And to reinforce my point, this quote is from a Car and Driver article I found, "Lexus's average buyer age is 61 and 70 percent of Lexus buyers are retirees, according to the company."

Of course, the people on Lexus forums are likely to be much younger than the average owner of a Lexus. And an LS owner age will be older than that of an IS. Still my point is that sound levels, like dash light levels, are a natural for car companies to allow to be adjusted. The parking assist, for example, does have several levels of sound you can set.

 

I agree the blinker is quiet, but thats why there is a blinking green arrow as well. Maybe you can find a way to take insulation off the relay or try to find a noisier relay.

 

Because of where I have the steering wheel, I cannot see the blinkers. But, between being comfortable and being about to see the blinkers, I'll go for the comfort. 99% of the time I remember to turn them off anyway when they don't go off automatically.

 

Mark me down as one who has good hearing and HAS NOTICED how quiet the blinker relay is and can't really see the lights because of the comfortable position my steering wheel is at
If I drove the car more often, I'd look at fixing this.

 

Um, I considered the low volume blinker on my 3GS a positive benefit instead of a negative -- another example of the outstanding driver interface on Lexus. On other cars, I hated the fact that the click-click sound was reminding me of that the fact that I was turning when I already knew I was turning. A real annoyance, especially when there's a blinking light telling me the same thing.

 

Yet another reason why this should and needs to be user changeable just like the parking assist. For some it is too loud and disturbs them while for others they can't hear it and deem the sound important and want it louder so they can hear it.

 

i actually love how low the warnings in Lexus are compared to Toyota's.... makes it seem more luxurious for me...

 

You like the blinkers very quiet. I like them louder. Understandable, which is why they should be ajustable.

I like my radio on the "40" setting, but I'd hate to have a car where could not raise or lower the volume. Ditto for ringers on phones. Maybe you think a soft ringer is more luxurious. I might like them louder. So be it.

 

The click-click doesn't tell you you're turning. It tells you the blinker is on if your seating position + steering wheel position block the lights, as is sometimes the case. Somebody here just needs to find the relay and see if it's insulated or can be replaced with a louder unit.

 

Don't you guys love this forum, we're all having a debate over the sound of the turn signals. Over in the german cars (won't name names) their forums are populated with threads on tranny failures or electrical failures or engine failures or safety recalls, etc, etc . . .

 

YOu have no idea how right you are on this one. Quite comical actually.
One more thing- I doubt many 70 year olds drive a GS or IS as these cars are more difficult to get in and out of for that age group and they tend to like a more traditional sedan.

 

The IS and GS do appeal to a younger buyer. Here is the % of buyers age 56+ for each model:

IS 17%
GS 40%
ES 54%
LS 65%

 

+1 Ain't it sweet.

 

But almost HALF of the GS owners over 56 years old, so ergonomics, and configurability, are and should be very important.

Based on the numbers above the IS drivers are dramatically younger, while the GS, ES and LS cars all have close to over half of their drivers over 56.

 

to prove an point once, I went to 5 series forums, and found 10-15-20 different issues in latest 3 pages of those forums (fuel pumps, electrics, etc, etc) while first 3 pages of these forums were about squeaks... guess what? Other forums had squeaks too :-).