Steering Wheel Stereo Controls

Just wandering if anyone has tried or thought about rotating the volume control button on the steering wheel 90 degrees left/counter clockwise to make it more normal? Most have the volume up down and the channel left to right. I searched the forum and didn’t have any luck.

Thx

 

There was a thread on it awhile back, and it's not easy to do, because you have to disassemble the steering wheel and when you rotate the controller button, you also have to re-solder/re-wire the circuit board. The people who started to do it, failed and stopped.

A few of the resident Electrical Engineers on this site can explain it better. But the simple answer to your question is: No. It cannot be done. Just learn to live with it.

 

If you decide to upgrade the Head Unit then you can probably install an Idatalink Maestro. That thing will allow you to remap the controls to your liking.

 

That’s what I thought. Your right I’ll just have to teach my brain to hit the correct button. Just seems so odd Toyota would design it so different. Feels like I’m in England driving in the left lane.

 

Wait until you go to adjust the fan speed and shift into 4wd instead

 

This pops up frequently here and I always comment because it bugs the shit out of me.

In before the yota apologists try and explain to you that you’re wrong for wanting logical control layout, and that it was done intentionally to match the volume bar on the head unit which displays horizontally

 

I've had my Tacoma for two years and still do it sometimes.

 

Just did that. Works like a champ.

 

I would (and did on my 2021) go with an aftermarket head unit and a Maestro RR from iDataLink. I flipped my steering wheel controls and absolutely love it. you can also program hold functions on the buttons so every button can do two different options. So I kept the hold for play pause, added a screen on/off toggle by holding the siri button, etc. It was a great result.

The Maestro also adapts vehicle settings like the headlights and door lock settings that are in the OEM unit, so I lost literally no functionality.

For the stock head unit I would say you're stuck with the way they are. No idea why Toyota designed the D-pad in that configuration but it's dumb and makes no sense for sure. It's much better now that I flipped mine.

 

I have the Tacoma and a BMW. They are on opposite sides of the steering wheel from each other. Try that one....

 

Oooooops

 

If I had a dollar for every time I've done that......

One of the only times I take my eyes off the road to make a knob change and I've had the truck for 6 years now.

 

I wonder who at Toyota is in charge of "user interface"? Honestly, this button choice s one of the dumbest UI decisions I've ever seen. I 100% use Apple Play, so I rarely see the Toyota radio interface. But when I have seen it, on my '15 and now '22... my god. They literally have people with no UI experience or knowledge designing their systems. You'd think one person at the company would speak up and point out how bad their head unit UI is -- it violates so many basic UI principles.

 

Practice turning down then up the volume a half dozen times each time you go out and you’ll establish “muscle memory”.

 

If you've been to Japan the stereo controls make perfect sense, volume intensity is to the left or right as the bar indicates. For radio channel you start at the top and work your way down to higher numbers, 001 being the top of the list.

Whether or not they have UI experience is up for debate.

 

The Tacoma is a complete North American product, from design to final sale.... so that doesn't make sense for a North American market.

 

https://youtu.be/SbYa7NBYyRc

 

I didn't say it needs to make sense to an American, I said it follows Japanese logic.

 

You don’t need to be obstinate. He said N American market. There’s no reason the controls should follow “Japanese logic” if it was designed by Toyota Motor North America.

 

I'm so pleased that I've owned two Tacomas ('96- 418,000 miles and '18- 30,000) with never having any issues with either one that I don't let such things as stereo controls bother me.