bcollinson

took my reflectors off 2 MOTs ago and it has passsed fine each time. I think they only check to see if they work. Also fitted bright LEDs (ebay) and that is much better but still a long way off what my mates Prius does at night.

Further to me previous post on this topic, I think have now solved the problem on my 400h As other forum members have suggested, you get a massive improvement in rear vision at night on the reversing system screen on the dashboard, if you remove the little shades that cover the bulbs. To remove the clusters, Just follow the bulb replacement instructions in the manual and that will expose the light clusters. The light clusters are held in by just 3 Phillips type screws. Undo those and that releases the cluster. Then there is just one small Phillips screw that holds the shade in place. undo the screw, remove the shade and then put it all back together (without the shades) and replace the cluster on the door. This makes a massive difference and increases what you can see by a huge margin. However, having borrowed another car with a similar system (Honda CRV) I was aware that the rear view screen could be even better, so I replaced the 16w bulbs with some LEDs that you can get from ebay. The instructions for doing this are in the manual (same as part one of above). if you did both jobs at the same time, you will save a lot of work. this did not trigger any faults on the bulb sensors on the car and we now have vastly improved and effective rear view vision.

I agree with previous comments about inadequate rear view when reversing RX400h at night.- The argument about the lights being there to warn other road users is immaterial. The fact is, that there is a rear facing screen in the central console that activates when reverse is selected. That is where the problem lies because the picture on the central console at night is useless as an aid to seeing where you are in relation to obstacles at the rear of the car. It is slghtly better if you have brake lights on as well as another user stated - almost usable. Not good enough for Lexus to say that the lights are there to warn others - Its the view from the camera/screen that is the issue and H+S legislation requires that if the equipment is fitted, it must be fit for purpose when operated and it clearly isn't at night. Just by way of contrast and as an aid to the debate, I had a Honda CR-V courtesy car borrowed from my garage last week and it has a PERFECT rear view camera and screen that works very well at night and that car is £30k cheaper! I was wondering if anyone had up rated the rear reversing light bulbs?