Bluetooth calls work with radio off.

I didn't know this before, nor have I seen it mentioned/read about it in the manual.

I had my phone connected to the radio via Bluetooth for taking/making hands free calls while on the road. On this particular occasion, I was parked and had returned from inside the parts store. I hopped in the truck, put the key in the ignition, turned it to On to roll up the windows to make it easier to hear, then I turned the key back to Accessory and dialed a call.

The radio was off when I pulled into the lot and was still turned off. When I put the phone up to my ear, I noticed that the radio display showed that it was dialing and the ring was coming from the speaker as is the case when the radio is on.

Again, I didn't know that this was possible, pretty cool.

 

This is very good to know... I will put mine to a test as soon as I pick it up and let you know.

 

Mine does the exact same thing.

 

Speaking of this... I have noticed that, if I receive a phone call while driving, I don't have the option to go to the "Handset" mode. That option is grayed-out on the screen. My only option is to tell the person to hold on, open my iPhone, and turn off the BT. When I have passengers in the car with me, I don't usually want my phone conversation broadcast over the speakers (thanks to my friends with foul mouths and my 10 year old daughter in the truck).

Is there a setting that will allow me to select "handset" mode while in motion? (I know that I have that option while sitting still)

 

If it's available while parked, but not while moving, its probably intentional to prevent the driver from taking their hands from the wheel. A safety thing I suppose.

 

My BT sometimes stays connected even long after the truck has been parked. I'll be at home and grab my phone to make a call, but can't hear anything. This also happens with incoming calls, the phone rings, but when I answer, we can't hear each other because I'm not in the truck--and even if I was we couldn't hear because the friggin truck's not even on! I'll have to hang up, go into my phone's settings and manually disconnect from the truck, then try my call again. I was blaming this on my last phone, but it's now happened twice with my new phone (most recently last night), so it's obviously the truck's fault. I'll have to take it back to the dealer and see if they'll do something about it before my factory warranty is up. As you might imagine, it's pretty damned annoying when it happens.

 

Mine does the same thing. I don't think it's faulty - I think it's more likely that the signal range of the BT is too great. Meaning, once you park and go inside, the BT stays connected.
For all of the above reasons, I've gotten to the point where I just leave the BT turned off of my phone because it's more hassle than it's worth. (I've also had multiple people tell me they have trouble hearing me when I talk on the BT through the speaker system. I tried turning off the heat/AC fan - still no dice). IMO - it's a neat feature, but has some problems.

 

Interesting. Thanks for the input. I guess I have to take my phone out to the back yard every time I get home to make sure it gets out of range and drops the connection. PITA, but it is a feature I like having when in the truck. It's especially nice to have the system read incoming texts to me while I'm driving. Dunno what your local laws are like, but around here you can't even pick up your phone and look at it when behind the wheel (even stopped at a red light) unless your completely parked. I had the problems you're having in my Taco, but no conversation issues with this rig.

One definite drawback to the BT connection happened to me recently. I had a high, canned air-huffing jackass run his car off the road in front of me. I stopped, then grabbed my phone as I headed to check on him. When I called 911, we couldn't talk to each other because I was out of the truck. Obviously my own stupidity, but just didn't think about it in the moment.

 

Hang on a sec, are you guys experiencing the phone staying connected to the truck scenario described in the last few posts even when the key is in the off position? I never thought to see if that would happen. When I made my post, I had turned the key to ON to lower the windows, then turned the key to ACC.

I've also had it happen where I've left the key in the ACC position to continue playing the radio while loading something in the cargo box while the phone is in my pocket, then received a call and had a mildly surreal experience trying to figure out where the voice was coming from.

 

Yup. Staying connected when the truck is in the driveway and the keys and phone are inside the house. No apparent timeout function or anything either. It stays connected even when the truck's been parked for hours.

 

I suppose that I never picked up on that because I'm consistent about turning my BT off when away from the truck. Apparently it's more convenient to do on my phone than on yours. Some time I'll have to try mine out to see if it will stay connected while I'm on the sofa. Honestly, this kinda sounds like a handy excuse to "miss" certain calls.

 

Not beating a dead horse here, but one other item I'll warn you guys about... I listen to podcasts while I work in the yard - usually the Adam Carolla Show. On several occasions, my daughter and I have jumped into the truck to go somewhere and as soon as I start the truck, the podcast starts playing through the radio. You've never seen someone scramble so fast to get the radio turned off before Adam dropped a big GD bomb or something.
And to make it worse, if you're in reverse, you can't access the radio controls. It was a pretty funny scene - me slapping and pawing at the radio, trying to get it stopped. Not sure why I didn't just turn the volume down, but that didn't occur to me at the time....

 

Which leads me to believe that you won't be using that bed extender you swooped me on.

 

Actually used it today. I use it quite often. You need to swoop faster than this old fart.

 

I guess that's what I get for living so far away....

 

Ok... I've been using the bluetooth in my truck for the past couple of days and have had no issues with it being connected after a) I turn the truck off.. or... b) I get more than 20 feet away from the truck while it's running.

Just throwin' this in there is all

 

I haven't either, but I haven't activity tried. Maybe I will this weekend, as my parts won't be here.