My rant to Toyota Corporate

I bought this vehicle on october 28 2019. I have been having issues with the device since i purchased this vehicle. There are many technical issues with the device. The only response for Toyota service departments are that "we do not have the capabilities to fix these issues unless a new update has been released." This response is not acceptable any longer. Please fix these entune issues or replace the module completely.

1. Bluetooth issues are constant. Not connecting to bluetooth seamlessly. You have to hit connect or keep trying to reconnect after you leave the vehicle and come back. I am forced to use apple car play.

2. Car play also does not work all the time. A lot of reconnecting and connecting to show phone is plugged in. These issues are not a phone issue since multiple phones iphone 11, iphone X, iphone 8, iphone XS. Also new apple usb cords are being used. This should be seemlessly working since it is hardwired to the unit.

3. Lag, lag,and more lag. switching to different menus, screens, freezing, and more lag. Insane. it is 2020 for crying out loud. There are systems being put out by other brands that are far more intricate and toyota chose this without testing testing testing. Who is a part of your R&D team?

Toyota has been about reliable vehicles. i have a 2000 Toyota 4runner. Yes its reliable. but will my 2020 still be in my possession in 2040? Please try to continue to live up to the name. I feel like Toyota has slacked a little on the technology and interior design. Step up your game. Kia, Hyundai, Ford, and Honda are whooping your ass. If you dont believe me sit in one and you will see.

Have the CEO CTO and all the other chiefs call me. Id like to talk to them.

 

Toyota has lawsuits brought against them because of how bad entune is. Yes it *should* work as designed, however I’d personally just buy a good quality aftermarket unit and be done with it.

 

I hear you, but its a brand new car. I shouldn't have to swap out anything.


Where is this lawsuit you speak of? I would like to read it.

 

I agree, however at some point it’s worth cutting your loses and just fixing it. How much time, effort, and aggravation are you willing to waste to potentially not even get anywhere? I would get something awesome and move on, maybe harass Toyota customer care into covering a car payment or two in exchange for having to buy an aftermarket radio to fix multiple issues that they can’t.

It’s not hard to find info about the entune problems/lawsuits on google.

 

thanks for the pics. Its crazy how long this has been going. There was issues back in 2018. The lawsuit that was filed was in 2018. and still going. look at the last entry in the dockett

 

By what you hear on the other forum it's the greatest head unit ever made. When I switched the one out in my '20 for an aftermarket with Maesto I was roundly criticized and argued with. I had to abandon the thread. And OP, I had all the same problems as you have. It's been soooo nice to have an aftermarket unit in the dash.

 

Yeah I’m not a fan of the other forum.

 

thats weird, I bought my 4 runner at the same time and I have had no issues at all. My phone links automatically and plays thru the headunit without touching anything. Is it because I am using an Android unit and not apple?

 

hahahaha..... i dont know i only have apple phones. this could be true.

 

what other forum? haha

 

sorry your dealing with this issue, I know how frustrating that is having gone through it on a different vehicle. good luck on this

 

Op, have you tried other phones? I have experienced some connection issues with a bluetooth speaker with my Galaxy Note 4... no matter what I did, the connection was never 100% reliable. When I switched to other phones, same bluetooth speaker was flawless... just a thought and something to try. My 2020 TRD ORP has never had any issue with the Entune system yet .. fingers crossed.

I use Galaxy S9+ now, and Android auto works, but I don't use it much as I prefer google maps.

 

I never understood why companies, including Toyota, sell extended warranty and even less why anyone buys it. The reason being, if I felt like I couldn't trust the company to sell me a high-quality product and stand behind it, then I wouldn't buy from them. Or, I would buy the product from a cheaper shitty brand and pay for the extended warranty. In my mind, cheap-shitty brand product w/ extended warranty = high quality product w/o extended warranty.

 

Same here, and I'm an Apple user. Other than a teeny bit more lag than I would like, I've found the system to function quite well. And CarPlay works perfectly on it.

 

From another thread I posted in on this subject - problems with the 2020 head unit:

Constant disconnect, connect, disconnect from bluetooth as long as the truck is running. Affects a lot of Android users, not so much Apple.

No ability to control volume while the extra long splash screen stays up. If you leave the truck with AC/DC blasting and get in later with your family, you sit there spinning the volume knob while nothing happens for ten seconds.

The inability to label SXM stations, so the only identifier is the channel number.

The very rudimentary phone book. Examples: No ability to designate one phone number out of two (or more) associated with a person as the primary number. If a person has two numbers, home and cell, I cannot tell the phone book to call that person's cell every time I touch his name. I have to hit his name, then hit his cell number. Every time. Example two: worse yet, if that person has only one single phone number, I cannot call him by touching his name. I have to touch that person's name which then shows his only phone number, then I have to touch that number.

Under the radio menu there are various submenus like presets, replay, etc. You will almost always want it to show your list of presets so you can change channels. But instead, the head unit randomly switches to other submenus when you go to other main menu items. So you're listening to the radio with presets listed across the bottom. You then switch to the "Home" button or "phone" or something else. When you come back to the radio screen, chances are you will not have your presets on the bottom of the screen because it randomly switches to another submenu like "replay".

Lots of people with firmware upgrade problems. They are supposed to be OTA, but many are several versions behind and cannot force the radio to upgrade. No rhyme or reason why some are having to go to the dealer to force the upgrade.

Three bands of equalization. Really? In a $40k vehicle?

The functioning of the navigation/maps is just a joke for a whole host of reasons.

Whole threads about the very delicate screen that scratches very easily. I have not experienced this.

 

CarPlay works perfectly for me too, as well as the rest of the system. Maybe I'm one of the lucky ones, but I've never had any lag or reconnect issues. Bluetooth works fine, but I rarely bother using it since plugging in directly is far superior in every way.

OP may just have faulty software, but it seems like a totally fixable issue... They should either be able to wipe it clean and reinstall the OS or replace the entire unit under warranty. I don't believe them saying they "don't have capabilities to fix the issue". They have plenty.

Most of the complaints above sound like "first world problems" to me. Someone actually cares about bands of equalization on a factory sound system?

 

I agree. Most of those "issues" seem pretty small.

 

The point is that if a $300 aftermarket head unit can do these things, why can't an OEM unit that retails for $4,500 do them? It's just piss poor implementation on Toyota's part. As to the larger problems with apps and bluetooth, I'm sure you're aware of all the class action lawsuits against Toyota right now.

 

Wow, and I am just happy if I can find a decent radio station to listen to. Eventually I will get satellite radio. Have never gotten into linking my damned phone to my ride. Seems pointless to me. But to each their won I suppose. I will continue rollin old school.

 

My brand new 19 has had freezing issues . My dealership is replacing it, certainly not what I expected from Toyota

 

For what it's worth, I have a Samsung S9, android obviously, and been very happy with the bluetooth/entune performance with my 2018 4Runner.

 

I've had no issues with the radio in my 19, it syncs up fine to my phone. I guess I've never had anything super fancy so it seems good to me. Never had any issues in my 2015 Tundra either.

 

2020 TRDOP no issues syncing or with car play with my iPhone 11 Pro Max. I only replaced the dash speakers and find the audio to be very good.

 

i only have used Apple iPhones 7 8 X and 11 all have the same issue. regardless it still lags when not connected.

 

No issues with my Samsung Galaxy Note 10.

I'm a car enthusiast not a cell phone enthusiast.

If your Iphone is more important to you than your 4Runner, you ought sell the 4Runner and get a Hyundai.

 

Luckily for me I have had no issues with my 4R. I'm not very patient with tech failing because I would be happier with no tech at all. My issue is with the remote start. Almost never works with my remote and many times didn't work on the first try with the app. Even 13 year old Jeeps worked flawlessly.

 

Samsung S9 here, no issues at all.

 

The unit in my 20 Limited has been ok. The stereo sound is well above average. The software interface is pretty poor, but most of these OEM systems are like that. I agree the manufacturers generally have sucked at this and there's no good excuse for it.

However, I seldom spend much time using any of it because of Apple CarPlay, which works very well and obviates the need for the built in, rather wonky nav system, phone system or the other apps. I think the radio interface could be a bit better designed, but it's really not bad.

Knock wood I haven't had any big reliability issues, I think just once the system seemed to reboot on its own. That's happened to me on every other unit with a screen that I've had in a car.

I like the size and quality of this screen. I like that you can turn off the screen and still use the radio.

While I think the user interface was generally a lot better in my 2019 Subaru, it annoyed the heck out of me that it would automatically turn on the radio each time you started the car -- even if you'd turned off the radio before you shut down the car. That's nuts. At least Toyota doesn't do that.

FWIW, my car was assembled in March of 20. Not sure if they'd worked out some bugs by then.

 

First week with my new to me 2015 SR5 Premium and my old 2001 Tucson had better sound. No problems on my end with Bluetooth and my iPhone 8 though.

 

I dont mean to high jack the thread BUT that "toyota disabling features you've paid for" suit is intriguing. For 2020 the runner gets the exact same entune 3.0 as most luxury models. Yet toyota connect app is disabled ONLY on 4runners without the pro or limited pkg. Why the hell is this a thing? I get it, connect app is a first world problem if there ever was one but they deliberately disabled it on SR5 and ORP pkg. If you dont know, connect app allows remote start with 3x lock on the fob key as well as vehicle location, parental controls, remote start through the app and lock unlock from anywhere in the world. This is a massive feature than many dont even know exists but for those that do know its a thorn in your side. Cmon toyota.

Soooo FYI. If you have a limited or a pro (2020 and up, sorry) click lock 3x, holding on the 3rd time. Lights will blink and it will start. You can also download the app and get info kn the vehicle from your phone (windows status, locked ststus, fuel level, location, parental monitoring). $45k is steep to disable stuff like this.