Audio / Nav Frustration

[Dicomar]

How to download firmware updates for the media system?

The last one (and only) I downloaded from the Owner's website was the update which activated the real time traffic support, like at the end of march if I'm not wrong.

At the moment I have almost nothing to complain about, it just works as expected, even vocal instructions, but I only have to report bad sound quality for the Bluetooth calls as the person who I'm talking with says that it's difficult to hear me clearly. The incoming call audio is great.

Another thing that annoys me a little is the volume increasing/decreasing that have to be operated for at least +/- 10 points in order to hear a clear change in volume power, this is more noticeable with the control on the steering wheel...*CLICK* *CLICK* *CLICK* etc..

[Steve44]

Version E is dealer only. They should be able to do it for you. Mine did while I waited, took 15mins start to finish, most of the time watching the screen doing the update.

Not sure its worth it though, some things are slightly better, others appear same or worse.

[Blisteringblue]

Good post Steve. I'm still ver D which mine came with from the factory. Also you are unlucky with your microSD, I got my car end of June and have the latest version. I too was gearing up for a fight, but I was shocked to have the latest.

My voice system has always been good though for the phone, I don't have to shout and as my contacts come straight from my business exchange email system I have them all stored as full names. I can't remember it not getting the name right yet.

Music is a different kettle of fish. One day it is there and the next it is not, but I've given up worrying about it.

Everything else seems to be OK so I'm happy enough to live with it.

One extra point about the traffic though, it's actually an excellent system. Coming from the excellent TomTom live I always used to think I knew better and when to ignore the re-routes. However the last couple of traffic laden trips with the Lexus I have just followed all traffic detours and they have been excellent and bang on the estimated arrival time. OK one swallow does not make a summer but traffic is my biggest anal bugbear with 35k miles a year but it is certainly growing on me.

[Steve44]

I wasn't lucky with the SatNav microsd version, as my car arrived with the 1st version of the card (53240), not even the last version!

I kicked off at the supplying dealer and after much huffing/puffing/stammering and excuses including them claiming there had never been an update, they opened a case with Lexus Customer care, who investigated, said that my car had the correct version when it left Japan and that there had been an update in transit. It was a May'14 build, so I took that to mean it had the 53241 when it left and 53242 was released in transit.

Anyway, I never got an adequate explanation of what happened, though my suspicions are that my card was swapped, hoping I'd never notice. However, good outcome, as Lexus Customer care came back and said they'd pay for the latest version, and I picked it up last week. Can't say I notice much different though, as some of the error's etc are still there, though the graphics look slightly different I think and it seems faster, though that might be a placebo effect.

i agree that the traffic system is good, if only the reliability of the updating of the data was better, I drove back from Liverpool to Leicester yesterday and I had no traffic data for the full trip.

[Blisteringblue]

If your wifi traffic is playing up you can force it back to the old FM-RDS. I think it is supposed to do this anyway if the wifi is off but mine never seems to it appears to be one or the other. It's in the Information Section of MENU, under traffic I think, you can change the source from Auto to RDS.

My thinking is if it struggles to get the first download its pretty poor for the whole journey, but I could be imagining that.

It does sound like your satnav was swapped which was a little naughty. It was the first thing I did and was pleasantly surprised when I found 53242.

It does make me laugh when they say they would pay for a new update. You mean they got a new £4 microSD card and copied their own data onto it.

How they can still charge close to £200 for these things is just crazy. Has anybody tried copying them to their own blank card? I'm too chicken

[Steve44]

If your wifi traffic is playing up you can force it back to the old FM-RDS. I think it is supposed to do this anyway if the wifi is off but mine never seems to it appears to be one or the other. It's in the Information Section of MENU, under traffic I think, you can change the source from Auto to RDS.

My thinking is if it struggles to get the first download its pretty poor for the whole journey, but I could be imagining that.

It does sound like your satnav was swapped which was a little naughty. It was the first thing I did and was pleasantly surprised when I found 53242.

It does make me laugh when they say they would pay for a new update. You mean they got a new £4 microSD card and copied their own data onto it.

How they can still charge close to £200 for these things is just crazy. Has anybody tried copying them to their own blank card? I'm too chicken

Lol - yes was one of the first things I did too, was check the various software versions!

I guess the cost is down to the licencing cost of the Nav data and software, but my point to the dealer was having paid £2k for the nav system, I want the latest update to come with it, I could have accepted v53241, but not v53240. I did check the contents of the card and you could easily read it in a pc, but I didn't have another card to try that on - for backup purposes obviously.

The traffic updating I think is partly due to the phone i have - the Galaxy S3 seem pretty temperamental on the Bluetooth tethering. The car is temperamental on using WiFi and the phone as a hotspot. I'm due a 4G EE phone shortly (suspect it will be a MotoG 4G) and will see if that is better. There is no indication I can find about where it gets the data you see from - FM-RDS, DAB or Online.

Also, has anyone else noticed, if I'm listening to DAB, I don't get FM RDS traffic messages and interrupts, but I do if you listen to FM, or IPOD, or USB etc. Can't see if this is by design, or if it is another "feature".

[Coverhill]

I do not attempt all the complex systems that others are having issues with however I thought I would report that at my first service last week the software was up graded to version VC03102F. The only real problem I was having was losing the favourites on the telephone - that appears to have been resolved . Hope this helps others

[Blisteringblue]

Thanks for that Coverhill it will please a lot of people that. It's only taken them 6 attempts to fix it

I can wait until my 1st service, I won't take it in especially.

[DJP]

Coverhill, I thought a previous update had solved the phone favourites problem, but as soon as the system tried to update the contacts it wiped them out again. The only way I could keep the favourites was to disable the auto contacts update feature.

Hopefully they have sorted it but......

Sent from my Iphone using Lexus OC

[Blisteringblue]

Updated to F today during my service. Have only had a little play, but stopped and started the car multiple times and the phone connected every time. Before on D, it was always fine first start, but if you stopped and started again after a short trip the phone was never available, always had the red line through it. Sometimes it would come back on if a longer journey but most of the time it was just off.

I've also added my favourites back in as a test, not that bothered if it doesn't fix them but worth a try.

Will see how it goes.

[Blisteringblue]

:tsktsk: GRRRRRRR *FACEPALM*

Working in IT I should really have known better but Firmware updating wipes your memory points in the NAV. Crazy but true.

50 odd of them, most manually updated from the head unit. I have some in the portal but I manually changed most because of names and icons etc.

NOTE TO SELF: Backup your car before you let Lexus work their magic.

Brilliant Car but sh1te Tech :shutit: :yack: :iraqi-info-minister:

[Steve44]

arrrggghhh, thats frustrating. It didn't happen to me when I went from ver D to E, but I'll bear it in mind for the F upgrade.

Looks like it must be on general release now, Leicester Lexus weren't aware of it when I was in a couple of weeks ago.

[Habu]

I've just been in for an update but I only went to E from D. No sign of F at my Centre.

[ColinBarber]

not sure why Lexus cannot just publish the update on their website for owners to download and install.

[Blisteringblue]

On the plus side the phone is staying connected and my favs are still there, I changed a contact today too so will see if they are still there after next sync

[Greenfield]

Can you tell the approximate age of the car from the software revisions? My car was registered new 3 weeks ago (Sept 2014) although was "in stock" at the dealer and I wonder how old it actually is. The software is VC030101D (thanks to the excellent posts about how to find this) and the satnav SD card is 53241.

[Blisteringblue]

Mine came with that firmware as a direct build from the factory and that was June 2014 build. However luckily my NAV came with the latest maps which is 53242. I think 53242 came out around Mar/Apr time but I could be guessing?

[Blisteringblue]

What an absolute pile of craap this Nav / Phone system is. This new "F" firmware is a million times worse for just simple operation of the phone. Iphone 5 in my case, updated to ios 8.02 if that has any bearing?

Red line through the phone constantly, make a call, OK, try and make another call there is a new message "please check your phone" and then nothing and the red line through the phone. Was literally tearing my hair out with it driving back tonight, multiple calls needed to be made and managed about 1 of them successfully.

On the plus side, my favourites remained after a contact change and download.

If this wasn't a "tax neutral" car as a company car driver this would seriously be putting me into "Rejection" mode, because it is seriously not fit for purpose. I may have to go out and get a Bluetooth speaker or headset just for my sanity.

I am so glad the Nav was free, cannot believe Lexus can seriously charge 2K for something this poor.

[ColinBarber]

there are a lot of reports that iOS 8 broke integration to many car systems, including Toyota and Lexus systems. Certainly I've noticed issues where I cannot browse the media library on my phone and I've had calls hang up when answering (although to be fair I have the unfortunate pleasure of having to use Vodafone so that is the more likely cause of the calls dropping).

iOS 8.1 hopefully will be with us before the end of the month, maybe in 7 days, which according to beta testers seems to resolve a lot of Bluetooth issues.

[DJP]

I can understand your frustration. I've not updated mine from the D version for fear of going backwards. It all seems pretty ok to me, including the voice recognition which is 75% there.

That said, it's a major flaw in an otherwise excellent vehicle.

Sent from my Iphone using Lexus OC

[Blisteringblue]

I did wonder if ios was compounding the issue. OK will bear with it until after 8.1 is out for now.

My car is literally my office some weeks so I just have to have a phone system that just works.

[Steve44]

Phone and software version appears to have a big bearing on issues found. I was running a Samsung Galaxy S3 with official android 4.3 and it was buggy as hell with Version E software. Contacts and history frequently wouldn't transfer, I couldn't answer incoming calls from the car, it would drop/connect/drop/connect repeatedly the connection etc.

I've now changed to a Motorola Moto G with official V4.4.3 of android, still on version E of car software and it is very good. Much more stable connection, contacts and history transfer very reliably and the only real issue I have is that I can't get SMS to work, even though Lexus site says its supported. I've even retained favourites (only 1 - SWMBO) after a comprehensive update and purge of contacts on the phone.

only issue I seem to have currently is this echo problem, where people keep saying they can hear themselves back. Sound is perfect in the car and only way I can help is by turning down the transmit volume and in car volume.

I have heard of numerous issues with IOS V8 causing problems with other cars.

[DJP]

Strange. I'm on 8.0.2 and no issues.

Sent from my Iphone using Lexus OC

[ColinBarber]

I cannot browse media, the button doesn't even show up.

[Steve44]

Can you tell the approximate age of the car from the software revisions? My car was registered new 3 weeks ago (Sept 2014) although was "in stock" at the dealer and I wonder how old it actually is. The software is VC030101D (thanks to the excellent posts about how to find this) and the satnav SD card is 53241.

Ask the dealer to tell you the build date - it should be with the car's history file on their computer.