Flip volume and track fwd/reverse toggle on steering wheel

Touche? I dont know why you think that, just informing you of other things that use the left and right toggle other than CDs...

 

Please put blame where it is due - People. Toyota, along with every other manufacturer, goes by standards laid out by NHSTA, OSHA, MSHA, SAE and a whole bunch of other acronyms. Toyota does not just make shit up nor do the other manufacturers.
Now, when there is a button, knob or control that IS NOT regulated, then the manufacturer asks the customer during focus group meetings. I will say though, in my experience, most controls, knobs and buttons have a rule or standard of some sort that decides, size, force required for actuation, direction, etc. Once upon a time this was not the case, and it took quite some time to learn the controls of a Dodge versus a Datsun for example. Nowadays, you can get in a Toyota or a Chevy and in just a few minutes adapt from one to the other, thanks to those regulations. Here are a few examples before standards lol:

That's the headlight dimmer switch off to the left on the floorboard...
Complaining about the orientation of volume control? Not even a blip.

 

I wouldn't blame people on this one because their other 18 models have different button layouts. I doubt the NHSTA, OSHA, MSHA, SAE, ABC, XYZ are regulating it or else all of their vehicles would be the same. The Colorado has a similar button and it's oriented the correct way. The F150 has the skip buttons right but a separate volume button that is also left right (which I can live with. It's the skip buttons that are wrong in my mind). So you can see that no agency is regulating the button layout. It's pure design before function. Or maybe it's an international thing. Either way, they could have made the US version different.

 

Pretty sure there is a regulation for force required to depress and I think it's OSHA on that one. Anyhow, if you think about it, there is no "correct" way for most buttons. For example, your "window up and down" should be a vertical switch right? Here's the one that makes me think the Toyota engineers were just messing with us though:
Using the steering wheel control, cycle through the radio or XM stations. Up takes you to a "lesser" number right? And "down" takes you to a larger number. Now, plug in or bluetooth a music player of some type... I use an old Ipod... and now you go "up" to go to the next track lol. So on the radio it is "down" to advance, on a music device it is "up" to advance. SMH. But yes there are rules, otherwise you would see turn signal levers on the door and headlight switch on the floor and shifters on the ceiling.

 

Actually the old ipod buttons were correct too. Skip back was left and skip forward was right.



Looking at the manual, the up/down buttons make perfect sense for radio use. Up moves the preset radio selection up and down goes down. Hold to scan up in numbers and hold down to scan backwards (down in numbers). But for anything but radio, it's backwards.

 

Let's be clear that this is a discussion on the control orientation of an existing button. Not a new placement of the button, size, design, implementation, whatever. I'd have a hard time believing NHSTA, FMVSS, whoever would have anything to do with whether a federally-approved volume/skip button get turned 90 degrees.
This is on Toyota, regardless of what a group of strangers said in a room.

 

If you look at the head unit, whenever you turn the volume up the bar comes up on the top of the screen horizontally and moves from left to right as you turn the volume up. If you look at the screen when you push the "up" and "down" buttons it changes your station and they are listed on the screen vertically on the left side. The buttons on the steering wheel were made to mach the layout on the screen, once I realized this it didn't bother me anymore.

 

This is what drives me crazy. We are a multi Toyota household and whenever I get in my wife’s car I change the track when I’m trying to adjust the volume.

 

I believe this was mentioned several posts back. But regardless, I'm not looking at the screen when using that particular button. Which is the point of them being on the steering wheel.

By the way, side note: the call/hang up button is vertical on the steering wheel. But on the screen, it's right and left.

 

No it's oriented correctly if you use you're I phone or I pod if your looking at the info screen between the tachometer and the speedometer. Just because other vehicles use a different layout doesn't mean the button layout they use in the tacoma is "incorrect".

 

your all too old its set up that way because that's the way it works on mp3 players, computers and phones. the play list is up and down and volume is left right.

 

Dude! “Up” totally means “volume up” LOL The very first thing I hated about the truck besides the Abortion that is Entune

 

When I first got my truck, I took my controls apart just to see if I could swap the keys around. No dice. the PCB would need to get Rotated 90° and that’s not gonna happen easily. When I yank the entune out to updgrade, I’ll be able to remap the OEM buttons for a different function(now volume up instead of track). My wife’s RAV4 has almost the identical steering control style except the her vol/track buttons are orientated the right way.

 

Simple. Take off steering wheel. Rotate counter clockwise 90°. Put back on. Problem solved

 

There are 6(?) total switches unde that section. Find out which pins on the connector are for each of the switch actions. If the button cover can be physically rotated then you can pull the pins/wires from the connector and move the pins to accomodate the new orientation.

 

"Prior song please"

"Increase volume please"

...usually in my robot voice.

My controls work just fine.
OCD is easy to deal with if you just take the meds.

 

Yep, the volume/track button is stupid. I think left and right for 'back' and 'forward' like on a browser, or media player.

I think UP and DOWN for volume. Silly Toyota.

 

Bah, I'm just going to reprogram mine when I get a new headunit. The iDatalink Maestro will let you change all the buttons.

http://maestro.idatalink.com/weblink/demo/demo-rr

 

Right is forward, left is backward.... like reading.
Up is volume up. Down is volume down.

I get where the OP is coming from. The Toyota just follows the way the menu is displayed, but I agree, it's counterintuitive.

 

“Prior song please”

Entune: “where would you like to find, Pizza Hut?”

“Increase volume please”

Entune: “Calling, mom”