2022 head unit reboots continuously on start up

Hey gang, I'm new here and new to Toyotas in general. I just bought a violently green 2022 TRD Pro (JBL) and noticed an annoying issue already. When I start the truck the radio will reboot itself over and over for 1-2 minutes. Sometimes it will stay on long enough to play a second or two of music but then it goes right back to cycling the splash screen/caution screen with the continue button. Googling led me to a few posts on tacomaworld but it sounds like everyone on here with this problem had it randomly while driving - a slightly different version of this problem. Same same but different. So far I've...

- wiggled some fuses
- did the weird turn it halfway on and put it in reverse for 5-10 minutes trick
- tried to do a reset (holding volume and tune until it reboots)
- tried the other reset where you flip your headlights on and off while holding the app button and pressing the "INIT" button
- unhooked the battery
- installed the OS update from the Toyota site, the car wouldn't do the "multimedia extension" update

Nothing has fixed it. In fact it seems unhooking the battery added a new problem and I can no longer set the time. It is stuck at --:-- and will not let me adjust it. Prior to this when allowing it to adjust time automatically based on GPS it was always showing a wildly different time than my time zone. I've tried searching in the 3rd gen Tacoma FB group but nothing turned up. I have to make an appointment to go to the dealer for something else soon and they said they'd take a look at it but I'm trying to get this sorted before then. So any advice?

 

Not much works, one last hail mary we try is to disconnect the battery for 10 odd minutes, then leave it with the truck in reverse for 30 mins, not running of course. The camera stays on no matter what and sometimes this can make the radio stay awake.

The radios do fail like this and do get replaced because of these reasons. I had to order a 2023 rav4 radio today same reason.

 

I’ve tried those two steps but not together or for that long. Maybe 10 minutes unhooked and another 10 in reverse. Well shit. Guess I need to start looking into a new one that retains as many other functions as possible.

 

Welcome to the wonderful world of crappy Toyota radios. Something else you can try is remove the radio and unplug the connectors to check for any corrosion, sometimes unplugging and plugging it back in corrects it for a while, barring that you have a cold solder joint inside the radio then, when it gets warmed up it expands then the connection is made. Cost more to get an electronics place to check it out then to get one out of a wrecking yard or an aftermarket one. Not sure in the US but in Canada these came with a 3 year bumper to bumper warranty, they replaced the one in my 2015 with the same problem after 2 1/2 years.

 

Just an update for anyone else with my issue: finally made it into the dealership. New head unit is on order. They tried the software update on their end too and decided it just needed to be replaced.

Luckily it’s under warranty. This buys me time to look into the replace/upgrade process of the system down the line. I did order the kicker set of speakers from trailgridpro though so hopefully those go in smoothly and sound better for now too

 

I am in Toyota failed head unit hell too. Replaced a 3yr old head unit on my 21 TRDPro back in June - dealer paid. Had my truck for about 2 weeks, backup cam started going in and out intermittently. Back to the dealer, the new head unit is bad. Third head unit on order. They say that 3rd time is a charm - not sure who they are…

 

Three hours at the dealership and they got a new head unit installed and said I was good to go. Started it up and it’s still rebooting. They tried the reverse trick - no go. Two more hours of poking around and we have a nav ecu on order or something. At one point it was suggested my led map lights were the culprit - they aren’t.

Going on 8 hours of diagnostic for a radio… if an aftermarket was just plug and play I’d probably have just DoorDash’d one from Best Buy or whatever while I was sitting there

 

I feel your pain. They had my truck for a month trying to troubleshoot all the peripherals and it was clearly the HU from the beginning - high pitched whistle coming through speakers on all media platforms. They could have pulled the head unit and sent it out to be bench tested and determined that it was the HU in a day or two. At some point I wish Toyota would just own the fact that their audio supply chain sucks. After the 2nd or 3rd try, give us the $1500 in cash, we purchase / install aftermarket and call it done - that will never happen.

 

When the “new” HU did the same thing I said that’s just bad luck. The guys basically said the new ones are refurbished and that Toyota has kinda shitty audio equipment. I just nodded and smiled politely.

 

Hopefully the nav ecu fixes it. Where did you get the LED map lights? I'm not sure if they are on a related circuit, but they are on the same communication bus. With how everything is connected these days, I wouldn't be so quick to rule that out.

 

They are the Meso custom ones that seem popular around here. It seems odd that what looks to be essentially a bulb replacement would do this but electrical is weird so who knows. I ruled it out because the HU was doing this before I installed the lights

 

i believe trailgrid does that...

https://trailgridpro.com/pages/toyota-tacoma-accessories

 

I actually got a shipping notification today that my kicker set from them shipped. I ordered it from them with the hopes of just replacing the speakers for now once the new radio was installed and working…

if I end up having to go aftermarket on the HU I guess I’ll be returning these or throwing em up for sale on here

 

That's a pretty good way to rule them out, lol.

Seems like they go through phases with their head units. The one in my 2009 was replaced and the replacement also died (gave up and went aftermarket at that point). My 2012 was flawless. So far my 2018 has been fine.