450h 4th generation - issues

[FredD]

My 2020 RX 450h seems to have a few electronic issues recently. It has been with my Lexus dealer for around 10 days to fix the rear camera that is not working and the Lexus dealer called me this afternoon to say that they have fixed the rear camera but they need to keep it a bit longer to reset the tyre pressure light that has now appeared on the dashboard. I had not one issue for 4 years and now suddenly these two issues. My car had the plates fitted by the same Lexus dealer ( they are excellent) 6 weeks ago but surely this cannot be the cause of those issues ? Thank you

[CT200h-TL]

Are these repairs covered under the Relax warranty? I had the plates fitted more than a year ago. No issues since.  

[Sixty]

A good friend of mine had similar problems with his 2018 Rx 450h after the plates were fitted. It started with the rear camera not working, which LED to the camera ECU being replaced. Unfortunately more problems surfaced during the camera calibration process (all cameras) and the whole Advanced Driver Assistance System was deemed to be at fault, so more parts were ordered and replaced.

It took about 3 months to get sorted as parts had to come from Japan. His car is fine now with no issues but at the time it severely dented his confidence in the car.

Although the dealer couldn’t confirm what caused the issue it’s fairly reasonable to assume that something, whether it be a short circuit, bent pin or other power surge related incident occurred during the fitting of the plates... or it could have been one big coincidence 🤔

[FredD]

Thank you, this is interesting and for people to be aware

[FredD]

I am a bit upset as a result of what happened today. My RX 4th generation had a major service at my lexus dealer today and they informed me that the annual hybrid check had failed. Apparently this could happen if the regular Battery had been disconnected recently and I need to drive the car for a few hundreds miles before they can retest it. I never disconnected the Battery as I don’t even know where it is. Only my Lexus dealer is looking after my car (service, MOT, change of tyre etc). It seems that my car keeps having electric issues since they installed the plates a few months ago. My patience is running out and I start questioning whether Lexus is such a good brand

[Salvador]

This worries me, my RX450h gen 4 is booked in next Friday to have the plates and tracker fitted. Does anyone know how these plates are fitted? Does it require drilling? Could people's problems listed above be caused by having the plates fitted? You would like to think Lexus and their technicians know what they are doing? 

[FredD]

I think it requires some drilling but I am not expert but would welcome the views of others. It does not seem the issues I encountered are common and apart from the email from Sixty and my own experience I have not heard of others having these problems as a result of the plates being fitted. In my case it cannot be a coincidence though as I did not have any issue before installation of those plates. Also why they disconnected the Battery, I have no idea

[PDM]

No drilling is required.

I strongly suggest getting the plates fitted.  They are not perfect but they certainly seem to be slowing the thieves down.

Paul

[Salvador]

Thanks Paul, that's reassuring there's no drilling required and in that case, I can't see how it would affect the electrics. Hopefully that's the case so I'll proceed to take it in next week. Let's hope it does make a difference and our premiums will stabilise but I somehow doubt that now the insurance companies have been charging these prices, they'll ever want to bring them down again. And it's not just Lexus, everyone I work with that has had a recent renewal, whatever the make of car, have had massive increases.

[FredD]

Hi, tell us how it goes next week

[Salvador]

Will do 👍

[Spock66]

I had the plates fitted early on and have had no issues.

I believe the front bumper has to be removed, but it should be largely a mechanical job, there is no work required on the electrics other than maybe unplugging some connectors, so I would think the risk of major electrical problems is pretty low.

Disconnecting the Battery is often standard practice for when working on a car, which may explain the Hybrid Health Check which requires a certain mileage / time period for data to be collected.

[Herbie]

Lexus Preston fitted my plates as soon as they were available so it's been a while now and no problems whatsoever. Same with the tracker too.

6 hours ago, Salvador said:

Let's hope it does make a difference and our premiums will stabilise

The tracker is, of course, Thatcham rated so it may have a slight effect in our favour when it comes to insurance renewal time. The plates, however, are not Thatcham rated so they will be completely ignored when it comes to working out the premium.

[Lincoln]

Sorry to read about FredD's tale of woe with electrical etc issues on his Gen 4 - but my thanks for the simple explanation as to why it was not possible to get a hybrid Battery check done along with the major service. I was also due a major service in my Gen 4 last month (including plugs change etc) and received a most garbled explanation for the lack of an attendant hybrid Battery check. Service chap mumbled something about it "not having worked and couldn't do another one" until I'd driven 500 miles. The loss of data after a Battery disconnect during the service seems a much more intelligible answer - so thanks muchly for that.   

And you must have the patience of a saint Fred over that TPMS light showing up - why couldn't he dealer reset it? Even an old fuddy-duddy like me managed to reset mine properly when it decided to show up in the cold weather last winter - albeit after carefully reading the depths of the manual four times and taking copious notes.

On worries about fitment of the plates, by the way, I must confess I've had no issues since I got them fitted just under a year ago. Best of luck on getting it all sorted out.