1. Attachments are working again! Check out this thread for more details and to report any other bugs.

Navigation forgets how to plot?

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Audio and Electronics' started by Daryl K, Feb 15, 2021.

  1. Daryl K

    Daryl K Member

    Joined:
    Sep 12, 2012
    103
    45
    0
    Vehicle:
    2012 Prius
    Model:
    Four
    My 2012 Prius' navi has been a little "off" lately, but things really hit a head when I went to visit a friend on the other side of the state. We see each other maybe a few times a year (due to the 100-mile distance), so while I know the big roads I use the navi for the byroads.

    I only mention that detail because the flags were raised right from the get go because I know the first 85 miles of this trip are west on the turnpike, but the navi kept telling me to exit and get on the eastbound turnpike. What??

    Like you're probably thinking now, my first thought was I entered the destination wrong. Nope, I double- and triple-checked and it was the right one. Then I thought maybe the location database got corrupted, so I did a second test on the way home.

    Just like on the way there it kept trying to direct me the opposite direction; in this case further west, even though I know I live 100 miles east. This time I muted the voice and just watched it over the course of the next 90 minutes, and it continued to instruct me to exit and turn around to go west all the way up until I neared my exit for the turnpike (about 7 miles from home). From about the last few miles and all the local roads thereafter it was giving accurate directions, and pointed to my house address correctly too. Also, it displayed my location on the map correctly too the entire duration of the trip.

    So the navi knows where I am at all times. It know destinations correctly. But actual routing is totally hosed and cannot be trusted.

    Has anyone seen anything like this? Would a reset help, or an update to the SW (it's still original)?
     
  2. davecook89t

    davecook89t Senior Member

    Joined:
    May 10, 2016
    1,057
    789
    0
    Location:
    Washington State, Florida
    Vehicle:
    2017 Prius
    Model:
    Four Touring
    What exactly did you mean by that? Is this one incident just the most serious example of a misdirection that has been happening often recently?

    This is probably the wrong place to get any help with Toyota's navigation systems. Most people here seem to think the ones on the Prius at least are completely useless. To save using data on my phone, I almost always use the Nav system on our Gen 4 if we are going to an unfamiliar place, if we are not in a hurry. Most of the time, it works just fine and the information it provides about traffic conditions is at least somewhat accurate. Often when my wife is in the car, though, she will start to question whether we are really on the best route and will plug in the address on Google Maps on her phone. When it comes to traffic conditions, I am absolutely convinced the information from Google is more accurate, and if her phone is providing directions that are different than those on the car's GPS screen, I will try to follow them. (It is confusing to hear 2 different commands from the 2 systems, but I do want to be able to compare them and I generally am able to ignore the ones I'm getting from the car). Our Gen 4 is now almost 4 years old and certainly I believe there will be a greater level of divergence with Google Maps as the maps in the car become more and more outdated. That is a real problem in our Gen 2, which does not even have traffic information, but even so, I will generally try to use its Nav system as well.

    In the Gen 2, I've definitely experienced something similar to what you have, but I don't think it's ever happened on a main road, and I doubt it has ever shown an inconsistency like your system seems to have in sending you different directions for the same route at 2 different times. I'm guessing the Gen 3 Nav system incorporates traffic information in its route selection. That could explain how you would get 2 different sets of directions at different times, but it's hard to believe it could send you in the opposite direction on a main road, especially if there is little traffic in the direction you are traveling on that road. At one time, when I was the only one in the car, I remember questioning the directions I was getting in the Gen 4 when it took me off a main highway onto a side road, but it still instructed me to go in the same direction, and I later saw that I had avoided a serious traffic jam on the main road, so it was all good.

    If you make the same trip again later this year, please report back if the same thing happens again. Like I said, I don't think there are many of us on this site that try to use the Prius' Nav, but the more information provided to those of us who do, the better our understanding of it will be. I've said this before, I suspect that most of the complaints on this site about the Nav system are the result of not understanding what the system is capable of and how it is supposed to work.
     
  3. Daryl K

    Daryl K Member

    Joined:
    Sep 12, 2012
    103
    45
    0
    Vehicle:
    2012 Prius
    Model:
    Four
    I meant that it's been displaying some routing issues before, but never so blatant and so extreme as to try to route me in the totally opposite direction - and never letting up until the last 2-3% of the trip distance.

    I already have another new car for myself, but as soon as my daughter passes her license exam this car is going to her, so if possible I'd really prefer she not fiddle with her phone, and would (if possible) like to fix this issue.

    Has anyone found a reasonable way (i.e., not through the dealer) to update the SW? This is still the original database and SW shipped form the factory, and I have to imagine there've been substantial updates in the past decade.
     
  4. dbstoo

    dbstoo Senior Member

    Joined:
    Oct 7, 2012
    1,212
    648
    0
    Location:
    Near Silicon Valley
    Vehicle:
    2024 Prius Prime
    Model:
    XLE
    My wife had a similar incidents but each time it was operator error.

    She was preparing for a long (500 mile) trip and queued up the route the previous night. She added waypoints for her preferred rest stops. When she took off the following morning she ignored the nav guidance for a while, but after 10 miles or so she realized that Naggi (the nav voice) was telling her to take each exit.

    The cause was that she'd told the car to navigate from 'home' to San Diego, but due to a center median on our street the car never realized that we had started from our driveway. It was trying to complete that first waypoint to get us home so that it could start the route.

    A similar thing happened on the road. She had 4 waypoints set and ignored one. Drove right by it. The car spent many miles trying to get her back to that gas station so it could check off that waypoint.

    Dan
     
    davecook89t likes this.
  5. davecook89t

    davecook89t Senior Member

    Joined:
    May 10, 2016
    1,057
    789
    0
    Location:
    Washington State, Florida
    Vehicle:
    2017 Prius
    Model:
    Four Touring
    First, only the maps can be updated. The only way to update the Nav software itself would be to replace the head unit in your car. Apparently different head units have different versions of Entune and the Nav system. You can't simply go by the year of your car. You can probably buy a memory stick containing maps for your 2012 for $50 or so on Ebay, but it would be hit or miss as to whether or not it will even work in your car. It may be worth paying the dealer what he charges ($200 I'm told) to get the correct version.
     
  6. sam spade 2

    sam spade 2 Senior Member

    Joined:
    Mar 31, 2018
    7,035
    2,780
    0
    Location:
    USA
    Vehicle:
    2017 Prius c
    Model:
    Four
    Check the options you have set.

    IF.....you have it set to avoid "highways" or toll roads, it might have been trying to get you OFF of the turnpike.
    Some very strange routes can also occur if it is set for "shortest" distance.

    If your map is on a "chip", you should be able to get a new one, from a dealer, and "install" it yourself.

    Any firmware update likely would have to be done by a dealer.
    I think you should at least ask them. Might not be as expensive as you think.

    A "factory reset" might help but you will lose things you have stored.......like radio "buttons" and previous destinations.
     
    davecook89t likes this.
  7. Daryl K

    Daryl K Member

    Joined:
    Sep 12, 2012
    103
    45
    0
    Vehicle:
    2012 Prius
    Model:
    Four
    I might ask. I plan on taking her in for some of the services due at 120k.

    Oil and filters is easy enough, but my time is too short to disassemble the wipers just to change spark plugs, or the steps involved in draining and replacing all coolant also. Since I plan on being at the dealer for these items within the next month I'll see what their charges are.
     
    davecook89t likes this.
  8. Steph1972

    Steph1972 Member

    Joined:
    Jan 30, 2021
    65
    48
    0
    Location:
    St Adolphe D’Howard
    Vehicle:
    2014 Prius
    Model:
    Four Touring
    Gen 3 does not incorporate traffic , have to use WAZE ....
     
    davecook89t likes this.
  9. dbstoo

    dbstoo Senior Member

    Joined:
    Oct 7, 2012
    1,212
    648
    0
    Location:
    Near Silicon Valley
    Vehicle:
    2024 Prius Prime
    Model:
    XLE
    My wife's 2010 Camry software was updated when she bought the yearly map update CD. We could tell because around 2016 the new disc introduced bugs. 2 years later they fixed them. Yes, her Camry reads the routing info from a CD that stays in the nav/entertainment unit.

    My 2017 Prius Prime had a 2019 map update that came on microsd card. Installing it was simple. I just needed a mirror and flashlight to find the place to plug it in. I did not notice any changes in the nav software.

    The entune software in the head unit has been updated at least once in the last year.
     
    davecook89t likes this.