Just hit 2000 Miles on my 2021 and the Head Unit Just Died!

[slipkid13]

fedex has insane delays due to backup in tenessee. Things are lost for weeks in my experience. Your car may qualify for lemon law. I believe 3 failures in a year? dealer will buy it back, maybe order a tesla cybertruck coming out in a few months.

I get there are a lot of Tesla fans here but how are these two even comparable? Reading these forums there are a lot of very specific and special reasons people buy a 200 series. The Cybertruck is the complete opposite of a 200.

Rather, if you can get it bought back why not get a new one? Or an LX so at least the dealer will give you loaner while you wait weeks on end for parts.

 

[Reckless]

I thought all 2021 land cruisers had been allocated. It was a suggestion in case there was no choice of a 200. Lexus 300 model is also a great possibility. I remember 300 dreaming years ago instead of cybertruck dreaming. Really the threat of lemon law usually scares the dealer/manufacturer into serious action. I have seen it work with BMW.

 

[Tex68w]

I've had a vehicle bought back under lemon law and trust me it takes some very serious issues and multiple attempts to fix and/or failures in order to even qualify. Even when it does expect major push back from the factory and legal threats and/or legal representation before they'll even discuss it. Mine took three major issues over the course of 8-9 months and the vehicle was in the dealers possession for 60-70% of that time frame. Let's just say that it didn't get bought back until after it had a brand new motor in it which also exhibited the same issues the original engine did and this was a brand new vehicle less than 10 months old at the time it was bought back.

 

[greynolds]

Yeah, a few weeks to get parts for a single repair of the infotainment system isn't even remotely close to justify bringing the lemon law into the discussion. All it would do is kill any sort of good relationship the OP has with the dealer and label him as a complainer. All that's needed here is a bit of patience while the parts make their way to the dealership. The actual repair shouldn't take much more than an hour or so.

Regarding the Cybertruck, you couldn't pay me enough to take one of those. I applaud efforts to become more energy efficient, environmentally responsible, and all that, but I can't get past the appearance of that thing and it's a completely different beast than our 200's.

 

[Angelo1]

I've had a vehicle bought back under lemon law and trust me it takes some very serious issues and multiple attempts to fix and/or failures in order to even qualify. Even when it does expect major push back from the factory and legal threats and/or legal representation before they'll even discuss it. Mine took three major issues over the course of 8-9 months and the vehicle was in the dealers possession for 60-70% of that time frame. Let's just say that it didn't get bought back until after it had a brand new motor in it which also exhibited the same issues the original engine did and this was a brand new vehicle less than 10 months old at the time it was bought back.

Was it a Range Rover or Chrysler product?

 

[Angelo1]

Yeah, a few weeks to get parts for a single repair of the infotainment system isn't even remotely close to justify bringing the lemon law into the discussion. All it would do is kill any sort of good relationship the OP has with the dealer and label him as a complainer. All that's needed here is a bit of patience while the parts make their way to the dealership. The actual repair shouldn't take much more than an hour or so.

Regarding the Cybertruck, you couldn't pay me enough to take one of those. I applaud efforts to become more energy efficient, environmentally responsible, and all that, but I can't get past the appearance of that thing and it's a completely different beast than our 200's.

Environmentally responsible...funniest joke I’ve heard this morning

 

[4wheelgreg]

I would figure its some kind of Touch Screen and should have a PLC that controls everything would come down to space . I like simple ... LOL

 

[greynolds]

Environmentally responsible...funniest joke I’ve heard this morning

Where's the joke? I didn't intend to suggest that Tesla is environmentally responsible, I was just saying that I'm in favor of such efforts in the general sense (though I can see how my comment could have been misconstrued ).

 

[Angelo1]

Where's the joke? I didn't intend to suggest that Tesla is environmentally responsible, I was just saying that I'm in favor of such efforts in the general sense (though I can see how my comment could have been misconstrued ).

Redirect Notice

www.google.com

The spiralling environmental cost of our lithium battery addiction

As the world scrambles to replace fossil fuels with clean energy, the environmental impact of finding all the lithium required could become a major issue in its own right

www.wired.co.uk

 

[Angelo1]

Where's the joke? I didn't intend to suggest that Tesla is environmentally responsible, I was just saying that I'm in favor of such efforts in the general sense (though I can see how my comment could have been misconstrued ).

Don’t get me wrong, I really like the idea of Electric cars for the convenience they provide for city driving. Not having to get gas or change fluids is fantastic. Just charge overnight and go about my day with plenty of charge. I will most likely get a Tesla or alike real soon for the very reasons I stated above. However, I will not be fooled that I’m saving the planted by doing so. I am really waiting to get a 500 mile range Tesla or other brand in the next year. That would get me to most of my longer family trip destinations more quickly.

 

[Angelo1]

Sorry for deviating from the topic. I’m curious how many 200s are effected from a bad head unit that we don’t hear about on this forum. My main complaint I had with the newer (besides reliability) Range Rovers(my wife wanted) and Tesla is the head unit controlled everything. It does bug me that Toyota thought they were being edgy with the 200, by complicating the climate controls through screen.

 

[greynolds]

Don’t get me wrong, I really like the idea of Electric cars for the convenience they provide for city driving. Not having to get gas or change fluids is fantastic. Just charge overnight and go about my day with plenty of charge. I will most likely get a Tesla or alike real soon for the very reasons I stated above. However, I will not be fooled that I’m saving the planted by doing so.

And again, I didn't intend to suggest that Tesla and electric cars as currently designed are going to save the planet. But I am in favor of things that actually have a positive effect on the environment, some of which are pretty simple. I'm not going to get an electric car any time soon. My commute, at least for now, is 0 miles 5 days a week because I'm working from home until at least September (and hopefully permanently). I filled the tank in my LC a few weeks ago because I was down to about 1/4 tank and when I entered the fill-up data in my log I saw that the last time I filled the tank was January 2 and I had only driven around 200 miles. I'm hoping to drive a bit more over the course of the year as the pandemic situation improves.

But yeah, there are definitely issues with the electric cars. Some examples (and these are rhetorical questions): What type of fuel is being used to generate the electricity that's used to charge them? What if you want to drive more than 200-300 miles on a given day? What's the dealership / repair network like if you need a repair when away from home (I'm not only thinking about Tesla here, but also newer options like Rivian)?

 

[greynolds]

Sorry for deviating from the topic. I’m curious how many 200s are effected from a bad head unit that we don’t hear about on this forum. My main complaint I had with the newer (besides reliability) Range Rovers(my wife wanted) and Tesla is the head unit controlled everything. It does bug me that Toyota thought they were being edgy with the 200, by complicating the climate controls through screen.

I honestly doubt that the number of defective head units is very high. I just hope that the bulk of the failures happen while the warranty is still valid because the screen, especially, is an expen$$$$ive part.

One of the problems with what Toyota did with putting some of the climate controls on the screen was the fact that the controls are split somewhat illogically between hard buttons and the screen. At least the temperature adjustment and some other controls remain as hard buttons. This is one of the few things I'm not overly thrilled about with the ergonomics of the 200 and would definitely be a consideration in swapping in a "tesla style" head unit. I would need to see how the climate controls work. Rather surprisingly to me, Jeep has a pretty nicely designed infotainment system on their current models (I watched a TFL Cars video on infotainment systems a few days ago), but I wouldn't want to give up Toyota reliability for it .

If Land Rover ever figures out what quality control is all about, they would be a fantastic option. But they also need to figure out how to make their infotainment systems intuitive AND responsive. The payload and overall feature set of the new Defender is pretty amazing, but I completely ruled out anything from Land Rover when I bought my LC because I didn't want to have something that would spend more time at the dealer for service than it would with me.

 

[Tex68w]

Was it a Range Rover or Chrysler product?

LOL, easy guess some would say. It was a Jeep Wrangler Rubicon.

 

[4wheelgreg]

Think we have gone off topic , as far as controls land cruiser should have been simple , some smart Toyota Engineering thought we wanted this ... Should have saved it for the LX and gave us Knobs .. LOL
I had EV Ford ranger in the early 90’s joint venture with GE , super simple lead acid batteries , was a Lease I had for 3 yrs ... it was too much of a success , in the end a few survived but all were suppose to be destroyed... too much off a success , can’t have that .
I’m not buying the new Hummer EV or a 300 EV even if they build one .
I like green and clean but its in its infancy right now , Teslas are not very dependable if you go on the forums they have lots of people with problems just like gas powered , LC 200 is more reliable than a Tesla .

 

[04UZJ100]

Sorry for deviating from the topic. I’m curious how many 200s are effected from a bad head unit that we don’t hear about on this forum. My main complaint I had with the newer (besides reliability) Range Rovers(my wife wanted) and Tesla is the head unit controlled everything. It does bug me that Toyota thought they were being edgy with the 200, by complicating the climate controls through screen.

they’re not being edgy. There are climate controls built into the MFD on our 2004 Cruiser. Still works perfectly.....

 

[linuxgod]

Yeah, I’m sure there will be something at some point and I’ll be very tempted if/when it happens.

Like this?

10.2" Octa-core Quad-core Android Navigation Radio for Toyota Land Cru

Get this feature-rich head-turning big screen Android radio to brighten up your ride today. Plug and play. Retains most factory features. Different configurations to choose from.

phoenixautomotiveins.com

 

[greynolds]

Like this?

10.2" Octa-core Quad-core Android Navigation Radio for Toyota Land Cru

Get this feature-rich head-turning big screen Android radio to brighten up your ride today. Plug and play. Retains most factory features. Different configurations to choose from.

phoenixautomotiveins.com

Yeah, that's a good start. But I'd be more comfortable if they said it is compatible with 2020/2021 and would definitely need clarification on what "retains most factory features" actually means... The EC Offroad unit that I currently have installed allows me to switch between the factory system and the Android system, which is nice because you don't lose any of the factory functionality. But there are a few things that are a bit clunky or less than ideal. The price of that Phoenix option is VERY attractive though.

 

[linuxgod]

Yeah, that's a good start. But I'd be more comfortable if they said it is compatible with 2020/2021 and would definitely need clarification on what "retains most factory features" actually means... The EC Offroad unit that I currently have installed allows me to switch between the factory system and the Android system, which is nice because you don't lose any of the factory functionality. But there are a few things that are a bit clunky or less than ideal. The price of that Phoenix option is VERY attractive though.

If you were really interested then email them. I've heard Phoenix is very responsive. Might very well be compatible and simply just that when this was first manufactured the 2020/2021 wasn't out yet (or available to them for testing). I don't think there's any difference between 2019 and 2020/2021 but I've not explored all the wiring diagrams to confirm that.

Romer and a few others have tried some of the Phoenix units. I don't recall everyone that did it, but I follow the various threads as once someone figures out a version that is drop-in replacement I'm game. There is a bit of work to get them integrated and a number of different options you may need to add on. They have some nice features, but the cold startup time (if your truck has been sitting for a week) is definitely longer than the factory nav startup (like 30+ seconds, or something). Personally if I had a 2016+ I don't think I'd bother with the aftermarket units unless yours dies out of warranty, but I think that's just because the 2016+ screen seems so much nicer than the 2008-2015 ones (at least to a 2013 owner).

 

[greynolds]

Personally if I had a 2016+ I don't think I'd bother with the aftermarket units unless yours dies out of warranty, but I think that's just because the 2016+ screen seems so much nicer than the 2008-2015 ones (at least to a 2013 owner).

The primary motivation is to get Apple CarPlay / Android Auto, but the general Android functionality with these units is really nice to have too. So even with the nicer screen on the newer LC's, there are still very compelling reasons to do something like this.