Hola:

I just purchased a 2019 ES-350 F Sport with only 8500 miles on it. Am still learning the electronics, but one thing that is really disappointing is that it seems you have to pay for a subscription to Lexus Enform in order to utilize the remote start- even from the remote. I have factory remote start on other vehicles I own and they do not require a fee to use.

I don't think there is a solve for this, but thought I'd at least post so I might commiserate with others that share this frustration.

Cheers!

Jeff

 

Some manufacturers charge a subscription fee to utilize RS and other features... Toyota is one of them... Sucks...

 

You actually lucked out, the 2018 and 2019 Lexi all have the Lexus Safety Connect (overhead SOS button)
and the fob activated Remote Start for 120 months, 10 years! When Safety Connect was introduced in 2010
it had a 12 month trial and was $149/year after that. When the RS was introduced in 2015 (sedans w/Nav) or
2016 (everything else) the trial was still 12 months and the RS added $100/year for $249 total per year starting
year 2. They reduced the subscription costs to $80/yr for each component so RS on 15's, 16's and 17's became
$160/yr. Won't matter after Halloween 2022 because the 3G telephones phase out and none of it will work for
any cost on the 2017 and older models.

The 2018 and 2019 have the SC & fob starter free and you may choose to subscribe for the Lexus App features for
only $80/year to get the phone RS, car finder, guest driver monitor, Vehicle Health monitor, Door lock/unlock.

Staring in 2020 all the features above and Dynamic Navigation (phone helps the Nav) Dynamic Voice (cloud servers
help the voice recognition) are trialed for 36 months. Year four (4) will be $80 + $80 = $160/year for the RS.

 

There may be some reason for optimism on this score. I was looking into this last year because I was one of the few holdouts who still had a 3G phone. I saw somewhre that there are still commercial communication networks (I think maybe alarm systems, closed business networks, or the like) that still use 3G and really can't change. Those businesses will force the carriers to retain some degree of 3G functionality a lot longer than the carriers are willing to admit to the public, since the carriers are trying to bully phone consumers into upgrading. I do know for a fact that AT&T and Verizon have already pushed back their supposed drop-dead deadlines for consumer phone upgrades at least twice.

 

I think on my 21 I can start the car from the key or maybe all hybrids have remote start standard (at least with the key) and using the app is what requires the subscription? my 2021 got 3 years subscription for the app. but i think the key is hardwired/baked in for life.

 

Thought you could remote start with the fob by pressing lock twice then pressing lock again and holding lock until the car started. You can on my 2019 at least.

 

I spoke with Enform team today. So I guess the Enform system has a few enhanced features - one specifically is ability to start and lock/unlock via the mobile app. They did offer me 3 mos of Enform and 8 yrs of SOS. When I asked if I had to subscribe to something to maintain key fob remote start, they said that was a dealer question and the could not provide an answer. I’m guessing the key fob start will be avail without a contracted service.

thanks fir all the quick replies guys!

 

To all, read mcomer's post, which explains everything you need to know.

As mcomer said earlier, the reason why you can still remote start your car with the fob is because, starting a couple of years ago, Lexus made the Safety Connect (and fob remote start) free for 10 years. And, no, having remote start via the fob is not a hybrid feature.

So, if you were to keep your car for 10 years, at the end of that time you will either have to pay for the Safety Connect and fob remote start or else the ability to start the car with the fob will disappear.

Same as above. Your fob remote start will work for 10 years. After that, you will either have to pay for it or it will be disabled.

Again, as above, I don't think that they did anything special when they "offered you 3 months of Enform and 8 years of SOS". That is likely about what is left of the Enform Remote and Safety Connect that the original owner of your car got when he/she bought the car. After the 3 months of Enform Remote is up, you will have to pay $8 per month or else you won't be able to use the smart phone app, and, after the 8 years of Safety Connect is up, you will have to pay $8 per month or else you will lose your ability to remote start via the fob.

 

Thanks for clarifying!

 

Had a little fun researching other Telematic systems:

On-Star (the Original) has $25, 30, 40 & 50...per month subscriptions.
Some find and follow the car but don't start it, some start but don't find,
for $50 a month ($600/yr.) you get it all.

MBrace for Mercedes is $280/year.

BMW Connect is too cool for school...you must register your VIN to find
out how much is too much to pay for Connected Services. This thread
started with discussing the real time traffic display...BMW calls theirs
Advanced Real Traffic and it is only available by subscription. BMW used
to require payment to use Apple Car Play but that may have changed as
I could not find any payment schedule for that.

 

MComer you're a gem. What would we do without your excellent informational posts...

 

Quickly push the lock button on your remote 3 times......on the fourth time push and hold down the lock button. It will only work if all your windows/moonroof are/is fully closed and your doors are locked. Try it. If it doesn’t work the first time.....try and try again. 😊😊

 

It's actually press TWO times and hold on the THIRD.

 

And fob remote start only works if you have at least one active remote connect service. (Depending on the model year of your Lexus vehicle, the complimentary safety connect or other remote connect services could be 1 year, 3 years, or 10 years. After that, you need to pay for remote connect subscriptions. Again, read mcomer's post earlier in the thread.)

 

On my 2021 ES350 it’s three.....then hold on the 4th. Different years....different methods. 😊😊