CareAllend

Provisional epilogue :

1. On what might have happened: When the 12V auxiliary battery had fallen below a minimum voltage (overnight due to the abnormal audio system behavior), the car was switched "on" into an intermediate error status. The power key couldn't switch it "off", and during the attempted jump start, the induced amount of interference, voltage spikes and voltage surges have caused some irreversible brain damage to the car electronics. Post mortem conclusion: in this specific case, as the car electronics weren't switched completely "off", jump start wasn't the brightest idea; -> the 12V auxiliary battery in the rear should have been disconnected, recharged to some extent and reconnected, before attempting a restart.
2. On my car dealer's reaction: despite some initial communication difficulties, in the meantime I had several good discussions with the right people: as the car is out of warranty, the repair policy of the motherhouse (sitting in another country) is quite rigid, and doesn't give much room for goodwill actions. Conclusion: a warranty extension plan isn't a stupid idea.
3. What I did: given the fact that I still love the NX300h, the car dealer offered a new (2019) car out of his stock under decent conditions... with a 5-year warranty extension plan!
4. What I learned from this forum: if you can afford to spend some time on research, there are good companies selling spare parts at fraction of the cost your official car dealer is offering you, and there are many bright experts (in the US and in Europe) who have the capability to install and reprogram ECUs (with the right firmware) or even repair them. I only recommend this if your car is out of warranty, and you have evidence of a good track record of the expert.
5. On marketing: What I learn from my entourage is car owners tend to stay with or leave a brand when something bad happens outside the warranty period. They vote with their feet based on the car dealer's reaction, a "goodwill action" ("geste commercial" for my French speaking friends, "Kulanzregelung" for my German speaking friends), despite the cost for the dealer, induces a strong bond of loyalty, whereas a repair bill based on excel chart prices (always painful and high) makes the owner look out for other nice cars.

NSXT

I no longer own any cars moving forward as it costs too much to replace costly parts and unexpected maintenance.

Too many high tech electronics which is cheaper in labor by replacing them.

Here is a link to compare in a 10 years ownership of buy vs lease https://www.cartelligent.com/blog/bu...e-lexus-rx-350

Pros: Nothing to worry about
Cons: Lots of research and time to fix. Time is money for me so I chose lease for life

CareAllend

I was thinking about a strange episode happening about 10 years back:

• Taking a flight from Düsseldorf Airport (Germany), I parked my Mercedes CLK on the top floor of a multi-storey car park very close to the Control Tower;
• Coming back after 3 days, the GPS in my car was dead; diagnosis: GPS receiver grilled, for no obvious reason... It was replaced under warranty, no questions asked;
• My own explanation was an EMI ("Electromagnetic Interference") damage caused by the airport radar (typical air traffic control radars can have peak powers of 100 kW or more...), or other high power antennas.

Now, before my second last drive on my now damaged NX300h, I was parking my car alongside a river, just in front of the area where several cargo ships had to wait one hour or so due to a specific event,

• after driving home, the infotainment system couldn't be switched off, it was electronically blocked, but half an hour later, I restarted the car without any engine issue to go to the gas station (radio still playing, muted by switching to Bluetooth),
• next morning, the 12V auxiliary battery was depleted,
• the car was "jump started" with a professional portable power starting system,
• subsequently, the ECU behaved as discussed above... (strangely, the infotainment worked again as normal , but it is well known EMI can temporarily switch some bits in memory...).

As ECUs are well tested against EMI hazards (see https://www.edn.com/electronics-news...r-EMI-Immunity ), I wonder if the cargo ships radars weren't badly affecting the infotainment system (which obviously isn't so well tested against EMI, presenting no safety hazard), subsequently leading to other mishaps.

Conclusion: Radars can cause electromagnetic interference in other electronic equipment. The threshold for these effects are often well below guidance levels for human exposure to RF fields!!! Additionally, radars can also cause interference in certain medical devices, such as cardiac pacemakers and hearing aids, by the way. Always keep electronic devices away from radars Now I know that Toyota (and Lexus) is doing an outstanding job in testing their vehicles against EMI (especially since 2010), but there is no way to shield off EMI to 100%.

CareAllend

Thank you for sharing, NSXT.

I can't agree more on the benefits of leasing (unfortunately our tax authorities made it less attractive driving company cars privately here in Europe). Private leasing is gaining weight, but slowly. Unless you're building a house, transporting large dogs or scuba diving equipment etc. it's worth considering for sure.

CareAllend

In fact, is it at all possible to conclude on ECU death and on its need to be replaced by simply connecting the diagnosis tool to the OBD2 port and reading "No comms with ECU" ???

After seeing this video, my personal answer would be "no"; the hybrid ECU adds some complexity, but the process should be similar...:

CareAllend

Epilogue: see https://www.clublexus.com/forums/nx-...arts-safe.html

… and be aware of the fact that many people call "ECU" any module with built in electronics & software, not only the Engine Control Unit. In my case, this caused a lot of misunderstandings, for which I apologize.