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How to disable the creepy kind of voice activation?

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Joe K

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Discussion starter · #1 ·
Hi, I bought a 2024 Rav4 Prime last summer. Very happy with it, overall. But there are some odd behaviors of the info-tainment system.

For example, if I'm having a conversation with my front seat passenger, sometimes the system will interrupt us with a question based on something it heard.

Today, my passenger was talking about maybe attending Easter Sunday mass at a church called St. Charles, and the audio system announced, "I have located St. Charles." Or something like that.

We were not using any kind of navigation. Not using AirPlay, not connected to an iPhone, nothing. It was like the car was eavesdropping and trying to find a voice command, although none was intended.

Anybody know how to disable to "helpful" (not) listening feature? I'm fine with audio prompts when I'm navigating, and when taking a cell phone call via the hands-free feature. But this was just kinda random. And creepy.

Thanks.
 
#5 ·
Joe K said:
Hi, I bought a 2024 Rav4 Prime last summer. Very happy with it, overall. But there are some odd behaviors of the info-tainment system.

For example, if I'm having a conversation with my front seat passenger, sometimes the system will interrupt us with a question based on something it heard.

Today, my passenger was talking about maybe attending Easter Sunday mass at a church called St. Charles, and the audio system announced, "I have located St. Charles." Or something like that.

We were not using any kind of navigation. Not using AirPlay, not connected to an iPhone, nothing. It was like the car was eavesdropping and trying to find a voice command, although none was intended.

Anybody know how to disable to "helpful" (not) listening feature? I'm fine with audio prompts when I'm navigating, and when taking a cell phone call via the hands-free feature. But this was just kinda random. And creepy.

Thanks.
Click to expand...
Depending on which creepy voice is activating, check your Siri settings on your iPhone to listen for wake words.

The Toyota voice assistant also has a wake word, it is found in the infotainment settings menu.

I set all of mine to off so I have to press or hold the steering voice button to activate, depending on which system I need to wake.
 
#7 ·
Yeh, this has happened to us on a few occasions driving around and as WillRav4Tacos mentioned it kind of depends on what it interprets as a "wake" word. I know that saying "Hey Toyota" will wake it and wait for a command. It can be useful because you can actually adjust certain vehicle settings through voice commands eg. radio volume, fan speed etc. The steering wheel button also wakes Toyota. If we need to use one of the apps from Carplay including navigation we simply wake it through "hey google". Also maybe you've noticed the "search" button on the infotainment screen also turns into a microphone icon when the vehicle is moving so you can avoid touching the screen and simply use voice.
 
Discussion starter · #8 ·
I'm thinking I must have hit a button on the steering wheel. The infotainment manual says basically nothing about voice activation, so I'm relying on you all. I'll try to figure out which button so I can try to avoid it going forward. I definitely didn't say, "Hey, Toyota" or Siri or Alexa or anything else!
 
#10 ·
Joe K said:
I'm thinking I must have hit a button on the steering wheel. The infotainment manual says basically nothing about voice activation, so I'm relying on you all. I'll try to figure out which button so I can try to avoid it going forward. I definitely didn't say, "Hey, Toyota" or Siri or Alexa or anything else!
Click to expand...
I went out and snapped a couple photos to hopefully help you.

The button circled on the wheel is the voice prompt button. Pressing and letting go will activate the Toyota assistant. Pressing and holding it while Android Auto or CarPlay are running will call Google Assistant/Siri (you let go when you hear the Google/Siri prompt sound or voice).

In the infotainment settings menu scroll to Voice & Search and you can turn off the Toyota wake word there. The Google/Siri wake settings are found on your phone.

I have both Toyota and Google Assistant wake words disabled so I have to manually press the button or tap the screen to invoke it.

Image


Image
 
Discussion starter · #11 ·
WillRav4Tacos said:
I went out and snapped a couple photos to hopefully help you.

The button circled on the wheel is the voice prompt button. Pressing and letting go will activate the Toyota assistant. Pressing and holding it while Android Auto or CarPlay are running will call Google Assistant/Siri (you let go when you hear the Google/Siri prompt sound or voice).

In the infotainment settings menu scroll to Voice & Search and you can turn off the Toyota wake word there. The Google/Siri wake settings are found on your phone.

I have both Toyota and Google Assistant wake words disabled so I have to manually press the button or tap the screen to invoke it.

View attachment 204562

View attachment 204563
Click to expand...
This is awesome -- thanks so much for taking the time to include the photos. Much appreciated!
 
#12 ·
It IS creepy. Today we chatted of something else, and The Voice told us how to get to a car dealer 200 miles away. We thought-back and figured the sounds-like words that fooled 'her', but Big Sister IS listening.

WillRav4Tacos said:
I have both Toyota and Google Assistant wake words disabled
Click to expand...
I think it is time to do that. I think I can find the 'mouth' icon by now.
 
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