Japanese Prius

Technically this is a Japanese question, right?

I own a 2016 Prius. I’m wondering if it’s possible to flash Japanese firmware on the media computer. I’m pretty sure it’s separate from the dashboard computer. Anyone have any idea. Can’t find anything on the internet and I think when I call the dealer they will be super confused.

1 Like

I’d say find some riceboy forum, but I feel a Prius wouldn’t be “cool” enough for them to bother.
But, I’m pretty sure all that stuff is tied together. Which is why people can hack a cars on-star system, and control everything from your radio, to the brakes/gas.

1 Like

I have a 2016 Mazda 3 and flashed the Japanese firmware on the CMU just to see what would happen. It ended up breaking a lot of things, most notably all of the audio and radio, bluetooth and wifi, and the navigation as well. It also crashed and rebooted randomly. So I reinstalled the North American and it worked fine. I believe most of the Japanese centric firmware aspects are very different (their FM band is different, for example, so no FM radio). I am not sure if Mazda and Toyota source their CMUs from the same place, but I would expect something similar to happen.

1 Like

Interesting… I don’t care about radio. I only use my flash drive for music. Navigation I use once every 6 months. I could use phone instead. Not a big deal.

Well, no, I mean it broke all the audio. No sound would come out of the speakers at all because of some codec restriction. It didn’t even make the blinker noise.
Again, though, different brand of car.

This will totally void your warranty though. And I’d be worried about issues with essential systems as well. There’s no way to tell if the sensors will still communicate with the correct I/O if you change the PLC program. What if something goes wrong with the components and your car doesn’t notify you because the new software is programmed differently? Could be a safety issue. You’d have to be 100% certain this doesn’t communicate with/control your car’s vitals.

1 Like

There’s 2 separate systems. The media computer and the dashboard computer. The media computer has limited car info. And it can’t change anything. All the essential systems are in the dashboard system. I would have the dealership install the new firmware. (If they let me.) In other countries you can do it yourself, but not in the US… :roll_eyes:

I can convert audio to anything. So not a big deal here either. I’m wondering if the car is essentially the same but just with different software or if it’s completely different.,

Oh, if the dealer can install it, then it’s on them if something bad happens (but hopefully nothing bad does happen). If they really are entirely separate (two PLCs/controllers) then that’s not too worrisome.

Yeah, anything I do in one doesn’t affect the other. Two separate clocks. Annoying.

As long as the clocks are not drifting out of synch… that is annoying. Had that happen on an HMI once. The clock drifted. In a validated environment. Not good.

Then, the first thing you should do is see if the domestic Japanese model and the North American models use the same parts. One might have a RISC chip and one might have a CISC chip etc. You can probably get both manuals online and get some good Japanese practice in.

1 Like

I had a Toyota Prius rental in Japan once. IIRC it was really similar to the Toyota Prius rental I had in California except that everything was on the opposite side of the car and when you turned it on it played a little song.

I’m curious…

Did you end up doing it? (Interesting thread that’s making me nervous for you reading it…)

Ummm… Toyota called me 3 times for my scheduled maintenance. (I missed their call.)
I returned their call and they didn’t answer so I left a message asking them to look into it and then I would schedule my maintenance. They haven’t returned my call. That was almost 2 weeks ago.

I think I scared them off. :laughing:

Could you scare mine off for me, too? They keep making appointments for me for my 6 month/5,000 service when I have neither had my car 6 months nor driven even close to that many miles. Oh and they wanted me to come in at 10 am on a Thursday. I was unamused.

1 Like

You have a Prius?? :joy::joy::joy::joy:

Yes

looks around nervously

Was I not supposed to admit to that?

Hooray! #priusfanclub

2 Likes

Call them back!