Bellboy

Update 10/10/21:  I was able to rip the dash of my Prius apart this last weekend and pull out the unit and replace the SD card.

I found out the hard way that the 4500 is different than the 4400 when dismantling—the video posted here helped a lot though. I had to improvise a bit and I removed the ribbon cable from the DVD unit at the motherboard—it was easier than from the unit. Also, I wasn’t able to slide out the display mount easily, so I decided not to force it. 
 

Instead, I popped the clips of the surrounding plastic frame and the ribbon cable was connected to the board was too tight, so I removed that. That gave just enough room to replace the card without removing the display mount plate. My dream of taking a Dremel to that faceplate to make an opening above the (non-factory) SD card slot will have to wait. 
 

My steering controls are still jacked as I fear that it could be one of two things—my aftermarket Axxess ASWC-1 has crapped out, or there’s an issue with the wiring (or perhaps a fuse) that’s keeping it from working. 
 

Anyway, the unit is functional and now updated to firmware 1.04—up from my 1.00. The parking brake override still works and I did have to re-do it.  So I’m back to driving happy—I just have to forget that I had to pay Pioneer their blood money for the SD card that I should have been given for free. 
 

Hope this helps. 

Hi all. New to the site as searched for the reason as to why my 1.5 year old AVH-W4500NEX s**t the bed—and it certainly looks like the SD card issue.  I noticed that my steering wheel controls started flaking and then the unit started going into a boot loop not long after. 

Since I have it installed in an older Prius, I have to rip the entire dash apart to get the unit out. I didn’t want to go the “Russian” route as some people mentioned touchscreen problems. So I went to Pioneer and gave them a piece of my mind. They felt so bad that they offered to replace both my radio and my car with a brand new Prius. 

Uh…yeah, they didn’t do that. They were very nice, but basically told me tough s**t—it’s out of warranty. But they did give me a link to their parts provider and this is the “factory” part for the SD card:

https://www.pacparts.com/part.cfm?part_no=QXX3352&mfg=Pioneer

So I ordered it and I got it about a week ago. Looking at it, it certainly looks like the same cheap POS brand that they used in the first place.  It’s more expensive than the Russian guy’s product, but I feel more comfortable knowing this is coming from Pioneer.  Now I just need a day when it’s not 100 degrees to rip my car apart and replace the card and test it. 

I think I will try to see how hard it will be to cut an access port, so if it fails again I won’t have to dismantle my car again. 

If anyone has any success stories on duplicating the image on this SD card, I’d really appreciate it.