BRZ NAV system GPS signal issues?
 

Hi,

I managed to get one of the early BRZs in the Seattle area. I took delivery on May29th. Love the car in so many ways.

However, I'm having lots of issues with the NAV system.
Unless the skies are clear (not often in Seattle,) the NAV system gets stuck in a loop of searching for GPS signal. It will bounce my location around up to a mile radius of my actual location. The signal indicator goes back and forth from 1 dot to 3.

I assumed it was a problem in the unit or antenna so I took it to the dealer.
They replaced everything. Head unit, antenna, and gps receiver.
Within 2 days it was back to the same tricks. It's basically useless.

I'm going back to the dealer later this week but I want to know if others are having the same issues.
It's fair to say that GPS is usually slower for some reason in the pacific northwest. My portable gps and phone take about twice as long here to get a signal lock compared to other places I've lived, but they usually lock, no matter the weather conditions.

So...am I alone on this one?

no you aren't alone

http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=8228

If you tap the satellite picture while it is searching for satellites it will show you a readout of what satellites it is seeing. It seems like it is just a poorly designed antenna, but it could also be the chipset they used because sometimes it will seem to just stop searching and I won't get signal at all for an entire trip. Other times it will come and go, and sometimes it will just be solid the whole time.

I am going to call the Subaru tech support number and report it and I would encourage everyone else to do the same and also tell your dealer. If enough people report it they will be aware of it and fix it.

Sheesh, I must have gotten lucky. 0 issues with my NAV or BT at this point.

I've only had issues with my GPS once, while I was down in LA. I do have problems with my Bluetooth all the time though, I wonder if it's worth taking back to the dealer to have them look at it.

I've had some GPS issues too but not often, of course that's probably because I use my cell over the car's nav almost exclusively because frankly it sucks not even counting signal issues. The head unit is my one big and only complaint about the car.

Okay.

My dealer is getting in touch with subaru na and I've contacted subaru directly as well.
I'll post results here.

Nav & radio both get terrible reception.

I experienced a bunch of GPS issues but have narrowed it down to the Bluetooth Audio... BTA works great in my car, it connects to my iPhone flawlessly!

The issue is when I am using BTA, the GPS has a lot of difficulty getting a signal. As soon as I go to FM, the GPS connects -- very strange.

Not the case for me, since I have not been using Bluetooth audio (using USB instead) and still seem to have TERRIBLE satellite reception. Even had it searching for the duration of the trip with no luck at all. For the most part, when it works I am very impressed - but that hasn't been often lately.

It's funny that you guys posted this today, never had any issues with mine till last night, while on a 5 hour road trip, the whole time the unit couldn't keep a satellite signal. Luckily I can do the trip with my eyes shut, but it was annoying that it couldn't keep a signal. That was the first time it did it for me.

I have one spot in my neighboorhood where it states GPS signal lost and then picks right back up, same spot every time.

scared the crap out of me when it yells signal lost! but it must have picked it back quickly.

Traffic
 

I have been having trouble getting traffic results on my nav. It worked the first day amd then stopped working. Anyone else having those issues?

This is a good description of what I often see too. If you tap the spinning satellite on the full page map display it shows the satellite reception. On that display it often bounces back and forth between one dot and three in the upper right GPS status, while turning the accuracy and UTC time display on and off at the same time- with about two seconds in each state. When the UTC time comes on it starts at the time when it went off, which is about two or three seconds behind, then immediately updates to the correct time for a second or two before turning off again. This can happen continuously while the signal strength shows four strong red bars without ever locking. When not locked my location on the map wanders all around with no relation to my actual motion. Usually if it gets six red bars for a short while it will suddenly lock, turning the bars green and yielding my correct location. Once locked it typically stays locked until I shut off the car. But, then even if I immediately start the car again, it can go back to its perpetually unlocked state. If you check the status in the Info:system check page it says the GPS is off until the system locks, then it shows the number of green bars on the GPS reception page. I have been using Bluetooth with my Atrix phone and listening to XM radio with no issues.