Radio - Distortion and then No Audio

Hi all,

I've got a 2010 Prius IV that I got back in July of 2010. My car's only option is the navigation system. I have not made any modifications to the car, with the exception of tinted windows. I also did a search on the forum and haven't found any threads on point.

About a week ago, I started to notice that any audio source would start getting very distorted - this applied to AM, FM, Satellite, and CD - and would subsequently become silent. When I first start my car in the morning, the audio comes through fine. However, after a few minutes, especially when the car is in motion, the audio begins to distort. After about 10-15 minutes, the audio goes out completely.

When the audio is distorted, the volume indicator on the navigation screen works (meaning, when I raise or lower the volume, the touchscreen acknowledges and displays these changes in volume). However, when the audio goes out completely, nothing happens when I turn the volume knob. The touchscreen also does not show the notification at the top of the screen confirming the changes in volume.

However, the sound over navigation appears to work, as do phonecalls over bluetooth. I have driven the car with my BT turned on and off, and the audio always consistently cuts out. Same results regardless of whether I am using the navigation system or not.

Has anyone else experienced this issue with their Prius? The local dealership has already ordered a new radio for me to switch out (which should arrive in a few days), but I wanted to see if the more knowledgeable members here could give me any insight into what might potentially be causing this problem.

 

Just an update - the dealership ordered me a new radio, which they were going to install yesterday. However, after they ran some tests, they determined that the issue was not the radio itself. Rather, the reason that my audio went out was that the amplifier was not working. I didn't really ask them to elaborate on what exactly was wrong with the amplifier, but I assume that the amplifier was defective.