Toyota Offering Retrofit CarPlay Upgrades for 2018 Camry and Sienna

[MacRumors]

Toyota recently announced plans to bring CarPlay to 2018 Toyota Camry sedans and 2018 Toyota Sienna minivans through a new retrofitting program that will be available through Toyota dealers.

According to CNET, 2018 Toyota Sienna minivans and Camry sedans will soon be able to visit a dealership to add CarPlay support to their vehicles. Amazon Alexa compatibility is also included.

Visiting a Toyota dealership will be required to install the CarPlay update, which will be made available through new software. Toyota has not yet confirmed if the CarPlay update will be free or if there will be a fee.

Toyota has introduced CarPlay in quite a few of its 2019 and 2020 models, but to date, CarPlay has been limited to newer vehicles, so this is the first time Toyota is making it available in a 2018 vehicle.

Other Toyota vehicles equipped with CarPlay include the 2019 Avalon, 2019 Corolla Hatchback, 2019 Sienna, 2019 Camry, 2020 Tacoma, 2020 Tundra, 2020 Sequoia, 2020 Corolla, 2020 Yaris Hatchback, and 2020 Highlander.

It's not known if Toyota will, in the future, provide similar CarPlay retrofitting options for other Toyota vehicles.

Article Link: Toyota Offering Retrofit CarPlay Upgrades for 2018 Camry and Sienna

 

[DrJohnnyN]

Good news for new Toyota owners.

 

[CreatorCode]

Good news for new Toyota owners.

Well, for recent-ish Toyota owners. New Toyota owners get it out of the box. This just covers folks whose cars are new enough that they got the current-generation entertainment system, but old enough that it wasn't included from the factory. Still, that's like 300,000-400,000 people.

 

[realtuner]

Now if only the Smart TV manufacturers would do this for AirPlay 2 on older TV's.

 

[sjinsjca]

Good. They lost a sale to me for lack of CarPlay in a Lexus NX. CarPlay and Android Auto are becoming must-haves... or deal-killers, depending.

 

[yossi]

I can't understand any car maker putting out a car without Car Play support. I will not even consider a new car without one.

 

[Pbrutto]

Oh yeah? How about Prius prime or CHR??? The 2018 and 2019 C-HR have the EXACT same head unit, but the 2019 has CarPlay.

 

[mattopotamus]

I can already imagine people calling the dealerships and they are clueless about this.
[doublepost=1556567194][/doublepost]

I can't understand any car maker putting out a car without Car Play support. I will not even consider a new car without one.

Honestly a Tesla is probably the only thing I would consider that doesn’t have it.

 

[levitynyc]

I can't understand any car maker putting out a car without Car Play support. I will not even consider a new car without one.

I'm sure there are licensing fees involved.

A $100 screen and software is still a thousand dollar upgrade for most cars.

 

[FBeye]

YES YES YES!!! FINALLY!!! I own a 2018 Camry and this is huge, as the standard Entune 3.0 system is simply a turd...

 

[craigmak]

Wish GM would do this for my 2012 Yukon.

 

[brofkand]

I can't understand any car maker putting out a car without Car Play support. I will not even consider a new car without one.

Depends on what you need in a vehicle. It's certainly a nice feature. My last car, a Jetta, had CarPlay - but my newest vehicle doesn't. It has features I needed more than CarPlay. I have plans to replace the headunit to add CarPlay but it just isn't as important to me as I thought apparently. To each their own.

 

[sittnick]

Toyota recently announced plans to bring CarPlay to 2018 Toyota Camry sedans and 2018 Toyota Sienna minivans through a new retrofitting program that will be available through Toyota dealers.

Well, it is not going to be added to my 1994 Buick Roadmaster, but I just got my wife a 2018 Avalon. It would be unfortunate if the Camry got this and the Avalon didn't.

 

[yossi]

I can already imagine people calling the dealerships and they are clueless about this.
[doublepost=1556567194][/doublepost]

Honestly a Tesla is probably the only thing I would consider that doesn’t have it.

TIL Tesla does not have CarPlay.

 

[brofkand]

Wish GM would do this for my 2012 Yukon.

Aftermarket is an option, the newer aftermarket radios are quite nice. Not inexpensive but much cheaper than a new Yukon!

 

[JcAzcanio]

Mazda charges 250USD for installing car play

 

[Baymowe335]

At least it makes a boring car a little less boring.

 

[kanki1985]

Either this or go Tesla route where you dont need this stupid thing..

 

[freezah]

Mercedes Benz played really ugly. They demoed CarPlay with 2014 C-Class so people like me decided to go for it with the 3500€ “Comand Online” entertainment center just to learn month later that CarPlay won’t be available for this model. Couple years later they have introduced paid “CarPlay retrofit” option for this model but for basic entertainment center “Audio20”, not for the “high-end” 3500€ Comand Online.

 

[ThunderSkunk]

Hey, you see that Subaru? An upgradable Stereo. One that isn’t wired into the cruise control and engine management software with a bunch of proprietary junk that no one can deal with, and means I’ll be stuck with this unusable, sat-nav system with outdated maps and an anti-user ui forever, with no possibility of installing so much as a freakin USB port, for ever, and ever, and ever...

On the other hand, I am never distracted while driving, and after a million miles of listening to it, have become intimately familiar with the the sounds of this car and could probably diagnose trouble from a thousand paces with my eyes gouged out.

But still, cars shouldn’t even come with stereos, just a plug.

 

[Mick-Mac]

It's highly likely you'll need to have your iDevice connected to the car via USB for this to work. Don't underestimate what a pain in the neck it is to fish your phone out of your purse/pocket every time you hop into the car and hook it up via a USB cable that may or may not be conveniently lying around. It's just disgusting that CarPlay isn't inherently a WiFi thing.

 

[Ebok]

Mazda charges 250USD for installing car play

i would glady give honda $250USD to put it in my 2015 honda accord, which was SUPPOSED to have carplay but got delayed till the 2016 model.

i love my honda but this decision to not give us the option is pissing me off.

 

[H2SO4]

I can't understand any car maker putting out a car without Car Play support. I will not even consider a new car without one.

I've never understood this line of thinking. There are a plethora of things more important than a stupid phone integration system in a car but it amazes me the number of that kind of comment.
Won't pay for Isofix seats, extra airbags, winter pack, (heated front screen etc), won't fit winter tyres when appropriate. But yeah, Carplay is a must.

 

[mattopotamus]

I've never understood this line of thinking. There are a plethora of things more important than a stupid phone integration system in a car but it amazes me the number of that kind of comment.
Won't pay for Isofix seats, extra airbags, winter pack, (heated front screen etc), won't fit winter tyres when appropriate. But yeah, Carplay is a must.

To each their own. That is at the top of the list for me. The amenities are more important than the way a car drives for me personally.

 

[hybrid_x]

Is this the first time a major carmaker has offered a retroactive CarPlay upgrade for past models?