I'm the recent owner of a new Canadian 2009 TCH. Love the car, somewhat dislike the stock JBL stereo, which is the topic of this question.

When we purchased the car, the dealer offered to match the trade-in vehicle by installing the Toyota Stock iPod Adapter for free, even though in Canada at least, the stock iPod adapter is not listed as an accessory to the 2009 TCH.

The JBL stereo completely locks up at random. With or without an iPod connected to the adapter. By lock up, I mean it either freezes the display and stops playing music, or it completely turns off. The only way to "reboot" the stereo is to completely turn off the car, for longer than 10 minutes.

After having the stereo replaced, and the problem is still occurring, I'm suspecting it must be the stock iPod adapter is incompatible with the stereo. I can't find any information on the web however, and the dealer can't answer the question either.

So my question is, has anyone else had this specific problem?

Has anyone had their stock stereo lock up without any iPod adapter attached?

(In the meantime, I'll continue looking through forum articles in the mean time to find a good 3rd party adapter, and see if I can install it myself.)

 

I waited for 6 months to find what I think was the perfect mp3 player and it just plugs into the 2009 nav system. I was so impressed that I wrote a detailded review with installation instruction specifically for the 2009 hybrid with nav.

https://www.greenhybrid.com/discuss/...install-20117/

feel free to e-mail me with any questions. I know it is expensive but in my opinion you get what you pay for

tim

 

I ran into the same problem with my 09, but only after I bought the Nano. It still happens with my Kenwood 8120. After months of messing with the stereo, I found its the Ipod not the Stereo. Now I just disconnect my Ipod for a few seconds then plug it back in and it works fine. FYI I am able to change the tracks w/ my steering wheel control. If it locks I can still use my touch screen features. Hope that helps

 

@tharvey
Thanks for the detailed instructions. I don't have a Nav system, but I intend to read your post anyway, it sounds interesting.

@The Ridler
I wish unplugging the iPod was the solution, but it isn't (at least not for me) with the OEM Toyota iPod adapter. The stereo is completely locked up, and nothing short of turning off the car for 10 minutes will cause the stereo to reset itself. I have several generations of iPods, and all of them experience the same problem. I doubt it's the iPod(s).

More information:

That said, I was just in at my dealer this weekend to have the OEM iPod adapter disconnected, just to see if the stereo itself works properly. I expect it will. My suspicion is that it's the OEM iPod adapter that is causing the problem, since in Canada, at least, it is not a listed accessory for the TCH '09. It's a listed accessory for a non-hybrid '09, but not for the TCH.

After looking over the adapter, I have this sneaking suspicion it was not installed correctly. My dealer kindly provided the install manual when I bought the car. I could have sworn that I read all four DIP switches should be in the up position, and yet looking at the adapter, they're all in the down position. I'll have to dig out the manual this week to see if that's the problem. The dealer also wrapped the poor adapter in several layers of foam tape. Entirely wrapped in foam tape. (!!) So if DIP switches aren't the problem, I bet over heating might also be a possible cause of problems. The poor heat fins on the adapter had no way of cooling the device with all that foam tape.

In the meantime, it's the AUX-in port for me.