[MitchellFamily]

I searched on the subject and the threads I found did not appear to relate to our problem. My wife's Prius is a 2005 purchased in Nov 2004. Anyone know if it's still under warranty? Anyway, my wife says that the Voice Command system started to activate on its own and give various responses most of the time the usual 'I did not recognize the command' response or whatever the typical phrase is. The voice command would activate without pressing the button on the steering wheel. This was yesterday morning. Today the audio system is not working at all. The controls on the dash are not responsive, the controls on the steering wheel are not responsive. The voice command button on the steering wheel is not responsive. Not sure if the temperature controls on the steering wheel are working or not. I've tried the controls myself. The map appears to be working, though I didn't try the touch screen. The buttons on the side of the touch screen are working, such as the Audio button, which when pressed simply says the audio system is not on. I've looked here and a couple other forums and haven't found anything out.

Anyone hear of this condition? The system has been rebooted, as in stopped and restarted.

I ran out and checked. The Map/Info/AC controls are working on the steering wheel. I'm hoping it's something as simple as a fuse.... but am afraid I'm living in a fantasy world.

Thommas

 

[jeromep]

Right now you have almost 2 years of factory warranty left. Do not wait to get this looked at, just get an appointment at the dealer and go in and get them to fix this. Other than the pain of having to get the car to the dealer and then retrieving it this should be costless and painless for you.

I've heard of this happening on early production 04s where the vehicle looses contact with the body control system, however I'm not familiar with the intimate details. However I have heard this problem on the boards before and in every instance it has been fixed successfully.

Get it to a dealer and then let us know the outcome.

 

[MitchellFamily]

Thanks for the info on the warranty. We have to get the software upgraded so I'll schedule an appointment to have both resolved at the same time.

 

[DanMan32]

You are under factory warranty, as long as you haven't exceeded 36K in miles. I take it you don't have an extended warranty?

The problem Jerome is talking about was a problem for the early 2004 vehicles, where the MFD develops a problem with communications and becomes unresponsive. It was most noticable when the MFD was cold. Symtoms included lack of any AV control, or climate control, and errors showing on the screen that communications was lost to the AC system. The units that developed this problem did not toggle between the energy and consumption screen when the info button was pressed on the steering wheel. The newer units added this feature.

It does sound like you have a problem with the radio. The audio and even map/voice command buttons go to the radio, where then the radio sends the commands to the NAV, MFD, JBL amp, or itself. Since you only seem to have lost audio functions and steering wheel control functions, and the radio doesn't work from the dash (I assume the radio unresponive on the MFD also?) that the radio (head unit) has died, especially if the climate control works. The climate control at the steering wheel doesn't go through the radio, but rather directly to the AC amplifier (ECU). The amplifier communicates over the body network (BEAN), through the gateway, over the AVC network, to the MFD, and also through the gateway to the CAN to make requests to the HV ECU for the AC compressor and coolant heat.
So, if the climate control works and can be controlled from the MFD, that pretty much rules out the MFD and the networks as the problem.

 

[MitchellFamily]

Nowhere near 36k miles. No extended warranty either. My 2001 Prius has been going for five years without a hitch.

Thanks for the info. Sounds like it'll be a while to get it resolved as in order the part, install the part, etc.