Software update - beware!

timsmart · August 30, 2018

Today my LC 500h had its first service.

The manager at Lexus Bristol proudly boasted that they would also do a software update. Great, I thought. It might rid the infotainment system of some of the bugs that have been irritating me for the last year, like the little map on the right hand side goes all blue sometimes, and sometimes a phone call cannot be ended; you have to reboot the infotainment system.

There are many others, like - if you gag the navigation voice (Mavis, I call her) using the clunky unintuitive touch pad, and then after a while stop and then restart the car at, say, the motorway services, Mavis becomes miraculously ungagged, and starts telling you how to get back onto the motorway as if you had the memory of a goldfish and can’t read road signs. Bloody annoying...

Well, I haven't even thought about seeing if any of these bugs have been fixed since I got the car back, because I was disconcerted (but for some reason not surprised, judging by the appallingly cackhanded design of the infotainment system) to find when I went to drive home that ALL my 50+ navigation favourites had been deleted. Furious? Me?? Nah…

I pointed out calmly and forcefully to the manager that if Microsoft were to wipe all their users’ personal data every time they did a software update, they would have gone out of business so long ago that we would now be saying Micro who? He didn't seem to see the difference between software and data. Apparently neither do the witless IT apes at Lexus who wrote the software update…

Anyway, after I got home I tried to find a way to back my data up, export it, extract it or otherwise preserve it from being overwritten by the next overweening software update. Apparently it is impossible.

So now it seems I must keep a separate copy of all my important destinations, just like people did the century before last, ready for them to be overwritten by the next software update, in a years time…

Is this abject stupidity normal among car makers, I wonder?

All comments welcome.

Incidentally, apart from this inexcusable idiocy I still think the LC is the best car to drive, the most amazing head turner, super fast when you spin it into Sport +, comfortable, economical (I can get well over 40 mpg on a long steady cruise up the M4) since sliced bread…

ColinBarber · August 30, 2018

7 minutes ago, timsmart said:

So now it seems I must keep a separate copy of all my important destinations, just like people did the century before last, ready for them to be overwritten by the next software update, in a years time…

One possible solution, which I admit isn't ideal, is to set your destinations on My Lexus website and push them to the vehicle, that way if they are wiped they can just be push down again.

NemesisUK · August 30, 2018

Premium Nav system in my 2016 RC allows one to backup memory points to a USB.

Retrograde step if one cannot do so in the LC, surely?

ColinBarber · August 31, 2018

I also thought dealers can do a backup/restore with Techstream in case the work they are doing will delete things.

timsmart · August 31, 2018

Interesting idea Colin! I had never heard of Techstream but I have just been reading about it. It seems only to be a diagnostic tool and a tool for changing settings. I could't find a manual. so can't see if there is an option of backing up or exporting the data. Do you know better?

NemesisUK · August 31, 2018

You should be able to download a manual from the My Lexus online portal?

My NAV handbook details how to backup and restore memory points.

timsmart · August 31, 2018

Thanks Nemesis. Is yours an LC? Cos my LC manual does not seem to have this option.

NemesisUK · August 31, 2018

No mine's a 2016 RC. The option is detailed in the separate NAV handbook

malcolmw · August 31, 2018

Thanks for the warning about software updates. I was going to ask them to update the Nav system at some point as I still have to reset mine from time to time when its brain goes awry.

Apart from that (and the touchpad!), I agree with you about the LC being excellent.

You are the first person to report the actual fuel consumption you can get from the hybrid on a long run. I can get 26 mpg out of the V8 so these cars are very good for economy considering the performance.

timsmart · August 31, 2018

Thanks Malcolm! Nice to be of use! The manager at Bristol promised to report my concerns up to Lexus, which I shall hold him to. You may care to get them at your local dealer to do the same in due course. Let's push them to improve!

Nogel · August 31, 2018

Hi I can confirm Tims fuel consumption I returned 41.5 mpg on a run of 345 Miles and still a quarter of a tank left, I was quite impressed with that

malcolmw · August 31, 2018

I have looked at the Navigation Manual for the LC and it seems that you can upload memories saved to a USB stick to the car.

This is on Page 222. You can download the manual from the Lexus portal.

It seems that you create the destinations on the MyLexus site then download them to a USB stick. You can, of course connect to the car directly but this is such a faff around I can't be bothered to do it. I am not sure if you can download the car memories to the USB stick for backup.

ColinBarber · August 31, 2018

9 hours ago, timsmart said:

Interesting idea Colin! I had never heard of Techstream but I have just been reading about it. It seems only to be a diagnostic tool and a tool for changing settings. I could't find a manual. so can't see if there is an option of backing up or exporting the data. Do you know better?

Techstream isn't for end users and costs money to use legally etc. My point was that your dealer should have done this and restored your memory points for you if the functionality is there.

Jules640 · September 11, 2018

I took my car in for its first service today and I was told it needed an ECU software update.

The dealer then said that they couldn’t do it as they need an external 48 volt power supply which they didn’t have.

I have already had the Sat Nav software update done previously so I don’t think it is the same as the one posted in this thread.

Has anyone else been told about this or had it done? My car is the hybrid and so it may not apply to the V8.

I agree that the infotainment is infuriating to use but the great way that the car drives and the head turning looks make up for this.

wendle · September 12, 2018

Mine is is for its first service on the 2nd October, they didn't mention anything about a software update, although like Julian I have allready had the Sat Nav update done.

as for m.p.g I have recently returned from a 320 mile trip to Great Yarmouth, it was all Motorway, duel carriage way driving with the car in eco for 90% of the journey and the cruse set to 70 with the odd blast or two, to get around slower moving lories, I achieved a very respectable 32.6 m.p.g.

A different story around town 18 m.p.g were I only do very short journeys 5/6 miles

The car has only done 1500 miles so this may improve in time, I have noticed with any new car I have had that m.p.g has improved as the millage exceeds 5000 miles.

timsmart · September 17, 2018

On 8/30/2018 at 11:07 PM, ColinBarber said:

One possible solution, which I admit isn't ideal, is to set your destinations on My Lexus website and push them to the vehicle, that way if they are wiped they can just be push down again.

Hi Colin,

I tried this yesterday, on a familiar route from Bristol to Newport. It is about 30 miles. I created the route on the website, and successfully downloaded it. Oh dear! Firstly, the voice command would not recognise the destination, so I selected it manually. The Sat Nav wanted to send me in a ridiculous circle around Bristol, and got itself into such a mess that when I reached my destination it told me I still had 59 miles to go!!! I don’t this this is a work around…

malcolmw · September 17, 2018

Yes, I have had weird directions in Bristol and Cardiff on my previous car, a 4th Gen RX450h. The maps must be out of date or wrong in some way..

ColinBarber · September 17, 2018

4 hours ago, timsmart said:

The Sat Nav wanted to send me in a ridiculous circle around Bristol, and got itself into such a mess that when I reached my destination it told me I still had 59 miles to go!!! I don’t this this is a work around…

Previously you just entered destinations which were downloaded and saved into memory.

Now the portal seems to force you to enter a start and end point. I don't see why you would want to enter journeys into the portal.

Even then, isn't the vehicle calculating the route so it would have got it wrong had you just entered the destination manually?

timsmart · October 3, 2018

On 9/17/2018 at 4:09 PM, timsmart said:

Hi Colin,

I tried this yesterday, on a familiar route from Bristol to Newport. It is about 30 miles. I created the route on the website, and successfully downloaded it. Oh dear! Firstly, the voice command would not recognise the destination, so I selected it manually. The Sat Nav wanted to send me in a ridiculous circle around Bristol, and got itself into such a mess that when I reached my destination it told me I still had 59 miles to go!!! I don’t this this is a work around…

Hi all,

As a matter of interest I have now discovered how to back up the favourite destinations from the owners’ manual. It is hidden away on page 114 of OM11432E.pdf .

The problem with this entry is that the relevant keyword Backup will not be found in this connection; it appears on a menu screen shot (“Backup favourites to USB”) but not in the actual text, so it is not searchable; So wading through the dozens of indexed entries against this keyword will miss this important one.

I have suggest that Lexus get their technical authors to check this out, amend it, and ensure that customers of future software updates are made aware of how to do this in advance!