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gps not updating at all

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Technical Discussion' started by tbcinnc, Sep 15, 2009.

  1. tbcinnc

    tbcinnc New Member

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    I am a newbie to the site, but have had the car for almost 70K in a little over two years.

    I am having a problem with the gps. It does not link to satelite anymore for some reason. I did a serch here and didn't see anyone else having this problem.

    The gps works and follows roads, but if you take a new street, or if they have modified the road a bit (6.1 version) then the map gets off and I have to stop and re-calibrate it. This is very annoying because since you can't do anything when driving, so if I am trying to find a location, all of a sudden I am lost driving through fields and lakes.

    I took the disk out and replaced it as well as completly unplugging the unit while the car was off, and then re-starting it, getting an error message, then re connecting after I turned it back off again.

    Still as far as I can tell, no gps link.

    Any ideas?
     
  2. KTPhil

    KTPhil Active Member

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    Does your display show the "GPS" icon/letters?
     
  3. qbee42

    qbee42 My other car is a boat

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    What do you mean by "stop and recalibrate it"?

    Tom
     
  4. efusco

    efusco Moderator Emeritus
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    The database for the GPS will never update unless you go out and buy an update disk. Thus, any new or changed roads will not be on you DVD's database. So if you drive a new road there's no way for the system to know it's there.

    But, once you get back on a road that is on the disk after 20-30 seconds or so the system should put you back on that road.
     
  5. qbee42

    qbee42 My other car is a boat

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    To clarify this comment, the accuracy of the GPS system is not good enough to pinpoint a car on the width of a road. To compensate for this, the nav system looks for the nearest road oriented in the same direction as the car is traveling, and snaps the car's position onto that road. You can see this when you first start up, and sometimes the car will be shown going diagonally through a field. All of a sudden the car will jump back onto the road where it belongs. On occasion, the car will snap to the wrong road and it will take a few seconds before the nav system gets it all straightened out.

    If you are on a new road, one not in the database, the nav system will try to snap onto any nearby road. Lacking anything nearby, it will give up and show your Prius cruising through empty space on the map.

    Tom
     
  6. spitinuri

    spitinuri Member

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    It gives you a certain amount of freedom floating in GPS free air. If you want the latest disk be prepared to pay around $300 or just get a Garmin Nuvi for $100.
     
  7. donee

    donee New Member

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    Hi All,

    If the system has dead-reconining, but not receiving any satellite fixes, this might explain the OP's observations. Dead-reconining alone would not keep the car sufficiently accurately placed on a road over miles and miles. Its there for breif satellite reception outages (tunnels, heavy tree cover, etc).

    tbcinnc do you have heavy foileage there at the end of summer in North Carolina? Other possible issues is placing a metal item (radar detector, clip board, stash of CD's ) on top of the dash board. The GPS antenna I believe is imbedded in the dash (at least I could not find it outside of the dash on the GPS equiped Prius cars I have been in). Even a heavy non-conductive item (plastic clip board, news-papers, magazines, etc), in the right location on the dash might detune the antenna center frequency.

    Another issue is windshield tinting. Some tintings reflect the GPS signals significantly, and others absorb it. The tinting layer is so thin, however, that absorbtion tintings probably do not have a big effect.

    If those things are not it, you may have a broken antenna or receiver.
     
  8. hill

    hill High Fiber Member

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    You'd have to have the Gen III, with optional sirius satelite, and HD NAV in order to get map updates on the fly. Since you have a 2007, you will never get updats without buying a new DVD.

    .
     
  9. tbcinnc

    tbcinnc New Member

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    I am sorry for not getting back sooner. I thought this thing would post to my e-mail when I got a response. I was out of town for a few days and left the car at the dealer to work on my HID problem too.

    GPS. According to the dealer the antenea isn't working. They are not sure though. To replace the antenea, the part is over $ 400 and the labor to replace is $ 230. For $ 630 I figure I can have a pretty sweat garmin or such with the latest maps.

    What I meant by having to reset was that I stop the car, recalibrate it to the closest point I can and start driving. It latches on usually at the next turn if I was close enough on my first guess.

    I know there are links out there, but to save my lazy butt time, can I display an aftermarket on the current screen of the Prius.

    Thanks
     
  10. qbee42

    qbee42 My other car is a boat

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    Once again, what do you mean by "recalibrate it to the closest point I can...". I know of no such function. The GPS finds its own location without any sort of user input. If you mean you need to move the location pointer to your current spot, that mean the GPS isn't working, in which case the dealer's diagnosis is probably correct.

    Tom
     
  11. Joe13

    Joe13 Junior Member

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    Go to Garmin. You'll like it much better. Much simpler, more intuitive and with more functions, like speaking street names. I just went back to my old Garmin and what a relief that is. I just bought my girlfriend a Nuvi 255 for about $170 at Sam's Club. Very nice. Only thing better with the Denso (what you've got in your Prius) is the way it plays through the sound system loud and clear. But that's not enough.
     
  12. PaulBat

    PaulBat New Member

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    I also like my old Garmin Presentation better, as it is so
    user-friendly.

    Is there any way to "de-boot" the Toyots program,...... then install the Garmin product?

    (Newby, with 2010 Prius V-4 W/sunroof....superb car!)

    Cheers!
     
  13. PrimaryPriusPal

    PrimaryPriusPal Junior Member

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    The "update disc" is beyond expencive
    Fact: The GPS in every Prius is a POS. A high volume dealer recommended I use my cell phones' GPS for better accuracy and to save a significant amount of money.
     
  14. dolj

    dolj Senior Member

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    Your opinion: The GPS in every Prius is a POS.

    It may depend on jurisdiction, but I ran a Prius navigation alongside the same route (in the UK, as it happens) in google maps a few times (just for fun), and was surprised to find the Prius gave me the better route. Not saying it will always be better, but then neither will Navman, Garmin, Google or Apple.

    In addition, I regularly use google maps around my local area, not to know where to go, but to get the traffic data and estimated arrival time to destination. With my local knowledge, I regularly ignore the google map directions and take my own route at certain points.

    All mapping software has limitations, but without a doubt they all got me to my destination at around about the time they said they would. Was it the best/fastest way? Maybe or maybe not. But whether it is or not, is a highly subjective opinion.

    One thing we all agree on, is the updates are expensive. Having said that, it is not necessary to update every year, roads don't change that much so the cost can be relatively cheaper. Back in the day when you used to use hard copy map books, you did not update them every 5 minutes, more like once in 5 or 10 years. Life never stopped, people never died and we managed.

    I think having a built in nav unit has value, and I don't think it is a POS, so, I would maybe update it once in every 5 - 10 years when it started to show it needed it.

    But that is just my opinion, one you can take or leave as you see fit.