richmanl

Yesterday, for the second time, I ran our Lexus NX 350h, luxury SUV through an automated car wash and had a fairly bizarre problem. The car wash is a manned chain driven carwash of about 100-150 feet long. Of course I made sure the wipers were off, the mirrors folded and that the car was in neutral. All of the different proximity warnings went off as the wash began and I ignored them, realizing that the speaker could be turned off if wanted. At the end of the wash the chain drive finishes moving the car and it is released to be driven. EXCEPT- the stick shift would not select a gear. Everything was on, just as it had been at the beginning of the wash. The stick would move to the right place but the car stayed in neutral (no neutral light though). What panicked me the most was that there was a truck in the carwash about 50’ behind, so time was limited. I tried to shift into drive again, nothing, no lights, just nothing. So I had to select Park to turn off the car and reboot everything. Park lite up and worked fine, allowing me to turn the car off and then on. This worked but the truck behind me was only 4-5 feet away by the end of the process. This was ALMOST an accident in slow motion. I talked to technical support at the dealership and they had NO advice, not even a glimmer of an idea. So, (sorry for the long post) has anyone else had this problem? Does anyone have any ideas of what to do, besides asking the carwash to skip having a vehicle right behind me and taking the time to reboot? BTW- I absolutely love the NX. In the scheme of things this is minor except for the first and second discovery. I just need to determine if this is a general problem or a specific one.

dklanecky1

Unclear, is this the first time it's done this or the second time? Or is this just the second time you've washed it?

Sounds to me like you inadvertently turned the car off before/during the wash, OR the car turned itself off before/during the wash.

Either way, to my knowledge, no one else has reported anything like this on the new NX, that would lead me to suspect user error, especially if the dealer can't find anything wrong.

midcow3

I am confused? Did the car wash cause the problem the first time you washed the car? or did the problem only occur the second time you washed the car? Or does the problem occur every time you wash your car at this car wash?

Maybe it is time to find a new place to wash your NX; just saying.

Hope all is well now and pease



YMMV,
MidCow3

hintonwood

I had the flashing warning in a track car wash 3 times in my Lexus UX. It warned me to move out of neutral to avoid shutdown of the car due to depletion of the hybrid battery.

I googled it and found lots of articles warning of the problems with Hybrids - first seen in Prius cars which the NX is based on.

This is an example of one of these threads:

https://www.toyotanation.com/threads...-wash.1687013/

I stopped using track car washes for my UX and have never taken my new NX into one.

raviola4

I used a bucket, sponge, car wash liquid, and a hose. No issues with my NX 350h.

richmanl

This happened the first and second time at the same carwash. The difference being that no one was behind me the first time. I also thought it may be an anomaly the first time but obviously this was wrong. No, unfortunately I did not inadvertently turn off the car or do anything else for that matter. Thanks for your response.

richmanl

Not a bad idea raviola4. I am a lot lazier than that but I am also 72. We have used this carwash for quite awhile. It worked great with our RX-400h and Acura. We may have to give it up.

richmanl

Hintonwood, that is amazingly interesting. I think I may shoot some video the next time around and study it after the fact. Thanks for the input.

nx350hybri

I had the same issue at a car wash today. If you turn off Intuitive Parking Assist (I think it's called) in the quick menu, you won't get the annoying beeps.
As far as shifting back to D from N, it seems that the brake needs to be pressed, at least slightly, a complete stop is not necessary. This wasn't the case in my Prius which had the same type of shifter, as I could go from N to D without engaging the brake.

richmanl

Thank you NX350hybri! I will give that a shot sometime next week and report back.

FastFord

Pretty sure you will have to tap the brake and slide it to drive. You can try it in a driveway or parking lot, leave the experiment for somewhere other than the car wash! Page 168 of my owners manual talks about car washes...My model is different so pages might be different. Rain sensing off, and parking off, makes for a more pleasant experience. Lots of people across many brands have similar experiences...Good Luck, keep us posted.

raviola4

I’m 73. As long as I can function still wash my car, cut grass, etc etc.

BC310

Great suggestions from nx350hybri and FastFord regarding use and practice of shifting into/out of Neutral before getting in line for the car wash!

Regarding bells and whistles at the wrong time, Tesla added a Car Wash Mode button last year in the infotainment screen that will temporarily disable the affected automated features and exterior touch controls. Otherwise it's a pain to have to go through and disable each one and then re-enable them afterward. Tesla's also automatically shuts off Car Wash Mode when the car is driven over a certain speed, in case the driver forgets to turn it off. Feel free to suggest a similar feature to Lexus Corporate.

midcow3

Are the car washes you go to chain pull or chainless? I usually got to the soft cloth car wash ones without chain pull or take 2 microfiber cloths and use Optimum Rinsless Wash and Wax and do it myself even though I am older than most of the old guys on this forum

YMMV,

MidCow3

hintonwood

We are talking about chain driven tracked car washes.

I used it probably 15 times over 16 months of owning my UX 250h and it happened 3 times - usually having waited longer in the queue. I just decided it wasn’t worth the stress that It might shut down with cars in behind still moving. Like you, I have used the normal hand wash or washed it mysel.