Needsdecaf

Yes there is.

Needsdecaf

My 2014 sucks too. It doesn't use all the speakers. Stupid.

tex2670

How does it sound to the person on the other end?

My '07 IS250 sounds clear both ways.

islandbeef

For me, it's hit or miss for the person on the other end. It also depends on phone signal strength but my primary issue is with the sound quality of the handsfree speakerphone inside the car. I've tried improving the volume and mic sensitivity within the "secret" settings menu. No improvement.

fsportjay

I have not had a problem with people understanding me. I call my Dad a lot using it and his hearing isn't the best without any issue. He says I sound just like I do in my Fusion :/ I have made calls to my buddies car which is the same car as me just a differnt color and we can understand each other fine (until the NAV voice prompt inturrupts) wish I could mute that during calls.

tompass

I also really dislike that the nav prompt continues when using the phone. And really dislike that in spite of what some have said, no voice command that i have tried will suspend route guidance.

fsportjay

I just delete destination (not suspend) by saying "delete destination" via voice command. If I need to continue back to the same destination I pull it from the history. That's my work around suggestion. We need Lexus to come out with a software update!

tompass

Will certainly try delete destination voice command! Lexus should definitely step up their game regarding voice commands.

ItzFilyO

On my old 2011 Camry with factory nav, the whole nav pauses when I'm on the phone and resume after I hang up, and that's how I missed my turn/exit too.

steverhode

I asked the person who helped me out at delivery to talk to the dealer technology expert and this is the response I got:

"I did get a chance to look at a 2014 GS model with Mark Levinson today with my head technician, unfortunately there is no way for the GS to receive better sound quality from the speakers where the phone call voices originate from near the left and right side of the windshield. The hidden menus do not offer much for us because most of those are used to help with the change of country that you are in and the most common voices/dialects found in those areas of the world.

I wish I could bring better news to you, but after looking around at several option settings in the GS's system, there is just no way to change either where the sound originates from or help the quality of it either. Please let me know if you have any other questions."

I wrote him back:

"Can you supply me please with a name and address of a person higher up in Lexus so we get this problem addressed?

Lexus should be able to create a fix for the dealers to install. (I can think of several ways they could fix it or at least make it much better.) Based on the Lexus forums, this a common complaint from '13 and '14 GS owners."

islandbeef

Outstanding, Steve. Let's hope this can get the ball rolling in the right direction.

Afrosheen

For real, this should be a change to the module that outputs sound to the stereo. However, one thing that's tricky is filtering for loopback noise, which happens when you play a speaker into a microphone, but that's only on full duplex audio. Since you don't hear yourself talking during a conversation (like you would on a cell phone) it may not be a problem for this system.

Still, 17 speakers, 825 glorious watts, and two tinny high treble speakers handling your call is just...sad.

tompass

At least now Lexus will be aware of the issue. Thanks for bringing the issue to their attention.

steverhode

My friendly and helpful contact at the dealer added today:

"My lead tech suggests that on your next visit to us we can most certainly open a RO so we can report the condition through a TAS case and receive a TAS case # so we can get our regional Lexus FTS involved. He also highly suggests calling into the customer satisfaction number, 1-800-25-LEXUS, to report this concern as well. This will help escalate the issue with the manufacturer directly. "

*YOU* should call too!!

islandbeef

Selection "Option 5" for customer satisfaction dept. I just had a pleasant conversation regarding this issue, they documented my concerns and will forward. All I had to do is leave my name and car model. They asked if I've brought my car in for inspection but I commented on our discussions amongst ourselves here on the CL boards.