Weak FM radio reception in 2010 Prius?

I've considered my FM reception to be acceptable since I bought the car over a year ago. This past weekend while returning from a trip away from home, I listened to an FM station that by the time I got home was listenable but had a decent amount of static. Today, I went out to my Odyssey sitting in our driveway and the same station was crystal clear. The FM station is 100,000 watts and is about 60 miles from home the way the crow flies and the terrain is relatively flat between home and the antenna.

 

I replaced my antenna a while back with a longer antenna and the performance was exactly the same - same noises (only when moving), loss of volume, mono reproduction, click and pops as before.
Considering how much the car cost me (25k€) the FM radio is a shame - too bad many people listen today to iPods and satellite radio, because I am pretty sure that all have bad reception (or reproduction?) of FM radio stations.
A test if your reception/reproduction is bad? With the car standing still, press AST and wait until the radio finds the best 6 FM radios in the area. Select number 1 and start driving. Since this should be the FM best station, if you drive in normal roads, you should be able to hear it without any noises every 10-15 secs. FM static can be easily recognised and that is normal. What I am talking about is slights clicks/pops/fuzzy short noises that happen only when you move, but independent from how you drive.

If this is not the case, you have a defective FM radio like many others here and should complain to your dealer and Toyota customer care. If not, please let us know when you bought your car and when it was built and the number written on the radio (written in small letters on the top left of it).

 

I've found that unscrewing the antenna and putting it in my pocket has no effect on (scratchy) FM reception. Anybody else?

(Logical inference is a diversity setup. If so, where is second antenna? I don't see any traces on the windows.)

 

Either that, or the antenna and the atmosphere have the same reception capabilities.

 

There is no diversity antenna on the radio system block diagram

 

It's on the back window - on top.
Not sure it's actually hooked up, but there ARE references to "diversity" feature extant in Prius literature.
If the signal is strong enough, having the antenna unscrewed shouldn't make a big difference. I will try it on mine in a fringe area and see what happens...

OK, tuned into a fairly weak station that's some distance away, unscrewed the antenna, station lost in the static, which is one indicator the diversity antenna is not hooked up in my II. Wonder if the JBL systems use it?

 

The plot thickens.

If it exist in production, it may be called a sub antenna.

I dug a little deeper and found a schematic that shows a sub antenna and a main antenna in a block diagram for both AM/FM receivers. I can't find any mention of the sub antenna in the rest of the manual, including the several pages covering dis-assembly of the rear hatch.

The block diagrams in the repair manual don't show a sub antenna connection, the block diagrams in the schematic section (they are no more detailed) do show a sub antenna on the AM/FM receivers Possibly it was intended to be there but got dropped when the car went to production.

 

It's all very interesting. There are plenty of references in the specifications, especially for the last generation Prius, to the diversity capability. I had a Nissan Maxima that also had the two antennas and a stock radio with dual diversity tuning. I replaced it with a Sony unit that only hooked to the main antenna, but that original radio hooked to both - and had really great reception.
I wouldn't be surprised to find the 2010 Prius IV and V have dual diversity receivers. Maybe the III's do too. Someone should test them on a distant station and see if they still work when the primary antenna is removed.

 

The other strangeness is that diversity antennas shouldn't be located close together, they should at least be on opposite side of the vehicle, or front and rear of the passenger compartment. A 2nd antenna in the hatch window with the stick antenna on the rear of the roof doesn't make sense.

 

Actually, they are separated by being cross-polarized. The antenna in the hatch glass is horizontally aligned, while the other is vertical. That's an excellent way to run dual-diversity for mobile reception of FM broadcast, as the paths are intrinsically "separated" 20-25 db just by the differing polarization of the incoming waveform.

The trick is having a good receiver design able to "sense" and evaluate both signals and "choose" the one that is better at any given moment. Since it looks like the base radio does not even use the second antenna, and yet Toyota lists "diversity" capability, it would seem the JBL systems may incorporate this on at least some models. It's a bit frustrating that the technical information on all this isn't available from Toyota.
Here's a link to a decent article on polarization:
http://www.astronwireless.com/topic-archives-antennas-polarization.asp

 

FM reception is terrible but the satellite is definitely much better. For the base FM radio I have now resorted to using my iPhone and the iHeart radio app and streaming it via Bluetooth and that works much much better.

 

We drove our week old 2010 Prius up through the Adirondacks this past weekend just to test it out. Great fuel mileage but lousy FM and XM reception. The XM cut in and out frequently. We're not talking tall mountains so I was somewhat surprised - I've had XM in my Civic Navi and reception was always excellent. Gotta be a better solution for this.

 

I moved my XM receiver and antenna to the Prius the other day, and it works as well there as the other car, I guess. I do get some cut-outs due to trees over road sometimes, building too, of course, but overall it's fine into the AUX jack.
It sounds like the factory systems (XM, NAV, FM-radio) in the Prius are all horrific, to me.
Hate that Toyota cheaped out so badly on everything, but... that is why I bought a II.
Don't listen to FM much, and have added my own goodies.

 

Hate XM - Google them and read the chats about how they charge people's credit cards, etc... I had to cancel my credit card to keep them from charging it. Had them for 3 years and just not worth it. Would like a solution to the reception issue and perhaps do HD FM.

 

Please.... That is plain silly.

(3) years - really???? 2010 Prius - really??? They may have charged you - but cannot without your consent. A simple call to your card company explaining this and disputing the charge would be enough.

Cancelling the card (???) - not.

With ZERO thanks, and (2) posts, your rating and opinions show you to have the following:
No college experience
No Prius experience
No brain to keyboard filter

I suggest simply deleting your moniker, and starting anew...

 

I have lots of college experience and lots of business experience and after disputing a charge to my AMEX card for some home healthcare after a major operation, I can tell you for sure that you are living in a dream world. I disputed the charges which were for about $300 too much on a $3,000 bill. The provider claimed to have my signature on the charges which they did not! They claimed some hours that were impossible and despite my 30 + years of card use with no problems, they sided with them and reinstated the charges.

It is not automatic. It was not worth suing them for $300 and I had far more important things to worry about at the time, but I can understand the OP.

Several years ago, I had a Chase bank mastercard which I used to buy shell gasoline with that discount and a charge showed up from a company in California. I called the card company and they suggested I call the company, which I did not know, did not deal with and had no interest in calling. I disputed the charge, they removed it and I had to go through this every month until I cancelled the card. It was the path of least resistance.

It happens.

 

back in the late 80's I did the "free" trial of AOHell which you had to use a CC to access. I didn't like it, terminated the "free" trail after two weeks and stuck with another carrier. well AOHell charged my CC anyway. I sent several letters, two certified letter, yet they kept charging my CC. It took a call to CC along with copies of my certified letters for them to take action, they also said I wasn't the only one AOHell did this to. The full weight of the CC company came down on AOHell, and after six months the charges finally stopped.

you can get a CC to reverse charges, but it can take work on your part.

 

:focus:

 

Wrote, with the help of a friend, a letter to the customer care of Japan. After 2 days I get an email from the customer care of Germany saying they have no solution (what about the software update you did - wasn't that the solution?) and that they have contacted the dealer to offer me an alternative solution (no mention of what it is).

After *3* days the dealer writes me an email to tell me he had been contacted by Toyota Germany about an "possible solution" but that he had to look into whether that would be a possibility. No mention of what this solution is.

This was last Friday - waiting to be contacted again. Totally disappointed of the the "care" Toyota Germany is reserving me. I need to write Toyota Japan to get something done. I thought I bought a car with a service - otherwise I could have stuck with an European manufacturer and not expect anything from them. I wanted Japanese service and an FM functioning radio with the 27k€ I had to dish out for my Prius; clearly is not enough to get what I expected...

It's not over yet...

 

Pakkit, I'm looking forward what solutions they will find.