Weak FM radio reception in 2010 Prius?

Yes, the 2010 with Nav is also bad.
I dn't know much about FM. My complaint is NOT that I can't pick up stations (I can actually get a station in my driveway that faded out up the hill before), but that everything is filled with static. We live in NJ about 30 miles from NYC, so when the Toyota dealer gave me the standard "fringe area" handout, I just laughed!!

Someone said call Toyota. or email? Got a quick reference?

 

It has been reported that the JBL also has the problem.

To upgrade to JBL, you're talking a new HU, a JBL amp, JBL speakers (8), and wiring. All in - likely a crazy price for what you'll get.

 

I'm stuck with a Dodge Avenger as a rental, and the Sat radio sux on this thing. It fades out if a bird flies overhead...LOL

I like my Prius NAV Audio, the NAV knows where I am, better than Google Maps on my iPhone. And the FM radio works just fine in the mountains of WV.

 

We took my wife's 2010 Prius IV to the dealer due to FM reception/interference. They drove it and agreed without any typical dealer posturing (McCoy Toyota, Vancouver, WA). They ordered a new radio (stock), installed it when it arrived, no questions asked. Clearly improvement. BUt I'm writing because so many 2010 owners have had this complaint and couldn't get results. Maybe Toyota received the message but in our case they did what you'd expect under warranty and we're satisfied.

 

I don't remember if I posted an update here, in any case - here is the latest for my Prius FM problem.

I tested drove the Prius my dealer has and the technician confirmed their car also has the same problem as mine. The dealer contacted the German HQ about the FM radio problem and he got feedback that Toyota EU HQ are aware of the problem, reported by many, not just in Germany, and looking into a solution. This was back on Jan 18th.

So, there is a problem, it has nothing to do with reception quality, rather in the noisy reproduction of FM radio stations. Actually reception is pretty good and works well also in tunnels in my area, where my previous car would get a lot of static or loose the signal completely.
The noises on the Prius also indicate that are not typical FM static sounds, rather additional noises, as confirmed by the Toyota technician at the dealer, that have nothing to do with FM reception. These noises are completely random, but persistent, every 5-10secs. AM radio BTW is not affected.
I will keep you posted once Toyota Europe comes up with an answer and a fix!! (likely when they have finished recalling all the other non-Prius cars for the accelerator....).

 

I think we've narrowed it down to the radio itself. Some have reported the dealer swapping the radio, and it getting better (reception). Probably something to do with the PLL circuit...

 

I am going to write them again if there is any update - I am pretty annoyed to have paid a car 27k€ and after 4 months still not being able to use my FM radio properly!

 

I have read lots of posts about the weak FM reception and I certainly don't doubt that this is a problem for a lot of people, but the last time I drove north on I-95, I turned on the student radio station at the University of Miami, which is notoriously weak (500 watts?). I heard it from a few blocks away until I was leaving the next county, about 45 miles, which is as far or further than I have ever heard it in any car that I have owned or driven. I admit that I only listen occasionally to FM radio, and then only to a couple of stations, but on this day, that station came in strong and far. I am going to put on the SharkFin antenna and I expect that I will lose some reception, but I will let you know.

 

This is an interesting thread. I dont' typically listen to FM, but decided to on my way into work today. I live amidst a bunch of tall redwoods. Along my drive a local radio station came in strong, but was hit with a lot of "pfzzz" sounds ever fraction of a second or so. It was almost constant, so I thought maybe it was somehow interference from the car. So, I pulled over into a "park and ride" area to allow me to turn the engine off and noticed that the signal suddenly because clear. I was away from the tall redwood trees and there was clear sky overhead. I listened for a while and then set back onto the road, where the "pfzz" sounds returned. So, I'm guessing that, in my case, the radio has a real sensitivity to signal loss beause it returned when the trees whizzed by on my drive. As soon as I again got to a clearing things became clear again. I've never had this problem in other cars- so it strikes me as odd that this car's radio would be so delicate about radio signals. Is this an issue somehow related to the problems you are all discussing?

I'll continue to listen to FM for a few days and see if I hear any other oddities.

 

Since my last post in this thread, I have installed the shark fin antenna and today I drove north on I-95 in an identical manner to what I did before. Once again, I was driving to Vero Beach from Coral Gables, in fact, once again had to leave a sporting event before it was through so I tuned in the student radio station and drove away from the campus. It was approximately the same time of night and I heard the signal for a slightly shorter distance. Perhaps to a distance of about 40 miles or slightly less.

I think that the shark fin antenna (actually, as most people know, sharks have triangular fins and that antenna seems much more like a dolphin fin than a shark fin), reduced the FM reception slightly. Not much. It pretty much stinks with the regular antenna and it pretty much stinks with the sharkfin antenna. It is, frankly, about the same with the regular antenna as it was in my 2000 Lincoln LS and 2004 Ford Thunderbird, both of which had windshield embedded antennas.

I know I have had some cars with great radio reception, but it has been a long time.

 

In the Los Angeles area (from the west side, to downtown, to the Inland Empire, and to OC. Before installing my shark fin, I drove around for a couple of days with the factory antenna removed (just unscrewed it) and I was still able to get radio reception just fine for the most part. Granted, depending where I was at, there was some static on certain radio stations as I got further away from the source (mostly in OC and IE). After I put the shark fin on, I really think there is very little to no loss in reception compared to the "flag pole" factory antenna when I'm driving anywhere in the greater Los Angeles area now. A good test will be when I drive up to Nor Cal and pick up some local Sacramento stations, as I already know the range of those in other cars.

Off topic, but the reason why I call the factory antenna a 'flag pole' is because the first day I bought my car, driving it back from the dealership, somewhere along the freeway a piece of toilet paper or something flew up and got caught on the antenna. For 30 miles in rush hour traffic, my wife who was driving behind me, said it looked like a toilet paper flag on the top of my car

 

I am a 2010 Prius III with Navigation owner for only 24 hours now. Just started driving it yesterday.

I immediately found that the FM has the problems discussed here and quickly found this thread to learn I am not the only one seeing this.

I have some expertise in electronics and radio by hobby, education, and profession. These are my observations after experiencing the issue and reading the thread.

1. It is in both Navigation (mine) and non-Navigation units.
2. Doesn't seem to be the antenna or coax back to the HU.
3. User datapoints show that aftermarket radios also have the problem, but some seem much better.
4. Others have commented, and I agree, that the noise is not traditional weak FM reception noises and does not correlate well to environmental factors outside of the car.
5. Weak signals are worse, but it takes a really strong signal not to notice the problem.

I am going to guess, as others have suspected, that the problem is generated by the car and not the radio unit. What I have not seen mentioned or discussed is the method of transmission from the car into the radio units. Seems people assume it is "through the air" and just being received (which is a possibility).

There is a good possibility it gets into the radio through the radio's power and ground. It could also explain why some aftermarket radios could perform better if they have better power filtering inside the radio.

It would be the best possible outcome if this were true since it would leave open the possibility of a non-invasive low cost solution for Toyota and also the Prius owner if Toyota ignores this issue. (The solution being inserting an inline power filter).

Anyway, done writing. I have some experiments to run to better understand this problem. I will post whatever I can learn.

 

I slowly drove up and down my street listening to a station that shows the problem but never had an issue with in any other car.

After getting used to what the noise sounded like after driving the same route a couple of times, I drove the same route again putting the car in Neutral and turning off the car so it was rolling down the street (I don't recommend this by the way). The radio remains on, but everything else off. I hear the same type of noises with the car system off. They come and go as I roll down the street.

I then took a cheap FM radio and plugged into the AUX port, tuned to the same channel. Driving with the car on, I would have reception get bad in a similar way to the Prius, in similar locations, but it wasn't as accentuated as the Prius. The "pssssfffftt" sound was much harsher from the Prius radio than the cheap FM radio playing through the AUX port.

I then walked the street with headphones plugged into the same cheap FM radio. The reception was much better than from the inside of the car (either off or on), and much, much better than the Prius HU, but still some static in certain places.

I was hoping to learn something about electronic noise from the car, but right now I can only conclude that a Prius radio is worse than a cheap FM radio. It does cast doubts on my idea that the Prius radio could be getting noise through its power since it has the problem when the car is off.

 

I believe the data gathered shows a direct link with the Toyota radio. When I replaced mine, I get very good reception (as have others) using the stock antenna.

As a side note, we have an Insight rental, and it gets HORRIBLE reception. In my area of OC, running "scan", it only stops at one station. Manually tuning shows virtually no signal on most of the good stations...

 

took my car in for an appointment for the radio today.
here's the prognosis;

has static in radio
checked all radio connections-good
road tested & compared with another vehicle, same operation
depends on location as to how clear station is.
no problem w/radio , operating to factory specs

i guess the last several cars i have owned had better "factory specs"
they blame it on the radio stations reducing signal strength. must have happened
the moment i traded for the prius. bad timing
until this problem is solved i think i would be wasting money on a after market HU.

 

Read my post. No soloution at the moment.

 

Given all the other more pressing issues (brakes? acceleration? class action suits? lemon law invocations?) I dont know what to make of it but..
yes I have much lousier reception on my gen 3 than even on a 95 honda accord i traded in. When i told the dealership this they said they noticed it on other models too..and since i had XM that should suffice.

Any advice on whether it's still worth letting Toyota know of it?
thanks
W

 

Absolutely. There is power in numbers. While you might have a hard time getting through, and Toyota may be preoccupied with more pressing safety-related concerns, they still are very concerned about customer satisfaction, now more than than ever. They know they are going to lose a lot of customers over these recalls and investigations. The last thing they should want to do is lose any more customers over something like a bad radio, when it's essentially an outsourced design, and they can have the supplier fix the design and partially support the cost of the TSB/Recall fix. (Are you listening, Toyota?)

 

i have pinged again Toyota Germany customer service, and they replied telling me to talk to the dealer's technician. Which I did and he told me that they told him that Toyota Germany/European HQ in Brussels/Toyota Japan (!!) are aware of the issue and still looking for a solution.
OK - not the answer I wanted to hear, but at least, they admit there is a defect, and they are answering me and they are looking into it.
All those having problems with FM radio noises should please contact Toyota and report the matter to them!
I will ping again customer service next month, and any other following month until I get it fixed, replaced, or given another model of working radio.

 

I can't say what might be wrong with your radios but I wanted to comment that my radio seems crystal clear with no static. I live in the SF Bay Area but I have driven in the Sierras and even in "fringe" areas, I don't get static. I have NAV on my 2010 and I'm very happy with the sound. Could it be a factory defect? Maybe if you went back to the dealer and compared your stereo to a Prius on the lot?