Ken7

It's been a while since I've posted here or had a Lexus, but we just bought a new 2019 ES300h. We went for the 2019 as opposed to the 2020 because of a drop of 1mpg on the 2020s. That was enough to drop the ES300h out of the NYS Clean Pass program. We were fortunate to get the color combo we wanted in a new 2019, so all is good.

So my question is, and perhaps I've forgotten how the memory seats work in the ES, but something seems odd. With my seat memorized to Memory 2 and my wife's to Memory 1, it seems that when either of us gets in the car, you can't go from Memory 1 to Memory 2. When you get into the car it goes to a certain preset, but once it's there it won't shift to the other memory position. Is this correct or is it something I'm doing wrong? In other cars I've owned, anyone can press the different memory positions while seated in the driver's seat and have the seats go to the memory position you select.

mikemu30

You should be able to press any of the three memory buttons and it goes to that memorized position (seat, steering wheel, mirrors etc). In addition , you can marry each fob to a specific memory number and it will take that position when that specific fob is used to open the car. Works flawlessly in both of our cars.

Ken7

Mike, when we get into the car and fasten the seatbelt the seat does go to a memorized position. But once it completes that movement you can’t press any of the other memory buttons and have the seat respond to a different memory setting. That’s a very different behavior than other cars I’ve owned where it will keep going back & forth between memorized positions as you press different presets. I’m assuming that you should be able to have the seat move back & forth to other memorized positions after it initially moves the first time..

mikemu30

Something doesn't seem right. For example, if I grab my wife's fob, the seats move to her position but then I press my memory button and they move to my position.

Ken7

Mike, absolutely, something isn't right. I called Lexus this morning and they told me to come down later for them to have a look at it. I suspect they'll re-initialize it and all will be fine...at least I hope so. I'll post the results later.

Thanks for your help.

mcomer

Two different causes and effects with this one.
1) Take a moment to "initialize" the seat. With the car running in Park, get out and move the driver's seats
to every extreme of travel ie., fully forward and back, fully reclined and upright, front height top to bottom,
rear height top to bottom and if an Ultra Luxury move the front edge bolster fully out and in. Hold and wait
at each travel limit before running all the way back. Now reposition and reset "Set + 1" and "Set + 2"
Remember that you can only set and recall seat positions when stopped, in gear is OK but stopped.

2) Position triggered by the fob... with only one(1) fob present inside the car and a position already
memorized, press and hold "1" and while still holding that press the inside door rocker "unlock" until it chimes.
Repeat for "2" if desired. Now when the car "Unlocks" because fob "1" is outside it will move to the
desired position.
Remember that this is in response to actually Unlocking the car. My wife will park in our garage and
not lock the car. When I head out with my key and simply open the already unlocked car it does not move.
If the desired position is set for a very petite driver you may discover that having the seat move to the driving
spot is much too close to enter easily. To "Un-trigger" the fob, have only the fob involved be in the running car
and press and hold "Set". While still holding it press the inside door "unlock" until you hear the chime.
Note: a memorized position near the front of seat travel will retract about half way back for Easy Entry.
A taller persons position will travel all the way back. (A fully back position seat will only move the steering wheel)

Ken7

Well look what I just found! Here's a simple, though convoluted, procedure to re-initialize the seat memory system. I tried it and it does seem to work. This apparently comes from the Lexus technical manual. I'll have to wait for my wife to plug her settings in, but I did input 2 different memory positions into slots 1 & 2 and now, for the first time, I can sit and jockey back & forth between the two.

https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/20...45738-9999.pdf

Ken7

mcomer, just saw your post and your procedure is similar, though not identical to the Lexus procedure. I used the 'official' procedure and it does seem to be effective. Thanks for your post!

One note of caution for people using these procedures. If your seat position is too high and the headrest raised, you can scrape the top of the headrest against the liner as you move the seat position far forward. So be careful the headrest is lowered as far as you can and keep an eye on the clearance as you move the seat forward.

hlu

Thank you so much Ken7. You just save me many hours for another trip to dealer. Last week I found I cannot open other windows from the driver seat. Went to dealer and wait for two hours. They said they forgot to initialize the windows settings. Today I found out I cannot set memory seat. Luckily I found your procedure. Thanks.