2010 Prius Navigation System is really horrible

It's weird, when we first test drove the Prius, the model we were in had the Navigation system and it seemed to be just fine... It looked very similar to the one in our 08 Scion XD and I couldn't find anything wrong with it... I also own a JVC KW-NX7000, which is completely different and I like both systems equally... I guess to each their own... I wish I had the factory nav actually...

 

It works fine in the majority of areas, but has major problems in other areas. Sometimes it will still get you where need to go, but will choose are really stupid route that wastes a lot of time and mileage.
You will not necessarily notice anything wrong in a test drive.

 

Gotcha' - Sucks, I was really bent on getting one... Oh well.

 

If you really would like one, rent a Prius with Nav for a day and determine for yourself whether it meets your needs or not.

I love my Nav. The audio is fine, the reception is fine and the GPS takes me on the routes that I want. It took some time to get the preferences like I want and to understand how the preferences work but once I figured this out I have had no more problem.

I really like that the Nav is intergrated in the dash and I do not have to mount an external device that can be target for theives. I also like the hands-free phone system and the rear view camera.

I agree that it appears that the GPS seems to work better in some areas than others. This is the only reason to me that it seems you either love it or hate it. Other than not taking the time to set your preferences correctly.

 

Besides convoluted or very inefficient routing, some missing roads outside major cities and outdated and very expensive map updates that are only updated once a year (meaning some data on the DVD may be closer to 2 years old when you get the car even if the DVD is the latest available) as opposed to cheap or free quarterly map updates on portable navs, another issue is that the only thing that works well by voice is entering a full street address by city, street name and house number.

You cannot enter a point of interest by voice by company name or a subcategory.
You cannot route to the nearest Chinese restaurant or nearest fast food restaurant by voice like you can with a Honda and some other car factory navs. You can only search for a few very general vague categories like "DINING" and you have no way to narrow it down to a specific city other than "near here" or "along route". You also cannot narrow the voice search by category or name other than stopping the car and searching using your hands on the touch screen.

Since the voice recognition can recognize most street names, it should also be able to understand "Burger King" or even "Italian Restaurants," but it does not recognize anything that specific. Only "DINING" and even then it only shows you a few of the very closest places to eat so you don't have much to choose from. Pretty useless.

A workaround I found you can do if you don't know the street address to some point of interest and don't want to have to pull over to use the touch screen to find it is to call BING-411 with bluetooth to get the address, try to memorize the address, hang up and then use nav voice recognition to input the destination by street address. Clunky.

Very limited amount of control other than navigating to a specific street address can be done by voice.

 

I will suggest here that you either RTFM or press the "talk" button on the steering wheel and say the word: COMMAND LIST
after she beeps.
Pause it.
Scroll down to the POINTS of interest (the words SHOW needs to be spoken before the commands) and read them carefully, scroll down and read them all.

You can absolutely, while driving, speak the words : CHINESE FOOD to the car and have POIs come up, click them, and make them a destination, marked point, or even call them to see if they are open. Ou can say FAST FOOD, Thai Food, BBQ, many different things.

It's a travesty when folks are given car keys with little intro to the car's many features. I love this feature on the Prius NAV! Not to blow my own horn but this may be why lots of folks prefer to come see me. Because they don't feel abandoned ... and are treated with care. No one gets out of here (with me, at least) w/o their phones being paired, speed dials explained and set, NAV system covered, command lists scrolled thru... etc. Not unless you wanna escape... but always, welcomed back to refresh the ol' experience with a lesson or two in doing things.

Your salesperson fell short of their responsibility and sadly, it's not the car's fault.

 

Actually, I READ THE MANUAL!
There is no list of available commands in the manual, nor does the manual tell you to say the word "SHOW."
Your RTFM comment was rude.
All the manual does is tell you how to find the command list, but an actual list of the commands printed in the manual would have been more useful.

Also, command list function is very slow to use and is only available at certain times. I remember trying to use it once and it saying something like the list of commands is not available at this time.
Unlike street address recognition that almost always gives you alternate choices and a confirmation prompt in case it didn't recognize correctly, it just assumes what you said and makes mistakes on these commands.

Apparently, you can get the list of commands to show only when the car is not moving. If you are going to stop, then you might as well hand key in the destination.
Not an intuitive design at all.

 

Wait --- why is RTFM rude?
Read The Factory Manual

is rude?

Yes, I agree that printing the commands is a good idea but having them right there on your screen as you're using it is even better! Like a live "help" onscreen when ya need it.

The point is to get you focused on the road. Not on the screen, while moving. If you're accessing a NAV or cel phone for info while moving, you're not paying attention... and I spend lots of time on that 405/5 etc on my commute and have seen the results of this. While it would be convenient to use the entire system while moving, convenient isn't always safe.

By the way, why was I rude?
And, if you were anywhere near me, I'd be more than happy to sit with you and show you everything your NAV system and phone will do. Are you in SoCal?

 

on the subject

... of the bluetooth -- I have the hardest time getting an iPhone paired as both music player and phone. Especially a 3G (the original ones) ... I have paired one as a phone, and then tried to pair it for music, and deleted ti all and started as audio BT and then tried to get it to see it as a phone.

That's the area where I sometimes fall short - every phone's different and the manual WILL tell me how to pair, but each cel phone is so different.

If anyone has any pointers for me on an older iPhone being paired with the new NAV as both music and phone, I am all ears... have 1 customer's car that refuses to see her iPhone as a BT audio device!

Di

 

It looked rude because it implied that I clearly didn't read the manual because if I had, I would have found the commands there.

To be intuitive, instead of listing a random list of every possible command the system can do, and having to stop and scroll through several screens using your fingers, it should be contextual.
If you are driving and using the voice recognition, once you choose DINING category, there should be one more level below where you can choose the type of food by voice and not have to memorize every category. It would also make sense for FAST FOOD to be at a top level menu since that is going to be much more frequently requested by those driving than BBQ etc..
Ideally, it would also let you speak a specific company name if for instance you specifically wanted to find the nearest McDonald's or Starbucks and it didn't show up when you searched by the broader category they are in.

 

Re: on the subject

At least on the iphone, the secret seems to be to always pair the phone as a bluetooth audio device first, using the car multimedia profile. Then you pair the phone as a phone, again using the car multimedia profile. You don't even have to enter the passcode the 2nd time.

 

Hi Dianne, This is almost funny.

To most people, RTFM means "Read The Fu**en Manual". Your interpretation of "Read The Factory Manual" is one that I've not seen before.

I've enjoyed reading many of your postings and I can honestly say that you have never been intentionally rude.

Keith

 

Relax. . . go slow on this. It takes time to check ALL the parameters and make some fine tuning.
I live on a corner and i was disappointed too. After reading the manual slowly, I was able to correct this problem. I wish the Dealership had someone who can give you solid answer.
I did calibrate the system while parked in my garage. Now is brings me to my door.

There is sooooo much to that system, you will in time learn to navigate its many menus
Took me about a year to get it. I still learn something every week.
What version on the software do you have?

 

That F in RTFM is really the F word?
I heard someone say that aloud once and have thought it funny but I always thought the F was for factory.
That's funny!! No wonder he was aggravated with me.

 

Re: on the subject

You know, that's a trick that I know. And, I did it this way after I discovered she wanted music from the phone too... I unpaired the phone, deleted the connection from the phone and started fresh with the audio first, and still, they do not see one another. Could it be that she needs to update her phone's OS?

 

What would be good is if we could re-order the POIs in the order we like. Some folks would be looking for PARKING a lot more than fast food. I know I look for ATMS and GAS waaaaaaaaaay more than I look for food / restaurants.

That's an idea! Drag and drop the POIs to your desired order.
Right now they are alphabetic by category.

But -- the idea is to read them over, and see what the car understands. That way, why read them? Speak them after pressing the talk switch.

Another pet peeve? There should be a BEEP switch ON the talk switch for when you know what to say but don't wanna start her on her talking, and then cut her off. Example:

Press talk switch.
Press again to shut her up so YOU can say Dial by Name.
Say the name.
She again pops up with 'NAME" and says home, mobile, etc blah blah..

Ya should be able to make her BEEP, say Dial by Name, have her repeat their name, and press BEEP quick to just say MOBILE or whatever you wanted, and then BEEP switch again quick to say ENTER or DIAL

I know you can do that for speed dials but there are only 18 and ou do have to take our eyes off the road to use 'em.

Bypass button, beep switch, whatever. Need one!!
That's my pet peeve!!

 

Re: on the subject

If it was an iphone, then yes, she could have had the pre bluetooth audio OS (audio streaming first came in with OS 3.1 and you had to have at least the 3G version of the phone). The other trick people have mentioned here and which I followed was to make sure the phone and the audio bluetooth are both set to use the same password. I think the default for audio is 1212, and the default for phone is 1111. That can be changed in the setup.

 

I have been watching this thread with great interest as I have a 2010 with Nav and the navigation system is impossibly bad. Since delivery last November, I have had frequent problems with the nav system routing me through residential areas instead of adjacent highways, sending me 40 miles north to pick up a southbound road to my southbound destination, and refusing to send me down some highways in favor of more congested and slower routes. Last week I was again routed through a residential area (25 mph) to get from a meeting to a nearby airport. There is a major highway that connects the two and I had hoped the GPS would have put me on it. Nope.

So, I called Toyota Customer Care over the weekend (800-331-4331) and explained the problem to them. They said an update to the Nav software came out in September 2010 and that it should fix most of these problems. I questioned this, asking if this meant that I had to pay for a new DVD with the maps. Answer is yes, sort of, but that the 'program' that runs the nav system is on this DVD along with the maps. Customer Care rep told me, reading from a document, that this update is to fix issues with (local) route selection that should remedy problems that would "waste fuel". Interesting.

Regarding the cost of the new DVD, which is substantial, he recommended that I first approach the dealer (who I informed of this problem back in April) and see what they will do for me. So, I will see them later this week and discuss it with them. I'll post more after my visit!

 

If it keeps avoiding highways that are shown on the map, maybe the route preference is not set for highways.
I have problems with routing with the nav, but I don't have problems all the time.