Glaring NAV version 4.2 system errors

I offer one example of how the Nav system can be taught to improve.

On our initial trip home from the Toyota dealer in Michigan (long story, short wait), we naturally entered our home address. The resulting three routes all seemed reasonable.

As we got closer to Illinois we noticed the time estimate was about 30 minutes longer than we would expect if we stayed on the tollway. After a look in the manual, we found the Nav system was set to Ignore Tollways (which my dad would do). We turned Tollways on and the logical route home appeared.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Hytec\";p=\"50810)</div>

Yep, that'll work! Thanks for pointing that out. I never noticed it before.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(bruceha_2000\";p=\"50814)</div>

Oops, I had misread the LSC posted. I thought it said 12/31/04.
I will verify that the DVD is version 4.2 on Thursday before they (I?) install it. Thanks for the headsup.

 

I'm still confused about 4.2 being the upgrade.

2005 cars are included in the upgrade, so did those get a pre-4.2 but some 2005 owners managed to drive off with the upgrade from the start? The people reporting 4.2 sucks?...

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(mikepaul\";p=\"51161)</div>

Mine, an early 2005 delivered on Sept. 15, came with version 4.01. So far, I have encountered very few problems with the accuracy. I may wait a year before having the update done, assuming that I will get the most up to date DVD version at the time of the free upgrade.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(mikepaul\";p=\"51161)</div>

My 2005, assembled in late September, was delivered in late October with 4.1. Its VIN appears to be early in the 2005 sequence, unless there is a significant gap in the VIN sequence.

 

My guess is that it's best to follow this guideline: If you're having problems with your nav routing, you should do the upgrade. If you're happy with how it's performed and have no problems, the upgrade isn't necessary (plus, you still have a year to decide if you want it).

The 4.2 version isn't going to be the end all be all. Since I've purchased my car, there have been at least 5 changes in the roads just on my normal work route. The 4.2 upgrade is going to hopefully fix more problems than it brings to the table - but don't doubt for a second it will still have problems. Your specific area might be better off after the upgrade, or it could possibly be worse if the data they got was incorrect. Hopefully they'll let us keep the old disc, and hopefully we'll be able to revert to the older version if the new version isn't as good in our specific areas.

-m.

 

I've found the errors in the nav system more amusing than anything else. There are quite a few glitches around Austin, TX. Let's see...

Today heading west towards Mopac [on 6th Street], the car told me to turn left onto TX 1 North. Actually, the correct answer was to turn right, unsurprising if you think about the geometry of the situation. There was a left lane, but it went under the freeway and joined the southbound side.

A few days ago we were directed down a street (whose name I forget) as part of our route, and we got to the end and discovered there was no through road--just a building at the end of the street. That was pretty funny.

The best glitch is when we've taken the Burnet Road exit from 183, and need to head south on Burnet Road itself. The obvious answer is to turn right at the lights, but the car tells us to take three left turns around the nearest freeway support pillars, the final turn being onto a piece of road that doesn't exist. It even draws the loopy route on the screen.

The car also likes telling us there's a right turn or left turn ahead, when the display clearly shows the road continuing straight (but with a red dot on it). This happens so often that it makes the spoken instructions pretty useless unless you have the map display to confirm them.

It's not uncommon for one of us to remark "Oh dear, the car has been smoking crack again". I guess it would be less amusing if my wife was giving birth or something, but generally we're not in a mad hurry to get somewhere, so we just end up seeing places we wouldn't otherwise have seen...

The search engine is kinda flaky too. If you search for KINKO it doesn't seem to find any, but if you browse by category they're there.

 

Hm, I haven't noticed so many errors around Austin, but I haven't used my Nav that frequently driving in Austin. One thing I can say is that all the overpasses and entrance ramps for freeways in Austin are often kind of nuts, and sometimes the freeway entrance you except to be on one side of the road is actually on the opposite because of the loops, so I almost don't blame it for getting some of the freeway entrances wrong. With the road ending where you expect it to continue (I think that happens with Far West at 2222), even print maps have that wrong. And it did know that a back road near my house that dead ends and then continues as the same name didn't go through. There has also been a ton of road construction in Austin recently. It does have my road in it, which is only 5 or 6 years old. I wonder if I have a newer version of the Nav than you.

 

I ran into POI errors yesterday. My daughter wanted to watch the map and last week I had asked it to show school and shopping POIs. I had not turned them off. I was surprised to see that the 3 schools and the shopping center near the rink were all shown about 1 mile south of their true positions. These have all been in place for well over 20 years.

The road to the rink was also interesting. It is 2 way for the most part but about 1/8 mile before the parking lot it heads off north for a 1 way going in. The exit comes out of the south end of the lot so it is a big loop. The map didn't know about that and we were driving through the woods as far as we could tell. On the way out, once back on the known 2 way road, it had us running parallel to the road, on the north side (where the shopping center REALLY is). I don't know why it was OK going in, but got lost on the way out.

 

Howdy

I just came back from Reno Toyota and they had no idea what I was talking about. I gave then the letter (generic for the other thread) and after about twenty minutes they confirmed that they would have the DVD next week.

I’ll keep you posted…

 

Classic Toyota (round rock, tx) says Toyota is getting very tight with the DVD's.. they asked twice was I having any problems... The dvd's are in very short slpy...

The newer one has got to be better than the one I have now..

Toyota... you out there... put an ISO image out.. must use vin to access... we roll our own for now... you mail one out later.

Yes, I know must have dual layer burner... and media.

ya'll have a great t-day.

 

Yeah, I called Classic on Wednesday and they said Toyota was only replacing them IF you had problems. How they're going to determine whether I have problems or not (is a tech going to drive around with me to the trouble spots?) I don't know. They also said they couldn't do it if I hadn't received the letter (which is bad news for me since we have horrible mail service), since not all '04s have the problem.

The truth is, I think I was the first person to enquire about it with them, and they weren't quite sure yet what the deal was. They were supposed to call me back when they knew more, but haven't (which I suppose might mean they don't know more...).

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(inkydoo\";p=\"51945)</div>

What? It sounds like Classic is making up excuses because of their short supply (or ignorance on the issue). I haven't noticed major problems yet, but I probably have a newer version than most. I was thinking of getting it done at my 5k service, but I'll probably go to Champion since Classic is too far away.

 

As usual, different dealers have different policies. My 04 was in for it's 20K service Friday and when I picked the car up, they told me that they noticed that my car fell inot the range of a recall and that they had already ordered the DVD for me. I haven't had any major problems with 3.1 and was planning to wait.

I wonder if I get to keep 3.1 in case 4.2 is worse for me and I want to go back to 3.1.

 

Hopefully they will let us keep the old DVDs, but parts replaced by warranty are typically retained by the dealer. However, since this isn't a physical defect, but rather a data defect, maybe they will, if you ask.

Let us know how you make out. If they don't let you keep it, maybe we can go dumpster diving at the dealership.

 

Whenever I drive down US-101 through Redwood Shores, the system ALWAYS takes me off the freeway, circles me around Oracle (!) and then puts me back on 101. At first I thought it was a database programming joke... It is quite funny!

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(pjm877\";p=\"51893)</div>

That would be one heck of a download; over 8 GB!

If they were smart, they'd send a letter to those with affected VINs along with a short questionnaire. Anyone not interested could simply discard the material while those experiencing problems could fill it out and request a new DVD. Toyota could then send the new disk along with instructions on how to remove the old disk and insert the new one (we're not building rockets here).