07 Prius Radio Volume Knob Sometime Not Working
 

My 2007 Prius (w/ package #2) has a strange problem with the volume knob on the dash: sometimes it doesn't work (i.e., nothing happens to the volume of the speakers) when I turn it (in either direction), while the +/- buttons on the steering wheel still work. I am not sure when that will happen, but when this happens, I can't make it to work, e.g., by turning off the radio and turn it back on, or by turning the entire system off and back on by hitting the Power botton repeatedly. And then it will go away the next time (this could be the next day or week) I noticed needing to change the volume using the knob.

Has anyone else had this same problem? It seems to be a software bug to me. But the dealer wants me to agree to a charge of $90 before they even will take a look at the problem, and only to waive the fee if the problem is found to be a defect covered under the warranty. So if they can't find what's wrong, I have to pay $90! Nice, huh?

SeeOcean, every day.

Re: 07 Prius Radio Volume Knob Sometime Not Working
 

I have never heard of nor had this problem.

Sounds like a defect to me, which is covered under the warranty.

Re: 07 Prius Radio Volume Knob Sometime Not Working
 

:confused: :cry: Very interesting For the first time, today as I was driving home from work, I made a stop at a store, and returned to the car within 5 minutes. At that time, I started the car in the usual way, and wanted to resume my book on CD which I had been listening to before the stop. Wala! No sound, no ability to lower, raise or change CD to FM to Am to nothing... Oh my, I thought:angry: What I did was pull the car over when it was safe to do so, put the car in park first, of course, then with foot on brake, turned the car off. Waited approximtely 2 minutes and tried the same again. This time all was working, like it never did not, and I resumed my book on CD:D Question I asked myself today, after this happened was WHY did this happen in the first place? I astopunds me that you have had this problem and seeing your, I immediately knew I could relate, and wanted to share the same. Let's do this... Let's keep the sharp eye on this problem and if it recurrs, we need to put that here, and then between those of us who have this problem, need to organize, and put a written, detailed account of this problem andthat the remedy must be forthcoming. OkI will help in this effort, if I am needed. I am here, just lemme know.:D

Thanks Linda, 2008 Driftwood P{earl, Package 6,. newbie, in ;lopve with this car,. but not bl;ind top possible problems which require answers.

Thank you

Rolin

Re: 07 Prius Radio Volume Knob Sometime Not Working
 

Sorry, but something doesn't seem right. :confused:

You have an '07 Prius and the dealer wants you to pay a diagnostic fee?

Unless something is VERY strange (or you modified your car in the area of the radio), a 2007 should still be in warranty. Therefore, there should not be any fee at all.

BTW, may not be a software bug. It may be an intermittent problem with the encoder portion of the switch that controls the volume. Good luck with this problem because capturing an intermittent symptom like this is a real bear. :(

Re: 07 Prius Radio Volume Knob Sometime Not Working
 

Thanks for the responses so far. Yeah I agree the dealer is very unreasonable. Not only that they did not even acknowledge the existence of the problem (I drove to the local dealership where I bought my Prius while the problem was happening).

Today I searched the forum at priuschat.com, and saw there were quite a few posts describing the same problem as I am having (or Rolin had) that date back to 2005/6. Most of these people said the problem went away when they turned the car off (so now I am not quite sure if I tried that -- even though I said I did in my original post :-). Here are two of the threads that describe the problems: first thread, and second thread. What's interesting is that there are many people who have even experienced volume changes on its own, or radio jumps to different frequencies.

SeaOcean, every day.

Re: 07 Prius Radio Volume Knob Sometime Not Working
 

This is not abnormal behavior on the part of a "Stealership". It is just what they do.

Re: 07 Prius Radio Volume Knob Sometime Not Working
 

I own a 2007 Prius (pkg 5) that has had the radio go out twice now in the last month. The knobs quit working, all of the lights for the 6 CD's light up, can't eject or load, nothing works. Then all of a sudden it starts working again. Car is in today for 20,000 mile service. The noted the issue but can not duplicate it. My "guess" is that it has had something to do with the heat. I live in Phoenix and both times this happened the car was in the sun @110`. May have nothing to do with it, but it was my thought and I mentioned it to Toyota. The guys there have been great so far..... hopefully it gets resolved.

Re: 07 Prius Radio Volume Knob Sometime Not Working
 

Well now this issue have also happened to me! The radio buttons stopped working, but the steering wheel buttons were still able to control the radio. I did find that when I bang on the dash next to the radio, it sometimes fixes the issue for a while. This problem is becoming more common after looking over other forums. There doesn't seem to be a real fix from Toyota either, all they do is replace the radio. I would bet it's something as simple as a corroded or loose contact somewhere.

Re: 07 Prius Radio Volume Knob Sometime Not Working
 

I have the same problem with my 07 Prius. The dashboard controls don't work, but the steering controls for radio do work. i tried turning on and off to no avail. It has also been colder here in South Florida then normal so the heat theory doesn't work.

Did anyone get this resolved and if so how?

Re: 07 Prius Radio Volume Knob Sometime Not Working
 

As the original poster of this thread, I can tell you that the problem with my Prius hasn't happened since or sometimes soon after I made the post. I didn't try to have it fixed since the local Toyota dealer was very unhelpful. However, I don't think the knob has automatically fixed itself, just that I have gotten accustomed to using the steering wheel volume control and rarely use the in-dash knob.

Given the media attention earlier this year about unintended acceleration on Toyota cars, I tend to believe that "unintended" knob malfunction could also be caused by the same causes, whatever that might be. Being somewhat proficient in software development, I know how hard it is to develop bug-free software. Technologies to ensure bug-free software are not there yet, that's true for cars and true for commercial airplane flight control software.

Just hope my Prius doesn't accelerate unintentionally.