iPod Interface Issues

I have had my 2010 Prius back to the dealer 2 or 3 times trying to make the iPod interface work better (iPod in glove box, control from audio controls). Have spent time on the phone with the Toyota tech support center. Bottom line: this is an absolutely terrible interface, apparently mostly due to the limitations of the JBL unit they chose to use.

1. The selections for album/artist/playlist/genre are at the top of the scroll list with the contents, i.e. you select artist and scroll down, scroll back up to the top to select album or playlist instead, same list.
2. Once you have selected a specific artist/album/playlist and start playing songs, you can go forward/back from steering wheel, tuning knob, or by scrolling a screenful on the display. HOWEVER, if what you want to do is select a different artist/album, your only choice is that screen display scroll. The only way to scroll is a single screenful at a time, about 5-6 entries, takes a few seconds for each scroll. So if you have an iPod full of hundreds of albums, you have many minutes of scrolling, you will never get there. If you do get there, and you want to instead go to genre, you need another 10-15min to scroll back. Clever, no? There is no "skip by 10", or fast hold-the-button, nada, tech support did all the research.
3. To add insult to injury, when you start the car moving, the screen scroll buttons disable. You can still go forward/back songs for your album/artist, but scroll to new artist? Forget it.
NOTES: this is with the iPod connected to DVD input, which is what they say works best. They tried hooking it to CD input first, and that gave me an alphabet selector for album/artist, but then cleverly would not show any information on what was playing.

Someone ought to be ashamed of themselves. Just a guess, but I suspect the profile of Prius owners and Apple gadget lovers have a large overlap, and few people care much more about individual CDs or DVDs or MP3s.

Is there hope for an upgrade, anyone?

Thanks for your feedback. Otherwise, BTW, I absolutely love the Prius.

I found the interface cost way too much. The nav. system has BT stereo built-in, I rather use the money and buy a BT MP3 player.

I just got my 2010 back from the dealer who installed the iPod interface, and they screwed things up such that both the satellite radio signal AND the iPod provide audio at the same time. Why they didn't try it out before declaring it done is beyond me. So, back I go, probably Saturday, to get them to fix it again.

Beware, the tech tells me that the MP3 input has the same lousy scroll behavior as the iPod, only a few at a time and the scroll gets disabled when the car starts moving.

Anyone that thinks that Toyota has a clue about car audio, needs to have their head examined, the iPod interface is designed to add revenue to Toyota, like everything they do, add a switch and a cord, charge $250, will it work, doesn't matter, they got you to pay $250.

Toyota really needs to work on their audio systems, the overall sound quality is really lacking, even on the JBL, and why they didn't integrate a better radio with direct USB connection instead of an add on or separate unit is beyond me.

I am actually very pleased with the audio quality in my Prius IV with the 8 speaker system...ESPECIALLY for not having a dedicated subwoofer. Those 6x19's really get decent bass. It didn't sound as good at first, of course, because the EQ was all flat.
After tinkering with it for a second, it sounds great. However, I will add a dedicated sub in the future.

The iPod interface is horrible. I'm really happy I didn't waste any money on it.
It does the iPod ZERO justice and it's just a plain disgrace.
It just makes me sick. With all the nitpicking I've seen people do about seat comfort and center console being in the way and whatever else... my biggest gripe is the crappy iPod interface - even though I don't have it.
I really wanted a nice and intuitive integration for my iPod, and now it looks like I'll only get that if I upgrade to an aftermarket stereo.

It's not that the one Toyota offers isn't "flashy" enough or "beautiful" enough or that is isn't some "super special" iPod interface.... It just plain sucks.

If they ever do some sort of software upgrade for it, I'll definitely consider it in a heartbeat. Until then, no way in hell.

I mean SERIOUSLY... The Prius is one of the biggest symbols of technological achievement on the road today.
A much better iPod interface should have been included STANDARD (at least with the upgraded stereo/Nav package) from the very beginning... not as some half-assed $250 late upgrade.

Sorry for the rant, but this one really gets me mad.

Two questions: Does this apply to the IPod interface that will come pre-installed with the cars they're currently producing?

And the cars that come with the USB port, will they also come with an AUX jack? Or is the USB replacing the AUX?

Thanks

I have to correct one thing - yes, the scrolling is locked out when the car is moving, but only for the touch screen.

The controls on the steering wheel still allow scrolling. It still has that annoying 2-3 second delay for each selection, but at least it is possible to scroll while driving.

Bravo, Bravo; and add EJFB1029's point about working with JBL to improve overall audio quality, with integrated iPod/USB port.

--TK

forget Toyota's! Anybody has any compatibility info about this one yet?
Video,Audio Information Solutions for Toyota and Lexus (iPod integration,XM and Sirius SAT radio integration,MP3 integration,Auxiliary input)

It would be nice to see the Toyota Team respond to this and state whether the new interface coming in September will be just as bad...

In my case, I got the car delivered with an non functional iPod kit (JBL non nav). The iPod was charging but neither the radio or the iPod could see each other. After going back to the dealer and having them fiddling with it for hours, I was told that everything was correctly connected (physically) but that I had to end the XM service to get access to the iPod (mutually exclusive). When I called XM Canada to do so, I was told they could not find my radio ID in their database and that I would have to wait until the end of the trial period to end the service…

Therefore, if this is true, Toyota cannot sell a functionnal iPod kit (JBL non nav) and dealers are not aware of that.

Any experience/comments would be gladly appreciated!

Actually I believe you are somewhat mistaken. You can scroll "within a folder" while the car is moving, i.e go to next song within the current album/artist/playlist selection. That is what teh steering wheel and tuning knob will do. BUT, if while driving from LA to Houston you want to switch from Opera to Country music and so want to scroll down the list of "folders", i.e. select a different artist or album, you need the little scroller gizmos on the screen, and you will have to get off of I10 to do so, won't let you do it while the car is moving. Please tell me I am wrong, would love to find away around this.

The USB / iPod connector shares the same issues--there have been a few threads on it, and cpatch posted a great demo vid.

I have had my prius for 1 week and it came with a USB port and a AUX jack-these are side by side inside of the consule. I assume that I have the most current ipod interface. It is kind of hard to scroll though playlists/songs quickly. When the ipod is connected to the USB you lose control of the ipod and have to depend on the much slower nav screen, plus I have some connection issues I am trying to work through with my ipod touch. I too think Toyota should be doing this better than the rest! Especially in a Prius.

Well. This will be interesting (not). I'm getting a II that apparently is coming with the current IPod interface. I have a 160G Ipod with approximately 5500 songs on it (I rip in lossless format). Sounds like a pretty non-functional arrangement to me. Sigh.

I have connection issues as well. I have an older Nano (from the series that first came in colors). No matter how I shut the system down (just turn the car off, hit pause first then power down, and a few other things I've tried) I have a 50/50 chance that the iPod will not resume when I turn the car back on. When it does not resume about 20% of the time I have to unplug the USB cable and plug it back in. The other 80% of the time I just need to hit audio:USB and it resumes. This is obviously not acceptable.

Has anyone else seen this sort of behavior?

I purchased my Prius IV in August and got one of the last wave that did not come with the USB/iPod interface pre-installed. Getting the kit and getting it installed has been pretty frustrating.

First my dealer told me the kit would disable my Satellite radio, which I was pretty certain was not true. So I sent a query to the prius guys here on this site and also sent an email to Toyota via their website. Interestingly, I received a nice reply from the Prius guys here apologizing for the confusion and assuring me that the kit would work properly because I have a IV with Nav -- which does seem to be correct. I also received an email reply from Toyota customer service telling me that it would not work.

So, I took the positive note to my dealer and convinced them to install it, which they did. Problem now is that I cannot get it to recognize either my USB traveldrive or my Apple iPhone 3G. In both cases, the USB tab never appears on my screen.

I plan to pick up a few more cheap USB drives from other brands just to see if any of them work. I did check that the one I have is properly formatted as FAT32, which the manual says should work.

Of more concern is my iPhone 3G. I notice in the users manual for the kit that none of the iPhones are listed as compatible models, and that "iPhone" is listed as non-compatible. There is no distinction between models of iPhones. It's weird, because I have seen posts here from iPhone users whose phones do at least connect. But the only thing I'm getting out of the USB connection is power to the phone -- and that only using one of my three iPhone cables, all of which power my phone properly from computer.

So, I'm rather puzzled and exaxperated. At this point leaning toward using the USB kit as an expensive power source for the phone and just use Bluetooth to stream the music. That, at least, does work flawlessly.

I had a similar experience with my Prius III with Nav. It did not come from the factory with the USB adapter, but I ordered one the day I picked up the car. A week later, when the dealer adjusted my personalized settings (reverse beep, etc.), they tried to install the USB adapter and failed. The description of the problem sounded identical to yours. The service tech suspected it was a faulty adapter and felt there was nothing wrong with the car, the nav unit, or the iPod. One week later, we tried again with a new adapter, and it works flawlessly with mi 5th gen iPod and my iPhone 3G.

Does your ipod touch lose the connection after a few minutes. That is the problem I'm having with my iphone 3G. I have a new unit that I will be installing this weekend that will hopefully fix the problem.