leouk

I am a new Lexus NX owner, and recently we had a collision accident. The outer plastic cover of the headlight on the driver's side was smashed into pieces, but luckily, the lights still work. The edge of the bonnet near the headlight was dented, and the bonnet seems to be slightly misaligned. The engine splash shield (or skid plate) was punctured, creating a 1-inch hole. No airbags were deployed.

Fortunately, the SOS center detected the accident and contacted us immediately. However, things became scary when, after putting the car in Park and getting out, we couldn't get back in. All the doors were locked and couldn't be opened from the outside. We didn't notice this malfunction immediately. I recall it seemed odd from the beginning: I was sitting in the passenger seat, and my friend got out of the car with the key. He couldn't open the car from the outside, but I didn't pay much attention. After a while, I also got out, and we were locked outside the car. Even though we had the key fob with us and tried the mechanical key, the doors wouldn't open. The remote control on the Lexus app didn't work either. When we tried the mechanical key, we heard the locking/unlocking sound, but all the doors remained sealed.

This seems like a serious security issue. What if the accident had been severe, and someone inside the car was injured and unable to open the door? Has anyone experienced anything like this before? Shouldn't the car automatically unlock all doors in the event of an accident?

In the end, we somehow opened the trunk and used a long stick to unlock the rear seat door from the inside through the trunk.

Additionally, can anyone suggest where we should have the car repaired? The insurance company has a list of "recommended shops," but should we use a Lexus-authorized repair shop considering the broken parts (headlights, skid plate)? Or should we go to a 4S shop? Do all Lexus-authorized collision centers provide consistent service, or does it vary from shop to shop?

Huge thanks in advance for your kind suggestion.
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Saw a new theory explaining why. Does anyone know how the auto-lock function work? I saw a theory explaining that the car autolocked when we got off the car. But I checked the auto-lock settings on my car, it should autolock/unlock by switching to P. But we did put the car on Parking, shouldn't it unlock the car?

TheCDN

Sorry to hear about your bad luck in getting into a collision. You don't mention what country you are in, and car manufacturers have to comply with local regulations concerning their designs which may play into how the car's electronic door latch system reacted to the collision.

For the simple fact that these cars have so many electronic items contained in them, including the door latch systems, I would definitely take it to a Lexus dealer. Other shops quite frankly won't have the ability to communicate with Lexus head office to discuss any peculiarities they could come upon when doing the repair. And this would provide you with the best outcome with any warranty being applied to the repairs. Plus, just because you can't see anything major broken with your car, there are many many wiring harnesses and electronic modules that are located under the hood of your car that may have been impacted in some way from the collision.

The car has sensors in every seat location so it knows when to activate air bags and when someone or something is in back seat, like a child, and can remind you that you've left them inside. Plus the car is equipped with motion sensors too so it a can detect someone moving inside. (My dog will set this off if I leave him locked in the car). So maybe once it knew that no one was inside the car it locked it up for safety concerns.

Think of it like you dropped your laptop onto a concrete sidewalk from a good 1-2 metre (4-6 foot) height and everything looks good with the metal outer casing, but you know all the electronic bits inside could be ruined rendering the computer an expensive paperweight.

Billst

I did have similar experience when battery went flat.
Described in post https://www.clublexus.com/forums/nx-...nightmare.html
In my case, my wife was locked in the car!

The emergency release did not work, inside or outside. Pulling lever. We now know that the inside release lever must be pulled twice within one second otherwise the lock resets.
I have never had a satisfactory explanation of the outer lock failure as it did suddenly reset after about 10-15 minutes, much to the relief of both of us, and the lever did then work
This was after I called European Assistance - that may have been coincidental, or it may have been a timeout on the auto locking system.

Also very disturbing was the SOS button did not work!

450h+ Takumi UK MY24

Droid13

For clarity, when opening the door manually from the outside, you must use the key to unlock, but also use the manual release lever too. Just turning the key doesn't open the door.

leouk

Hi CDN, thanks for your kind advice. I am in the US, and I think the Lexus in us are the same in Canada?
I did some research it seems many NX cars especially 22-23 model had similar issues with the door handles in cold weather as suggested in Reddit.

leouk

I am so sorry to hear what happened to you and your wife.
I don't think it is related to the baterry, cuz I just bought the car 3 months ago, do I need to charge the battery so soon? After the car restarted, now the key fob worked well.

leouk

Oh that is new to me. What do you mean by manual release lever? which part?
Cuz I checked some how to open lexus car with mechanical key on youtube, I saw them simply turing the key then the door is opened.

Droid13

Hmmm, perhaps on smart key systems that still have the mechanical locks and not the electric locks the NX uses. In any case, here's where the manual release is on the outside handles.

leouk

oh God! Thank you so much, I think you are right! I saw this small part near the handle that day and did wonder why it was there. But it was so thin I was afraid of breaking it and didn't give it try. So to unlock the door, I' ll have to turn the key and then pull the release out just as the photo shown, correct? Super thanks!!!

Still some people thought the locking situation might be caused by the collision (cuz on the driver's side) and somehow affect the locking system.

midcow3

First sorry for the accident and hope no one was seriously injured.

Two suggestions:

(1) Ask Lexus to show you how to open a Lexus NX door from the outside and also from the inside. Theses emergency measures should be a requirement of a Lexus dealership to demonstrate when a new car is purchased.

(2) Others have also said this. Absolutely, get your car repair at a Lexus dealer. There will probably be more damage than it first appears, You want Lexus to find all issues and replace with genuine Lexus parts.

Good Luck in getting your NX fixed quickly and restored completely.


YMMV,
MidCow3

TheCDN

Here's a video for the door latch system from Lexus Canada. Please note it says during the video (time stamp is 1:15) that after a crash the manual door latch system on the outside will work right away. I take that to mean no one will need a key to unlock the door first,, just use the manual pull found under the exterior door handle. I myself didn't know this!
Good for ALL to watch and learn, please do!

I 100% agree with all that this is in and of itself is an extremely important aspect of the vehicle that all owners / users need to be be completely competent on it's function in all scenarios! The fact that in a state of panic you have to remember that it now opens up differently than before is to me insane! Ask a first responder how much people are in a daze after an event such as car crash.

leouk

Really appreciated your suggestions. It's truel, no one at the dealership have showed us the emergency measures. Otherwise I would have remember about the manual release. And yes, I followed your guy's kind advice and sent my NX to dealership now. They will repair the body damages then check the locking system.

Again, thanks so much!!

leouk

Wow, this video explained it all. This is super helpful!! I indeed didn't pull the manual release and it turned out I don't even need the mechanical key to open the door.
Indeed, I was already like paniced and all these finding a card to locate the key hole thing(luckily I put a card on the back of my phone otherwise we left the wallet in the car and no way to open it neither) was driving me crazy....

Again, your advice is so so helpful and thank you so much!

spbonzo

Everything about the door handle system on the NX is a design for a problem that doesn't exist.

TheCDN

I'll agree with you 100%! I recall a young actor, I believe in a Star Wars cast or something similar, jumped out of his new car and failed to put it into park properly, went to open his driveway gate and the car crept up to him and crushed him. The authorities blamed one of the those stupid new shift mechanisms that now so many cars have gone to, as the cause in error on his part. Another fine example of redesigning something that has literally become second nature to all who have driven for years and instinctively can shift a console shifter from park to drive with their eyes closed no problem! Fine you want to make it electronic in design go ahead but the 'movement' of the shifter works like muscle memory for so many drivers, it's a dangerous thing to allow dealerships to hand over a 2 ton piece of metal and not show the new owner how to operate the new design functionalities of the car.

I'm one of those such people that have been driving for over 40 years and I can tell you that I imposed on myself a good 6 months of 'training' for me to become innately familiar with all the (not buttons) menus and various screens in order to know instinctively where to go to activate something.