Does/has Toyota put out software updates for the Prius like Tesla does in their cars? Does the Prius even have the tech in the car to receive software updates?
A few months after I had bought my 2024 Prius Prime, I heard a voice in the car saying," Update complete."
What was updated? Is there a setting that you can get into that lists the specifics of what was updated?
It remains a mystery to me. I seemed to come from some speaker other than the sound system. I haven't heard it since. Incidentally, it happened just after I had parked my car for 2 hours while taking a hike, and returned to a battery that was too low to start the car.
For pre-OTA models, software updates are announced from time to time as technical service bulletins, and can be installed using Techstream (with a good-quality, dependable dongle, and a stout 12-volt power supply backing up the 12-volt battery to make sure there can't be a power dip during the reflash). When there's an update I want, I just go to the dealer and have them do all that, rather than risking it myself with a cheap dongle.
It may have; I haven't had that happen again within 2 hours, although I have experienced a dead battery one or twice while parked at home. But I put that down to my own neglect, forgetting to plug in my battery maintainer. Sometimes I can be parked for 4-5 days without battery drain, but other times it happens over night. It's unpredictable, as far as I can tell. I speculate it's caused by the live updates or the satellite link. None of the dealers seem to have a clue.
I own a pre-OTA model (gen 3). I suppose you're more interested in whether gen 5 gets OTA updates. From Paul's post, it sounds as if at least some part(s) of the car get OTA updates. I'm not sure if that also means all parts of the car get them. Maybe, but someone who knows more than I do would have to answer that.
I doubt this could be fixed with a software update, but a major flaw in the design needs to be addressed. Many owners have reported a "battery too low" message when they go to start their car. This requires either a boost, or a dealer service call, which will likely result in a new battery costing hundreds of dollars. It seems absurd, considering that megawatts of power may be in the hybrid battery at the time. The reluctance of the designers to share a small portion of this power to energize the 12V system is stupid in my opinion. I understand the potential danger of draining the hybrid battery too low, but this could easily be addressed with protection circuitry, which would prevent such a thing from happening.
We had our Model S do One update that took away one of the wonderful elements where we could utilize the entire upper portion of the massive display screen as a huge rear view /constant mirror. POOF! They took that feature out. The service center refused to downgrade to the prior rev. Fortunately I found someone online that was working as a hacker for Tesla and was able to provide it for us. Just saying, some stuff w/in o t a updates isn't necessarily the best stuff. Tesla updates can be forestalled, and they were even preventable by asking for the update - and then immediately turning the car on & start driving. Bam, they were disabled. You can find out from online communities if stuff gets worse, like many windows updates, and then just prevent getting them. .
God damn those MBAs sitting in the room who say, "Yabut, once the customer gets to like that feature, we can take it away with a software update and sell it back to them if they want." Makes business sense, but nothing else.
