Recently paired iPhone to Enclave but when I tried to use I found out that accessing my contact list to make a call while driving using the voice activation button on the steering wheel one has to know a digital number (not the phone number) for how the contact is listed on my iPhone. Problem is all the contacts are in my iPhone by name (like Mom, Dad, Sam, etc.) not a number.
One can access the contacts by name on your phone by accessing this information on the big screen on the dash in the middle of the car but that defeats the safety for using the voice activation to make hands free calls.
Does anyone know how to remedy this issue on Enclaves, itâs not an issue with most other models and brands of vehicles with voice activated technology?
My daughter has a similar problem with her iPhone in her Camry. The problem turns out to be how you classify your contacts, i.e. home, cell etc. Only one type works and I donât remember which one that it is.
Thanks for the response Keith. Let me know if you find out the details about how to âclassifyâ listings in the Phone Book (called contracts on iPhone). We have them listed by name like Mom Cell, Dad Home, Stacy Cell, etc.
The problem is on the Enclave when one presses the Talk button on the steering wheel it does respond by asking the question, when one responds by saying Call Stacyâs Cell the system doesnât place the call but displays a number (not a phone number) for presumably that contact âŠbut without knowing if the number is correct for that contact one has to divert attention to checking contacts for how they are listed in the phone book on the vehicle.
This, of course, defeats the purpose for safely making a âhands freeâ call if you canât make the call via voice activation without interruption.
With my wifeâs 2012 Malibu, she has certain numbers stored in the contacts within her carâs bluetooth memory. so if she says to call âMomâ- whether the car is paired to my phone, or hers (both with different folks listed as âMomâ) it calls the âMomâ in her carâs memory.
It can be a bit confusing, and seems like a pain in the butt. She has to go into the help menu and add the contacts individually.
I have a bluetooth receiver in my truck that actually connects to my phone, and I can use Siri for it- so it uses my actual phone contacts. I find this one much nicer than the GM factory bluetooth system.
@texases
Not so much installed- as just clipped on. At my job, I work on a fleet of vehicles, so this kind made more sense than a stereo receiver installed into my truck- because I can easily take it with me on a test drive or whatever I need to do in a company vehicle- and still be hands-free compliant.
This isnât my exact one- but itâs extremely similar. Mine is about 5 years old now, and works great.
(this one has good reviews, but I myself have not used this one.)
Hello Eddo, thanks for your input. The vehicle is a 2013 Buick Enclave.
Are you saying that you had to go into the contacts (phone book) that is stored on the vehicle and modify each contact in order to be called up with the Talk voice activated system on the car by name?
When we paired the iPhone to the Enclave it automatically downloaded the Phone Book (contacts) that exist on the iPhone. The problem is that apparently the voice activation on the car looks at something other than the name that is spoken because it doesnât place the call like it would on Siri on the iPhone, but displays a number (not the phone number) that it apparently assigns to that contact. I suspect one can do something to place the call to that number by pressing some button somewhere but one has to believe that the number displayed matches the name you spoke (???). Not a good situation if you are driving and trying to be safe by doing a hands free call.
I have been on a chat with the people at Apple hoping that they have something that could be set on the iPhone in Settings. Their response was to ask me if I could find out the OS Version that the Enclave was using to pair to the phone. I donât know this.
I do have a newer vehicle that has a way to connect the iPhone directly into the vehicle where you select to connect directly to the iPhone instead of through the carâs system where when you press the Talk button on the steering wheel you are talking directly to Siri and not the carâs system.
Sound like you have a work around with the device that you have installed but I would rather see it thereâs a way to make the system we have to work.
Have you tried just using the voice pass-thru feature? Apparently, this bypasses the built in voice recognition and contact list and simply passes it through to the phone itself. See here-
Voice pass-thru allows access to the voice recognition commands on the cell phone. See your cell phone manufacturerâs user guide to see if the cell phone supports this feature.
To access contacts stored in the cell phone:
Press and hold (image of phone/voice command button on steering wheel) for two seconds.
Say âBluetooth.â This command can be skipped.
Say âVoice.â The system responds âOK, accessing (phone name).â
The cell phoneâs normal prompt messages will go through their cycle according to the phoneâs operating instructions.
Thanks for the information Twin Turbo. Spent two hours on chat with Apple to determine that Apple does not support Voice Pass-Thru on either of the iPhones that we have and use.
I sent the Buick link to them to look at and they were asking if my 2013 Buick Enclave supported Car Play which is on both my iPhones and is specifically designed to work with the Talk button on the steering wheel. But, it doesnât appear my car supports Car Play.
Appears my only choice is to modify the contacts that downloaded from my iPhones to put name tags on up to 30 contacts, one at a time, to make the voice activation work the way itâs intended in a hands free way.
Hi Barkydog, You are probably correct that the number randomly selected by the Buick system to the contacts downloaded from the iPhone when paired is probably a speed dial number of some kind. However, I have enough trouble remembering everyoneâs name, hate to think about remembering 100 or so speed dial numbers.
When I press the Talk button on the steering wheel and at the prompt I say âCall Stacyâ it doesnât place the call but displays the number that the system assigned to that contact, presumably that is the correct number for the Stacy contact in my down loaded phone book, but I donât know at this point.
But, the system did not make the phone call hands free which is the whole point of voice activation to begin with is not to distract the driver from a safety aspect.
