Satellite Radio Character Length

I, like many others, just got my gen III prius with the 3 months free of xm/sirius. One issue I have been having with my Nav/XM display is that when it displays band info, it will only display the first 16 characters of the names.

Example: "Red Hot Chili Peppers" would come up as "Red Hot Chlli Pe"

My screen is plenty big to accommodate the extra characters and so is the black box that displays the names. What the heck is going on here? Do all satellite displays truncate the band info to 16 characters? Why even have a huge black box for characters if you're only going to use half of it?

It seems like this sort of thing could be fixed in a software update. Has toyota been known to do updates on the Gen I/II?

Agreed...I would love to see this fixed, it wouldn't even need to scroll...just use the entire length of the black box that is there!!

It is irritating at times. I just traded in a Mazda that had a knob on the radio that would scroll the text if you needed to see the rest of it.

This is one of my biggest pet peeves about my gen III. It is frustrating when you don't know the name of a song, especially if you want to scan through to see what is playing. I also don't like that you don't know the channels for your presets. On the Sonata, the screen is large enough to show the channel #, artist, and song. I would love to see this fixed.

I agree...it needs to scroll!

I agree as well. And I wish there was a way to have the presets and song title on the same page. it is a pain to switch back and forth.

Whiners!


The Gen II displayed only 10 characters with the Solara Sirius kit.

The difference between terrible and awful.

I too wish that all the data was populated but this was not any different than my Honda I traded, in fact I see it more organized with the Prius Nav Screen, so that's a plus but why they truncate the data is just baffling...have it scroll at least....
But other than that it's great and love it.

I'm glad others noticed this. I have an add-on XM in my other car and it shows much more data.

This really does make no sense with all that room. I guess there's a buffer somewhere that costs 50 cents to make hold 32 characters instead of 16 and weighs .3 ounces more, so Toyota wanted to save money and weight?

Rich N.

I've given up on prius audio electronics. I just don't think Toyota cares. I was so excited for my Nav with Sat and Traffic. But the Satellite is gimped and the traffic info is horrible. (atleast for me in LA) The iPod interface is terribly flawed, and even the normal radio signal is weaker than my 94 camry...

If I had to do it over I would not get the Nav system and instead go with a 3rd party that actually puts some thought into it. I want my 2k back....

I spoke with a District technician from TMS yesterday about another issue and pointed this one out to him. He didn't already know about it, but said he'd go look at his vehicle (a Highlander I think) to compare and would bring this up with Toyota. I think I'll also open a case with Toyota Corporate.

I'm so glad I didn't get the nav system. I do want some kind of nav and backup cam, and I think the smartmirror is the ideal solution. I get to keep the factory look of the standard radio and just a small out-of-the-way unit for backup/navigation.

Lets all hold our breath for this one.....

I bet we will see more results when they pass "The Law" that Musicians can only have song titles 10 characters or less, in legnth....

When I'm listening to my favorite song that the folk at [FONT=Arial,Helvetica]The Guiness World Book of Records, acknowledged as the world's champion song title holder, "I'm a Cranky Old Yank, in a Clanky Old Tank, on the Streets of Yokahama with My Honolulu Mama, Doing Those Beat-o, Beat-o, Flat on My Seat-o, Hirohito Blues."[/FONT] This could be a PROBLEM

So we can forget that 10 character scrolling option, which could then become a bigger driving danger than Texting while watching "Jerry Springer DVD's" on your MFD!!!

Face it, Life's a BITCH, sometimes you just can't win!!!

I just created a case with Toyota using their e-mail us form on their website and this is what they said about this issue:

<snip>
We are sorry; we do not offer any upgrades to increase the number of display characters beyond its current design and we have not announced any future plans to increase the number of display characters.

We make every effort to manufacture a quality, appealing product by researching, testing, and constantly monitoring performance and conducting market research. Consumer opinion and perception also play an active role in our ongoing efforts to lead the automobile industry in quality, innovation, styling, and reliability.

We appreciate your feedback. It is through communications such as yours that we become aware of the reactions and expectations of our customers and are able to review and improve our products.
</snip>

If someone else has gotten a different answer, I'd love to hear it.

If they mean that last paragraph then we should bombard them by opening cases about every bug we find in the car.

FYI, I replied to their e-mail saying how disappointed I am with their answer and that I expected more interest on their part to correct bugs in existing cars (not just future model years).

yes i posted a question about this in October. it's really the only annoying thing I've encountered in the four months since I bought the car.

I too am annoyed by the truncated display! Even a smaller font or wrapped text would be better than the confusing display Toyota sells us.

Like we didn't see that one coming...... nice try however!!!