PDM

Our NX screen coating was gradually damaged when the car was valeted (I no longer let anyone else clean the interior of our cars other then the dealer vacuum at servicing). By the time I realised it was happening it was too late (it started lifting at the edges). The anti glare is very susceptible to common interior car cleaning materials. I believe there was an admitted fault on some IS screens but that may have only been in the USA. When it happened on our NX I complained and got nowhere. So I just went to the valeter, asked what he used, bought some myself and used that on a micro fibre cloth to remove the rest of the coating. Took a while but it all came off. And once it was completely removed I could not notice a difference between when the coating was undamaged versus completely removed. As long as the underlying screen surface is not damaged you should be ok. IIRC the product was Frogchem silicone gloss. Hope that helps. Cheers, Paul

You will probably have an MM17 version of the multimedia system in that vehicle which should be able to do at least a 128GB stick when formatted fat32. As Adrian says, check it really is FAT32 - modern versions of windows won't format fat32 natively and you need a third party application to make a fat32 filesystem on large sticks. There are also restrictions to number of directories and max file limit but I would guess unless you have 10s of GB of music loaded already you won't be anywhere near that. Paul

I had also noticed that April had changed to "coming weeks". A bit of a worry. Paul

Interesting. My only two data points are that 128GB works on a 2015 NX and a 2021 RX. Never tried in an RC. I know the MM21 system in the new cars has an upper limit of 32GB (progress?), but MM13/15/17/19 should do more. All need to be FAT32 though. David - is it possible you had a 32GB stick formatted as FAT32, but larger ones with something else?

Our 2015 NX will play 128GB formatted with fat32. I suspect it's the filesystem type that is preventing it playing. Modern versions of windows can't format fat32 in large filesystems so you need a third party program. Paul

very interesting....

Colin, I am not sure about this. I think the official word on this from Lexus is somewhat ambiguous - it talks about 1 iteration, which I assume to mean only 1 version of the plate has been created. It's in the comments section. https://mag.lexus.co.uk/lexus-uk-statement-on-vehicle-theft/comment-page-4/#comments Paul

Looks like the person who alerted Watchdog has set up a website to record theft cases: https://reportcanbus.com/

Let me guess... You are using an iPhone as the hotspot? Paul

I agree about the plates - The original plates were a copy of those used to prevent car jacking in South Africa. If there is some enhancement perhaps it's thicker gauge steel in another manufacturing run? I'm not totally convinced that encryption can't be added in software for at least few critical commands (such as "correct key present"). To me the idea of trading in a 4RX for a 5RX sounds like a triumph of hope over experience!

Pete - I agree with you, but it will depend on what the insurance does. If insurance rises even more to say 3k per year, you can take quite a kicking on the trade in and still come out on top....

I have heard from dealers that Lexus Insurance are now often turning down the "complimentary" 3 day cover, so the owners has to arrange cover themselves before driving away. Not sure if this applies to LBX, but I heard it is happening even on new NX450h+ for instance.

If they are now at the stage of cutting the wiring loom to gain access they would not even need to smash the plate. The plate only covers the connector area, not the entire loom. This was only a matter of time. The plate should have bought enough time to engineer a software fix.... But here we are still discussing the lack of solution...

As a fellow 4RX owner I feel your pain. You may have seen on another thread that one of the sticking plasters is unfortunately starting to peel off: there was a report of a vehicle with the plate fitted being stolen... I have already sent that info to customer relations. If they want to be specific about the gen 4 RX, it has not taken 7 years. The vehicle was being delivered to the the UK in early 2016 I believe. The first CAN theft I can find on the web is February 2021 in Japan. That's 5 years. Second hand values have dropped significantly on 4 RX in the last 12 months unfortunately. Paul

The facelift MK4 certainly uses a combination of sat nav data and speed limit signs. When I pull off the drive onto the street it has not seen a speed limit sign but it does know the limit is 30mph. Not sure about the pre facelift MK4. However, I believe there is a TSB for a software update to prevent the camera recognising signs on trucks as speed limit signs. (I saw that on Lexus Tech at some point... Perhaps check with the dealer). Paul

Correct

I'm going to try again to get more clarity on this issue. Paul

It's very odd and it seems impossible to get a straight answer here. I have been told by Lexus UK and by my dealer that you only need plates on the left headlight ECU loom and not the right one. I asked why some were reporting having them on both and was simply told the right was unnecessary.

Interesting....

My understanding is that yes, the only way the hijacking of the CANbus can be used to open the doors and start the engine is through the left headlight CANbus wiring loom (this is for an RX but it does seem all theft attempts are through the left headlight) Paul

Fingers crossed... But how long for insurance company statistics to allow more sensible premiums?

It simply astonishes me that they don't test absolutely anything at all in their infotainment and connectivity software before release. Does nobody working at UK head office drive a Lexus and see these issues? It's been the same story since MM19. It took them about 3 months to restore the internet connection to my car after we all were migrated onto Lexus Link "plus". They have fudged it to work at present by moving me back to the older app and associated backed. Good luck with getting these things resolved quickly.

It will have CANbus but it's probably not easily accessible enough for a thief to connect to. The models that have CAN headlights (IS250 does not) have vulnerable CAN wiring just above the wheel arch that can be reached with very little damage to the vehicle bodywork. I have not seen any IS250 reported stolen via CAN injection.

There was one post on here where a dealer has suggested as such but I'm not sure if since then Colin has any more info. Paul

John, Sorry - I was joking - there have been so many thefts (RX now being the UK's most stolen car as a fraction of registered vehicles). Cheers, Paul