Audio / Nav Frustration

[Rileys1]

Has anyone heard any updates on the software update to fix the problems with the audio/navigation?

The faults on mine are getting worse and it's driving me mad. The system now reboots every couple of days leaving a black screen for a couple of mins and and every time I want to skip a track it says transferring audio from iPod and does this a couple of times before skipping track. The latest problem is that the audio starts to go crackly and distorted and I have to change to another mode. These are just a few of the problems.

The car was in Lexus Bolton two weeks ago and they said that they are waiting for a software update and that there is no timescale for this and I haven't heard anything from them since. I thought it would be quite soon though with other owners having similar faults.

I do love the car but this problem is now starting to drive me mad!

[alpine]

I have had two or three odd glitches on my car too. I've reported this to the Lexus centre and it will be going in next week to be checked.

[Tel]

There is a fix in the US so I guess it will not be long before we get the upgrade----no glitches on mine to date.

Tel

[DJP]

I'm not so sure we will follow the US with an upgrade. I enquired of my dealer who strongly suggested the US were behind not I front of us. The trouble is there are so many variations between the regions it is difficult to know what the true position is.

Does anyone know how to check what version we should be currently running on, and indeed how to check the one we actually are on? I wonder if it's anything like when you buy a new computer and it connects to the net, the first thing it does is look for updates.

It is frustrating when such a key element to our enjoyment of the vehicle is seemingly not quite up to scratch.

[Tel]

The Version is easy to check------it is in the Nav Set -UP list.

Tel

[Rileys1]

Let us know how you get on alpine.

I agree David it is really frustrating. At first it was just a minor annoyance but the worse things are getting it's driving me to distraction. I've given up using the Bluetooth to play music it drops and reconnects so often and if I receive a call the call quality for the other person is terrible. It's a shame when the system in my 2012 IS 250 was so good and never failed me.

I think I'm going to have to phone Lexus Bolton again to see if they have any updates.

[alpine]

 

I'm not so sure we will follow the US with an upgrade. I enquired of my dealer who strongly suggested the US were behind not I front of us. The trouble is there are so many variations between the regions it is difficult to know what the true position is.

 

The hybrid IS isn't available in the US so far. The car is aimed there at the 'yoof' market and any greeenie yoofs would probably buy a Prius! Having said that, the firmware must be modular so I would think some updates will be global.

[Rileys1]

Did you take your car for investigation alpine?

[alpine]

 

Did you take your car for investigation alpine?

 

Yes, they had it for a couple of hours and resolved the immediate problem which was that the tyre pressure warning indicator had come on even though pressures were OK. They pointed me at a small recalibrate button if it happens again, it's apparently under the dash adjacent to the diagnostics socket.

I gave them a list of the system glitches and bugs, and they are aware of some of them already, including the car competely resetting itself once while stationary at traffic lights. But there appears to be no update yet as far as I can tell.

[alpine]

I've been out in it again this morning, and discovered that the screen has once again ceased switching to display the parking sensors. I've tried switching the sensors on and off with the dash switch, going in to the 'park assist' section of the setup and toggling the silly little green flash on the 'screen off' setting, and cannot get them back.

It saddens me to say it about a Lexus, but the current menu system is an amateurish mess, and they need to do something about it urgently.

I've just filled in the complaints form on the Lexus web site...

They seem to have spent far too long making pretty 3d animations of the hybrid system and failed to get the functional basics right.

[rayaans]

OMG this is like the first year of a completely new car right? what did you guys expect? Seriously, even BMW and Audi's have problems in the first year

[Rileys1]

Thanks for the update alpine. I tend to agree, the system is a mess and the list of faults with mine grows by the day.

Rayaan thanks for your input and interesting take that you think we should expect to have audio systems which in my case is becoming totally unusable and not discuss these issues. If us early adopters do not raise these issues they will not be rectified for later versions.

[alpine]

 

If us early adopters do not raise these issues they will not be rectified for later versions.

 

Exactly. And of course this is a Lexus, not a mere BMW, Audi or Merc. It's just not the sort of issue we expect.

[rayaans]

Thanks for the update alpine. I tend to agree, the system is a mess and the list of faults with mine grows by the day.

Rayaan thanks for your input and interesting take that you think we should expect to have audio systems which in my case is becoming totally unusable and not discuss these issues. If us early adopters do not raise these issues they will not be rectified for later versions.

Im just saying that something is expected to go wrong in the first year. But, on a more serious note, try taking your car to the dealer and ask for the same software to be wiped and put back on, see if that works.

[alpine]

 

Im just saying that something is expected to go wrong in the first year. But, on a more serious note, try taking your car to the dealer and ask for the same software to be wiped and put back on, see if that works.

 

The kind of bug that the systems currently demonstrate are not those of corrupted firmware (and I do have a lot of professional experience in this area). To take an example, the problem I mentioned above about the parking assist.screen set up:

The menu system in general uses a style where there are boxes on the left of the screen to select an item. When highlighted, the joystick button switches the option on and off, and the legend on the right hand side changes to show this.

But, on the 'Screen' setting of the parking assist screen, things do not work like this. There is an item for the screen, but it cannot be highlighted. On the right hand side of the screen, the legend reads 'DISPLAY OFF'.

And, completely inconsistently with the rest of the system, that item CAN be highlighted!. Toggling the joystick button does NOT change the right hand side to read 'DISPLAY ON'. Instead it lights up a small green marker in the top corner of the 'DISPLAY OFF' legend. But the legend STILL reads 'DISPLAY OFF' even though it's been set to on!.

Now you cannot deny that that is a mess, and sadly indicates that the current firmware is a rapidly cobbled together version, presumably because they are running behind with their development programme. One hopes they have an emergency team working on it.

[DJP]

It is very frustrating when technology like this doesn't work properly. The Lexus portal is another odd one, or at least so I'm finding. It's great to be sitting at my desk at work, log in to the portal, input an address and send it to the car. Except half the time when I try and log in all I get is a blank screen, and then when I do try and set up a trip it won't actually save it unless I log out and go back in a while later, whereupon it has magically saved and I can send it to the car.

So far the pick up in the car has worked fine, as long as I remember to enable the personal hotspot on my Iphone first. That's my fault not the technology.

Teething troubles I'm sure but annoying nonetheless.

[Platypus]

I hope Lexus is taking note of all these bugs. At least I am of my problems, and I have a list going in Excel for when I bring it in for its first service. The satnav is an absolute shambles and also looks like something from a 10-year old Tomtom. But most frustrating are the pop-up traffic infos containing no information and that you can't get to disappear. Last Sunday it even managed to crash altogether, bringing down with it both the audio system and the reversing camera! Now, something like that seriously compromises my esteem of Lexus. Right now, I'm really sorry for not going for the BMW 3. Anybody got the email address of those jokers that developed the software?

[alpine]

 

Anybody got the email address of those jokers that developed the software?

/quote]

 

I would suggest that you fill in the form on the Lexus contact page here:

http://blog.lexus.co.uk/contact-us/

I've done this and have now had a formal incident raised. But clearly the more people who make their unhappiness felt, the easier it will be for Lexus local centres to get Lexus to escalate the priority of these issues.

I've made clear to them that I have no problem with my local centre, these are issues that Lexus themselves must sort out.

[lexusinthecity]

Glad to be able to discuss this issue with other is300h owners. My display conked out on the freeway, 2 days ago. Required a stop/restart of the car...you could say 'reboot'. Symptoms =the 'home' and 'menu' buttons stopped responding, no nav display, 'energy display' was sporadic. Will report to the customer assist on Monday. Quite disappointing.

Please excuse my phrasing - being antipodean based, we talk/write a little differently.

Got another issue...will supply a separate post

Lexusinthecity

[Rileys1]

Yeah I think I too am going to contact Lexus. I've been dealing with my local centre but the service from them this time round hasn't been great and not what I expect from them. It's a shame as with previous cars they have been fantastic.

I wouldn't mind waiting as much if I was kept up to date but I'm not and I'm not waiting indefinitely on a product which I had to pay for as an extra and didn't even come as standard.

[Ian J. Parsley]

For me, the Lexus Portal is the bigger problem. I've actually just given up using it altogether - "Send to Car" never seems to work, even when I connect the car to WiFi (which, in itself, means sitting still in the driveway before setting off).

There's the odd bug in the system - it turned itself off and on today, for example. But by and large I don't seem to have had it as bad as some of you.

[Geoffers]

All very interesting and disappointing. I was ready to buy and having trouble making a decision. This has swayed me away. As I'm in the car a huge amount, it is very important to me.

[lexusinthecity]

Hi

My dealer advised that a software update is available here in Australia, and should solve the problem. I would not let that put you off purchasing.

ELECTRONICS CHAP, you would probably know about the BMW i3. Looks a bit on the quirky side, though.

LexusInTheCity

[Platypus]

Well, Geoffers, I hope that teaches Lexus a lesson. You don't go putting a car on the market that's so full of bugs - it brings the total car quality into question. It's not like they only just started making satvavs and the like, is it, or Bluetooth for that matter (my Nokia 700 never worked from day one!)? Sadly, the whole infotainment system looks like a child threw it together and even if it worked perfectly, it still looks profoundly outdated compared to all the European makers in the same segment.

[alpine]

Lexus have contacted me and told me that an update will be available in the UK in 2 to 3 weeks time.