[Solved] Apple Carplay Issues - Siri inaudible and unusable

[Josh256]

Hey folks,

EDIT: This appears to be an IOS 18 issue that for whatever reason impacted my Tacoma and not CarPlay in other vehicles. Workable solution found via this thread - although I had to use the volume knob on the HU [as opposed to just maxing out on the iPhone].

Original Post:
My car is only lowering volume at the front/left driver door + A-pillar for Siri - Siri is also inaudible.

This occurs frequently with incoming messages. When I attempt to have the messages read Siri is either inaudible [music playing] or very faint [no music playing] and only from the the front/left speakers.

This occurred since taking delivery, with both wired and wireless CarPlay, with/without the JBL center speaker docked and with/without the Beat-Sonic 2T3 amp installed. My phone works as expected in any other car. Hoping someone can confirm whether this issue is unique to me vs. widespread - thanks!

2025 TRD Pro (JBL)

JK

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[frappy608]

It's really amazing to me that the Toyota software doesn't mute (or at least significantly lower) the music volume when using siri either to dictate to send or read messages. Every other car play implementation I have experienced has this feature.

 

[Josh256]

It's really amazing to me that the Toyota software doesn't mute (or at least significantly lower) the music volume when using siri either to dictate to send or read messages. Every other car play implementation I have experienced has this feature.

OK, so you too?

 

[mikeymtbs]

Same here. I have yet to mess around with the levels in the software though.

 

[Sagebrush]

Try turning the volume up when "she's" speaking.

I don't listen to music. I usually have an audiobook playing and it mutes when a message notification comes through. It may be the app you're using to listen to music.

 

[frappy608]

You absolutely can adjust the volume of the siri voice, but you can't adjust the setting to mute music. Said another way, you can set siri to "shout" over the music. If you listen to music at anything higher than a low volume, it renders hands free dictation somewhat useless

 

[Josh256]

Try turning the volume up when "she's" speaking.

I don't listen to music. I usually have an audiobook playing and it mutes when a message notification comes through. It may be the app you're using to listen to music.

Another problem is once the floating Siri window appears (replay/reply/etc) you can no longer control the music volume [for no intelligible reason]..

 

[Sandytntn]

Try turning the volume up when "she's" speaking.

I don't listen to music. I usually have an audiobook playing and it mutes when a message notification comes through. It may be the app you're using to listen to music.

Yes, my system mutes fine when I’m listening to audiobooks, but not with Apple Music. What I do is just tap the center of the volume knob to mute the music and then listen to my messages. Seems to work fine that way but yeh never had this issue in Tahoe, Mazda and Nissan. Obviously is software/app issue since some apps work fine.

 

[Sner]

You absolutely can adjust the volume of the siri voice, but you can't adjust the setting to mute music. Said another way, you can set siri to "shout" over the music. If you listen to music at anything higher than a low volume, it renders hands free dictation somewhat useless

It never gets loud enough. Just like every other car, it should mute the music when reading text messages, I wouldn’t say Siri is shouting over loud music, I’d say it’s useless, and dictation is even worse when music is playing.

 

[Josh256]

Hey folks, following the instructions here and also using the volume knob on the HU [maxing out by turning clockwise while Siri active] I can now hear Siri, even while music is playing!

 

[magnitude7138]

Looked at that Reddit thread. Nothing new unfortunately and no true fix for this. Main issue is Siri doesn’t mute music that’s playing. Other issue is that the Siri volume even at max isn’t very loud and only comes from the front left speaker…would love to complain to Toyota about this but not sure how to submit complaints of this nature

 

[Josh256]

True. At moderate listening levels it's functional IMO. What I actually like about the left/front only is my music doesn't mute out continuously while I'm getting texts/whatsapps/etc as it does with my other car.

For those that want to subvert the OEM CarPlay behaviour with Siri altogether:
Using a CarPlay AI kit on the HU side port sorts this all out as the CarPlay AI kits implement their own proxy of sorts... muting the audio and all speakers for Siri. Downside is CarPlay AI boxes take at least 30sec to boot. what *may* also work is a CarPlay wireless adaptor but it's a long shot.. wireless CarPlay adaptors are pretty much instant

 

[Andy@AAV]

Apple just released the 18.4.1 update which is supposed to fix these issues with CarPlay. I don't have a 4th gen (yet) so I can't test to verify.

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