Parking sensors

John Mochan · October 28, 2021

Has anyone experienced problems with parking sensors regularly going into fault. Had this on my previous NX too.

NemesisUK · October 28, 2021

What do you mean by "going into fault"?

My RC parking sensors often beep when drawing to a stop at lights in cooler weather or in rain. Presumably as the water runs down the bonnet etc., over the sensor. In cooler weather it tends to be the fronts that sound, again presumably as the warmer air from under the bonnet affects them by distorting the air in front of them. I had this a lot in my AMG as the 5.5ltr pumped out a lot of heat!

Steve Oliver · October 28, 2021

2 hours ago, John Mochan said:

Has anyone experienced problems with parking sensors regularly going into fault. Had this on my previous NX too.

Hi John, yes this is a common problem in the NX experienced by me and many others. See the thread here....

https://www.lexusownersclub.co.uk/forum/topic/122595-parking-sensor-issue/

Rabbers · October 29, 2021

9 hours ago, NemesisUK said:

My RC parking sensors often beep when drawing to a stop at lights in cooler weather or in rain. Presumably as the water runs down the bonnet etc., over the sensor. In cooler weather it tends to be the fronts that sound, again presumably as the warmer air from under the bonnet affects them by distorting the air in front of them. I had this a lot in my AMG as the 5.5ltr pumped out a lot of heat!

Never occurs with mine, which I leave permanently turned on and which function as they should solely in accordance with the proximity settings. Does the sensitivity of yours need adjusting (if possible)?

NemesisUK · October 29, 2021

13 minutes ago, Rabbers said:

Never occurs with mine, which I leave permanently turned on and which function as they should solely in accordance with the proximity settings. Does the sensitivity of yours need adjusting (if possible)?

Mine are on permanently and I have left them at the factory settings. They function as expected when parking or manoeuvring. I just put it down to the highly hydrophobic paint finish shedding water, which also means I cannot get into the car without water dripping off the roof and on to the seat bolster and me!

Ed659 · October 30, 2021

I had a 2019 NX that used to regularly ‘fault’ so on my second service I asked the dealership to look into it, when collecting my car later that day the service desk told me ‘well it’s a common issue that comes with the car’. My utter dismay made me contact Lexus direct and within a number days I had a phone call saying my car was being recalled back into service, they replaced parking sensors and a software update fix.. the car never gave a fault again.. Ive recently bought a new 2021 NX and as of yet perfectly good in every respect

Deathstar · November 14, 2021

My 3 year old (68 plate) NX is going into Cardiff this week. It was in for a service at the end of October when a message appeared telling me that the parking system was unavailable. Cardiff stated that no log was triggered and I should be fine. One day after the service and we were driving on the motorway, the fault appeared again. Turned the car off and back on (when we were in a services) and wiped the sensor and the fault disappeared, however twice in one week it appeared when I pulled off my drive.

I hate the phrase 'common fault', as in my mind if it's common, the manufacturer should be doing something about it, not waiting. I spoke with Lexus Cardiff to book it in, they said that it could need a software update; I don't think it's software, rather hardware related as it always seems to happen to the same sensor (middle left) and only happens when it's wet/ damp/ been raining.

mikey2001 · November 14, 2021

3 minutes ago, Dylanlewis2000 said:

My 3 year old (68 plate) NX is going into Cardiff this week. It was in for a service at the end of October when a message appeared telling me that the parking system was unavailable. Cardiff stated that no log was triggered and I should be fine. One day after the service and we were driving on the motorway, the fault appeared again. Turned the car off and back on (when we were in a services) and wiped the sensor and the fault disappeared, however twice in one week it appeared when I pulled off my drive.

I hate the phrase 'common fault', as in my mind if it's common, the manufacturer should be doing something about it, not waiting. I spoke with Lexus Cardiff to book it in, they said that it could need a software update; I don't think it's software, rather hardware related as it always seems to happen to the same sensor (middle left) and only happens when it's wet/ damp/ been raining.

Have you tried smearing the suspect sensor with a small amount of Vaseline or silicone spray? I seem to recall this worked for other members in the past.

Deathstar · November 14, 2021

1 minute ago, mikey2001 said:

Have you tried smearing the suspect sensor with a small amount of Vaseline or silicone spray? I seem to recall this worked for other members in the past.

No. The car is just over 3 months old (bought approved used) and has a full Lexus warranty. If it was out of warranty, then i'd consider doing it.

paulrnx · November 14, 2021

I’d be tempted to wait for the original poster to come back and reply with what was meant by going into fault. 2nd NX, both suffering from sensor faults and yet it is a first post on the forum. I smell another windup 😀

Deathstar · November 19, 2021

update - The car has been returned. Cardiff said that there was a software update available, therefore they did it. I didn't have any paper work accompanying when the car was returned. I hope this does solve the problem.

paulrnx · November 20, 2021

Still nothing from the OP yet

Deathstar · September 24, 2022

Well, it has been nearly a year (9 months roughly) since I last posted in this thread and two days in a row, I have had this error again.

annoyed a bit. I think this goes to show it’s a hardware fault and not a software fault? This never happened with my last IS.

Steve Oliver · September 25, 2022

I had this again last week in heavy rain too. Lasted a few hours more driving. I've now Vaselined.... so far so good. It is damned irritating though!

Steve Oliver · September 25, 2022

22 hours ago, Dylanlewis2000 said:

Well, it has been nearly a year (9 months roughly) since I last posted in this thread and two days in a row, I have had this error again.

annoyed a bit. I think this goes to show it’s a hardware fault and not a software fault? This never happened with my last IS.

I would say, definitely a design issue with the sensors.

RXtoNX · September 25, 2022

I used to get this on the RX, mainly in the winter months. It’s cause was rain drops on the sensors or dirt.

Im not sure that Vaseline is a long term benefit since dirt could stick to it. I just used a decent polish which allowed the rain to run off and helped stop the road dirt from staying on there.

You can tell if this is the problem just by wiping the sensors when it happens. If they work ok after wiping then rain/first is the issue

Deathstar · September 26, 2022

On 9/25/2022 at 7:18 PM, RXtoNX said:

I used to get this on the RX, mainly in the winter months. It’s cause was rain drops on the sensors or dirt.

Im not sure that Vaseline is a long term benefit since dirt could stick to it. I just used a decent polish which allowed the rain to run off and helped stop the road dirt from staying on there.

You can tell if this is the problem just by wiping the sensors when it happens. If they work ok after wiping then rain/first is the issue

I just find it poor form on Lexus' behalf. This didn't happen on my previous IS, and didn't happen on my Volvo before that. If they were really that concerned about putting the customers first, then they would do something about it. Unfortunately, this only applies for safety recalls e.g. the Toyota airbag saga.