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I love Toyota for their reliability and design and drive one every day, that said, their software is unbelievably bad. I'm speaking about their entertainment sy

I love Toyota for their reliability and design and drive one every day, that said, their software is unbelievably bad. I'm speaking about their entertainment systems circa 2016. It seems modern cars are becoming more and more software platforms, so strategically this makes sense but I hope they've hired the talent they need to execute. Seeing them fall further and further behind on electric and software is disappointing.

baybal2 5y ago
The absolutely dreaded music player on Toyotas was that bad, that they returned a 2-din slot on a lot of their vehicles past 2019 in Asian markets.
lotsofpulp 5y ago
Every car's entertaining system by now should just be a screen compatible with Carplay/Android Auto.
- pcarolan 5y ago
  Agreed, I bet every auto manufacturer on the planet hates this decision though. The software platform will become more valuable as cars become more electric and self-driven in an economy where attention shifts from the road to the screens in the car.
kylehotchkiss 5y ago
They make great cars but definitely some weird UI choices. 4Runner has an 8-segment LED based clock above the entertainment system, a different clock on the entertainment display (which is always wrong for me) and the carplay clock (which is always right for me). I wish they just put an iPad in the console instead. The Toyota app isn't so ugly and they could probably just port all the entertainment buttons to that.
- mox1 5y ago
  Agreed about the problem, but not the solution. I love that Toyota still has buttons (and nice, big, rugged, built to last buttons). The last thing I want is a damn ipad. I want a dumb screen that just supports android auto / carplay. No navigation, no infotainment, etc. Perhaps a simple radio mode. All other functionality required to operate the vehicle should be a physical button.
steve_adams_86 5y ago
I agree. My Toyota has been in the shop on a regular basis for checkups, and so far has only ever needed regular stuff like tires and brakes. It's going on 60,000km with very little put into it, it runs great, and my mechanic is perfectly happy with its condition. The infotainment unit is a giant stain on an otherwise awesome vehicle. The cameras are so blurry. The bluetooth integration is awkward and unreliable. Using it for navigation is very painful. The screen is very low resolution. The list goes on and on - it's a terrible unit. It's only 3.5 years old but feels like it could be 10 years old. Hell, maybe the initial design and spec is 10 years old. It's kind of weird to have such a piece of garbage as the centerpiece of such a nice vehicle.
stbenjam 5y ago
I hope they put some money towards their assisted cruise control (TSS). It’s downright scary. My 2021 RAV4 is all over the road when it’s using lane “keeping”. All these horrible articles about Tesla self driving… the real problem is other car manufacturers putting their poorly implemented assisted driving in their cars. Toyota “safety sense” is worse than any other I’ve tried.
- ADent 5y ago
  We had a recent RAV4 and the radar cruise was quite good, but the lane keeping was tragically bad and we turned it off very quickly.

baybal2 5y ago

The absolutely dreaded music player on Toyotas was that bad, that they returned a 2-din slot on a lot of their vehicles past 2019 in Asian markets.

lotsofpulp 5y ago

Every car's entertaining system by now should just be a screen compatible with Carplay/Android Auto.

pcarolan 5y ago
Agreed, I bet every auto manufacturer on the planet hates this decision though. The software platform will become more valuable as cars become more electric and self-driven in an economy where attention shifts from the road to the screens in the car.

kylehotchkiss 5y ago

They make great cars but definitely some weird UI choices. 4Runner has an 8-segment LED based clock above the entertainment system, a different clock on the entertainment display (which is always wrong for me) and the carplay clock (which is always right for me). I wish they just put an iPad in the console instead. The Toyota app isn't so ugly and they could probably just port all the entertainment buttons to that.

mox1 5y ago
Agreed about the problem, but not the solution. I love that Toyota still has buttons (and nice, big, rugged, built to last buttons). The last thing I want is a damn ipad. I want a dumb screen that just supports android auto / carplay. No navigation, no infotainment, etc. Perhaps a simple radio mode. All other functionality required to operate the vehicle should be a physical button.

steve_adams_86 5y ago

I agree. My Toyota has been in the shop on a regular basis for checkups, and so far has only ever needed regular stuff like tires and brakes. It's going on 60,000km with very little put into it, it runs great, and my mechanic is perfectly happy with its condition. The infotainment unit is a giant stain on an otherwise awesome vehicle. The cameras are so blurry. The bluetooth integration is awkward and unreliable. Using it for navigation is very painful. The screen is very low resolution. The list goes on and on - it's a terrible unit. It's only 3.5 years old but feels like it could be 10 years old. Hell, maybe the initial design and spec is 10 years old. It's kind of weird to have such a piece of garbage as the centerpiece of such a nice vehicle.

stbenjam 5y ago

I hope they put some money towards their assisted cruise control (TSS). It’s downright scary. My 2021 RAV4 is all over the road when it’s using lane “keeping”. All these horrible articles about Tesla self driving… the real problem is other car manufacturers putting their poorly implemented assisted driving in their cars. Toyota “safety sense” is worse than any other I’ve tried.

ADent 5y ago
We had a recent RAV4 and the radar cruise was quite good, but the lane keeping was tragically bad and we turned it off very quickly.