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Comment by lucisferre | Hacker News Reader

I have the same car and want to do this, but not for the reasons the author noted but because the GPS unit in the car is broken when paired with Carplay and has the wrong compass heading causing navigation to be completely useless.

I have reported this to Toyota multiple times with videos detailing the problem and they have denied the problem and ultimately when faced with the evidence simply refused to fix it.

I've been a big fan of Toyota's Production System and their management culture, but this experience has really diminished the brand for me. I realize these problems exist with all cars today. The pattern seems to be to foist low-quality hardware and software on their customers and take no responsibility for the results. Software bugs aren't what they consider a "typical car problem" so they simply don't fix them.

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Stop "reporting this to them multiple times" and sue them.

This is exactly why the civil legal system exists.

I promise you a consumer rights attorney will be interested in going after Toyota if you have clear evidence of it.

Or you could take it to an independent mechanic. It's likely just a bad connection to the "sharkfin".

> I realize these problems exist with all cars today.

Nah. It really doesn't, not to the same degree. Consumer Reports has demonstrated this handily for many, many years.

I have exactly the same problem in my (latest-model) Honda Civic / Android Auto! I thought I was going crazy, I'm glad to hear someone else has the same problem.

The only fix I've found is to disconnect the phone and use its map standalone, just sending audio over Bluetooth. Maybe it's possible to get Android Auto or Carplay to reject GPS data from the car? I don't know...

I had the same problem with my Skoda, but it was fixed under warranty, albeit it took 7 months for them to do it, although they've acknowledged it from day one.

I use Apple CarPlay and one thing that consistently worked was starting the navigation on the phone before it connected to the car.

Otherwise, the fix is relatively simple and cheap: the ECU has to be replaced, it doesn't cost too much, but it's pretty labour intensive.

I don't know about internet, but it actually works the other way for GPS; Carplay/Android Auto relay the car's GPS data to your phone, because that is usually more accurate and it means your phone doesn't have to burn battery constantly polling its own GPS.

> has the wrong compass heading causing navigation to be completely useless.

In Feb 2010 I bought a Nexus One, my first Android phone. I noticed that a lot of times it thought I was facing in the opposite direction, far more than half the time, actually. So when finding directions, I generally needed to know how to get from where I was to the road it wanted without using the route it suggested because it would tell me to go the other way.

16 years later I still have the same problem with every single Android phone I've ever had. 80 to 85% of the time Android thinks I'm facing the other way. I wonder if there's some bug in my google account. It's weird.

> I have reported this to Toyota multiple times with videos detailing the problem and they have denied the problem and ultimately when faced with the evidence simply refused to fix it.

I don't work for Toyota, but I do wonder, who exactly within Toyota have you contacted? Maybe you're reaching people who have no idea how to reach out to a real engineer within Toyota?

Resolving basic usability issues shouldn't require infiltrating the company.

Some brands take software very seriously. This isn't an "entire industry" problem.

My experience is pretty small; I've owned the same Tesla Model 3 LR for the last 6.5 years, and the software has been pretty much solid the entire time. There was briefly a problem with echos when I called land lines using the bluetooth and my iPhone, but that problem eventually went away - not clear if it was because the iPhone changed, the software was updated, or perhaps the particular landline I was calling got an upgraded CO, but for a car that's a pretty good track record. There were some sensor glitches but they got fixed.

I've test driven other cars. Lucid Air - tons of weird glitches. Rivian - almost as good as the Tesla, but laggy UI on a brand new car. My Tesla is almost seven years old and still smooth as the day it was new! How do they do it?

Compass heading specifically does seem to be unusually challenging. Does anyone else recall the bizarre "Google Maps on iPhone is 90 deg off" problem? Totally strange.

As a fellow Tesla Model 3 LR owner, I can confirm that this has been my experience as well. I bought mine in 2008. So nearly 8 years old and still going strong.

You mean in 2018 maybe?

The year is correct. They omitted to mention that it was a Tesla DeLorean.

Tesla takes software very seriously, but for their goals not yours.

This is just fearmongering trope. You can imagine whatever you like, but there's no evidence that they're anything other than a car and technology company that wants to sell lots of its product.

Their employees were caught viewing and sharing nude photos of their customers on slack.

technology company that wants to sell lots of its product

So, like every company out there spying on their customers as much as they can get away with? Cool.

hoo doggies...

Yeah, this is similar to what I hear about Tesla's everywhere. While some members of the company leadership can be polarizing, the product itself seems very solid. Have been saving up for my first "good" car since starting my end-career job, really want to get a Tesla, but wish there was a hybrid option due to charger anxiety. Otherwise, would get one already.

> charger anxiety

I've done many USA cross-country trips in a Tesla. Chargers are a non-issue if you stick to interstate highways. I often don't, which means I have to do some advance planning. I find that fun. Others might not.

But if I were in the market for an EV today I wouldn't buy a Tesla. It's a great car but until the Musk family is no longer part of the company I won't buy another one or recommend them to others.

> Some brands take software very seriously. This isn't an "entire industry" problem.

This does not change the fact that Tesla is shamelessly spying on you. In fact, Tesla takes the software so seriously that it can probably fully remotely control your car. This is not something that I would want, and, if I were to be gifted a Tesla, the first thing that I would do is unplugging the cellular modem. If the car becomes unusable because of this, I would get rid of it.

All you need to do is convince your Tesla that it's in a constant state of having just crashed, and the poof, nobody will ever see your data!

> Some brands take software very seriously.

> Tesla

It's really hard to take this claim seriously about a car company that programs its self-driving system to disengage if it detects what it thinks is a likely crash, so said company can then tell investigators, regulators, juries, and the public that "the car wasn't in self-driving mode when it crashed." "I'm not touching her, Mom. THE STICK is touching her!"

...and touts itself as having the most advanced driver assistance and self-driving capabilities, yet has the highest crash rate of any brand? Beating out Mustang and Imprezza WRX STi owners is truly an accomplishment, though.

...and (still?) hasn't fixed its issues with "phantom braking" that have caused multi-car pileups

...and has self-driving software documented as being so bad it will randomly swerve at cyclists, steer at light poles while turning, and swerve at crowds of pedestrians on a street corner waiting for the light? Which after years of refinement drives about as well as a highly distracted teenager who just got their learner's permit?

Yeah, taking software "very seriously."

We were talking about the fundamental experience of driving the car. If you want to pick at the features that the Toyota can't have, then sure, but you might as well complain about it not being able to fly.

My personal experience of the FSD function is that it works as its supposed to; it handles the mundane tasks of driving while I look around, and it's easy for me to interject when I feel I need to, which is almost never. That's what I wanted and that's what they delivered. It was not so good earlier, yes including phantom braking, but it's very good now.

This might be historically accurate, but no longer to represent the present state IMO

I had an M3LR during 2021/22 as a company car and during that time they “refreshed” the UI completely which made it objectively worse as a means of interacting with your car (i.e. more taps/levels/menus to get the same simple things done).

Aside from that, it was always pretty solid and IMO better than the typical legacy manufacturer offering.

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