Sat/Radio question / New yaris owner

[behour]

Recently bought a new 2009 yaris! First car I purchased new

I was told from the dealer, which I am honestly starting to not like at all....

Anyways I was told by my dealer my Yaris is satellite ready/has satellite radio capability and I just needed to buy the service. Well it’s been about 6 months and I now want satellite radio but I have no idea how to turn it on. I have been searching for answers here and around the web for hours today and still no idea. I already know what subscription to buy but I have no idea if I need something else or if this "sat ready" is really ready.

I read the manual
Turn to channel 000 on sat to see the number of the radio which does not seem to work. Pressing the Am/Sat button does not seem to do anything other than Am radio.

What do I need to do?

[why?]

Call your salesman and ask.

[behour]

I assumed that would be the best answer but I was hopping for a faster one here. I figured others have a sat ready 2009 yaris or at least know about it.

[TinyGiant]

i'm guessing its some thing dumb like you have an aux input.. and they consider that sat radio ready.. idk,, maybe its something more than that .. hopefully

[TinyGiant]

maybe this would do it?

http://toyotapartspeople.com/searchp...atellite+Radio

try maybe messaging TRD Sparks and see if he carries it :) or knows if you need it

[Sirius-XM]

The 2009 Yaris radio is satellite radio "capable". By "capable", they usually mean it can be upgraded by adding a tuner that plugs into the back of the radio. The tuner is expensive and requires a fit kit. Your dealer was probably "incorrect" about just having to just sign up for the service. If you had the tuner pushing the SAT button would bring up channel 000 and 184.
The vehicles paper work should tell you if the radio is just "Capable" or if it includes the Satellite Tuner.

Your best bet might be to get a retail radio and plug it into the MP3 jack

[behour]

This is very disappointing to say the least.
I contacted my dealer and they wanted $400 to install what you are talking about. Why does it cost $400 if I already have at least some items "capable"? That is a ridiculous price. Especially when my paper work says its satellite radio capable just like how it says my mp3 and am/fm are capable. Why does the satellite need $400 plus to work while radio and CD player work fine without anything? They both say "capability"

Is there any place I can buy something to plug into my yaris that is not over priced, effective, and not some big contraption? Will anything plug into my radio and work with it?

Was hopping my first new car purchase would of went better than this....

[TinyGiant]

i've learned never to expect a visit to a dealer to be 100% satisfying.

If i were you i would call and talk to the sales person and lay into them about him misleading you about sat radio only being a setting away. and tell him that they are going to put it in for free. I mean the guy went as far as to tell you what settings to put in. its not like he just said that it is sat capable

and if they wont do it for free lean harder on them and get them to do the part at cost and the labor free.

[TinyGiant]

i think the sat radio recievers arent too expensive though . like others said just get one of those and plug the output into the aux input in the console

[DevilGirl]

Originally Posted by behour

Why does it cost $400 if I already have at least some items "capable"? That is a ridiculous price. Especially when my paper work says its satellite radio capable just like how it says my mp3 and am/fm are capable. Why does the satellite need $400 plus to work while radio and CD player work fine without anything? They both say "capability"

Is there any place I can buy something to plug into my yaris that is not over priced, effective, and not some big contraption? Will anything plug into my radio and work with it?

All satellite radios need a tuner. What is lacking from the car at the moment is that tuner to be able to receive the satellite signal. That is the "capable part", meaning that something can be plugged in. Just like you can plug an mp3 player in and it will work, or use a CD that has mp3-encoded songs on it. Older model stereos (this is going back a few years), were unable to read any mp3 files on CD's, nor did they have the option of having an mp3 player plugged into them. There are several options for putting a satellite tuner/receiver into the car, meaning that it is capable of comprehending the information being sent from the tuner/receiver into the stereo.

The reason the cost of the dealer installed tuner is so high is due to labor. The part is only approximately $200 or so (I priced it out to install it myself). The labor involves a lot of extra steps there really don't need to be taken, but they do it anyway. But a large part of it is that the dash needs to be taken apart to gain access to the rear of the car stereo. The dealer install instructions also include removing the passenger seat to install the tuner under that seat (the seat is then re-installed).

The other options for having a "cheaper" tuner/receiver is to get a plug-n-play version. (See Best Buy or similar store.) These, however, do have their disadvantages (some of which are quite high, depending upon your likes/dislikes and what other gadgets you are running in the car, see below).

Originally Posted by TinyGiant

i think the sat radio recievers arent too expensive though . like others said just get one of those and plug the output into the aux input in the console

Works well if you don't mind losing the only power outlet that the car has (the "plug-n-play" satellite radio receivers require constant power supply that can only be obtained from the power outlet in the car, I previously had one). Not to mention that they can be quite unsightly if you are looking for the overall "clean" look to the car (no excess wires running everywhere, no odd gadgets sitting out to further attrack break-ins into the car to steal items).

[ROCKLAND TOYOTA]

SAT READY means it has the capability for satellite radio but you need to have this installed.....

[TinyGiant]

Originally Posted by ROCKLAND TOYOTA

SAT READY means it has the capability for satellite radio but you need to have this installed.....

they should put home computer, PS3 and xbox 360 compatible then lol


my yaris is washer and dryer compatible

[Sirius-XM]

It is similar situation to having a CD changer. The radio acts as a controller and display but it requires the changer itself to actually work

The units are expensive because the are proprietory.

The term "capable" is misleading. I prefer when they call it "Satellite Ready" which more accurately reflects it requires additional equipment.

The Yaris has a lot of eye level dash space to mount a retail unit. It is also fairly easy to hide wires under the dash and shift assembly. I have a Sedan so routing the antenna out the trunk and under the window trim to the roof was fairly easy

[Wolf]

I just learned about this the hard way myself. Toyota stuck some proprietary hardware in their vehicle so that you would have no choice but to go to a dealer and pay for overpriced hardware and services.

After a couple months with my new Yaris (which I love), I decided it was time to get my satellite radio set up. I went to Best Buy, thinking they would be able to hook up whatever I needed to make my "satellite ready" stereo pick up Sirius. They told me that I need to see the dealership, because Toyota developed their own proprietary hardware that isn't compatible with what aftermarket merchants like Best Buy carry.

I looked at the other solutions out there... finding only 2 alternatives to the outrageous $400 Toyota wants just to make their satellite button on the radio work.

One option is buying a whole new stereo... for that $400, you can get a pretty nice one with satellite reception and a USB jack (eliminate your iPod aux clutter to boot).

The other option is a Starmate 5, which I just saw in the Sunday ad for $99.99. This option isn't acceptable to me though, because it requires 3 wires (6 foot lighter adapter, the magnetic satellite antenna that somehow has to emerge from your dash to plug in to the device, and an aux audio cable). My cabin is already cluttered enough with GPS and iPod wires, not to mention that there would now be 3 devices competing for a single outlet. It also has to be clipped to a vent or suctioned to your dash. No thanks.

Anyhow, I'm not to happy with Toyota about this. When I called the dealership, the mechanic said he has had about a dozen calls about the same issue, and that it almost always results in an unhappy customer. To the original person who posted, don't blame your dealer. It's a corporate Toyota decision that you would be dealing with no matter where you bought your car. I think Honda does the same thing. They really shouldn't be allowed to call this money pit of a stereo "satellite ready" unless all you need to do is plug in a satellite receiver and be ready to go.