PDM

Yes, the CT has voice recognition (at least is does with the ML system). It's pretty good when it works! The current s/w seems to be quite buggy unfortunately. Paul

Ho Robert, Thanks for this. I have tried swapping around and it makes no difference for me unfortunately. I have had it work very occasionally (but then stop completely when I add more music to the disk). I suspect (unless your issue is a different underlying issue to mine) that in your case, when you plugged it in to the top socket the stars were aligned for you and it just worked! But when you plugged into the bottom is didn't. If you add more music, does it continue to work for you in the top socket and fail in the lower one. I any case, it would be great if you can report a bug to customer services at cr@lexus.co.uk and we all have a better chance of these things being fixed. Thanks for the input. Paul

Excellent result.

Hi Barry, I quite like the touch pad (although probably do prefer the original remote touch joystick that you have in your 2012 RX). I turn off the haptic feedback on the touch pad and leave other settings on default. The touch screen is also fine to use if you dont get so annoyed by finger prints... One thing you can do on the touch pad that you cannot do on the joystick is pinch to zoom... Paul

Hi Joel, I assume you mean Smart Insurance for SMART repairs? A company called "Shine!" will actually do the work. I used this a few times on my NX and once or twice my wife's CT (it always amazes me how careless people are opening doors into you) and the quality of the work was mostly very good and very efficient. However, I did find some variation in quality - some of their technicians were more skilled than others (some of the repairs they have done for me were totally perfect in my eyes but others less so. The variation was with how well the colour is matched and the repair was blended in. I once had to get them back to repaint a door mirror that they didn't do very well the first time. But I would think for a bumper repair this will be totally fine. The non-perfect blending for me was on a door, where it was more noticeable, but, as I say, I would guess a lower on the vehicle on a bumper will be fine. Is you CT Sonic Titanium? It looks like it could be from your photo. If so, Shine! have two colour matches for that. I found the slightly darker one was a perfect match and the lighter one less good. Did you sort out your wifi hotspot issue by the way? Cheers, Paul

Hi Joel, Sorry for the confusion. The sim card comment was adressed to Min2 above. I dont think the CT was ever fitted with the Lexus 4G wifi box, so you need to tether to another type of internet connection, e.g. your phone, as you have been correctly trying to do. Im not sure the dealers have a fix yet for the Iphone password problem you have seen. One possible work around (that seems to work for some using Apple devices) is to use the bluetooth connection to the phone to share the internet. That said, ask your dealer about the password issue anyway. The more people highlight the issue the faster Lexus may provide a software fix. Thanks, Paul

I think I can answer a couple of things here. 1. The sim card in the wifi box cannot be changed. It is an esim and is provisioned by Lexus. You cant change it. Its not a physical card in a slot. 2. Joel - are you using an iphone? If so, there is an incompatibility where the some piece of info is not being captured by the car (since ios13) to allow the password to be saved. Hence you need to re-enter the password each time Is that what you are describing? If this is indeed the case, I suggest you email customer relations and ask them to fix it. If I were using an iphone for this purpose I would be quite annoyed. Luckily the wifi hotspot in the vehicle works reliably with the head unit. Paul

Hi John, to be honest I always struggled to get the internet sharing bluetooth profile working properly and wifi hotspots (when connected) always worked for me. If you can get an internet connection through your bluetooth then im sure it will be fine. It looks like Colin, above, has cracked it. I have a scenario where in my wife's car I would like to connect the system to a cellular ipad (whilst using BT to our phones) and the system doesn't remember the password on the ipad since the OS was upgraded. Paul

Hi All, It is actually a "design feature" - in that those bolt heads are purely decorative. Those panels are clipped on, i.e. you do not remove those bolts when removing the panels. From memory, I think they are based on some bolts on the LFA?? Paul

I guess you are using an iphone? Since Apple released ios 13, the Lexus systems are not capturing all the required info to store the passwords properly, hence you need to type it in every time you connect to an apple wifi hotspot. I have seen posts on this forum that Lexus is aware of this issue with apple hotspots. To increase the chances they Lexus will act on it and release a fix, email them at cr@lexus.co.uk and tell them that this is an inconvenience to you. Paul

Jason, Do you have the car connected to a wifi hotspot (e.g. from your phone?), If so, use wifi. This will probably also be the most reliable method. Paul

Liam, A couple of things to watch - they may be of absolutely no consequence to you (very dependent on the specific features you use in the vehicle) and AA/carplay may completely outweigh these issues, but just to warn you... I believe that the voice commands for playing mp3s from a memory stick (e.g. play album <name>) work fine on MM17 systems (that you have at present) but are broken on MM19 systems (which you will have after the Carplay/AA update). I use these commands a lot (well... I used to...) and after testing in other cars at the dealer, I have not seen voice commands for playing music off memory sticks sticks work properly with any MM19 install. (Although I have not tried this on an ES... just RX and NX with MM19). Gracenote has also been removed from the latest patch for MM19 systems (although in my experience this never works very well anyway, but you may be using it if you ever play CDs in the car as it looks up the album/track names for you and displays cover art). The only other bug I am aware of in MM19 is a very occasional issue where if you select a radio station in the DAB menus, the system actually tunes to one that is one or two higher up in the menu list than the one you clicked on. This has happened to me two or three times in 3.5k miles. Finally, MM19 has crashed and rebooted itself on me once in about 3.5k miles. These things may not matter at all to you (e.g. you may be planning to play music from your phone with AA/carplay), in which case the upgrade is probably worth it. It will let you use Google maps on the car's screen, for instance. My vehicle is an RX with MM19: and of course the ES may not have these issues. Paul

Hi All, Not sure if it is relevant, but I had UX300e as a loan vehicle for a couple of days recently with ML audio fitted. I found the system had a noticeable crackle, particularly when talking on the phone over bluetooth. (The same phone in other Lexus vehicles works fine...). It went away when you turned down the volume, but it had to be too quiet for sensible use for the crackle to go away. When I went to get my own car back, I mentioned the crackle and the dealer said that was not the first time they had received that type of complaint for a UX. I didn't really play any music whilst I had the car so can't comment on that. Paul

I believe the only other reason for the engine running when stationary (other than charging the battery) is to provide heat to the climate control, but I guess it wasnt cold enough weather to need that. I have never seen any of our hybrids stop and start the engine frequently when stationary and I think in eco mode it is less likely to start the engine in these circumstances. I would monitor this, and note the date and time it happened, and next time you visit the dealer, ask them to check to see if there is anything odd in the logs on the day it happened. Paul

especially with a Bentley W12 to pull you along! You could be doing 120 in the time it takes you to try to cancel the cruise control!

The Lexus system kind of does. If you enter a new speed limit on cruise control, you can move the cruise control stalk up/down and it will go straight to the new limit, rather then going in the usual 5mph increments. (I have only tried this once and it seemed to work). I believe Bentleys can change the target speed with no driver intervention when the speed limit changes. Not sure about other manufacturers. Paul

>In my view if you're not sufficiently alert to pick up on changing speed limits then perhaps you shouldn't be behind the wheel. Indeed, although it's supposed to be a driver aid, so it would be better not to have it, than have it display the wrong thing. On that note, I cannot see how to use only the database of speed limits rather than the camera (as is done on my wife's 2015 NX). If I turn off RSA on the RX, then the speed limit notification totally disappears. On the web pages, it sounds really impressive.... https://www.lexus.co.uk/discover-lexus/technology/lexus-safety/road-sign-assist/#road-sign-assist Paul

>Possibly picking up the speed limit signs on the rear of articulated lorries and the like? Hmmmm could be in that case. My RX does not seem to suffer from that particular issue, and I do remember reading about a camera software upgrade on Lexus Tech that fixes that exact issue. David - you might want to mention this to your dealer next time you have a service. My vehicle is a '21 so will have the latest software - and I don't have that specific issue, so perhaps the updates between 18 and 21 have fixed it. Next time I'm logged in to Lexus Tech I'll try to find that again and post you the TSB number. the latest software, however, still has issues, particularly coming out of a speed restriction back to national speed limit. The irony with this is that speed limits programmed into the sat nav database (as on MM15 systems) work fine (if they are kept up to date) except for dynamic limits on smart motorways.... which is one reason why the RSA system should be an improvement. However, this is precisely the scenario where it does not work properly (at least for me)! Cheers, Paul

Hi All, How does anyone find the accuracy of Road Sign Assist (RSA)? Generally it seems ok, but on a "smart" motorway, I am finding that the system will pick up the numerical speed limits fine (e.g. a temporary 50mph restriction) but on exiting the section it fails to recognise the national speed limit sign and you drive for miles with a 50 limit showing. My vehicle is a 2021 RX. Paul

Hi Jason, Assuming your RX is a 2016 model as in your profile, you will have the MM15 based infotainment system. The MM15 system has relatively basic functionality on "My Lexus" (as Lexus Portal is now called) but it will allow you to send a destination to the car (so you can plan a journey from your computer and download it on the vehicle when you connect the car to the internet by e.g. tethering through your phone). Given the limited functionality, I would think the risk of any security issues on the vehicle through this are pretty low. However, I note that there have been instances (not with Lexus though I think) of vehicles being hacked through rogue DAB radio signals: https://www.theregister.com/2015/07/24/car_hacking_using_dab/ The other thing you can see on My Lexus, which is useful, is the vehicle's service history. I think you could access this info on "My Lexus" without needing to link the car's multimedia system to the web account, if you are worried about vehicle security. I'd also be interested to see what others think here. Paul

Alan, Is this the electronic parking brake coming on and going off? Does the sound last for about 2 seconds? Paul

Hi Trevor, My understanding is that since ios13 (or perhaps 14?), Apple have changed the wifi implementation and this stops the car from capturing a key shared when joining an apple wifi hotspot. Hence the car cannot remember an apple wifi hotspot and you need to retype the password each time you connect. Im pretty sure I have seen a response from Lexus copied into one of the posts somewhere on here with regards to this issue. I believe your current options are to either use another wifi hotspot (not Apple) or contact Lexus customer relations and try to push for a fix. I would have thought many people would be annoyed by this one so a fix could be forthcoming with sufficient complaints made On rereading your post it sounds like you have already contacted customer relations. Incidently we have the same problem on my wife's 2015 NX, so this issue is effecting vehicles over several model years and multimedia system generations. Sorry I do not have a better solution to suggest. Does your car have a built in wifi hotspot you could use? Paul

Chris, If you can, try copying the data to another stick, preferably another brand of stick. If there are still issues, it sounds like a vehicle problem. Sounds like you have set everything up properly (fat32 etc). Cheers, Paul

Hi Chris, I assume the stick still works in a computer? Did you also try a different memory stick in the new IS? Can I ask what brand of stick it is? There have been issues with the early release of at least one sandisk usb stick when used in vehicles. The ultra-fit I think it is. Paul

Hi Andrew, I don't believe so. When apple car play or android auto is enabled (on one usb port), the other usb port is disabled. It's annoying. I guess the system hardware was designed before apple car play was in existence and the MM19 system software may thus be limited by the underlying hardware for this. (you could never play music from 2 usbs at once, hence the system never need to access both ports simultaneously before android auto/car play came along.) Paul