I almost never had failures with VC for navi. It was iffy with iPod but worked fairly well as did voice dial. I feel that it is a fail that they removed it from the features of the unit. Interestingly enough Kenwood has done the same thing however with their 2012 units but theirs didn't work well at all for anything other then navi.

I wonder if it is to free up processor and memory? It is a little weird that they would remove a nice safety feature, considering that bypassing the lockout is easy and then people will type addresses in as they drive. Also, most newer cars have this as an option and Pioneer and the other manufacturers need to step up their game or there will not be a need for aftermarket.

I believe it has something to do with licensing that both Kenwood and Pioneer were not able to aquire the rights to. I also believe that Apple's use of Siri may have had something to do with it.