bridges or in my garage. When I totaled my prius and got my next 2010 it had a navigation unit and it's back to the same crap. Different car but always cutting out everywhere. So trust me it's a prius thing.

 

XM weak reception SOLAR Prius quick fix. I had poor reception for 2 years and started hooking up my smart phone instead into the aux in center console. My $20 dollar fix was to buy 2 used antennae bases ($10 each) from 2 junkyard SOLAR PANEL equipped cars. Same size and same units with slightly different part numbers. The first one I swapped in works great now no problems at all and swap was easy.
DO NOT drop the entire headliner, just pop off three fasteners at back of headliner and carefully gently push posterior headliner down about 3-4 inches.. You will see how to remove and replace the units by ripping apart those SOLAR PANEL Prius at the junkyard.
The quick method was to hold the liner down with styrofoam or two pool noodles or something soft left and right sides. You just need a few inches to access the antennae nut and wire connector. Use simple 22mm open end wrench to unscrew the antennae (not enough room for socket) and screw new one back. The connector is tricky but is a familiar Toyota style. It is a 15 minute job..