I just took delivery of my G37S and so far I love almost every aspect of the car. I came out of a 2004 VW that generated at least one new rattle per day (near the end it was rattling while sitting off in my garage I think). But I have to question one particularly frustrating element of this car's technology: The voice recognition (VR) system.

I know there have been several threads on this but I'm hoping there's some new news. The limited VR commands in the "newer" 2008's seems downright stupid to me. After digesting the owner's manual and flipping to "Alternative Command Mode" with "Voice Feedback Limited" (and training it to my voice pattern), I am still shocked at the fact that so many useful commands aren't available on the U.S. model cars. To add insult to injury, the manual depicts (in all its glory) the expanded list available to Canadian model owners -- including so many that would be useful to an everyday commuter like me. Perhaps the single most baffling omission that I've discovered -- much to my chagrin -- is the lack of an ability to dial a stored phone number with a single command (this is the "Phonebook XXXX" command available to Canadians). Instead, on the U.S. cars, you have to navigate audibly through three screens/checkpoints before a call can be placed from the phonebook (first call up the phonebook, then pick the name, then issue the "dial" command). It's just ... stupid. And it certainly can't be because the simpler, direct method was "more complicated;" in fact, it's the "new way" that's complicated. I'm led to guess that the reasons behind the VR changes were more related to some obscure U.S. liability concerns we'll never know about -- NOT complexity complaints.

So, what I'm wondering is if anyone has heard that Infiniti plans to update the system, or otherwise "retro-grade" the thing back to the earlier capability set? I haven't called into Infiniti corporate yet, but that's my next logical step. My delaership simply laments the changes with me, stating that they have no idea why Infiniti chose to weaken the system's functionality. That's gratifying to hear, but of course of no practical use.

Any thoughts, anyone? Am I missing something here? I'm a new owner -- perhaps there's a glaring error I'm making?

 

Congrats on yoor new ride and welcome to the forum.

I've got an early delivery model, so I have the voice recognition features you mentioned. Why they were taken off the list, I have no idea.

I've had no complaints about the system.

 

I have the "new, improved and simplified" VRS. Infiniti must feel we Americans must be so stupid that we don't even try to read, understand and use many of the features this car has. When I was researching for the new car I expected to make full use of these technology and now feel short changed. Many of us are demo'd on the original system but were shocked to find ours less capable.

There must a way to get Infiniti to issue a recall or "upgrade" so people that bought the car with the original VRS feature in mind can get it once for all. To change/delete a suttle feature like this one in mid-year just does not seem right.

Perhaps we have to start a class action.

 

I have early build and all of those features as well. Maybe when we sell, Gurney, we'll get an extra buck or two!!

 

LOL, for what exactly?

 

What exactly would be our common injury here?

Did you injure your fingers punching in too many addresses.. That's about the only thing I can think of that would show up on your complaint.

 

OK, I've seen two forums on this subject now and basically I think the news is, "tough luck." I'll call corporate but I don't expect too much. So here's my latest half-baked find:

I dove into the MusicBox functionality this evening and found an odd quirk. Again, maybe I'm missing something here, but it seems that if you copy a CD you've burnt yourself (on iTunes, for instance), you cannot enter/alter the CD NAME on the MusicBox. You can manually edit the song titles (and artists) ... though it's a painful process ... but oddly you seem to have no ability to edit the album name. So the system assigns an annoying string of date/time stamp characters to your copied CD and won't let you change it.

Anybody figured out a way? Since almost all the CD's I use these days are ones I've burnt myself, this is kinda annoying. I know the iPod itself is another option, but candidly I was trying to make use of the MusicBox functionality since I don't always carry my iPod with me.

 

If you are burning with iTunes you need to set your burning preferences to "include cd text". The make sure that the playlist you burn from is named what you want the album to be called. That's how I do it...

 

[QUOTE=DiamondGCoupe;2269320]What exactly would be our common injury here?
QUOTE]

How about getting shown a car with some features, buying one a month later with the exact same options and price, then finding out without warning you have half the features (for no logical reason). Oh and the fact infiniti didn't even inform dealers of the change so at first they were as clueless as everyone.

The "Dial" command from the phonebook after you select the phone entry is stupid. I can drive to the person's house before I go through all the menu's.

 

Uhhh, for a fix or a compensation. Do you even have this issue or the car?

 

Thanks Majin -- got it. That makes perfect sense. Great idea, and definitely not a "tip" in the manual. I'll try it out this weekend.

And BTW I got a good laugh at the previous comment about the "dial" command. I agree wholeheartedly. In frustration I've blurted out, "No thanks, I just wanted to stare at the *?&%*$# phonebook entry for awhile."

 

I think, do I may be wrong, but if memory serves me well, I remember a thread about this topic a while back where one of the members here complained and got a free extended warranty on his car. If someone could find that post that would be great.

EDIT: Found it
https://www.myg37.com/forums/showthr...=voice+command

First post.

 

If you get an attitude it doesn't understand your command. When I first got the car I’d forget about that step and said in an annoyed voice DIAL! Nothing. I think it asks again after a while so once I repeated it nicely it accepted my command. The car’s got personality lol.

 

What?!

The current G37 US-spec build doesn't support voicetag dialing ("Phonebook James")?

Wow. I'm shocked. That's ridiculous. If you have 30 people in your phonebook, how do you dial the 28th person? Do you say phonebook, then the voicetag, then dial? How does it work?

 

? Class action lawsuits are not just for "injury"

False advertising would not be hard to claim here, especially since the manual has not been revised.