billygarrett

yes, i think this is a problem a dealership should look into and mybe they have to replace the bluetooth handsfree hardware. I had this problem with my Erricson K700 until I changed the phone's profile setting to "IN CAR".

I have had exactly the same problem with my 52 RX300SE..... In a nutshell, the battery is far to small in ampere hour capacity for the hotel loads put across it from standing . (not to be confused with starting currents). The solution is of course a bigger capacity (Ah) battery .The present OE fit (on my car is a Lucas 45ah) is far smaller than the batteries fitted to Merc and BMW.. The real problem however is that if you obtained a bigger battery there is a difficulty fitting it due to the size of the tray. I am investigating this in detail and I will post a thread if I come up with something . I have a 3 litre BMW SE with fairly high quiescent drain and never had a starting problem even when it had been standing for 3 weeks.... Roy (ex Chloride) As you know on the RX400h the battery is only used for powering auxillaiary circuits and lights etc and not for cranking the engine to start it. So should (or is) the battery be of the caravan leisure type which can stand low current drain for a much longer time but does not high instantaneous short term current supply? If it is a normal battery, I think they put the wrong type in the 400H.... Billy, You've got me scratching my head on this one..... As I understand it however, on the RX400 the special 'drive' bateries' which drive the electric motors are nothing to do with the starting of the petrol engine. Nor have they anything to do with all the 'toys' fitted to the car... They just drive the car in the same way as special deep cycling batteries drive a 'Milk Float' or Fork Lift Truck....( much higher quality of course) On the other side of the specification , your engine starter battery does just the same function as mine does on my meagre 2002 RX300... it starts the engine, handles all the 'toys' and , in my opinion is far to small to carry all the 'hotel loads'... I won't go into technical jargon here as I am trying hard to get info on the RX400 drive battery set and it is just like getting Tony Blair to tell us of the important day... In my day , Rolls Royce had problems worse than Lexus could ever dream about. Believe me.. A customer would pay between 1 and 1.5 grand for a service.. Take a car home to his 'Mews' Flat. Leave it there until Ascot week or the Henley Regata.. Get his picnic hamper out , get in his car and THEN .. call a taxi the battery was dead flat... RR solved this problem by fitting 2 batteries one for starting and one for 'Hotel use'. No matter how much the Hotel battery was drained by 'standing in the garage' with a high quiescant drain... the other battery was not involved... As soon as the key was turned the car started and the alternator charged up both batteries.. Problem solved... I understand some top end German cars are now fitting 2 batteries to solve this problem.. One for starting and one to sop up all the Q drains from the 'toys' Hope I've not gone on to much and bored you... I would dearly love an RX400 .. I am retired and it is hard to save up your pennies for such luxuries.. I have stopped the wife having 3 meals a day, buying shoes, clothes and make up and who knows... some day I may get there. Would welcome any info you have on the RX400 drive batteries.. Roy Hii Roy, Sorry for delay in replying. I didn't get a notification of your message. Thanks for the update on the 2 battery systems. As I understand it, there is no conventional starter motor (or alternator) on the 400h!!! It is started by the main drive motor/generator which is driven by the big 280 volt drive battery. So I don't think there is much amperage required from the 12 volt battery to start it as long as there is enough voltage for the control systems... Please correct me if I am wrong :) Billy

I have had exactly the same problem with my 52 RX300SE..... In a nutshell, the battery is far to small in ampere hour capacity for the hotel loads put across it from standing . (not to be confused with starting currents). The solution is of course a bigger capacity (Ah) battery .The present OE fit (on my car is a Lucas 45ah) is far smaller than the batteries fitted to Merc and BMW.. The real problem however is that if you obtained a bigger battery there is a difficulty fitting it due to the size of the tray. I am investigating this in detail and I will post a thread if I come up with something . I have a 3 litre BMW SE with fairly high quiescent drain and never had a starting problem even when it had been standing for 3 weeks.... Roy (ex Chloride) As you know on the RX400h the battery is only used for powering auxillaiary circuits and lights etc and not for cranking the engine to start it. So should (or is) the battery be of the caravan leisure type which can stand low current drain for a much longer time but does not high instantaneous short term current supply? If it is a normal battery, I think they put the wrong type in the 400H....

It happened to my 400h 3 or 4 times. Once when it was 10 days old after I left the key in Aux position so satnav was on for several hours. I repeated the trick twice later over a 3 month period. But it happened again on a Sunday afternoon after playing with Satnav secret codes for 2 hours. I am wondering how long does the battery hold up if you watch a DVD in an RX 350 or in the new 400H? There should be warning tone to remind you the key is left in! Our Citroen C3 has one!! I believe it is fitted but not enabled on the European models but is enabled on the USA version.

2 points IMHO :) 1. I was told by both a Toyota and Lexus dealer that servicing a 400h normally only involves the normal work that any conventional car would have.Oil & Filter change etc. They said that there is no servicing required on the Hybrid system. Apparently Toyata are not allowed to touch a Lexus car of any sort. But you can go to any reputable independent garage for a service and get your book stamped without invalidaing warranty. So they said!! Something to do with EEC fair trade I believe.... So I was told!! :) But do check your facts with a second opinion!!! 2. The new improved modern satnav system is a new hardware system and plays dvd's, mp3 etc with a better Satnav screen etc. It may be that the Sat system uses a different format. I tried a Range Rover DVD in my 400H and it wouldn't work. BR Billy

OOps sorry. I forgot to reply!! Yes , that is good news. Let's hope it holds up!!:) To be honest I misunderstood you when you said an upgrade would be downloaded! I thought you meant they were going to download details of the 2007 RX400h ugrade. Silly me

Well I towed a big empty but heavy 20 foot 4 wheeled trailer for about 60 miles last year without any problems. Petrol went down to 20 mpg!!

Great stuff. I look forward to that. M#Nice to hear about the wheels :)

Any news yet? :winky:

I had them on the front and back of my 400h. But I wasn't happy with the back\ones as they would scream at me when I went into reverse even though there was nothing there. I am sure I had 4 in the front and 4 in the back...

That's great. I lokk forward to that :)

Well at last , progress. It is looking gooD :) I am away in Ireland from Wed now till next Monday, so BFN. Billy

Hi All. I found a refernce on the Australian Prius forum to a company who is making high capacity for the Prius and are working on one for the RX400h along with other models.(Thank you Aussies!) They expect the Prius model to be available in October but there is no date for the 400h. The only downside seems to be that it may void the warranty :( However it is interesting so do have a look: http://www.hymotion.com/products.htm Regards Billy

Hi Willi I have taken the liberty of adding some extra items as per earlier posting (see above) to your spreadsheet. The most important (to me) are listed below. Take steps to eliminate wind noise in front doors. This is IMPORTANT. Lexus Newcastle has tried several options without success. Key left in ignition switch (or Aux position) warning tone (as in Citroen C3 etc) when door opens to avoid flattening battery in aux position. Parking sensors front and rear. Bright LED type reversing lights. Present bulbs are useless on a dark country road. Effective mudflaps. front and rear. Those available are too small to be effective on muddy road. I hope you are able to convince the Big Boss to take some action. Thanks Billy

Good luck Michael. I hope they listen to you :) Billy

Re: The RX350 I have had a RX400h for a year now. Before that I had a RX300 which was terribly sluggish in comparison. However my car went in for a service yesterday and they gave me a 350 for the day. WOW - It was rapid and a vast improvement on the 300. The power seemed the same as the 400 - I cant give you any idea about the fuel economy as I only had it a day. The only other things I noticed were a/ You can get LW radio on the 300 + 350 but not on the 400 !! and b/ The satnav system was the much improved (and the exisitng one is good). The map layout is much clearer and more modern and the menus are very futuristic. I asked if I could use an upgrade disc and was laughed at at Lexus :-( Hope this is of some use.... Gazman :zee: I must admit I might have been tempted to copy their DVD that was in the car just to EVALUATE it :) Nah...probably wouldn't. It is probably copyright :) Congrats on not doing it!

Hi Michael. One does wonder!! I guess I am one of the lucky ones. I think a lot depends on your dealer. Lexus Newcastle fought my case successfully. I am not sure if I would have succeeded in geting a new car without their help. It is due in October and will be built early August as one of the first upgraded models. It looks as if I am sorted ok, but I still support the group and will help in any way I can. I really think we need to contact the President with details of the meeting as I read somewhere that he is keen for Lexus to have a good name which is now deterioating in UK and Europe. It is a shame as they can be good cars and it will also affect the resale values. Kind Regards Billy

That is very disappointing considering the trip yo guys made to meet them. I would have at least expected a response. Is it possible to send details of your notes of the meeting directly to the Lexus President in Japan? Billy Hi Guys, I have been interested in reading this thread. Very interested to see that some of you went to a meeting in Brussels. Not atall surprised by the lack of contact so far though. Yesterday I met a chap with the same problem as we have with our car, talking to the same guy in customer care we have been saddled with. He was being told that he problem does not exist and there is no fix for it. We have the fix installed in our car! We have had no end of problems with the RX300 gearbox (see the thread RX300 lurching). I spoke to Japan at length about our problems and after listening for ages, they simply said, its not up to us its up to LGB to help you! Japan don't care about us in Europe and the bad part is neither do European or UK Customer care. Sure they came up with a fix for a problem they spent two years telling me was not there and it only makes the car worse. Pursuit of perfection? No hope! Michael (m'ladys husband) I still say we should contact the Toyota / Lexus president. I have seen a thread where he had a car replaced instantly in USA.... Billy That is very disappointing considering the trip yo guys made to meet them. I would have at least expected a response. Is it possible to send details of your notes of the meeting directly to the Lexus President in Japan? Billy Hi Guys, I have been interested in reading this thread. Very interested to see that some of you went to a meeting in Brussels. Not atall surprised by the lack of contact so far though. Yesterday I met a chap with the same problem as we have with our car, talking to the same guy in customer care we have been saddled with. He was being told that he problem does not exist and there is no fix for it. We have the fix installed in our car! We have had no end of problems with the RX300 gearbox (see the thread RX300 lurching). I spoke to Japan at length about our problems and after listening for ages, they simply said, its not up to us its up to LGB to help you! Japan don't care about us in Europe and the bad part is neither do European or UK Customer care. Sure they came up with a fix for a problem they spent two years telling me was not there and it only makes the car worse. Pursuit of perfection? No hope! Michael (m'ladys husband) I still say we should contact the Toyota / Lexus president. I have seen a thread where he had a car replaced instantly in USA.... Billy Details: Hiroshi Nishiyama, the Toyota managing officer in charge of the Lexus rollout. COMPANY PROFILE / S&P BUSINESS SUMMARY Toyota Motor ADS ( NYS: TM ) Company Fact Sheet Address 1, Toyota-cho, Toyota City Aichi Prefecture 471-8571 Japan Phone 0565-28-2121 Fax 0565-23-5800 WebSite http://www.toyota.co.jp Incorporated Date 1937 Incorporated Place N/ Transfer Agent Toyko Trust & Banking Co., Ltd. Ticker TM Exchange NYS Chairman Mr. Fujio Cho Vice Chairman Mr. Katsuhiro Nakagawa President Mr. Katsuaki Watanabe Exec V-P Mr. Tokuichi Uranishi Exec V-P Mr. Kazuo Okamoto Exec V-P Mr. Kyoji Sasazu Exec V-P Mr. Mitsuo Kino****a Exec V-P Mr. Yoshimi Inaba Exec V-P Mr. Takeshi Uchiyamada Exec V-P Mr. Masatami Takimoto Exec V-P Mr. Akio Toyoda Employees 285977 Here is an extract from: http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/conte...28/b3942068.htm written July 2005 Toyota aims to initially sell around 60,000 Lexus-branded vehicles a year in Japan. "After 15 years of success in the U.S., we're ready," says Hiroshi Nishiyama, the Toyota managing officer in charge of the Lexus rollout. "We're hoping to pull new customers into the luxury-car area." If all goes as planned, annual Lexus sales in Japan could hit 100,000 by 2010, which would give Lexus models more than a third of Japanese luxury sales. The initial four models that Toyota will re-brand as Lexus cars now make up around 10% of the market. Sales managers in Japan have a good playbook to follow. In the U.S., Lexus has outpaced rivals such as BMW, Cadillac, and Mercedes to clinch the title of top-selling luxury brand for the past five years. It has done that by offering premium quality, a great showroom experience, and a series of appealing vehicles. American drivers' demand for the entry-level RX sport-utility vehicle and ES sedan pushed U.S. Lexus sales to just shy of 290,000 last year, compared with 221,610 for Mercedes. Surely one of that lot can do something!! Billy

That is very disappointing considering the trip yo guys made to meet them. I would have at least expected a response. Is it possible to send details of your notes of the meeting directly to the Lexus President in Japan? Billy

Would it be easy to fit? What do you think it would look like on an Alutian Grey car? The photo shows it on a silver one. Is there a picture of the grill on a website? My wife does not like the JAWS type grille :) Oops, I have just realise that I misunderstood this question. However, is there any other grill that would fit the RX400h? So this is the reverse of the original question. Sorry :(

Would it be easy to fit? What do you think it would look like on an Alutian Grey car? The photo shows it on a silver one. Is there a picture of the grill on a website? My wife does ot like the JAWS type grille :)

The only point that I would add is to try to find out what their customer service is like. This can be very important. My experience of Lexus Newcastle is first class. They fought my case and got me a replacement new car to be delivered in october (New upgraded model). Other people have failed to get satisfaction. Also my limited contact with Lexus Bradford has been very good. I suggest you look at some of the threads to establish where some people have had good and bad experiences. Billy Hi, did you manage to get a replacement RX due to a fault on the vehicle? If so what was the fault and how long did you have the car for ? The fault started 30 mins before I drove it out of the show room. They thought they had fixed it by reinitialisingthe ECU. It came back after 10 days. The fault affected the power steering and the brakes. They took it away for 2 or 3 weeks and brought it back. This happened a total of 4 times since I got it in Sept 05. I guess I have driven the car for about 3 months in total. After the last time I told them I was rejecting the car and not to bring it back. Lexus GB accepted Lexus Newcastle's view that the car was unsafe and agreed to provide a new vehicle. I haven't got it yet so please don't quote my case until I get it in October :)

The only point that I would add is to try to find out what their customer service is like. This can be very important. My experience of Lexus Newcastle is first class. They fought my case and got me a replacement new car to be delivered in october (New upgraded model). Other people have failed to get satisfaction. Also my limited contact with Lexus Bradford has been very good. I suggest you look at some of the threads to establish where some people have had good and bad experiences. Billy

Thank you. I didn't know all that as I haven't had traction control before my 400h!! But, (Mr. Lexus President,) it would still be nice to have the adative cruise control. I have a bad foot which hurts after a period pressing the throttle so I use CC all the time where possible! Cheers Billy Yes cruse control is a very nice thing! I hope there is not a missunderstanding! We asked Lexus to extend the range of the cruse control in the RX400 down to 30 or even 20km/h (which is standard for Mercedes, BMW and Audi). Now the lowest setting is 40 or 45km/h and this is too high for 30km/h zones. For me this would be much more important then a speed limiter function. But we also asked to modify the cruse control not to accelerate as hard as it is doing now in order to save gas, because now the car consumes more gas when driving with engaged CC as compared to drive manually. Regards willi No Willi. Don't worry, I understood what you meant. Thanks. But it was good to read of your extra requests. I did suspect that the acceleration was a bit harsh using more fuel. I take it Lexus didn't readily agree?!! I wait with bated breath for their report on your meeting :) I wonder what they will give us on the new cars!! I have 2 litre Saab Turbo auto Turbo on hire from Lexus/ RAC until 10 July and it gives about the same fuel consumption as my 400h but the acceleration isn't quite as good and the comfort not quite as nice but it is half the price to buy!! Tempting :) However I still want my Lexie that I have learned to love for the few weeks that I had it!! I am really looking forward to October with the surprise extras :) Cheers Billy

Yeah, I know. That's the bad part :( I can't see them recalling all the cars for upgrades, but maybe. You never know.... Yeah, this time last year I couldn't wait to get my new car in September. Now I am doing it all again and waiting till October!!! In the meantime I have to use my wifes pram..the Citroen C3!! Oh,... and I believe they willl also have 5.1 stereo sound! :) Billy and i forgot some thing! all new models will get "Snow Button" (like the new GS450h) to be able to shutt off "Electronic Traction Control" but i am not shure if this will be alreday in your car when delivered in Oktober. williz Sounds promising. Thanks Williz :) I was just thinking about this. Why shut off Traction control in snow? I would have thought you would need it for snow? My problem with automatics in snow is that I can't engage a high gear. maybe that is what it does? Billy Oh no! Traction control is very important in snow and ice conditions, but if it is too slippery than the traction control is reducing power to the wheels(in fact it is a bit more complicated). If this is not helping to get grip again it is further reducing power and at the end the cars is coming to a complete stand still. So when Mercedes introduced its first traction control system TV channels showed two identical cars going uphill on an icy road and the one with the traction control stopped in the middle wile the one without traction control made it up to the top. So traction control is an excellent safety feature for driving with higher speeds wile it can immobilize your car in very slippery situations. The RX400h system in combination with the VDIM is one of the best systems I have experienced so far, but still a few times during winter I would like to be able to switch the traction control off (I live in the mountains about 800m high and we have normally 4 month snow and ice). My last Mercedes had a button to switch the traction control off and it was coming on automatically when the car moved faster than 60 km/h. And now we come to the missing speed limiter function of the cruse control. You badly need this speed limiter when you drive with snow chains for longer time. If you exceed more than 50km/h than you start destroying the chains and sometimes also the plastic covers of the wheelhouses. So it is very nice to have the speed limiter set to 45km/h and can fully concentrate on the road and driving. I am sure Lexus will learn that as well. Thank you. I didn't know all that as I haven't had traction control before my 400h!! But, (Mr. Lexus President,) it would still be nice to have the adative cruise control. I have a bad foot which hurts after a period pressing the throttle so I use CC all the time where possible! Cheers Billy