First Toyota, first Tundra, one small issue with infotainment system

Well that's not EXACTLY true.. my very first car was a 1978 corolla, missing headliner and all. This is my first Toyota truck though. Me and the misses picked up a '23 TRD 4x4 in white, and we just LOVE this truck (the only thing we don't love, is the tiny gas tank). The wife commutes about 2 miles a day in it, and we use it to tow our Centurion surf boat.


I do have one question/issue i am hoping you can maybe help me with. My infotainment system, while connected to my android phone usually freezes and unfreezes for a second or two, periodically, as I drive down the road. Normally I just have my music app playing, and google navigation. Sometimes it will stay connected and work great for a half hour at a time, other times it freezes and unfreezes every minute or two, and sometimes it won't connect to the phone at all. When the freeze happens, the music obviously stops and you can clearly see the navigation freeze for a second or two also. Happens when connected wirelessly, AND connected via the USB cord. It's extremely annoying.

The phone has ZERO issues connecting to and staying connected to my F150, my Civic, my Infinity, my boat, my side-by-side, my bluetooth speakers in my garage, or my Yamaha receiver. It's clearly an issue with the Tundra. Any ideas? I gotta have my music!

 

Sounds like a warranty issue, although the dealership will probably blame Android Auto.

FWIW, my infotainment screen has never froze up using CarPlay, either wirelessly or connected to the USB. Occasionally, Google Maps takes a while to refresh, but that's always in poor cell service areas. It's been a very reliable system so far, for me.

 

Welcome from NY.

 

The only issues I've had with Android auto are sometimes when playing a podcast or music from my phone the audio will stop for a few seconds then resume. Happened maybe twice yesterday during a 2 hr drive. Not worth it for me to waste time with the dealer, probably just an android auto software issue or issue with phone's connection to AA.

I'd try different phones, restart your phone, turn bt and wifi off then back on, might depend on the phone.

 

Yeah, i have done all of that, of course. I would also think it would be the phone except for the fact that the phone works perfectly fine with over a half dozen other bluetooth devices. It's been totally flawless in all my other vehicles (two of which use android auto), my boat, my RZR, my high-end yamaha receiver, etc. I think the truck eventually has to go in for the recall and EVENTUALLY it's first service, so I can ask toyota to take a look at it then. I've had the truck since June and we only have 2,500 miles on it.

 

I'm pretty sure the AA links to the phone with wifi not bt, and maybe that's the issue. At least when I'm connected my Samsung shows a wifi connection to the truck not bt. Haven't messed with it enough to see if it'll connect only bt or what.

 

riigghhtt... i didn't think of that. I assumed it was bluetooth. however, the issue is identical when connected via the USB, too....

 

As I understand it, both Android Auto and CarPlay use bluetooth to establish a connection with your infotainment system, then uses WIFI for actual data transmission. This applies to both wireless and USB connections.

Here's where it get's interesting, at least with an iPhone and CarPlay. If you have WIFI and Bluetooth tuned off on your phone, it won't connect wirelessly, but it will connect if you plug into the USB. Unplug from the USB, and you lose the connection. Again, this is with WIFI and Bluetooth turned off on the phone.

Also, if you have WIFI and Bluetooth off, then start the engine, you can't connect wirelessly by simply turning WIFI and Bluetooth on. They have to be on before you start the engine.

The reason I discovered these oddities is I often turn my WIFI and Bluetooth off to conserve on battery when I'm not using them.

 

There is ONE more thing that I find is strange. Every once in a while I will be on a phone call in the truck using the hands-free connection... works great.. but out of nowhere, the infotainment system starts listening to me and starts talking to me, telling me that it didn't understand my command. LOL... its only done that a couple times.

 

I had similar connectivity issues, freezing, and apps stopping with my last phone, a Motorola Moto something or other, when I first got my Tundra in March 2022. I bought a Pixel 6 in March 2023 and haven't had nearly as many issues. There is still the occasional wireless connection problem but if I plug the phone in with the USB cord, there are no issues (that I can think of).

 

Using pixel 6a since I've had the truck and the only glitches are an occasion unable to connect or google maps sometimes doesn't show my home/work destinations.

 

Funny thing after seeing and replying to this thread, during my 2 hr drive home from the dealer today it completely lost connection like 4 times. A message came up on the screen saying wireless connection lost, never seen that before. The previous times just the audio paused then resumed after a few seconds. This time the msg popped up and audio stopped. All I did was press okay, noticed my phone symbol still in the corner and pressed play again on the podcast app. Using galaxy s22.

And side note it kept randomly asking me to reenter my toyota pin # on the screen, didn't remember having one so reset it and it asked a few more times during the drive.

 

I purposely refused to buy a Tundra with the small gas tank. My son just bought a Tundra last Saturday with the small tank and I think he'll end up regretting it. Anyway, I don't use CarPlay because I don't care for the interface on my screen. But I have the issue where the left side of my digital gauge cluster shows the microphone like it's listening, but it isn't. It also won't clear when pushing the arrow button. But from another thread, when I turn the radio off and on, it clears. Toyota still has bugs to work out with the infotainment system.

 

I have this happen with wireless CarPlay on a regular basis. Just a momentary drop so it doesn’t bother me. There are certain intersections that I know cause this. If I pass through it drops. If I have to stop at the light it flat out disconnects until I’ve passed through. I don’t know if it’s always interference, but I know it can be.

I haven’t tried turning off WiFi and BT to force the cable connection only.

 

Hoody,
Did you ever get the infotainment system figured out or fixed at dealer? I have the same issue, just that it's been happening since the first couple weeks of the lot. Been to dealer 2 times for it, they instruct call Toyota, spend 2-3 hours Uninstaller apps, resetting passwords, changing user names, and it finally worked, for a day. The pin screen comes up on mine all the time, sometimes it'll be 10 seconds, other times a min or 2. A normal 30 min drive, I'd say have to close that screen about 20-25 times. I don't bother putting in pin anymore, didn't do anything. My system never actually downloaded contacts either, and when I press the voice button on steering wheel, never works, just the lady saying no contacts found. Extremely annoying, and typical circle jerk back and forth, dealer can't do anything, Toyota saying they can't do anything more, must be my phone...a side not, the last time I took it in a few weeks ago, for info system and the recalls, as well as squeaking brakes, that they couldn't duplicate in their test ride. WTF, they screech on way in, and on way out but not anytime in between. The irony is I know Toyota has lost 1 sale for sure, friend of mine heard the brakes and sparked conversation of the run around, he's no longer considering Toyota. And you'd think Toyota wouldn't want a brand new truck with 6500k on it screeching around everywhere, not the best advertising.

 

I'm just extremely glad I went the lease route, otherwise I'd probably already be looking to trade it in. But since I got a great lease deal, no way I could get into anything even close to the tundra for my payment. So I guess I'll just drive it like it is for the next 2 years and 3 months. Who needs voice calling, or steering wheel buttons that actuality function, or to be able to see info screen anyways, or to know if the brakes are ok or really are worn down, and if so how could that happen in such a short period.

 

To be honest I haven't really had any more issues with this and totally forgot about it. I haven't had the pin issue come up or the total disconnect, maybe once every other drive the music will pause for a second then resume but it seems more likely to be pandora or my android phone. It doesn't make much sense but seems more smooth since I got my 2nd key programmed and haven't messed with any other settings.

 

have had this issue since day one with our 23 platinum. i have had them check it every time i take it in for a recall service and they always find nothing wrong with it. it randomly stops playing audio for 1 sec while playing spotify. doesnt happen with anything else, radio, nav, etc. only while playing audio with spotify. have un-installed spotify on the phone, deleted the phone and re-added it and still happens.

maybe they it will get fixed with a firmware update whenever that happens.