Dealer settings and other hidden features

[Teshoo Lama]

With a new arrival imminent, I've been trying to fit a bulky rear-facing baby seat behind the driver. This wasn't working, due to the "easy access" system retracting the driver's seat upon exiting the car.

Unfortunately, UK 3RX owners don't seem to have been trusted with the "Customization" option in the "Car Settings" menu, that Americans and others can use. Disabling the easy access feature is a dealer-only option.

Fortunately, I found the Carista App and OBD2 adapter, which is £15 on amazon, which apparently makes available the full suite of Lexus dealer settings. I plugged in the adapter, opened the app, it took a while to download some data, and then presented a simple set of menus. Disabling the automatic seat retraction was a cinch. Happily, the steering wheel still retracts, which genuinely helps you leave the car comfortably. I found the seat retraction aspect wasn't really helping anyway.

In the process, I noticed another useful setting. I've found the light-sensing headlights to be lacking in sensitivity for my tastes. Headlights don't activate in the overcast late evening gloom, for example. Fortunately you can adjust the sensitivity using Carista! There are five levels, ranging from Darkest to Lightest, which are apparently a function of both light level and time. I tried Lightest, which was too sensitive. Lights were activated while stopping under the shade of a tree on a sunny morning, for example. But "Light" (4/5 sensitivity) has proved to be just right.

It's a trivial thing I know, but it's nice to have the car operate at your convenience isn't it? 🙂

That leads me to one final thing I came across while browsing the US Lexus forums, which isn't available as a dealer/Carista setting. If you press and hold the AUTO re-circulate button, a menu pops up on the screen that allows you to change the sensitivity of the smog sensor. It's too early to assess what effect this has had, but having to drive in London traffic, I've set it to the highest sensitivity. I want those diesel fumes out of my Lexus and our lungs!

[Gliderpilot]

There's a button on the steering wheel that pages through the centre display to give you fuel consumption etc. If you press and hold it for a few seconds it brings up a separate menu where you can disable easy access partially or fully.

See section 6 of the user manual.

[Andy B]

Thanks @Teshoo Lama for posting. It has got me thinking about getting an OBD2 adaptor and the Carista app for my 2018 NX300h Luxury.

There's at least a couple of settings that I would like to amend on it, namely:-

• changing the "Lane-change turn signal auto-flasher count" from 3 to 5 (currently a dealer-only amendment - not sure why!)
• activating the "Lower passenger-side mirror when in reverse gear" option 

Before I proceed with the purchase, can any NX owners tell me whether the second option above is indeed available on my car (a 2018 NX300h Luxury Premium Navigation)?

Many thanks.

 

[Ken R]

Hi Andy 

I don't think the second option is available on the Luxury spec. I had test driven an F Sport which had this but was disappointed that my Luxury didn't feature this useful facility. 

[Herbie]

3 hours ago, Andy B said:

activating the "Lower passenger-side mirror when in reverse gear" option

If you mean that you want the door mirrors to dip downwards when you select reverse gear, if you just push the mirror selection switch to either L or R and leave it there, they should then both dip down when you select reverse. That's how it works on my 2013 RX450h.

[Ken R]

2 hours ago, Herbie said:

If you mean that you want the door mirrors to dip downwards when you select reverse gear, if you just push the mirror selection switch to either L or R and leave it there, they should then both dip down when you select reverse. That's how it works on my 2013 RX450h.

That feature is disabled on 2018MY NX Luxury spec as far as I have been informed. It is standard on the f sport and above. 

[Andy B]

10 minutes ago, Ken R said:

That feature is disabled on 2018MY NX Luxury spec as far as I have been informed. It is standard on the f sport and above. 

Many thanks to Ken R and Herbie for their responses.

Although, as Ken R has stated, it is likely to be disabled on the NX Luxury spec I wonder if it is possible to enable it via the OBD2 interface and the Carista app. Only one way to find out I guess. 

[Herbie]

23 minutes ago, Ken R said:

That feature is disabled on 2018MY NX Luxury spec as far as I have been informed

I wonder why they would disable it? Even my 2005 RX300 had this feature and I can see no reason whatsoever as to why some more modern cars wouldn't.

[NemesisUK]

11 minutes ago, Herbie said:

I wonder why they would disable it?

This is usually down to grade differentiation, 'lower' grade models can't have all the options/functions of the 'higher' grade models. Otherwise whats is there to drive prospective buyers to 'upgrade'?

[royoftherovers]

18 minutes ago, NemesisUK said:

This is usually down to grade differentiation, 'lower' grade models can't have all the options/functions of the 'higher' grade models. Otherwise whats is there to drive prospective buyers to 'upgrade'?

Quite possibly the hardware is standard across the range of grades, but the software has been "desensitised" ?

[NemesisUK]

1 hour ago, royoftherovers said:

Quite possibly the hardware is standard across the range of grades, but the software has been "desensitised" ?

Certainly was the case with Mercedes. I had a number of 'upgrades' done simply by software enabling those functions.

Whether Lexus dealers would do it I don't know. Mercedes dealers wouldn't as not sanctioned by Germany. One would have to find someone experienced with Techstream and aware of any subtle knock-on effects. 

[royoftherovers]

6 minutes ago, NemesisUK said:

Certainly was the case with Mercedes. I had a number of 'upgrades' done simply by software enabling those functions.

Whether Lexus dealers would do it I don't know. Mercedes dealers wouldn't as not sanctioned by Germany. One would have to find someone experienced with Techstream and aware of any subtle knock-on effects. 

KILLER HERTZ was the member on one of the Forums who showed what was possible via software (You tube)

[NemesisUK]

5 minutes ago, royoftherovers said:

KILLER HERTZ was the member on one of the Forums who showed what was possible via software (You tube)

Indeed but Richard from Comand.co.uk is the guru, often advising the dealerships! He did all my MB upgrades. 

Some upgrades are not as simple as enabling just that function, often needing other tweaks to subordinate/ancillary functions/routines.

Just something to be aware of

[F.A.]

2 hours ago, NemesisUK said:

This is usually down to grade differentiation, 'lower' grade models can't have all the options/functions of the 'higher' grade models. Otherwise whats is there to drive prospective buyers to 'upgrade'?

Does the Luxury spec NX come with memory for the driver seat, steering wheel  and mirrors? I seem to remember that the dip on reverse function was only available if you had the memory feature fitted on the 2IS so I wonder if this is still the case? 

[Andy B]

8 minutes ago, F.A. said:

Does the Luxury spec NX come with memory for the driver seat, steering wheel  and mirrors? I seem to remember that the dip on reverse function was only available if you had the memory feature fitted on the 2IS so I wonder if this is still the case? 

The Luxury spec doesn't include the memory features unfortunately. Having just looked at the manual, it seems to confirm your theory. 

Saying that, I guess it's possible that it could still be enabled via a software override. Obviously the hardware is in place as you can manually dip the mirrors. 

[F.A.]

i have a feeling that it uses the memory  module / function to return the  mirror to its previous setting when you come back out of reverse. 

[NemesisUK]

3 hours ago, Andy B said:

Obviously the hardware is in place as you can manually dip the mirrors. 

But if the memory module isn't in place (Why would it be fitted if the option isn't part of the specification?) there's no way for the car to know where to return the mirrors?

[F.A.]

5 minutes ago, NemesisUK said:

But if the memory module isn't in place (Why would it be fitted if the option isn't part of the specification?) there's no way for the car to know where to return the mirrors?

Exactly, it doesn’t sound like an easy feature to retro fit. 

[Barry14UK]

As regards having the drivers seat static but steering wheel movable to facilitate easy access and egress, I did manage to do this using just what is on my RX. I previously watched a video on this and subconsciously this may have helped.  Much of this video is simplistic but under #4 it shows how to access the menu for omitting the easy access movement of the drivers seat, although the steering wheel still retracts unless dealer customised. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6qjETy_keo

[olliesgrandad]

4 hours ago, Barry14UK said:

As regards having the drivers seat static but steering wheel movable to facilitate easy access and egress, I did manage to do this using just what is on my RX. I previously watched a video on this and subconsciously this may have helped.  Much of this video is simplistic but under #4 it shows how to access the menu for omitting the easy access movement of the drivers seat, although the steering wheel still retracts unless dealer customised. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6qjETy_keo

I thought this was possible, but I always put my baby granddaughters baby seat behind the front passenger seat. 

[Barry7]

On 9/3/2019 at 10:01 AM, Gliderpilot said:

There's a button on the steering wheel that pages through the centre display to give you fuel consumption etc. If you press and hold it for a few seconds it brings up a separate menu where you can disable easy access partially or fully.

I forgot all about this, thanks I have just set up a few bits and bobs.