BRZ NAV not finding satellites

[DSPographer]

With my BRZ, it seems like if I don't leave the car on in the open for over a minute before driving off, then the NAV might never find the satellites. Because of this I have made a couple of half hour trips on the highway where the NAV never showed me moving. If I wait a couple of minutes before I drive off, then it seems to work OK. Has anyone else had this problem?

[Deslock]

I had a similar experience: today I drove on a road with a lot of tree cover and it lost the signal. It didn't reacquire for about 4 miles even though I had a pretty good view of the sky for most of it. I later drove through the same section and it lost the signal again, though that time it reacquired immediately.

If it happens again, I'll pull over to see how long it takes to update.

[dsgerbc]

Yeap, it sucks.

[DSPographer]

Originally Posted by dsgerbc

Yeap, it sucks.

Thanks for replying. I guess my unit is acting "normally".

[michaelahess]

Report these issues or they have no chance of ever being fixed!

[Turbowned]

+1. Subaru and Toyota are paying very close attention to these cars to ensure the best customer satisfaction. You want to tell them that this is happening so they can search for a solution!

[jinrawke]

I actually had a similar experience last night even though it had been fine previously. I was sitting in my underground garage at my apartment for about 10 mins setting up radio stations etc. It never acquired a satellite signal. I drove out for a bit just to cruise and I noticed that it never picked up the signal.
This morning before work I turned the car on and waited for it to drop to 1k RPMs and took off for work. Sporadically it would lose signal but pick it up after 5-15 seconds. Very odd.

[Spaceywilly]

Yeah it seems like it doesn't have signal more often than it does for me. I have taken several half hour trips where it never found the satellites.

[sure74]

Same here. The XM is not that good either but not sure if that is the car or just the way XM functions. Previously I had Sirius and that never went out, ever.

[engee]

My XM is reception is pretty ok. Sometimes gets staticky.

I lost nav reception this morning on my commute to work. Besides that the navigation has worked wonderfully for me, it doesn't pick up traffic though which irks me.

[DSPographer]

Originally Posted by Spaceywilly

Yeah it seems like it doesn't have signal more often than it does for me. I have taken several half hour trips where it never found the satellites.

Same with me. I just made a trip to work via back roads instead of the highway. I wanted the Nav to help because there is no simple route. But, even with stopping in a school parking lot to give it a clear view of the sky for 5 minutes, it stayed confused until I was a couple of miles from work. Finally, when I stopped again in a industrial parking lot, it managed to lock on the satellites. It seems to stay confused much of the time: but when it does happen to lock as shown on the system status page, it usually stays locked for the rest of the trip.

[Draco-REX]

I haven't used my Nav much, but when I have, it's worked fine. The only time I got the disconnected notice was when I had just pulled out of a parking garage. And even then, it was working fine, so the notification was just late.. Weird.

Now, supposedly there was a high level of solar radiation last week. That can cause gps issues. But I don't think it's an issue now...

[Symbiont]

My nav works fine, but the traffic notifications don't (similar to the other thread).

I'd love to see what Subaru is able to do about it.

[DantKR]

No issues here.

[dwx]

I had similar issues today in my BRZ which I just got yesterday. I did about a 10 mile/20 minute drive down a freeway this morning and it didn't find any satellites until I slowed down and got on another freeway. I also had it lose the satellites again on a short drive and it didn't find them again until I pulled into my subdivision at very low speed.

Atlanta has a ton of tree lined streets and even freeways with tall trees so I'm hoping it isn't the height of the car and the position of the receiver which is an issue. I did check the signal strength (you can touch the satellite icon) and it had reception from 5 satellites, but nothing strong enough. When I got into the subdivision I did see the strength go up and the nav synced up pretty quickly...

I do consider this to be unacceptable, and plan on taking the car to the dealer if there isn't some simple fix to be found. I have a nav system in my 2012 Wrangler and it never has an issue picking up satellites anywhere...

[DSPographer]

More discussion of the Nav issue with some example videos here:
http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showt...526#post267526
The OP to that thread had the dealer replace everything without fixing the problem.

[Deslock]

A quick update:

Mine has been working fine for the most part. I haven't had a repeat of it losing the signal for a long period of time, though there are two spots on my commute where it almost always says it loses the signal, but reacquires immediately. In both cases, it only loses the signal in one direction:

• 1/2 mile from home on the way to work (lots of tree cover).
• 1/4 mile from work on the way home (driving by a tall building).

This makes me think it just hasn't acquired enough satellites (since starting the car) to maintain a reliable fix.

[Deslock]

Originally Posted by Deslock

A quick update:

Mine has been working fine for the most part. I haven't had a repeat of it losing the signal for a long period of time, though there are two spots on my commute where it almost always says it loses the signal, but reacquires immediately. In both cases, it only loses the signal in one direction:

• 1/2 mile from home on the way to work (lots of tree cover).
• 1/4 mile from work on the way home (driving by a tall building).

This makes me think it just hasn't acquired enough satellites (since starting the car) to maintain a reliable fix.

Well, I spoke too soon as this afternoon it lost the signal at a different spot, and didn't reacquire for the 10 minute drive. Once again, it was within 1/4 mile of leaving my house, supporting the notion that it sometimes needs to acquire a strong signal when starting (i.e. before moving) the car to maintain a fix.

[86design]

Originally Posted by Symbiont

My nav works fine, but the traffic notifications don't (similar to the other thread).

I'd love to see what Subaru is able to do about it.

my traffic notifcations doesnt work AT ALL!!! if i'm stuck in traffic I want to see where the traffic is! but nope it keeps saying NO TRAFFIC NOTICATIONS AROUND YOUR AREA!

Or

some times if I want to go on the MENU shows the MAP/ Find address/ and sometimes else/ MORE... the MORE button is un click able

[dwx]

Originally Posted by Deslock

Well, I spoke too soon as this afternoon it lost the signal at a different spot, and didn't reacquire for the 10 minute drive. Once again, it was within 1/4 mile of leaving my house, supporting the notion that it sometimes needs to acquire a strong signal when starting (i.e. before moving) the car to maintain a fix.

I keep posting in the two different threads but I think waiting for the signal when starting is probably the key to this. I did a few more tests and found whenever I wait until the system starts up and acquires a signal it works fine. If I leave before things are activated it's really hit or miss whether it works or not. Just a few minutes ago it ended up becoming active after sitting at a stoplight.

The traffic stuff doesn't seem to work for me either.

[n7011n]

I just picked up my GBS Limited 2 days ago and drove over 800 miles from NY to Illinois without any GPS issues. Now that it is home though, the nav unit refuses to reliably lock on to satellites. I tried sitting in my driveway with the engine running and the sat lock screen visible and I'm only getting 2 sats (low on the western horizon) and they won't lock (green dots on sky view display). My iPhone locks in immediately. I know from my flying days that there are usually at least 6 sats that should be somewhere overhead at all times. I pulled the following from the FAA site:

"With the baseline satellite constellation, users with a clear view of the sky have a minimum of four satellites in view. It’s more likely that a user would see six to eight satellites."

I have to wonder if the head unit doesn't have a complete or accurate satellite position database as there should be more visible satellites.

I have to agree with other posts that once moving, the unit has a terrible time trying to lock into satellites. Once it does lock in, it seems fine.

Hopefully, Subaru will work on a fix for this as it is annoying to have the nav screen bouncing around. I prefer to turn the display off or leave it on audio.

[louis]

Does anyone know if the roof antenna is the sat antenna or just terrestrial? I went from a pioneer nav in my tC and that thing would lock almost instantly... it would also keep navigation going (using what I believe is called dead reckoning) under the tunnels of Boston.

The subaru nav sucks. I sat in my driveway for 3 minutes this morning. It gets a signal, then as soon as a I make a 90 degree turn onto the highway, it's lost for the duration of my 25 minute drive. WTF.

I absolutely love this car. But the nav is awful. When it gets a signal, it works well, but I just don't know why it would take more than 30 seconds.

Anxious to see Crutchfield's writeup of the internal wiring and such.. may just drop one of the pioneer units in there but I don't want to have to re-install phone mic/usb/aux ports and sat. antenna.

-- oh, forgot to add... the nav traffic also does not work. It will say no issues, yet there will be stopped traffic/construction.. you name it. I've used a late model garmin with FM traffic and it actually does work.