Sequential indicators

[Obertelli]

When my CT was being serviced earlier this week I was given an NX300h as a courtesy car. Quite handy, as I've been thinking of buying one.

But I absolutely loathe the sequential indicators: as a professional driver in London traffic I HATE seeing those on any vehicle as they just add confusion in a mass of other vehicle lights.  For me, they would absolutely be a deal-killer.

So does anyone know whether there is a user or dealer option to turn off that feature and have them operate as normal indicators? I meant to ask at the service department before I handed back their car but forgot to do so.

[ISJason]

Hi. I personally love the sequential indicators. It’s one if the reasons I love the new RX.. looks really classy to me. You don’t want what everyone else has, boring indicators that are just blinking :_)


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[DanD]

On 3/9/2019 at 5:23 PM, Obertelli said:

When my CT was being serviced earlier this week I was given an NX300h as a courtesy car. Quite handy, as I've been thinking of buying one.

But I absolutely loathe the sequential indicators: as a professional driver in London traffic I HATE seeing those on any vehicle as they just add confusion in a mass of other vehicle lights.  For me, they would absolutely be a deal-killer.

So does anyone know whether there is a user or dealer option to turn off that feature and have them operate as normal indicators? I meant to ask at the service department before I handed back their car but forgot to do so.

I am not sure I understand why you hate these so much. i too think they are rather classy, and in fact I think that "in a mass of other vehicle lights", they provide additional clarity.

Why should they be a deal breaker? - After all, you can't see your own lights when driving! 😁

[sheri1]

I too love the sequential indicators and I believe that they actually are more visible than other cars on the road.  I like the fact that the daytime running lights go out and change to the orange indicator. 

On lots of other cars, it is very difficult to see the indicator when they are close to the very bright daytime running lights, so this a no brainer in my view. 

 

[PaulWhitt20]

Having to dim the daytime running lights to be able to see the indicator seems like a design fault to me and why would you want to copy Audi. Not a fan of sequential indicators myself, but each to their own.

[Adrian28]

I have an NX with sequential indicators and to partially answer the original question, no i have not found any way of changing the way the indicators operate. Weather it is possible at the dealer, i dont know.

Originally i didnt like them, but i have to say, they are growing on me.

[Obertelli]

Thanks for the replies. I’ll have to ask the dealer when I next pass. US-spec models don’t have them because it’s against Federal lighting regs, so I’m hoping there’s a simple dealer setting.

I hate sequentials for two reasons:-

1. They are NOT as clear and immediately attention grabbing as a simple on/off flash. That’s really important in busy cities like London where lights must be immediately obvious. Sequentials offer no advantage at all and take a little more brain processing power to register when there’s many dozens of other vehicles around mine which are also demanding my attention.

2. As I drive in excess of 15k miles per year in London alone for my daily job, and a few thousand miles more privately within London (my combined total annual mileage varies between 25k and 30k per year) I’m firmly of the opinion that mandatory lighting is for strictly functional purposes only set out by law. They’re not fashion items and so I don’t agree with “they look cool”. The car is a tool for a job which can cause death and serious injury, and not a toy. For the same reason I detest but have to accept clear indicators (often now just postage stamp sized) which have supplanted the unambiguously orange “fried egg” indicators. Clear indicators often don’t look orange enough to stand out, and when orange lacquer on clear lenses bulbs fade the lights are no longer orange.

[gdh300]

Sequential indicators? Too Audi. 

And "Too Audi" - since about 1984 -  is the complete antithesis for me of anything "classy".

[It would be a massive advance if more drivers would use their indicators whatever the flashing sequence (Lexus drivers excluded, obviously). Particularly Audi drivers...]

[ISJason]

As you say there’s something wrong with a lot of motorists that they just don’t indicate when going round stationary objects which is ludicrous in my mind. Indicating helps the people behind you to show there is a parked car there, and indicating also helps the people in front coming the other way, and also if there’s anyone in the parked car who hasn’t seen you approaching , it also helps helps them not to open in their door smack into you. A no brainier..

 

But I still love the sequential indicators.. pure classy and sophisticated looking.

 

 

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[Herbie]

On 3/11/2019 at 12:41 PM, DanD said:

I am not sure I understand why you hate these so much. i too think they are rather classy, and in fact I think that "in a mass of other vehicle lights", they provide additional clarity.

Why should they be a deal breaker? - After all, you can't see your own lights when driving!

Exactly what I was thinking too.

2 hours ago, Obertelli said:

They are NOT as clear and immediately attention grabbing as a simple on/off flash. That’s really important in busy cities like London where lights must be immediately obvious. Sequentials offer no advantage at all and take a little more brain processing power to register when there’s many dozens of other vehicles around mine which are also demanding my attention.

My experience is exactly the opposite. The 'run' of the sequentials immediately grabs my attention because they aren't doing the same as everybody else's indicators.

[Habu]

I love them. They really stand out in a sea of yellow lights.  It’s the same with cyclists.  If they have flashing front and rear lights they stand out against those cyclists that don’t have them.

Cannot see why they’re an issue to some drivers.

[Obertelli]

I appreciate that some people like sequentials. However, I didn’t intend to start a debate about their pros and cons because that’s irrelevant to my question and is a deviation from the subject; perhaps someone would like to start a separate poll or general discussion about whether owners like them or loathe them?

All that matters as per the title of this thread is that I wanted to know whether they can be disabled to revert to normal on/off indicators.

My local Lexus dealer has now told me that they don’t know, but will find out. The service advisor said that it’s either controlled by software which might have the ability to toggle the feature on or off, or by different LED driver hardware, but his UK/European parts listings don’t show US Federal specification parts.

If I get a definitive answer I’ll post it here at a later date.

[DanD]

14 hours ago, Obertelli said:

I appreciate that some people like sequentials. However, I didn’t intend to start a debate about their pros and cons because that’s irrelevant to my question and is a deviation from the subject; perhaps someone would like to start a separate poll or general discussion about whether owners like them or loathe them?

All that matters as per the title of this thread is that I wanted to know whether they can be disabled to revert to normal on/off indicators.

My local Lexus dealer has now told me that they don’t know, but will find out. The service advisor said that it’s either controlled by software which might have the ability to toggle the feature on or off, or by different LED driver hardware, but his UK/European parts listings don’t show US Federal specification parts.

If I get a definitive answer I’ll post it here at a later date.

I appreciate you putting us back on track, but you have to admit that a statement like "- I absolutely loathe..." and "- I hate..." will invite comments! 🙂

Back to your original question, I do not think this is a feature that can be switched on/off. My technical knowledge is (very) limited, but I believe that to get rid of the sequential function, you would need to replace the units (front and back)... and this is likely to lead to all kinds of other issues.

[gdh300]

On 3/13/2019 at 8:06 PM, Obertelli said:

However, I didn’t intend to start a debate about their pros and cons because that’s irrelevant to my question and is a deviation from the subject; perhaps someone would like to start a separate poll or general discussion about whether owners like them or loathe them?

Wow. Pardon us.

Thank goodness for DanD's perspective...

[rich1068]

I think they're silly.

[Obertelli]

On 3/14/2019 at 9:18 PM, gdh300 said:

Wow. Pardon us.

Thank goodness for DanD's perspective...

Sorry you took it that way. That wasn't my intention.

I hate them for practical reasons as much as for aesthetic dislike.

Yes, they're eye-catching (and distracting) when directly in your field of vision. But when they're in peripheral vision they are immensely LESS noticeable, and that's a vital safety issue. That's simple physiology of the way that peripheral vision works: it's evolved to notice sudden changes, not gradual ones.

A poll of 626 drivers where I work attracted responses from 303 drivers (an extremely successful result for anything not involving pay or conditions).

232 considered them a safety hazard; 47 liked them; the remaining 24 didn't mind either way.

[i-s]

Personally I feel that sequential indicators are a good thing, if implemented properly - for example, if hazards come on bright then fade away but turn signals sweep then they convey more information than by colour alone. This would also help in the circumstance where three cars are parked on double yellow lines - does the middle one have its hazards on or a turn signal and is trying to pull out? In terms of peripheral vision, I have very poor colour vision in my periphery (everyone does to some extent due to rods/cones on the retina, but from what i can gauge mine is worse than most), and if I am in a queue of traffic with a lane of cars to my right such that a car's rear lights are in my peripheral vision through my side window then I can not tell the difference between a brake light and and indicator without looking across - I perceive that the light comes on, but I can not perceive what it is - dynamic indicator provides a differentiation. 

Anyway, back to the OP's actual question. I have, in the line of my work, disassembled a few dynamic turn-signal light clusters. On the Audi Q7 cluster it's trivial to enable/disable the dynamic turn signal (and audi charge £300 extra to enable it) - it's simply one of the 6 pins on the connector. However, on the PSA DS7 rear cluster it is totally baked-in - there's no way to disable it without delving deep into the electronics inside the sealed cluster (ie cut into the plastics and the resulting lack of sealing after that... bad news). The OEM (magnetti marelli) is the same in both of those cases. 

Hard to know how the Lexus clusters are implemented and I don't know who the OEM is (but likely Denso, Stanley or Mitsubishi). I'd say there's a pretty good possibilty that there is an easy way to defeat the dynamic indicator in any Lexus model because the US is their biggest market and the US forbids dynamic indicator (sort of - we're all familiar with it on the likes of Mustangs and it was all the rage on american cars in the 70s. However, the way that the US regulates it requires that each element that lights up in turn must have a minimum area that is pretty big - each one of the big 3-segment tail/brake/indicator segments on the mustang is big enough, but each step of an audi or Lexus dynamic indicator is not big enough. Not a problem for the DS7 cluster mentioned above as PSA have no presence in north america). It might be as simple as pulling a wire out of a connector, but how willing are you to risk damage to your vehicle/light clusters should something go wrong during the experimentation/implementation?

[LuckyB]

On 3/14/2019 at 10:45 AM, DanD said:

I appreciate you putting us back on track, but you have to admit that a statement like "- I absolutely loathe..." and "- I hate..." will invite comments! 🙂

Back to your original question, I do not think this is a feature that can be switched on/off. My technical knowledge is (very) limited, but I believe that to get rid of the sequential function, you would need to replace the units (front and back)... and this is likely to lead to all kinds of other issues.

You have my approval.

Also, I think there are other serious problems on our streets, rather than stupid nonexistent problems like sequential lights!

[scudney]

Not a fan of them either 👎 

[Whites]

What year NX have these 

 

[Ken R]

1 hour ago, Whites said:

What year NX have these 

 

Think they were introduced for the 2018 model year. 

[C Mclean]

As long as I see a little green flashing light on the dash, I’m not bothered how the outside orange ones look like.