bjahome

I have noticed way too often that the navigation system has problems "seeing" exactly where I am. I can be driving on a major highway, and it shows the car on a parralel roadway more than 500 feet from my actual location. Another great trick is when I am on a digitized road, but it shows that I am off the road by ~1-2 hundred feet (presumably driving through businesses, lawns, houses, etc). I have a garmin street pilot III, and it is accurate to 14ft, and I thought a built in alpine would be at least as good. Are these problems standard with this system (2005 TL bought Dec 31 software revision 3.40C)? Or should I get the unit serviced.

MR1

There is a proceedure to adjust your location in the Owners' Manual. Or go to dealer.

bjahome

This problem is intermittent. Sometimes it tracks fine. After calling the dealer today, they asked if I added any aftermarket satellite electronics (like XM), because they have seen this once before when someone added XM. Since mine is totally stock (XM came with it), they want it brought in, they feel that it is either the navigation unit itself or "a part" (not specified). I am hoping that when the unit functions properly it will be as accurate as the Garmin.

dizzy1

Do you have the back window tinted? I tinted my TSX and have the same thing happen once a week because of the metallic tint. Only fix is go get some ceramic tint.

bjahome

No tinting, nothing on the back ledge, etc. I am wondering if there is a more general problem with these units (it sounds like they are much more sensitive to interference than others). If they fix mine, I will post what they did.

shux69

same thing happens to me man. My problem occurs only once in while. It starts when i first get into the car and continues for about 5 minutes then it relocates itself.

t951

I have the same exact issue. It will show me on a parallel road and when I pull away (say the roads diverge) it will eventually jump me back over.

My biggest issue is the logic it uses. There is a highway that goes right by my house and connects to Tampa. No matter what I do, it will route me through all kinds of side streets versus using the highway. No matter what I do. If I didn't know the area, I would be screwed.

BTW, when I use my IPAQ with GPS software I have none of the above issues. I have the 3.40a disc.

05 TL A-Spec NHB w/rear radar

bjahome

It seems that this is a generalized problem with these units. Now the question is can they fix it. Again stay tuned, I will post what happens after service.

Greg-ster

I totally have the same problem(s) as the OP, but in a '05 Accord (The navi is the same between TL and Accord).

I have the 3.40a disk, which came with the car when bought in october.

I was going to start a new thread about this, but how often does the nav chick in your car announce the exit number when you're getting off the freeway, when the system knows the number? Mine only does it occasionally.

Also, more on topic, how long does it take for your car to aquire a GPS signal after you leave the garage? It takes about 3-5 minutes on mine

jd0225

When I am sitting in my driveway and say. "display current location," it gives me a different address than my own; like several houses away.

Pankul

my speculaton is, try the routing method, Maximize Highways, and see if it picks up the highway.

Some times to save a mile, the poor Navi will get you on local roads.

* Another cool feature in future shall be, a routing method, "Minimize Traffic Lights" this way it does not choose a state highway like Route 1 or 9 in jersey with traffic lights.

t951

Pankul,

I have tried all options (maximize freeways included). It will even continue to tell me to get off at an exit so I can drive on a non-highway traffic filled road.

I was hoping I could find someone with a 3.40c disk and copy it. I refuse to pay for that disc since I bought a 2005 in 2005 and got an old disk. Not to mention, that I don't want to pay for it if it does not help my issue.

t.

Oil Fighter

The problem is not the GPS receiver, it is the mapping data. All modern GPS are capable of being accurate to 14ft, but our TL (and any other units that have mapping data) tries to match the longitude and latitude coordinate given by the GPS unit to a location on the map. Also, even though the GPS is capable of being accurate to 14ft, this only happens in the most optimal condition, usually the error is larger than 14 ft.

If the data on the map is wrong, it doesn’t matter how accurate you longitude and latitude data is, it will show up wrong when the map is displayed. Further more, modern GPS software will attempt to best match what road you are on, based on factors such as turns you make, the vehicle’s course, etc. It does this because manufacturers know that the mapping data will have errors. Most of the time, the software can figure out which road you are on, but once in a while, it will mess up.

As for the wrong address issue: The house number is based on an average. The data in the map tells the computer a range of addresses corresponds to certain distance on a map, and the actual address number is calculated based on an average of distance. But as we all know, houses come in different sizes, therefore, it is not surprising that the mapping software will be off by a few houses.

The only real way to fix the issues above is to have the most accurate mapping data available, but chances are, if it’s already wrong, it’ll probably never be fixed.

AdamNJ

I too have the 'address problem', and every day I see the navi being at least 100 feet off. I have no idea how to fix it. I went into the Navi config/diagnotic screen, but it was all gibberish to me. Apparently my Navi system thinks that I like to drive into buildings instead of making turns onto streets about 100-200 feet away.

05 TL built about a month ago, 3.40c.

bjahome

I would agree with you if this happened all the time, but it doesn't. Again, a, much cheaper Garmin unit never had this happen (I've had that 4 years), and rarely is of by more than 20 feet (it keeps track based on satellite signal strength). These problems occur about 10% of the time, frequent enough to be annoying.
.
As an update, the service manager is now "looking into the problem". He admits it should not have problems on verified roads, but they need to "catch" it to replace the unit. I just turned the breadcrumbs on, so when I am off-road (according to the GPS) I can show them where it happened. If I can't get satisfaction from Acura, I will try talking to Alpine directly. I am sure their tech service has a better understanding of any quirks.

MR1

Thanks for the updates, keep them coming.

Guess i was a little off too, sorry.

Greg-ster

I think that we need to call alpine (or maybe acura), and have them make a note of the not-following-the-car-correctly problem.

It seems to be happening to just owners of '05 veichles, with the 3.40 disk.

Maybe there were a bad series of nav units built...

jd0225

Mine is an '04 with the 3.40C disc.

Oil Fighter

Take you protable GPS with you in the car, and next time you're off road or at the wrong address, turn on your portable GPS, get the Lon. Lat. coordinate off of it, and compare it to the TL's. You wil see that although both unit's coordinate is fluctuating a bit, they are pretty much the same. Which tells you that this is a software issue.

t951

I have done this with my IPAQ and GPS....

I have Navigator, OnCourse, and TomTom on it. All 3 work perfectly in my car. All 3 use logic that routes me intelligently. And I believe at least 2 of those share the NavTech engine that our Acuras use.

My bet is that either:

A. Our software has issues
B. Our hardware doesnt have the power to process
C. There is an issue with the hardware.

akura2

Have you guys tried setting the "vehicle position"... I noticed that when I was near an intersection the arrow that represents my car was back from the intersection by about 25-50ft... I went to "setup" then section "4" then I went to "vehicle position" and I was able to move the arrow on the map to where my car actually was... and now it's pretty much right on target... I pulled right in front of my driveway and it had my exact address when I tapped the screen

Greg-ster

Do you expect us to do this constantly?

Acuraluvr

iTrader: (2)

sometimes with ours, if we are traveling on a unverified highway, and we cross one that is on the nav, than it suspects that we are on the verified hwy, but after a few seconds, it corrects itself

bjahome

When I do this, it re-"corrects" its position within a few seconds of driving. It seems that my map and navigation just do not want ot line up. Using my Garmin system at the same time, there is very little error on position, and again, never has it been "off-road" like the TL's system. With everyone having similar problems, there has to be a fault with this system.