From Oct 23:
"Updating from yesterday. Did waht support said, worked last evening,
Siri was responding with voice. Today, she isn't hearing me. I see the
speech thing for Siri when saying "Siri Call xxxx" and then it does
nothing. I repeat Siri multiple times, and no bubble at all, just not
responding. Did the other suggestions to turn on Content and Privacy
under Scren time, restarted, still same issue. I decided I'm not waiting
to see if an update fixes it, I've had the phone less than 10 days.
Taking it to the Apple Store Sunday for a replacement. Not playing these
games. "
So the update. I took it to the Apple store and swapped it on the 27th. When I started it, I updated it with default settings, I did not do a transfer of data from the old phone I set it up as default. I used it like that for 2 days. Then I did do a full data transfer from the old phone. No problems at all with Siri and I tested it a lot. I updated to 18.1 yesterday, and still no issues with Siri, response is quick, she hears me across the room, responds with MmmHmm even when I just say Siri. Works fine through my Alpine bluetooth in my truck (I don't have carplay).
So one or a combination of these things solved the problems far as I can tell. I will post again if Siri starts being a b**thead again.