Lost at sea ...

[philip42h]

Second silly post of the day ... typically when we go to France I set up the navigation for the next leg of the journey while waiting to board the shuttle. This means that the sat nav has a brief "wtf moment" when we exit because we've sneaked across the channel while it wasn't watching. It is perhaps unusual to move the car with the 'engine' off. But it normally doesn't take too long to sort itself out ...

This last week when we return, it continued to display navigation through Calais (I think) while we were heading up the M20 before eventually positioning us somewhere mid channel (it was all blue all around on the screen) and showed now sign at all of sorting itself out.

No matter, I thought that it was about time I tried Android Auto and Google Maps - I had the route running on my 'phone anyway. It's probably worth noting that my wife was driving so I was free to concentrate on the system! Anyway, it wouldn't switch to AA until I "switched the engine off and put the handbrake on" - I think that was the message. Is this 'normal'? Can one not switch between navigation systems while moving?

So there we are, adrift in the English Channel (on the M20), with a dysfunctional sat nav. I tried to change our destination - why not? - but none of our saved destination were 'useable' ... I think that it was telling me that there was no route from where we were to where we wanted to be. And it took me quite a while to work out how to get out of that particular hole - I must be getting old - but you can "push and hold" the power button on the infotainment system to switch it off completely - just pressing the power button turns off the audio but leaves the sat nav just as confused as before. When I turn it back on again all was sweetness and light (apart from a little message in the corner reading "who? me?")

I've used Toyota's built in sat nav for many years now and, while the routing is sometimes 'interesting', I've only once before known it be just plain wrong ...

[ernieb]

Sounds like for whatever reason it just could not find enough satellites.  However, I've known problems using a hand held Sat Nav for walking navigation, this had been turned off and had to spend time going through its almanac of dates, times and satellite signal ID's to find the correct pattern.  I've also seen a problem using a similar device where it had been moved between dates and off and again took some time to locate itself.  Probably none of the above and just had a hissy fit.

[Terry10]

Same sort of problem week before last going to France from Plymouth. Overnight ferry from Plymouth and  the satnav was totally confused for quite a few miles the next day in France. Good job that I actually new the route. Only had it set so that I didn't miss the coffee stop about 150 miles in.

obviously being trapped in a metal box isolated the car overnight.

Terry

Edited May 28, 2022 by Terry10
Missed a sentence