MERGED: Toyota Announces Free NAV DVD Upgrade

i think the upgrade Toyota is talking about has to do with the firmware for the system itself. The data disk would be a separate upgrade.

this free upgrade will control how the system intreprets the data.

 

I disagree.

The letter specifically states:

"To minimize these occurrences and any further inconvenience to you, Toyota has developed revised software for the Navigation System and would like to offer you a one time software update at no cost for a limited period*. This program will be offered until December 31, 2005.

*Other map database updates may be available for purchase

The footnote explicitly implies that the database is included in the free software update.

 

Re: Letter about FREE NAV DVD update

To clarify, match the VDS part to the part of your VIN, then match the last seven to the ranges.

Nate

 

Re: Toyota announces a Navigations system upgrade. FREE

Where is the letter posted? On PriusChat? On another site?

Dave-the-Newby

 

Re: Toyota announces a Navigations system upgrade. FREE

Sorry, never mind. I found it here.

And I'm delighted to see that I qualify! Thanks, Arizona Charlie! And Nate!

 

I agree with the disagreement.

In addition to the quoted text, there is this:

Your dealer will require the Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) provided at the top of this letter to order your Navigation System software DVD.

Ordering a new DVD would not be necessary if this were only a firmware update.

 

Re: Letter about FREE NAV DVD update

The dealer bulletin is posted here. The actual charge rate is only 0.2 hours withhalf of that for admin overhead (ordering the DVD).

 

cool update. will coincide nicely with my 5000 mile service...

 

Hummummm.. When I called Toyota CC... they said that they knew and was working on it.. now in trying to get some "gross" errors fixed I contacted NavAtech.. they said not ours... I said wish it was.. .they said we are talking with Toyota..

Now that NavAtech is being bought out... Toyota might have gone back to them (the new vendor). ???

We will just have to wait and see/hear from someone that has completed the update.

Now the wait for my letter... then a trip to Service.. I have Oill Fliter, wiper blades, crushed oil plug, ect to get...

This is welcome news .. Thanks to the reporters.

 

Re: Letter about FREE NAV DVD update

Ok, I am confused. My VIN doesn't have KBU... Mine is below. Do I qualify for the update?

JTBDB20U550129036

Thanks!

-=Amber=-


::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Amber D Sapp, PharmD
2005 Silver #6
[email protected]

 

lol you disagree??

what you quoted is exactly what i have stated.

there is nothing wrong with the data. the problem is how the NAV intreprets the data.

 

Not only do I believe there is something wrong with the data, I believe it is the only thing wrong, from what I've seen and read. Here are a couple of direct quotes from the dealer letter:

Although by nature map databases may contain a certain degree of inaccuracy, a noticeable decline in the precision of the map data was observed when directly compared to the 2003 model year (Generation 3) Toyota Navigation system.

A new vendor was selected to produce the map databases and Point of Interest (POI) locations for certain 2004 and early 2005 Model Year Toyota vehicles with Generation 4 Navigation System.

 

i have inquired to a few different NAV providers and they all have said basically the same thing.

that the geographical data is only updated basically once a year although there are small localized updates that also come out once a year but not on the same date so there could be additional info to be added and it would be up to the individual companies as to what they will do. for the most part, it seems that most use the same resources to gather data (USGS, county tax records, etc) its possible that errors for a certain location is simply from the lack of recent data. (the ENTIRE country is NOT mapped yearly. it takes 3-5 years to do that so you might be in an area where the most recent data is 5 years old. but even in rapidly changing areas the fastest updates are available is EVERY 3 YEARS) many counties survey their area more frequently for whatever reason, but this data is usually only available for a fee, making it prohibitively expensive to add.

the problem with interpreting data (most of the problems comes from interpreting old data, not new data) is that there is no standards in place for place or street names making it tough to intrepret for systems. some places have things like "street" "ave" etc. some dont. that provides confusion.

also some places have old areas with old numbering systems and some have new areas with new numbering systems that are not compatible. i live on such a street. (although NAV can find my house...)

also (as they put it) they do not control the satellites and they dont do something right (this is never admitted but was aluded to a few times. Microsoft didnt give me any real info other than the canned responses)

also the software is a work in progress, there are mistakes as with any product of this complexity. they are constantly striving to read the data more accurately, anticipate user intervention better which in turn will make the NAV more user friendly.

most of this info isnt specific because no one offers anything real specific. but the one thing i definitely got is that the geographical data is pretty much the same. but not all of it comes in a format that is compatible with each other, so intrepreting the data is the ongoing challenge for each company and this is where the difference in each product comes in.

also a key is the letter that states that there was a noticably higher incidence of errors than in the 2003 NAV system.

that pretty much means that the way the data was intrepreted is flawed. sure its possible that there were a lot of mistakes made when recording addresses and coordinating them with the survey data. only need one bad number to toss everything intoo a quandry.

but that is not very likely and that is why Toyota investigated and rectified the situation. NAV data will never be 100% accurate and they have stated as such in their letter.

But as we all know, updates in the software that intreprets that data doesnt always necessarily does a better job than the old version (if you use microsoft, i think you will understand this). every update in the software could involve millions of changes and any change could include an oversight or downright error. i think this update that Toyota is offering is basically a software fix to rectify errors in the latest version.

if it includes updated NAV data that would be nice too but realize that most companies would hesistate to release a partial unplanned addition to the data already in place. that could create more problems than it fixes.

i maybe way off base but i doubt it. i would label this free update as SP1

 

ummm wait....

we need to clarify terms here.

lets take your car and your computer

lets take NAV software and MS word

lets take a NAV data and a letter written in word

as you can see, both examples are talking about different aspects of the same thing, they are different and interconnected but each can be changed individually.

you are most likely right in that there will be no changes to the firmware of the NAV. i believe that can be done on the fly from the Satellite anyways.

now if all the errors reported here in this forum were from new streets then ok i could see an update in the data doing the trick. but ive read many posts from people who cannot be directed to the house they have lived in for years on a street that has not changed for years.

yes its possible that the data that hasnt changed for years was copied incorrectly. but whats more likely is that the software used to read the data in an attempt to read some other data better, forgot or changed a key ingrediant necessary to read the old data.

that is why the 2003 NAV software worked better. its very likely the 2003 software is reading the same data as the 2004 software. and it seems that Toyota has determined the 2003 software was doing a better job of it meaning that the software upgrade (all software goes through continous upgrades for speed, error handling capabilities, additional features, etc) for 2004 has some glaring errors.

as i said, i maybe way off base, but what is happening is something i see all the time. its simply bug fixes...as i said...SP1.

 

No it cannot.

The only data that the navigation system receives from the satellite is the present location of the car in longitudes and latitudes.