Poor Radio reception 2023 corolla ?

[Nocaster5151]

I have a 2023 Corolla touring sports 2.0 design with the moon roof. 

Car is great with one exception.

The radio reception is really poor on both dab and FM when driving.  Applies to all radio stations, cuts out at least every minute. Seems to work better when in London, but in Essex and Suffolk really poor. Screen shows signal lost message. My old lexus ct200h was fine.

On a trip to Devon, same thing. Ok in Exeter but when 5 miles outside of city radio reception cutting out. 

Radio reception also gets interrupted if you open the door or touch the aerial.

London dealer who supplied it tested whilst stationary and couldn't find anything wrong or any fault codes. They couldn't find any updates or reports from Toyota so weren't prepared to do anything under warranty.

Toyota uk refer me back to the dealer.... So I'm stuck 

Car is standard, I don't have a camera fitted. 

Not good on a brand new car in 2023.

Is anyone else having a problem ?

 

[DerekHa]

Hi RIchard'

I'm not an owner of a Corolla nor a new vehicle but the symptoms you describe sound exactly like a faulty antenna amplifier. That would affect both the reception of DAB and FM signals, DAB will be more sensitive than FM. The fact the signal drops out when you touch the antenna is also indicative of the amplifier not working. As you are near London you should have no end of DAB stations that are good with strong signals.

Usually the amplifier is in the base of the roof antenna, which on your vehicle is a shark fin type if the images I looked at are the same as your vehicle. There's also a possibility that a fuse has blown cutting the 12v supply to the amplifier but think you would have other problems with other electrics not working.

Think you're best going back to the dealer again, demonstrate the symptoms you related here and if need be stamp your feet and insist it's put right as what you describe is not right on a nearly new vehicle.

Others here may be able to offer you more informed advice but think you need to press the dealer and if they don't put it right make a complaint to Toyota UK.

 

[DerekHa]

An after thought RIchard,

Have never had a DAB car radio but on the ones I do have in the home most of them have a signal strength indicator, you can access through the menu button, usually a row of zero's on the display. More zero's means more signal you could use that to show the dealer the signal drops when it shouldn't. Also there may be a bit error display available again in the menu's of the DAB radio section, again you can use that to show the drop in signal quality as  opposed to the signal strength.

[Nocaster5151]

Thanks for your reply. I know there were problems with the chr having really bad radio reception so was wondering if the Corolla was the same.  I think you are right and I will go back and complain again or try another dealer. 

[Nocaster5151]

To be fair, the dealer was friendly and helpful and did look at the hidden menus whilst I watched and all showed as fine including the signal strength, but that was in London and whilst stationary. As soon as I drive 10 miles away it cuts out all the time. 

[DerekHa]

Just now, Nocaster5151 said:

Thanks for your reply. I know there were problems with the chr having really bad radio reception so was wondering if the Corolla was the same.  I think you are right and I will go back and complain again or try another dealer. 

Think that's the right thing to do mate.

The amp itself could actually be under the shark fin and behind the roof lining which would make it an tricky job for anyone to sort and I've seem these amps also fitted behind the interior rear trim in some vehicles.

[Roy124]

Just a comment.  What uou you say about poor DAB, going into town, down a hill and into the shade of a line of warehouses we got used to loosing DAB in the Corolla.

I had forgotten as the reception in the Yaris Cross does not drop out.

 

[scabad]

I've recently taken delivery of a 2023 Corolla and have also noticed that the DAB radio is loosing signal frequently the only way I've managed to get it to keep the station is by going into the settings and stop it automatically seeking but this is not brilliant if you're travelling up and down the country.

A family member has a 72 plate TS and the radio on that is fine.  Can't understand it at all.

Have to take the TS for its service later this month will have a word with the service guys and see if I can find anything out.

 

[Roy124]

On 7/27/2023 at 7:44 PM, Roy124 said:

Just a comment.  What uou you say about poor DAB, going into town, down a hill and into the shade of a line of warehouses we got used to loosing DAB in the Corolla.

I had forgotten as the reception in the Yaris Cross does not drop out.

 

I was wrong.  My Yaris Cross still drops out.

I know where the main transmitter is.  I lose signal when I have terrain masking or pull in to some local trading warehouses.

I have also found that I might lose some channels but not others.  Typically the commercial news channels are lost whereas the BBC national remain.

Do the BBC have a more powerful transmission or a different frequency?  If all DAB are broadcast on one carrier then it must be something else. 

[marcb256]

Not sure if this helps but I had problems with my Corolla sport. mainly because there is only 1 USB in the car. I used the power port in the middle compartment with a power - USB adaptor (was an old one), then found I was losing signal. I think I mentioned it on here ages ago. Anyway, I bought a new replacement adaptor and the problem has gone away. There are generic youtube videos on this problem.

[Obsidian Estate]

The DAB isn't great in my Corolla either. I get periodic poor FM reception too.

Though to be fair I used to have a small DAB radio in the house and that wasn't the greatest, if it got so much as knocked and it moved the aerial it would lose signal.

 

[McGeoch]

On 8/8/2023 at 4:20 PM, Roy124 said:

I have also found that I might lose some channels but not others.  Typically the commercial news channels are lost whereas the BBC national remain.

Do the BBC have a more powerful transmission or a different frequency?  If all DAB are broadcast on one carrier then it must be something else. 

I have a 2023 Corolla and find it’s always the commercial channels that dropout and never the BBC channels. 

The commercial channels always drop in the same places.

My previous car was a Ford and the DAB used to drop the same channels in the same places so I definitely think it’s something to do with the DAB signal.

[Elliott1994]

Hi, New member here. I also have a 2023 Corolla Touring Sport (1.8L) which I picked up a few months ago as a company car. 

It's great, but the radio is awful. I also find the radio regularly cuts out. I find it is with both commercial and BBC. My previous Hyundai i30 had no issues and I'm driving the same areas. 

Has anyone approached their dealer and found an issue? 

Mine is due it's 10k service already, so I will be talking to my local Toyota, but I have found other manufacturers dealers are less than helpful when dealing with lease/fleet cars 

[Jimota]

I have a Yaris Cross and have had problems with DAB reception since I bought the car in December 2022.  Works perfectly fine on the FM stations.  I put it down to poor local signals as my previous non Toyota car had the same issues.

[YarisHybrid2016]

Sorry to be a bit technical, but there are two issues working against you.

1) The glass roof reduces the metal area of the roof (duh!), but this means the antenna has a smaller ground plane.

2) The vehicles are now fitted with shark-fin antenna, which are expected to violate the laws of physics. The end-result is the antenna is sub-optimal for reception in the first place, so the signal only needs to weaken slightly for the radio to lose signal completely.

There is little that can be done, besides removing the shark-fin antenna and fitting a 1/4 or 5/8 wave antenna instead.

The DAB radio on my Gen.4 Yaris is not as good as the radio on my Gen.3 Yaris (despite my Gen.3 having a panoramic roof). That's because the Gen.3 had a "proper" antenna. Not only that, but it had two seperate lengths of wire for FM and DAB (the DAB equipped models had an extra length of antenna at the end).

The Gen.4 DAB works most of the time, but it definitely drops out more frequently either in the city with multi-path reflections, or in the countryside when dropping into RF shadows.

[Mr Billiards]

I picked up my new Corolla 2ltr GR Sport two days ago, the DAB radio reception is fine in around where I live in Peterborough, but as soon as I get out in the countryside the signal cuts in and out. Also had one instance where the central LCD screen suddenly went black for a couple of seconds then reverted back to the normal display. 

My previous car was a Mazda 3 Sport Tech, in 3 years of ownership the DAB radio never lost its signal.

The Corolla drives great, overall I'm impressed with the car.

The car is booked into my supplying dealer next week to take a look at the DAB signal and LCD screen. The DAB cutting out seems to be an inherent problem on Toyotas??? 

Will report back after the dealership visit.

 

 

 

 

Edited October 20, 2023 by Mr Billiards
added text

[Mr Billiards]

On 10/20/2023 at 9:47 AM, Mr Billiards said:

I picked up my new Corolla 2ltr GR Sport two days ago, the DAB radio reception is fine in around where I live in Peterborough, but as soon as I get out in the countryside the signal cuts in and out. Also had one instance where the central LCD screen suddenly went black for a couple of seconds then reverted back to the normal display. 

My previous car was a Mazda 3 Sport Tech, in 3 years of ownership the DAB radio never lost its signal.

The Corolla drives great, overall I'm impressed with the car.

The car is booked into my supplying dealer next week to take a look at the DAB signal and LCD screen. The DAB cutting out seems to be an inherent problem on Toyotas??? 

Will report back after the dealership visit.

 

 

 

 

Called in at the dealership today re poor DAB signal / reception on my 2023 Corolla. The dealership informed me Toyota are working on a fix as they are aware of the issue regarding poor DAB signal / reception.

There should be a Fix / Update available  towards the end of November to upgrade the DAB signal / reception.

Assume that will mean Toyota customer recall.

 

 

Edited October 24, 2023 by Mr Billiards
added text

[Nocaster5151]

Thanks for letting us know. My car is with Toyota dealer today as the latest over the air updates failed and caused all sorts of error messages, after which the 12v Battery kept going flat if you attempted to use any of the my t app functionality( which usually errors for me). Interestingly, I received a recall letter from Toyota this morning about the DCM system which is supposed to fix with an over the air update. Clearly mine didn't work and probably caused this problem. The dealer has diagnosed a fault with the DCM hardware as they couldn't even apply the updates manually and then the 12v Battery went flat on them whilst in the workshop so they are keeping it for a while it seems.  My radio reception is still bad. I do wonder if these things are linked. Would be good to get the radio working properly. 

[Mr Billiards]

I have not bothered with the My T App, haven't even got my phone connected to the car. I assume the DCM in my new car would probably be ok as it was built 2 weeks ago??

I like to keep things simple 👍

[Nocaster5151]

58 minutes ago, Mr Billiards said:

I have not bothered with the My T App, haven't even got my phone connected to the car. I assume the DCM in my new car would probably be ok as it was built 2 weeks ago??

I like to keep things simple 👍

My car is only four months old. 2023 build delivered in June. 

[Mr Billiards]

Ok so your car is not much older than my car, that blows my theory out of the water re the DCM.

Out of interest, do you have to activate the over the air updates via a prompt - or does it happen automatically?

Hope your dealer gets your car sorted asap. Please keep us updated.

 

[Nocaster5151]

Just heard from the dealer. They now think the DCM hardware is ok. The update to it which is meant to happen in th background over the air without you doing anything had failed and got the software in a mess causing screen errors and Battery drains. They managed to update it manually using a usb instead of over the air and it seems to have reset now and is not draining the Battery. Hopefully yours will just work in the background and update without any errors. Going to pick it up today. Will let you know if I have any more problems and if it improves the radio reception.

[clem75i]

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[clem75i]

same problem here! live in London UK and it s bad.

really annoying and childrens are bullying me😑

*corolla 2023 excel hatch

[Nocaster5151]

On 10/25/2023 at 10:14 AM, Nocaster5151 said:

Just heard from the dealer. They now think the DCM hardware is ok. The update to it which is meant to happen in th background over the air without you doing anything had failed and got the software in a mess causing screen errors and battery drains. They managed to update it manually using a usb instead of over the air and it seems to have reset now and is not draining the battery. Hopefully yours will just work in the background and update without any errors. Going to pick it up today. Will let you know if I have any more problems and if it improves the radio reception.

Update. Had the update done by the dealer. I think I was being a little hopeful in case it might help the radio reception. Of course not, still as bad as before. Switched over to the new app that replaces my t today. Just as bad as the old one. It has no idea where my car is, or what my last journey was l or if the doors are locked and you can't turn on the air conditioning remotely. Really Toyota shouldn't be allowed to advertise their products with features that just don't work as this swayed me towards a corolla over a honda civic.