ES300h Digital Mirror Issues

[Allxx]

Hi everyone,

Got an es300h with digital mirrors last October. The transition from conventional mirros was painful 😄 but I got used to the location of the screens in a few days and now love all the benefits. But... I know, a lot of people will say "I told you guys".

I started noticing that on some occacions the colours would become washed out, mostly in the middle of the screens (when zoomed out), and this would also affect night time view. Heating would somewhat eliminate the issue but it would become the same after the heating goes off. I finally found the cause of it. There is condensaate INSIDE the cameras! That is why heating wasn't really working and the issue kept coming back as when it runs off the camera cools down very quickly, resulting in condensation on the camera lens.

Dear digital side mirror owners, have you experienced anything like this?

Will be contacting Lexus tomorrow. Let's see what they say...

[Allxx]

An update.
Lexus Reading got back to me very quickly, the next morning 8:00am. They have booked me in for investigation (200pounds 🙂). They will then decide if this is a warranty case or not (won't pay in case replaced under warranty). The only available slot was the 4th of June! I bet the condensation will disappear in warmer weather by then 😁. Let's see...

[Julncamp54]

Hello alexi

i have the digital mirrors and have had them for two years now,and a great fan of them , but I always sa they like marmite love or hate……

Yes with temperature changes especially in damp weather the lens internally do mist up and give the displays as you showed. It’s a pain but if you run the heaters  for long enough they will clear.  The heaters do turn off automatically  so repeat the process,

 the wing mirrors are prone to this especially if the  use power washer on your car. 
 

in winter I put a glove on the wing mirrors ! Stops them freezing.

also check the seal between the top and bottom halves of the wing mirror assembly is water getting in there?

 

please is the problem on both wing mirrors?

[Allxx]

Hi Julian,

I love my mirrors! 🙂 I am tech nerd. Like the zoom out effect, really useful in tight spaces, and I like the looks. Resolution isn't an issue as the full resolution is a zoomed our resolution. Now I barely notice they are digital.

Although, I don't think it's normal to drive with heaters on all the time. It looks it gets worse after a pressure wash or during a big temperature drop, like sudden rain. Had one recently, UK weather, you know, 15 degrees and sunny and then 6, raining, and dark as hell 😂. 
 

[Allxx]

Hi guys,

Have been to Lexus, couldn't replicate the issue... Since there's been nothing to look at = no investigation has been done. Haven't actually had this problem recently. It could be due to warmer weather, but we also had some cold days as well and I had that misting at 22-23 degrees before. As for the past month, any slight mist was quickly cleared by heating and I didn't need to reuse it very often. It looks like it could have been caused by jet wash as during my last few washes I was avoiding spraying towards the cameras. Looks as if some water gets into the mirror body it takes a lot of time to dry.  

P.S. The gentleman at Lexus made a few calls and called me back saying these parts are generally not covered by warranty anyway (coughing after every second word 😄, which made me lough) and asked me to go back where I bought the car from (it was from another dealer). I gave it a thought, but there is nothing to show them... For now.

[Allxx]

Hello again.

I'm back again. The misting came back with warmer weather. The cameras mist up on the inside when speeding up from slow traffic (temperature change, quick cooldown). I checked the old photos and noticed that the cameras have much more salt/fungi (I guess) in the glass neas the lens. I checked some forums and looks like Audi E-tron and Hyundai models they all suffer from the same issue, which is much worse compared to Lexus. Nevertheless, it looks like the technology is not yet complete. None of the parking cameras mist up though. I decided to skip the drama and upgraded to 2022 takumi with mormal mirrors, super full HD my-eye-retina resolution mirrors :).

For anyone deciding to go with digital camera wing mirrors, here are my pros and cons. I wish I knew these before buying:

PROS:

- You'll get much better view in rain. This is the first thing I missed when I switched back to normal. With raindrops on the windows and dirty water on wet mirrors the visibility is worse. 
- You'll park like a pro every time. The guidelines in the camers are very helpful!
- You'll get slightly better fuel efficiency, 2-3mpg.
- Zoom out camera view is very helpful for blind spots, moving in tight spaces and when merging. It can be activated manually by pressing the down button on the position control joytick. I didn't know that during the first few weeks.
- You'll get a wider view which eliminate blind spots better. You will start to see the car on the screen when it is in the blind spot area.
- Display positioning is very good and you will have better view without moving your head much.
- You'll have better side view, especially when turning as the camera mirror is much smaller.

THE CONS:

- The cameras will mist up, firstly on the outside and most likely over time on the inside. Heating will work most of the time, but sometimes it will need to stay on for the duration of the trip.
- Don't fold the mirrors when parking in the rain. They fold up and the cameras get wet. It takes time for heating to clear that.
- Don't wipe the cameras when they are wet. It makes things worse. Wait for the heating to do its job.
- On rare occasions you might get a drop of water on the camera which will render it unusable. Be careful and wait for the heating to clear it.
- Display resolution is low but that is because Lexus uses a section of the higher resolution wide camera view and digitally corrects the image to compensate for perspecrive bending to show a correct image. This makes sense as smaller area gets affected by raindrops.
- The screen shows a 2D image and it takes time ti get used to the distance anticipation. I never used the guides on the screen.
- Bling spot warning is not bright as it is limited to the screen brightness. With normal mirrors it's a bright light and you definitely know if someone is approaching you to overtake.
- It feels awkward when merging as you can't lean to see more or further. This is where zoom out button helped me a lot.
- You'll get lightbleed on the display. it's even noticeable during the day. The displays need to be better.
- Night time driving can be hard before you get used to it. But even afte that it's still not very good.
- You'll need to wipe the cameras before every drive with dey microfiber cloth or paper towel to remove any residual dirt. This will help to get a clearer view.
- When sun is at its lowest hitting the cameras, the image will get washed out, especially if you don't wipe the lenses regularly.
- Replacing/repairing thins will be costly.

I was ok with everyhing and got used to all of it, but the misting was something I couldn't accept and didn't want to take risk of needing to replace the cameras in the future (which will probably happen at some point). This may be individual to my car. Even in this case the issue is not as bad as with other manufacturers.

Hope this helps. I have attached an old photo where the glass is clear but the lens has some misting. The better picture is recent, but look at all that stuff inside. If this is salt this may be the cause of misting as it would trap water. The lens is clear on the recent photo, but that quickly changes with longer trips.

[beyond the blue]

Wow, l love gadgets but glad l don't have those. The fungi in the lens is a fault that occurs in photographic equipment as well rendering them very difficult to sell and almost worthless.

[Allxx]

Yeah, even action cameras like GoPro can mist up inside the lens and if not treated can get fungal 'infections'. People on Audi forums say theirs got changed multiple times under warranty due to the same issue. And they didn't even have a mirror heating button... These cameras defintely need to be air and water tight, probably very hard to make them this way though.

[Julncamp54]

hello Alex

Sorry to read about the issues you had with the digital wing mirrors. Other than slight misting issues previously I wrote about t my units appear to be weathering well after 2&1/2 years.

However, was browsing Lexus UK web site to look at Latest  Takumi ES 300 and Digital mirror were not offered as an option>>>>

[Allxx]

Hi Julian,

Glad to hear your mirrors are doing well. My previous car was 3.5 years old (Oct 2020 reg) when I sold it. Looking at old pictures I can definitely say the cameras have been replaced (most likely under warranty as the car was less than 3 years old) just before I bought it because the lenses and the glass around them were perfectly clear when I started noticing the misting. As you can from the recent pictures there is too much going on. I am assuming a seal could have gone bad, but I didn't really want to go through all this drama with going to dealers and chasing replacements as I bought a Lexus to drive it until the wheels fall off. Too bad I had to clear the negative equity...

I think I know why they are not offering them anymore. The technology requires further work and updates. But so far, to my opinion, Lexus has come up with the most reliable and practical solution, despite the positioning of the screens, which a lot of people hate. I found the positionin perfect and very useful though.

The moment I sat in the new car, I only then realised how much I worried about the misting and low contrast image with washed out colours when it happened. Now I'm back to proper Lexus experience. And the Mark Levinson is sooo damn good with HD and UHD amazon Music playing through cabled apple car play!!