08ISF

For those who might be interested RX450h F sport LN16EMV has had the CANBUS plate fitted and is now on a forecourt somewhere. I traded it a week ago for a Mustang. Not a change directly influenced by the thefts, but I got to thinking about what I would replace it with if it went missing. The Mustang was the only car that pushed any buttons and we all know how that thought process goes..... If anybody sees it, it is a good car , I had it for 4 years and it performed faultlessly. I expect Lexus Customer Services and their CEO will be happy to see the back of me. One point though, the Mustang, despite 450+HP, cost half as much to insure, which is a measure of how insurers are viewing RX's at the moment!!

From what I understand it is the 4th Gen RX which is vulnerable, along with current RAV4's and possibly NX's and ES's. Earlier models such as yours did not apparently use the CAN BUS system of wiring which the plate is to protect. This is nothing to do with the cat converter which your post mentions. Other means are available to try and protect that. Oh, and by the way my insurance renewal has just come in , about 100% up on last year but a lot less than I was expecting so I'm happy.

I don't know how the plate was installed or even what it looks like. I think it better that those details are not bandied about on a public forum as the longer it takes the scrotes to figure out how to defeat it, the better. No rattling so far. Lexus Customer Services arranged for my local branch to fit it.The local branch service people didn't seem to know much about the issue and were gobsmacked when the guy who came to fit it demonstrated how the thieves accessed the CANBUS cabling. As I've said before I don't know how Lexus are going to take this forward. Enquire at your local branch.

Yes, it was FOC and they washed and vacuumed the car as well. It was done at very short notice so I didn't ask for a courtesy car.

Update on the protection plate: The protection plate is now in play. I had it fitted to my RX at the local dealer's today. From what I understand they are trialling this on a few customer's cars and then will presumably roll it out. Whether it will be a recall or a service bulletin subject I do not know, or it may be you have to ask, but it does exist. Whether it will be effective remains to be seen and I don't suppose it will help with this year's insurance renewal, which by the look of it will be 100% up on last year.

These cars are among the most reliable on the market and there are few known problems but if they do go wrong expect a big bill. I've had mine for 4 years and the only thing that failed was a door mirror motor, fixed under warranty.Just as well as I saw the bill (£800+) They have been known to need the water pump changed at around 70-80K and this is a £2K job, but if you have Relax warranty cover, I'm informed it will be covered. Damp carpets can be due to blocked sunroof drains - not covered on any warranty. The 12v battery doesn't like being left for any length of time without the car being used or it will go flat. They say it needs to be used in "Ready" mode for an hour at least every week to keep it charged. One thing I would say is that they are big and it is difficult to see the sides of the front wings, and the end of the bonnet, so a version with the all round camera would be worth considering. A lot of them are getting stolen at the moment so in the short term a steering lock or aftermarket immobiliser would be a good idea until Lexus come through with the fix for the security vulnerability - see other subjects on this forum Buy carefully and you will love it.

You'll probably find that only Lexus can actually provide them and the price will be eye watering. This is what I found with my GSF (might be better now). There are so few of the cars on the road, it is not worth any other suppliers stocking them so Lexus get to charge you what they like. I didn't like the idea of being charged £350+ for four pieces of steel plate with some friction material glued on but that was the only thing on offer.

Just heard back from Lexus in response to my email over the weekend. They are assuring me that things are moving towards a programme of remedial action and have advised that the police have seized a load of equipment used for the CAN BUS thefts in the London area. Also they have stated that the new RX/RZ is on a different platform with different software so should not be as vulnerable. How quickly this translates into positive action for us I cannot say. I will keep in contact with Lexus.

Nothing concrete yet, but I chased them up this weekend, and sent them a copy of the Honest John article which shows the RX running Range Rovers a close second in the theft stats.

If it's been recently serviced and the battery is bad, there should be a "fail" on the hybrid health check, which also looks at the 12v battery. They should have told you about it.

I have done and it was cheaper than reducing the excess on my insurance when I had a GSF. Search Google for "Car insurance excess protection UK" You'll have to filter out all the companies offering car hire excess protection. ALA , Aegeas and Questor are 3 names that come to mind.

When this CANBUS issue was raised I did a quick punt around the comparison sites for my RX and it looks like I will be paying about 100% more this year. A friend with a Range Rover is in a similar position. If you accept a high excess to get the premium down, you can separately insure this. This sometimes works out cheaper than going for a policy with lowish excess.

Don't waste your time emailing Customer Services. Their job is to deflect and BS. You all need to write to Chris Hayes their CEO ( by snail mail , I couldn't find his email address) . Address is on Lexus UK website. Customer Services do not have the authority to give us the assurances we require, unless they are being driven by the boss. If their CEO gets enough complaints they might just react a bit quicker than they would otherwise. My recent response from Customer Services after my letter to Chris Hayes was slightly more positive. "I have been advised that we have tested prototype blanking plates successfully and what we would like to do, is obtain some before we decide on the route/process for our Lexus Centre partners, and install one of these blanking plates to your RX at your designated Lexus Centre, which I presume may be Lexus XXXXX. I will then coordinate with our Repair Support team to look at possible dates and times to fit this blanking plate to your car. If this is agreeable please do let me know and I will start this course of action." Like most big companies they will not react quickly unless something is pushed up the priority list.

The protective plates have apparently been successfully (?) tested for the RX and they are looking at when they can get them and roll them out. However, my original enquiry was specifically about the RX, before theft of other models came to our attention so they may not be looking at the ES. You all need to get on their case. I bypassed Customer Services and went straight to their CEO. If you get a BS reply from Customer Services, write to Chris Hayes at Lexus UK Head Office. It worked for me! This probably affects a lot of cars especially when you include the NX and Toyota variants, so it might take some time to get the work done.

For me reliability is key. A car that will go round the Nurburgring in under 8 mins is no good if it is going to spend most of its life in the workshop ( no names!). I am afraid that I and most of the people on here are in a minority as the motoring press are obsessed with performance and style and that is what most people seeking a new car refer to. The other elephant in the room is the Alan Partridge issue, from p*** taking references made by a certain comedian many years agoabout Lexus cars which fixed them in the national psyche as a bit naff and boring. I am personally happy for Lexus to remain in its little niche. All we need to do now is convince the criminal fraternity that our cars are not worth nicking.

Hooray, can the chill wind of common sense be starting to blow in Westminster? After being told from the outset by police and motoring organisations that smart motorways weren't a good idea, wasting many hundreds of millions of (our) pounds and killing a few people, they've now agreed that they are unsafe. And we're expected to vote for these people?? In law if you are told by a professional that something is unsafe and you carry on with it, does that not render you liable for action for negligence?? And if new ones are not being built because they are unsafe, does that not mean that the existing ones are also unsafe?

I don't think Lexus will ever break into the UK mainstream and I also think it would be a mistake to try. Lexus cars are expensive and would not be attractive to company car buyers because of: High lease costs. High BIK figures. The motoring press are a bit sniffy about Lexus and generally down rate them. There is a perception among the population in general that the German makes are the epitome of quality (we know different!). Company car buyers don't care about reliability. If it breaks they just get a loan car. Their marketing is woeful . "Experience amazing" The cars are not "amazing" they are a very good product whose qualities will grow on their owners with time, not necessarily on a half hour test drive. They don't offer the range of models necessary to appeal to a wide audience. Lexus appeal to the few who care about quality, reliability and good service and are prepared to pay for it. If Lexus try to go mainstream those qualities will have to be diluted or sacrificed. Look at the example of John Lewis , they were perceived as being a little dearer, but you got good service , no arguments with warranties etc and their stuff was generally good. But they went chasing the mainstream and look where it got them. I have never bought new, I have always bought 1 -4 year olds at a saving on new, secure in the knowledge that I could get a cast iron warranty for one year and then extend that on a 2 yearly rotation for about £1000 until I was ready to change at about 7-8 years. This has worked since 2009 but has now been scuppered by the Relax warranty and despite assurances from Lexus I am not sure about how easy it will be to claim on it. Unfortunately I think Lexus are being driven down the mainstream route by their management, the Relax warranty is a case in point, trying to get lots more people into the workshops where they can be reminded how expensive that is and then find that their "warranty" doesn't actually cover what they think it does. Cue exodus. I think Lexus would be better staying as "reassuringly expensive" Just my opinion.

This is quite worrying. What sort of steering lock was it? I've fitted a Stoplock Pro in the possibly mistaken belief it might make the car less attractive. Looking at how my lock is constructed , it should take at least an angle grinder (and a lot of noise) to get it off.

Just had an email from Lexus Customer Services advising that they have successfully tested the blanking plates they mentioned in their earlier reply to me and were in the process of obtaining some before working out how to roll out fitting them. So it seems they are on the case! Watch this space.

I'm now using a steering wheel lock. Lexus are supposed to be looking at a plate to protect the cabling on the RX, but it seems the ES and probably the NX are vulnerable and they won't do anything about those models unless the owners raise hell. The thing about this is that the equipment to carry out the CANBUS attack is not cheap so the thefts are carried out by organised crime not the local crack head. If a pro wants your car he's going to take it. The only thing you can do is put a visible deterrent on the car that makes it a less easy target in the hope that they move on . Ghost could be OK but they won't find out until they've damaged the car and I'm not convinced they won't eventually find a way of circumventing this or any other immobiliser.

Very interesting article, not that I understood much of it. A software fix seems attractive but I can't help thinking that whatever software solution is found someone will find a way round it. Lexus' proposed solution of a protective plate over the wiring seems like a plan and we just have to wait for them to roll it out. Truth of the matter is that nicking these cars is very lucrative and organised crime has enormous resources so whatever Lexus or any other manufacturer do, they will find a way of circumventing it, even to the point of car jacking, breaking in and getting the immobilizer codes off us, or turning up with a low loader and taking the car on that. (I heard of a case where they turned up on Christmas Day with a low loader and stole a new Range Rover off a drive, even chatting to the neighbours while they did it). The root of all this is that we don't seem to have a law enforcement/judiciary system that actually works and criminals are having a field day, secure in the knowledge that they won't be caught. So for now the only thing we can do is go back to the old ways and try and make our cars unattractive by putting on visible deterrents such as steering locks etc. Just my opinion.

Shortly after this issue came to light I did a quick prospective quote for mine on a comparison site and the premiums quoted had just about doubled. We are not alone, a friends Range Rover Evoque premium has doubled also. It seems that Lexus, for all their marketing hype have really ****** up on this and guess who is having to pay. Apparently the vulnerability also affects the Toyota RAV4 so presumably also the NX which is based on the same platform. Lexus have acknowledged the vulnerablity and have a solution but how quickly they will roll this out to us is anybody's guess.

Insurers underwriters work on statistics and they won't have any for cars that haven't been stolen because they had a tracker /immobiliser, as there won't have been any claims. What is more likely given the uptick in RX thefts is that they refuse to cover it unless it has an approved tracker and/or immobiliser. I'm fully expecting that to come up when I renew in a couple of months. Basically we're on our own, the crims are more switched on than the manufacturers and the police are effectively not there.

I asked the question about the NX and all they said was they weren't aware of any thefts of the NX by this method. Any NX people on here had their car nicked in this way? I've also asked for an anticipated delivery timeline. Watch this space.

I've now received Lexus' response to my earlier snot mail. As follows: "Thank you for your further email and comments. I can only apologise that you are disappointed with my response and that it has also led you to question our values. This is most regrettable given our enviable reputation for consistently delivering, since Lexus was introduced some of the I would like to try and reassure you that we are trying to look at ways to support and protect owners from this criminal activity. It is a difficult situation as the fundamental design of this model cannot be changed, partly as it is no longer in production but also due to fact it is a globally manufactured model. There are other issues to overcome, in that this crime is primarily concentrated in London and the South East and indeed, according to DVLA data, vehicle crime increased by 26% between 2021 and 2022 and that seven of the ten most targeted areas were within London and the South East. The methods used to steal these vehicles is varied but equally destructive in terms of the impact on owners and other stakeholders involved. I can advise that we are looking to introduce and provide a protective plating which will act as a deterrent and will cover the areas in which some thieves are trying to access and thus steal your or any other car. As soon as we have more news as to when this will become available, we will contact you of course and we will liaise with your local Lexus Centre. I do not have a timescale as of yet, but we acknowledge the importance of having this deterrent. This blocking plate has been trialled in another market and early statistics show that it has been successful in reducing vehicle thefts. I can confirm that the new generation RX and RZ models are on a different security platform. We are not aware of any thefts by the methods conveyed in our correspondence on the NX model. Both Mr Hayes and our General Manager, Product Quality and Service Support fully endorse and support the fitment of this protective plate when it becomes available. I will be in touch as soon as I have further news. In closing, thank you for your reply and comments and I hope this reply provides you with some reassurance and positive news. Kind regards Stephen Hinshelwood Executive Office Toyota (GB) PLC - Lexus Division" So some glimmer of light then. Was definitely worth asking the question. We'll have to wait to see what they come up with.