New Toyota TRD Fortuner Struggling to Obtain Satellites GPS

[pattayapip]

Hi, Just bought a New TRD Fortuner, The Built in GPS Sat Navigation really struggles to obtain a satellite lock, and if I drive off before it does, the then GPS does not function.

My previous Fortuner never missed a beat !!

Have read a couple of things about the type and strength of Film on the windows, am told by Toyota that the Satellite receiver is on the top of the dash board, in which case their should be no problem as only have a thin strip of film at the very top of the windscreen, however, if the receiver is built in to the FM receiver which is in the rear quarter panel window, then maybe that affects it ?
I really cannot get any sense from Toyota, they appear clueless and are doing sweet FA, but right now the unit is useless unless I sit for some 10 minutes to obtain a decent satellite lock.

Anyone experienced this at all please ?

Once it gets its lock it works fine, just takes ages to acquire the satellites to work properly, never had this problem before.
I have Garmin app on my iPhone and it obtains lock sat in the car within seconds !!

[2fishin2]

Its not film.

You should check antenna connection as a lose or not connected antenna could cause this.

Your phone is not a true GPS so cannot compare to your truck system.

Something is for sure wrong.

[pattayapip]

All the connections would be behind the unit, the Car is Brand New, But these Guys have absolutely no clue, and trying to explain to them seems just about pointless, I have told them I want it sorted, again seems to make very little difference, as you say, something is wrong for sure, I will push them further and see . . . Thanks

[Ace of Pop]

What is a true GPS then 2fishin2.?. I run my Iphone 6 + alongside the built in Honda one for amusement, and apart from the phone having a nicer voice i see no difference. As for the GPS in our early sportivo they got it right just when we sold it after 6Months of the crapy thing. Its still around localy and the Lady who bought it 7years ago says she gave up,never worked like her phone,and upgrading the maps was to difficult.Hear that now they are fine though in all respects.No wonder the O.P. is annoyed. .

[LivinLOS]

What is a true GPS then 2fishin2.?. I run my Iphone 6 + alongside the built in Honda one for amusement, and apart from the phone having a nicer voice i see no difference. As for the GPS in our early sportivo they got it right just when we sold it after 6Months of the crapy thing. Its still around localy and the Lady who bought it 7years ago says she gave up,never worked like her phone,and upgrading the maps was to difficult.Hear that now they are fine though in all respects.No wonder the O.P. is annoyed. .

The phone uses cell tower ID to triangulate and work out your position to within a few 100m.. Then with that basic knowledge uses that to start the GPS (o not running on just cell info is also rough but ok for some non mapping applications.

The car GPS has no way of knowing 'where' it is.. hence need to lock onto many more GPS satellites, gather timing data from each of them compare the timing signals, and do some calculating.. This process can take multiple minutes if signals are hard to obtain.

[Ace of Pop]

So how does it say the distance spot on like the Honda .Cant see why the Hondais better in proactive, mine aint

[Ace of Pop]

Just done a run with both.Exactly the same as google maps app... both spot on. Loranz Auto Pilot on my Boat uses 3 Beacons and cant match a GPS.

[cooked]

What is a true GPS then 2fishin2.?. I run my Iphone 6 + alongside the built in Honda one for amusement, and apart from the phone having a nicer voice i see no difference. As for the GPS in our early sportivo they got it right just when we sold it after 6Months of the crapy thing. Its still around localy and the Lady who bought it 7years ago says she gave up,never worked like her phone,and upgrading the maps was to difficult.Hear that now they are fine though in all respects.No wonder the O.P. is annoyed. .

The phone uses cell tower ID to triangulate and work out your position to within a few 100m.. Then with that basic knowledge uses that to start the GPS (o not running on just cell info is also rough but ok for some non mapping applications.

The car GPS has no way of knowing 'where' it is.. hence need to lock onto many more GPS satellites, gather timing data from each of them compare the timing signals, and do some calculating.. This process can take multiple minutes if signals are hard to obtain.

The phone also uses cell tower triangulation if you allow that option. It uses GPS. The very first nav systems worked from cell towers and were just guessing. Get an appropriate app and you will see how one satellite after another gets picked up on your phone. GPS FIX on Android for example. The weather conditions can play a big role, I find that misty, moist conditions slow down GPS reception.

Personally, I am happy that I had no money for a stand alone GPS unit when I first came here, I have used my phone (Android and iPhone) to navigate all over Thailand. I now use the iPhone for a dashcam app, Android to navigate. I

[Pib]

When I bought my Fortuner new years back the dealership put metallic sun film on all the windows...the GPS navigation would lose lock all the time. Took the SUV back to the dealership and asked was that "metallic" film you installed...they said yes...only the best for you. I then said that's probably why my GPS Nav is not working worth a durn since the GPS antenna is in the front dash. They replaced with metallic file on the front window with high quality non-metallic film and the GPS began working fine and has worked fine since.

[LivinLOS]

What I think your missing on my explanation is.. A phone, uses the knowledge of approximately where it is.. To 'boot' the GPS with approx location.. So you get a fix in a few seconds..

Of the 4 or 5 GPS devices I currently or in the past owned, all of them had a minute or twos satellite lock time needed if the device had been off or moved location while off it always seemed longer (I assume it 'guessed' that where it was when it was shut down and its internal clock was about right).. I think if it had been used recently it got a quicker lock but have no data to test that.

[kbelyeu]

My two month old Hilux locks on just about the second I pull out of my garage. Maybe you should be bringing this up at the Toyota service center. Surely they have an extra vehicle that they can park near yours to see just how long it should take to lock on to the location.

Regards,

Kurt

[seedy]

Android to navigate. I

My S5 works great, even laying on the console, with GPS, cell fone , and WIFI enabled it is very accurate.

My old Garmin never gets plugged in anymore.

[pattayapip]

When I bought my Fortuner new years back the dealership put metallic sun film on all the windows...the GPS navigation would lose lock all the time. Took the SUV back to the dealership and asked was that "metallic" film you installed...they said yes...only the best for you. I then said that's probably why my GPS Nav is not working worth a durn since the GPS antenna is in the front dash. They replaced with metallic file on the front window with high quality non-metallic film and the GPS began working fine and has worked fine since.

Apart from a 6" Strip at the top of the windscreen no film at all so really should not be any problem

[pattayapip]

My two month old Hilux locks on just about the second I pull out of my garage. Maybe you should be bringing this up at the Toyota service center. Surely they have an extra vehicle that they can park near yours to see just how long it should take to lock on to the location.

Regards,

Kurt

Good thought, already asked them to do that when I went there, they did not have another vehicle with Sat Nav available ??? Hmmmmm

It took nearly 15 Minutes in front of them to get a lock on the satellites !!!

Takes anywhere between 5 and 10 at home (Out of the Garage)

Longer it is left the worse it seems to be ?

Obviously as the GPS works the moment you start the car, the position has not changed from when it was parked.

Have emailed Toyota Main Office Bangkok:

Dear Sir,

On behalf of Toyota Motor Thailand Co., Ltd., Customer Call Center would like to express our cordially sincere thanks for your constant trust and interested in our product.

According to your e-mail, Customer Call Center would like to do apologize you for any inconveniences and would like to inform you that we sent your complaint to department concerned already. Your complaint is in the process of coordination and finding out the solution for solving.

Anyway, if you have any inquiries or suggestion for further improvement to our service, would you please to do not hesitate to let us know. Any comments are highly appreciated.

Best regards,

Customer Call Center

CS Promotion Office

Toyota Motor Thailand Co., Ltd.

[kbelyeu]

My two month old Hilux locks on just about the second I pull out of my garage. Maybe you should be bringing this up at the Toyota service center. Surely they have an extra vehicle that they can park near yours to see just how long it should take to lock on to the location.

Regards,

Kurt

Good thought, already asked them to do that when I went there, they did not have another vehicle with Sat Nav available ??? Hmmmmm

It took nearly 15 Minutes in front of them to get a lock on the satellites !!!

Takes anywhere between 5 and 10 at home (Out of the Garage)

Longer it is left the worse it seems to be ?

Obviously as the GPS works the moment you start the car, the position has not changed from when it was parked.

Have emailed Toyota Main Office Bangkok:

Dear Sir,

On behalf of Toyota Motor Thailand Co., Ltd., Customer Call Center would like to express our cordially sincere thanks for your constant trust and interested in our product.

According to your e-mail, Customer Call Center would like to do apologize you for any inconveniences and would like to inform you that we sent your complaint to department concerned already. Your complaint is in the process of coordination and finding out the solution for solving.

Anyway, if you have any inquiries or suggestion for further improvement to our service, would you please to do not hesitate to let us know. Any comments are highly appreciated.

Best regards,

Customer Call Center

CS Promotion Office

Toyota Motor Thailand Co., Ltd.

PIP,

Which dealership are you visiting?

Kurt

[Robert24]

I bought a New Fortuner last year and the GPS works instantaneously when you turn on the car. You should ask Toyota to fix it. It's under warranty and there is no excuse in my view why it is slow or shouldn't work.

[Daffy D]

Have you fitted dash cam recently?

[2fishin2]

It could also be that your GPS is bad in the sense it is dumping your "almanac" when it shuts down. If that were the case, then yes it would take as long as it is to find itself again in relation to where it is on the earth. Either way, it is incorrect and needs to be fixed.

[pattayapip]

Which dealership are you visiting?

Kurt

Charoenyont The New Dealership Just past Pattaya floating market on Sukhumvit, cannot say have been too impressed as everything is being done by their Chonburi dealership, as they have nothing there yet, but still selling !!

[pattayapip]

I bought a New Fortuner last year and the GPS works instantaneously when you turn on the car. You should ask Toyota to fix it. It's under warranty and there is no excuse in my view why it is slow or shouldn't work.

I agree which is why I am still on to them to do something, its just a real slow process and getting irate achieves nothing here

[pattayapip]

Have you fitted dash cam recently?

Nothing electronic Fitted

[pattayapip]

I have a Garage in my New House, am now going to reverse park the Car in, so the windscreen faces out with direct Satellite View, anything is worth trying

It is for sure much worse when left overnight or longer, if only for an hour or two appears to get a lock much faster

Edited February 18, 2015 by pattayapip

[2fishin2]

If what you are saying is true and happens every time...sans finding the problem and fixing it, nothing will work.

If it is taking that long something is not right. A GPS builds up an almanac and stores in which is a list of sats it sees when it cranks up. It remembers where the sats are in relationship to place on globe. It keeps that in memory and when it cranks up it basically does a quick verification that they are still there and starts rolling. They normally only need to lock into three to get a fix. If your almanac is dumping the GPS doesnt know where it is on the globe and has to start this timely almanac initial acquisition process every time you start the GPS.

Have to remember time of day also plays an important part of all this due to the earths rotation and satellite coverage. A lose antenna connection or cracked wire can also cause this as the signal would "leak" out of the connector or line.

When you first crank up the GPS take up a pic of the satellite page and post up here

[pattayapip]

Parking the Car the other way around does not seem to have worked
As asked pictures of the unit when I started the car, only a couple of hours after parking
Last picture showing same position as when I started and yet I was at least a Km away up the road
Yes I know it was fairly quick, but I needed to be somewhere, and like I said before, this never happened at all with the last Fortuner Sportivo 3 (Different Sat Nav Unit)

Will see what it is like in the morning
Still waiting for Toyota to get back to me . . . . . . . .

Edited February 18, 2015 by pattayapip

[pattayapip]

^{Toyota Bangkok just came and fitted a complete new Head unit}

^{Toyota Pattaya did sweet FA}