CarComplaints.com Notes: The Toyota Matrix is the mechanical twin of the Pontiac Vibe.
Both models were a joint GM-Toyota venture, manufactured together at a NUMMI production facility in Fremont, CA. Only the heating & A/C systems are different.
So, my radio was replaced in January of 2016, with a refurbished one, after I'd brought my car in with non-working door speakers (turned out it was the radio?). This spring, I had noticed an electrical smell occasionally, but could find no source when I opened the hood. One day, I was driving around a corner, I heard something in my dash (maybe something fell apart/off?), then, I lost the radio station I was listening to, which was my local station. On came a foreign language one. All I could get was that and another station. Over the course of a few weeks, the stations would come and go, the radio would work fine, then I'd go around a corner, and the station changed again. This didn't always happen on a curve, but often it did. Other problems with the radio were: the tuner knob wouldn't work, still doesn't, I could (sometimes) change the station by using the steering wheel button. The display works/doesn't work, depending on 'the mood' it's in. Oh, it ate my CD, but thankfully, somehow it spit it out days later.
My local dealer said, "You realize this isn't typical?" He acknowledged I'd had more problems with my car than is normal. As I told him, it's a radio, on a 5 year old car. Radios should never, ever go, especially that fast.
The first radio was replaced as a 'customer courtesy', read "I bitched so they paid for it". I was told I would have to pay to replace my current radio too. After a few discussions, since they 'want to keep their customers happy', they said they'd pay 1/3, see if Toyota Canada would pay 1/3 and I would have to pay the rest. I called Toyota Canada and that is what they also told me. Reluctantly I am paying my 1/3. But I told them they've lost a customer.
Has anyone else had this problem with their radio?
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
problems with radio 'breaking' twice now
So, my radio was replaced in January of 2016, with a refurbished one, after I'd brought my car in with non-working door speakers (turned out it was the radio?). This spring, I had noticed an electrical smell occasionally, but could find no source when I opened the hood. One day, I was driving around a corner, I heard something in my dash (maybe something fell apart/off?), then, I lost the radio station I was listening to, which was my local station. On came a foreign language one. All I could get was that and another station. Over the course of a few weeks, the stations would come and go, the radio would work fine, then I'd go around a corner, and the station changed again. This didn't always happen on a curve, but often it did. Other problems with the radio were: the tuner knob wouldn't work, still doesn't, I could (sometimes) change the station by using the steering wheel button. The display works/doesn't work, depending on 'the mood' it's in. Oh, it ate my CD, but thankfully, somehow it spit it out days later.
My local dealer said, "You realize this isn't typical?" He acknowledged I'd had more problems with my car than is normal. As I told him, it's a radio, on a 5 year old car. Radios should never, ever go, especially that fast.
The first radio was replaced as a 'customer courtesy', read "I bitched so they paid for it". I was told I would have to pay to replace my current radio too. After a few discussions, since they 'want to keep their customers happy', they said they'd pay 1/3, see if Toyota Canada would pay 1/3 and I would have to pay the rest. I called Toyota Canada and that is what they also told me. Reluctantly I am paying my 1/3. But I told them they've lost a customer.
Has anyone else had this problem with their radio?
- lgailg, Port Alberni, BC, Canada