Strange Audio Issue

I have a 2019 SR5 with the stock OEM radio. I have my Android connected via Bluetooth. When I receive a text, the text to audio feature in the radio will read the message to me. That's unless I'm stopped, then it will display the text.

Yesterday, I was driving on the highway and I received a text. I tapped the button on the radio text and as normal, I heard the audio of the text. I tapped the return button on the radio screen and the radio went back to the FM station I was listening to before the text.

The problem was there was no audio coming from the speakers. I tried the AM side, no audio. I tried Bluetooth, no audio. I turned the radio off then back on, no audio. I restarted the phone, no audio.

When I got off the highway I stopped at a parking spot and turned the truck off and then restarted the engine. Audio!

I have no idea what went on, but I'm guessing that something made the audio amp in the radio turn off until I cycled the power.

Anyone have any ideas on what happened?

 

Just sounds like a glitch

 

I have occasional glitches like this.. restarting helps. No system is perfect and you would experience these oddities in something aftermarket as well. My wife's headunit I installed in her Subaru occasionally won't connect to her phone. She restarts and everything is fine.

 

Any emoji's in the text?

 

I have never had it glitch from an emoji personally, it just won't read the text. That is a good idea though... good call

 

Yeah mine does not read them either, but you never know there may be a new emoji that causes it or maybe if they had a bunch of blank spaces in the end of their text.

Hard to diagnose until you can at least get it to repeat something otherwise just have to shrug shoulders and accept the occasional glitch that happens in most computer systems that interact with other computer types.

Just to share a weird one I had with the radio that helps a few more people scratching their heads one day.

I had on with my radio where it would reboot on a highway onramp on my way to work. probably 3 out of 5 days of the week.
Thump tested it to see if their was a loose connection
Went through full reset and wipe
Phone re-pairing, not pairing phone
Firmware update
Through the problem solving steps in the service manual.
When I was at the next stage which was pulling the radio and testing each connector point....
I thought that I have not checked the map sd card.
Card tested fine,
But I decided to test what happens if I just remove the map card.
(tbh it was starting to get dark and I did not want to end up spending the next hour counting connector pins to stick my meter leads into)
5 days later no reboot.
Turns out the map card had failed.
Bad data at one memory segment and the whole stereo went stupid.

So if you have a 16-19 and your radio reboots around the same place, first pull the map card and see if it will repeat.
Toyota service manual and the dealers would have had you replace the radio after 4 hours of testing.

 

Got that beat....Couple months back suddenly my audio began playing a voice mail over and over that I got last fall. Yes the phone and audio are linked but the voice mail is not in my phone. It said something like blue tooth audio?.. I dont know? I primarily use my motorcycle during the warm months..The tacoma just collects dust in the garage. Had taken the truck to CA for a backpack trip and suddenly as I said, it just started playing this old old voice mail. I shut the audio off and haven't driven the truck since...ha!
But foul weather is here for the next few days and I know I will be out in the truck.
Hopefully not hearing Jason wanting to go for a scoot.

 

OP: I had a similar issue on my wife's Avalon. The only way to regain the audio was to restart the car. A friend who was an audio guru said it was an issue with the bluetooth thinking it was on a phone call. We lived with it until she upgraded phones and the issue went away.

 

I'll disconnect the battery, maybe that will straighten it out? Or break then reestablish the bluetooth connection.
I did read the audio manual( Who does that?) but that was back in May. If memory serves correctly its.......................long!?!
It might have a troubleshooting section? But I'm not hopeful...ha!

 

I can't tell you what caused the problem, but if turning the Taco off and back on fixes it, here's an easier/faster way... just press and hold the PWR-VOL knob for about 5 seconds, it'll reboot the head unit.

 

This very well could be the problem. My phone is a fairly ancient Note 5. Sometimes when I start my truck, a random song from my saved music directory will pop up and start playing. At some point, although it will kill me, I'll buy a newer phone and all those problems will go away (I hope).

I'm also not holding the power button in for five seconds, so I'm not power cycling the radio when I think I am. Some day I should RTFM for the audio system, although that alone is longer than the manual for my last truck.

 

I have a strange issue also and piggybacking on this thread instead of starting a new one:

My phone is added for Bluetooth audio and so is my wife's. I have a tablet as the first entry, mine as the second and my wife's is third. Both are Pixels.

ANYTIME my wife is in the car as a passenger, it wants to default to her phone for Audio! One time she borrowed the truck, brought it back then we both went out in the truck and it entirely defaulted to her phone for calls and Audio!

I do not see any settings where I can set a "favorite" device.

It's a very strange issue and I am almost taking it personal LOL...My own truck favors my wife's phone. WTH

Any insight???

 

OP, for what it's worth, my wife's Avalon is a 2019 also.

One test you could do is unpair the phone and try that for a while to see if the issue continues.

 

Choosing order of connected phones

 

Thanks! It only for entune 3.0 though. Shoulda just got the 2020

 

The most recent Bluetooth device added becomes the primary. Remove and add yours again and problem should go away.