I read these threads about how useful the Nav Traffic is.
I know this is dependant on location, but I'm out near Boston and others in the area love their XM Traffic.

Mine does not change colors when traffic is bad.
Never.

Also, I was cruising down the Mass Pike one morning, going to work.
I come to a complete stop in traffic and have no idea why.
Everything on my screen shows green and happy.
I hit info, traffic info, local traffic and nothing came up except that "No Traffic Info Found" message, whatever it says.

I then add my work address to a route and once my route is in place, I hit Info, Traffic on Route and it showed an accident just ahead in the left lane.

Why doesn't my Nav Traffic work unless I've got a route programmed in, and why does it NEVER change road colors, even if the route is programmed.

I shouldn't have to keep hitting the Info button, if I've read correctly, right???

 

Yeah it sounds like it should work without a route being programmed in in terms of color changes and identifying nearby traffic issues. I get color changes here all the time but by far my favorite is the upside down car accident logo. I never use a route on my way to work but I can still see on screen the color changes and accident icons in other parts of the area.

 

Then something is defintely wrong with mine.

My screen will appear problem free.
If I add a route and then scan the route for traffic, I'll get the little upsde down car for an accident.
I then cancel my route and go back to the map, and the accident icon will still be there.

It seems as though it only appears after scanning a route for issues, and not automatically.

 

AesonVirus,

These are configurable settings you need to activate. Go to Route>Traffic Info Settings, and make sure all of the traffic options are turned on.

Also, this can be found in the Navi Manual on Page 5-15. Hope this helps.

Regards,

 

Might want to call XM radio and ask them ?
Doesn't sound right to me - they might have some system problems in your area.

 

I live in the DC area and I too was wondering about the NAV TRAFFIC. What I have found was that the extra colors only come on in a section of the road that has something about it on the traffic info page. Although for some time I did not see any extra colors after I left the dealer after purchasing the car. I called XM and they resent the signal several times. I still did not see anything until I came accross a section of the road this morning that finally showed the colors. I really think that the problem is XM based. If it wasn't then why does it work sometimes and not others? If there was a problem with the hardware, then the map itself would not work, I would guess. This whole traffic thing is so new, XM has to still be working out the glitches. For sure one can not rely on it.

 

I did.
I read through that too!

I'll mention it Saturday morning at the dealer and see what they say.

 

I know that if you are zoomed in to a low level of detail, you cannot see the traffic Info....

 

Good luck with getting XM to respond or act on anything. I have been frustrated with the traffic not showing up on the 10 between the 405 and 110. I have called 2 times and e-mailed 4 times. No response at all.

 

I was on my way into the dealer today and for the first time, the Nav Traffic verbaly warned me of congestion and it was super accurate.
It warned me at the beginning of my 1.5 hour trek, even though the congestion was 60 miles into my 70 ride.
It warned me again when it was a mile away and was right on the money.
Stupid traffic!
No color changes though.
Dealer doesn't have a clue.

 

it could be worse, you could be in an 04 coupe stuck in traffic wishing that feature even existed, but i mean whatever floats ya ship.

 

Mine works great in the Salt Lake City area. Very acurate although there is a little bit of time delay in the reporting of accidents.

 

I found that some roads have the equipment to measure speed and some don't. Could that be your problem?

CT sucks for traffic updates/info with XM. I guess it doesn't matter when you can get through most of the state in 1-2 hours. I have to use Google maps on my Treo to get better traffic updates.

I also spoke to a DOT(Dept. of Transportation) employee who said that unless they call an accident in to the traffic center, nothing will be posted. I think they are too lazy to call stuff in.