Attempted Theft of my RX450h 2020

[malcolmw]

I don't know if anyone remembers the Schwarzenegger film The Running Man? On the original version was a short scene (removed later) at the start pretending to be an advert as part of the TV program of the film's subject. The ad was for a car security system which converted the driving seat of your car to an electric chair if you tried to drive away without the correct key. Just priceless.

[Rob62]

All great ideas. Almost worth serving a few months inside just for the enjoyment of actually doing it.

Maybe not!

[Rob62]

On a more serious subject, I have just had my car back from Lexus after a service, and was told that they fitted new enhanced plates to the car.

I did originally have the plates fitted back in July 2023.

Anyone have any idea what is enhanced on the new plates?

[ColinBarber]

35 minutes ago, Rob62 said:

Anyone have any idea what is enhanced on the new plates?

Hopefully ones that thieves cannot bypass unlike the old design. 

[talaipwros]

Got the plate fitted today, hopefully it  is the new design or something.

[Spock66]

Had mine serviced recently, no mention of any updated plates (I had the plates fitted last July).

[peniole]

4 hours ago, Rob62 said:

On a more serious subject, I have just had my car back from Lexus after a service, and was told that they fitted new enhanced plates to the car.

I did originally have the plates fitted back in July 2023.

Anyone have any idea what is enhanced on the new plates?

So, they managed to enhance the RX plates, but didn't bother to create any long term solution?! Who cares about the rest of the line up. As long as they are seen doing the bare minimum for the SUV crowd, no offence guys, just the most predominant vehicle type now sold with the highest margin, screw all the other customers. Even LC customers, one of their most expensive vehicles don't matter, no volume there.

What are they thinking? How do they think this is going to play out? Now the RX is the number one stolen vehicle in the uk by percentage. 1 in 46! How much worse does it have to get for them to stop applying stickers and quietly nonetheless?

Loud recall lexus, you idiots!

I've even conveyed as much to them, even if it costs us money. Because if it's the bottom line they only care about, just charge us ffs!!

I doubt any owner would say no I'm not paying, to save thousands in depreciation, insurance, meager theft payouts...etc.

[First_Lexus]

18 hours ago, peniole said:

I doubt any owner would say no I'm not paying, to save thousands in depreciation, insurance, meager theft payouts...etc.

It’s fair to say that the value of my RX has collapsed in the last year based on offers I’m getting, with one dealer (not Lexus) refusing to even provide a trade-in figure for it “…as they can’t underwrite the car…” in terms of selling it on i.e. nobody wants to buy it. Hardly surprising I guess…

Suggestion is to bin it to WBAC or similar, but I’ll see what the other dealers offer. The only consolation is that this isn’t something that could have been predicted two and a half years ago when I bought the RX - life happens!

[larryadler]

Hello Ed, I think the value of all luxury vehicle's has taken a kicking recently. The only survivors that show price increase, are the small 1.0 litre fart boxes, with low insurance and tax.

I reckon if you own an RX Mk 4,  or any previous models, it has become a keep it or take a kicking. Personally I will probably keep mine, as the final balloon payment I will have to make in 2026, is such that if I hand the car back, I certainly couldn’t buy an upmarket luxury car. 
Yes, I could buy a brand spanner’s MG, Peugeot, Renault, Citroen etc, and I have nothing against any of those vehicles……but they ain’t a Lexus!
So I’ll stick for the moment with my RX and it’s 10 year warranty, that way, values don’t apply 🤔

[PDM]

4 minutes ago, larryadler said:

Hello Ed, I think the value of all luxury vehicle's has taken a kicking recently. The only survivors that show price increase, are the small 1.0 litre fart boxes, with low insurance and tax.

I reckon if you own an RX Mk 4,  or any previous models, it has become a keep it or take a kicking. Personally I will probably keep mine, as the final balloon payment I will have to make in 2026, is such that if I hand the car back, I certainly couldn’t buy an upmarket luxury car. 
Yes, I could buy a brand spanner’s MG, Peugeot, Renault, Citroen etc, and I have nothing against any of those vehicles……but they ain’t a Lexus!
So I’ll stick for the moment with my RX and it’s 10 year warranty, that way, values don’t apply 🤔

Pete - I agree with you, but it will depend on what the insurance does.  If insurance rises even more to say 3k per year, you can take quite a kicking on the trade in and still come out on top....

[Danny Cowell]

Good Evening All. Lexus are a car company they make and sell cars. Last February My AMG Mercedes E43 was stolen. The car was equipped with Scorpion S5  Tracker Immobiliser. The tracker was working for two days post theft. The police did not attend so the car was not recovered. My Insurance paid out and I brought a Lexus RX. I have previously owned an IS 220 and a GS 250. It was my experience with these that influenced my choice of car. I had no idea of the theft problem. My insurance  doubled. I then start looking on this forum. I discover why my insurance was so high. Too late I own the car. As I stated Lexus Make & sell cars. While I agree they must bear some responsibility for the venerability of my car. They have fitted the protection plates by the way. I think the Police must also take a large part of the  responsibility.  Even when they are being told where a stolen car is THEY DONT EVEN ATTEND. Car thief's can go about there business for the most part unmolested by the Police.  For me it is quite simple. If you see a Lexus driving at night with the nearside head light not working. IT HAS BEEN STOLEN.  What are the Police doing?    

 

[peniole]

Chronic underfunding. This is the result. Need I say more?

[larryadler]

This underfunding is the answer to every failing institution in this country!

As someone who knows personally about the police service, it started to deteriorate in 1997, when the name change happened. Force, to Service, and the whole political correctness and wokeism began. 
The officers today are a different breed to years ago, they no longer get support from senior officers and even colleagues they work with, all to eager to stab each other in the back, in pursuit of being cleansed

Some even join the job, and then realise they have to work nights, and refuse, hence, no police on the streets at night to see the one eyed RX!

We have become a mamby pamby country, with a soft belly that anyone in the world can take advantage of!

Rant over, carry on !!!!!

[Phil xxkr]

18 hours ago, peniole said:

Chronic underfunding. This is the result. Need I say more?

This is the highest level of taxation in 70 years are you proposing to increase it even more to fund public sector demands? 🙁

[peniole]

2 minutes ago, Phil xxkr said:

This is the highest level of taxation in 70 years are you proposing to increase it even more to fund public sector demands? 🙁

The reason for the highest level of taxation is to pay back the ridiculous debt the UK is in, with interest!. Debt to GDP ratio is standing at 85.4% (down from over 100% in May last year). Compare that to Germany's 59.8% That means the lions share of those taxes are going to servicing and paying back the debt that has ballooned from so many failed, mis-targeted and overbudget projects (e.g. HS2). Last year just interest on that mountain of debt was 112 Billion, that's nearly 10% of all government spending, you still need to pay back the ~2.6 trillion, and we wonder why taxes are so high??! Essential budgets for police and healthcare were left to stagnate or move backwards to cover that debt. You want those essentials, yes taxes will need to go up until that debt is brought back down to reasonable levels. I'm not talking politics here, just hard cold numbers.

[peniole]

Before someone bites my head off. Well not pay back the 2.6T in its entirety, but bring it back to a level investors are willing to bankroll (i.e. continue to invest in a fiscally responsible stable economy).

[my pride & joy]

I had the plate fitted yesterday.  I asked if it was the enhanced one and the guy didn't know what I was talking about.  He didn't even offer to find out and let me know.

I bought my first pre-owned RX in 2008, the customer service was second to none. Have bought 3 more since then (one was stolen) and each time the CS deteriorated. My latest experience with Lexus Hull was abysmal.  

Lexus just ain't what they used to be 😒

[CT200h-TL]

37 minutes ago, my pride & joy said:

I had the plate fitted yesterday.  I asked if it was the enhanced one and the guy didn't know what I was talking about.  He didn't even offer to find out and let me know.

I bought my first pre-owned RX in 2008, the customer service was second to none. Have bought 3 more since then (one was stolen) and each time the CS deteriorated. My latest experience with Lexus Hull was abysmal.  

Lexus just ain't what they used to be 😒

Perhaps subpar CS is becoming a norm industry wide? I wonder if other manufacturers are doing any better in terms of CS. My experience with my nearest Lexus and Mini dealers are rather similar in the sense that they are eager to look at every possible way to get more money out of me which is understandable, and not willing to do any further upon my request.

My recent experience with my local Mini dealer left a sour taste. Promised to phone me by lunchtime to update when service will be done but I had to call them instead to find out at 4 PM. They did not send the video of the undercarriage inspection that is usually taken during service and blamed IT issues. Promised to send later but heard nothing. As a response to this, I submitted a negative feedback in the Mini UK customer survey but again heard nothing from Mini UK nor the dealer. Makes you wonder if the car was even serviced isn't it?   

[rsdave]

Had the plates fitted on Monday at Lexus Hedge End, going to assume they're the revised type.

They sent me a video showing what they had done. I requested a printed receipt/invoice for the work, so at least I have an official evidence of it (not that it means much as insurers don't recognise it but good to have for the records)

Insurance recently renewed for around the £650 mark - current insurers LV declined to quote for this year (as may others have found out).

[peniole]

1 hour ago, CT200h-TL said:

Perhaps subpar CS is becoming a norm industry wide? I wonder if other manufacturers are doing any better in terms of CS.

It's hit and miss within the same manufacturer. We have a Honda, one dealer CS is second to none, another nearby appalling.

[eightk]

ENHANCED PLATES?

What the actual f  k?

The RX is the ONLY Lexus with a canbus theft solution so far - the rest of us are clearly not valuable customers - and they’ve had to enhance their ‘solution’’ already? It’d be funny if it wasn’t so serious.

Lexus UK : recall : now. Proper canbus system upgrade that fixes the substandard comms, or a free immobiliser fit to all cars, or just give up and pack your bags. You won’t have any customers left at this rate.

[talaipwros]

On 3/6/2024 at 8:01 PM, rsdave said:

Insurance recently renewed for around the £650 mark - current insurers LV declined to quote for this year (as may others have found out).

I have LV and had to pay double this year, what is the insurer that got you renewed for around £650 please?

[DaveyBoy]

I think you might find that the enhanced plates are not at all enhanced. People without all the facts say some total bs. 

 

What probably happened is the original plates were prototype and the final plate design differed a bit. Lexus were experimenting at the beginning.

We all knew the plates were a stop gap. I think I might look into adding some additional protection for the wiring loom.

 

A firmware update will never happen. It's far too difficult and expensive to roll out because for every 100 successful flashes, one car will fail and the boxes will be dead. That will cost £££ to put right.

 

A preliminary firmware fix as previously discussed by a security researcher would only be a stop gap also, because the thieves will eventually obtain a work around. Only fully encrypted units will work and our cars hardware do not have the processing chips to handle encryption. Therefore a permanent solution cannot exist ever.

 

Get a scorpion or similar chip. Have a steering wheel lock. And hope for the best. The 4RX is a dead car. Trade in for a 5RX or another brand not affected by this exploit. 

 

No point demanding the impossible.

[PDM]

30 minutes ago, DaveyBoy said:

I think you might find that the enhanced plates are not at all enhanced. People without all the facts say some total bs. 

 

What probably happened is the original plates were prototype and the final plate design differed a bit. Lexus were experimenting at the beginning.

We all knew the plates were a stop gap. I think I might look into adding some additional protection for the wiring loom.

 

A firmware update will never happen. It's far too difficult and expensive to roll out because for every 100 successful flashes, one car will fail and the boxes will be dead. That will cost £££ to put right.

 

A preliminary firmware fix as previously discussed by a security researcher would only be a stop gap also, because the thieves will eventually obtain a work around. Only fully encrypted units will work and our cars hardware do not have the processing chips to handle encryption. Therefore a permanent solution cannot exist ever.

 

Get a scorpion or similar chip. Have a steering wheel lock. And hope for the best. The 4RX is a dead car. Trade in for a 5RX or another brand not affected by this exploit. 

 

No point demanding the impossible.

I agree about the plates - The original plates were a copy of those used to prevent car jacking in South Africa.  If there is some enhancement perhaps it's thicker gauge steel in another manufacturing run?

I'm not totally convinced that encryption can't be added in software for at least few critical commands (such as "correct key present"). To me the idea of trading in a 4RX for a 5RX sounds like a triumph of hope over experience!

[my pride & joy]

How does the 5th generation RX differ to the 4th, in terms of security?

My 4th generation was stolen last year and I replaced it with another 4th. On this latest one I have had fitted a ghost immobiliser, canbus plate and use a Milenco steering wheel lock - am I still screwed?