There's still no cell phone service in some areas we drive in but we've got two Garmins that get quarterly map updates that can be used as a last resort. I'm looking forward to wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto in the two vehicles we're getting fairly soon so we can use Google Maps and/or Waze on in-dash screens. Now the discontinuation interval has become much less as evidenced by the discontinuation of DVD navigation updates only four years after last use in the 2014 Sienna Limited like I have now. Except for the 'generation zero' interchangeable hard drive navigation system in the 1998-2000 Lexus LS400 like I had (updates were discontinued in 2004), Toyota formerly didn't discontinue navigation updates until about nine years after last use in a new vehicle. Toyota has become increasingly aggressive in discontinuing map updates for aging navigation systems. It's become a moot point since map updates on portable media are becoming rare.

I did run into a situation some years ago where an eBay scammer was able to successfully alter the internal version number on the map media which made it difficult to tell that it was an older version. In the worst cases, the map update was several versions back from current. In the best cases, the map update was the previous version.

Click to expand.All I can tell you is that 100% of the times - except for one noted below - that I've had people check the internal version numbers of map updates bought on eBay at prices below dealer wholesale, they were not current versions.

How does toyota navigation update