Avensis Satnav - France

[adventurer]

Bought a new disc for France (June 20) and asked for one with "TMC" option (like my UK disc) from my local Toyota dealership. Got to France and the TMC reported "Wrong disc". Anyone know if TMC is available in France? It doesn't seem possible to check a non-UK disc in the UK and the dealership is less than helpfull - they know nothing of what service(s) are available outside the UK and seem not to care, having made a sale.

[NickE]

What's TMC?

[adventurer]

Traffic Management Channel - in the UK gives audio warning of accidents/delays/roadworks/diversions etc. on chosen (or all) route(s)/destination(s) with an option to calculate detours, if possible. e.g. on a motorway gives a warning at least a six miles before the exit.

Keith

[NickE]

Sounds cool. I knew there was some facility for traffic management because I've seen the messages within the software on the CD, such as 'accident ahead' 'lane closed' 'heavy winds', 'reduced visibility' etc. Just don't know how to activate it - or is it automatic? How do you get this feature to work?

[adventurer]

Set Destination | Route options | TMC (current destination or All) and turn on.

Alternatively, RTFM.

[digger5]

Hi Adventurer

If you visit http://www.tmcforum.com/tmc/services.htm go to the bottom of the page click on France you will find out who is supplying TMC in France (a lot more companies than in the UK).

I hope this is of some use.

[adventurer]

Hi Digger5,

The site looks interesting: strong implication that it (TMC/ETA) should work in France. Error message I get (using France CD) is "Wrong CD". Under messages, in the TMC/ETA Owner's manual this is explained as:

"Wrong CD: this message appears if you have the TMC option, but are using a CD without TMC information".

Parts department (franchised dealer) have three answers, which they repeat ad infinitum:

1. There is no TMC information on the CD. It cannot be a wrong CD.

2. TMC is not a Toyota product, only ETA is. Ergo it will not work outside the UK

3. TMC/ETA is not available in France (a possibility, but the site you posted is confident that it is).

1 and 2 seem to be answered by the explanation of the (Toyota) message.

And, page 1 of the Owner's manual is headed:

"TNS200 supplement fot ETA/TMC Option

Electronic Traffic Avoidance (ETA) using the Traffic Message Channel (TMC)"

I despair. But will struggle on. Surely I'm not the only Avensis owner wanting to use "all the features" of SatNav/ETA/TMC outside the UK.

[adventurer]

Today's response from Toyota: "Traffic information is broadcast on Classic FM and, as you can't receive Classic FM in France, it won't work". My comment that the car radio (Toyota standard equipment) receives Classic FM in Calais was considered to be unhelpful.

Perhaps I should change my name to Victor Meldrew.

[digger5]

Sorry to hear you are still having no luck. The first question on the site I gave you under 'FAQ' is this...

Where is a TMC service available?

The service is currently (February 2002) available in the following countries:

Sweden, Denmark, Germany, France, Netherlands, Spain, UK, Finland, Switzerland, North of Italy, Flanders Belgium.

On the FAQ page near the top they have an email address to their Help desk, maybe you will get some sense out of them?

http://www.tmcforum.com/tmc/faq.htm

You are correct, the UK TMC broadcasts using a sub carrier on the Classic FM frequencies . However you may find France is more fragmented and different frequencies are used for different areas. Hence the reason for many companies supplying the info. But I would expect the correct DVD/CD should function in all areas that offer the service - which leads me to the next question. Have you tried TMC in a fairly large area of France or was it a !Removed!/booze run only!!

UK have 95% of the 'strategic road network' covered on Classic FM however you may find France has a much smaller portion covered.

The idea of TMC is it should be seamless for the traveler passing through the different countries in Europe - not quite what you are experiencing!

[JSavoor]

I have just bought a Avensis T-Spirit with the DVD Full Screen SatNav system and I have been looking to find the TMC and ETA functionality - I simply cannot find it.

The local garage dont seem to even know about it!

Any help would really be appreciated.

Jay