Prius Nav Maps Updates

Try the parts department....

 

The dealers around here know how to do updates.

 

Do you have the smaller "display audio with nav" (a CD slot above the screen), or the 7 inch nav unit (CD slot behind the flop-down screen)?

If you have the 7 inch one, there are two steps. First, you buy an 86271-HDD07-16 (note to future readers, the number will change some time in the fall of 2017). You can look around at pricing, but it seems to be around $160. It is a little paper booklet, but the important thing is a unique license number printed in it, which you need.

Step 2 has to happen at a dealer. They have the actual USB stick with the update on it, and they need your VIN, the "Map Update ID" shown on your "map information" screen, and the magic number from your 86271-HDD07 pamphlet, to generate the even more magic number that lets the USB stick load into your nav. The process updates the "Gracenote" music recognition database, the firmware of the nav, and finally the map data proper. The timings for the updates do add up to nearly an hour, so they'll probably bill for at least an hour. Two hours sounds like too much ... look for a dealer that bills in shorter chunks.

Again, that's all for the larger-screen, hidden-CD-slot unit. If you have the smaller-screen one with the slot on top, um, I don't know how your maps update.

-Chap

 

I'd come down to Alhambra or Pasadena. I think Pasadena wanted $60 or so for labor. For $349 I think you could do it yourself. Yes, I've updated our '12 v twice now. The first time on my own, the second at Alhambra. Don't know if they do it for everyone, but didn't charge me labor. SA was Ben Hur. Memorable name. Can have a good time at Disneyland or another theme park.

The update data is on a USB stick, which Toyota calls a dongle. Around $9x IIRC. There is an Activation card. Then Toyota TIS Professional level access is needed ($55 last time I checked) is used to produce an installation code with the activation card ($169 retail I think) and info from the nav.

If you have a dealer do it you just need the activation card. The dealerships have the dongles. The question is how much labor...

 

The dongle I bought here:

Welcome to Bosch Automotive Service Solutions Inc. Toyota

If you go to the upper left pull-down menu select "Tool Name". Type in "USB" in the field. A list of the dongles pops up, but they haven't updated the list I'm afraid....

 

I guess the current one would be this (as of Fall 2016!).

If it's true that a non-dealer can buy the dongle, and that a $55 TIS pro subscription is enough to access the magic number generator, then maybe it could be the sort of thing where the PriusChat community has a dongle that circulates. You'd still have to buy your own 86271-HDD07-insert year here for around $160, but could save an hour or two of dealer time by DIY ... and then send the dongle along to someone else.

I'm not sure how much sense it makes for an individual owner to go buy the dongle, and the techinfo access (as well as the activation pamphlet, which is needed in any case) ... if the dongle is around $9x as you remember, and the TIS pro is $55, then the extra cost around $150 seems comparable to the hour or two of dealer time you'd be saving. Guess it'd depend on the dealer labor rates in your market.

Hmm, if there were a PriusChat community circulating dongle, would I be sure the last person who had it didn't add malware? None of us would do that of course.

At the dealer, at least, I'd be pretty sure they don't let it out of the shop.

-Chap