Ciege

On a 2011 RX450h, is it possible to disable the door chime when the drivers door is opened but the car is in accessory mode (i.e. not running)?

Since I just got the RX I've been playing a lot with the settings and audio presets. With the drivers door open the chime just continues forever and I cannot find any option to turn off the chime when in accessory mode.

Thanks all!

UCSB

You might not want to disable the chime on a 450h. Since the vehicle can be ON, but appear to be OFF, sooner or later you will find the chime a useful reminder about vehicle status. Plus there are times when you absolutely need to hear the chime ... like when your key is in the car and it will not lock.

Ciege

Good point...

Too bad there isn't a "turn off this time" option that would reset the next time the door is closed...

Ah well...

2011RX350

Agree with Ciege. It would be really nice when washing mine and wanting to listen to some music while drying it off.

Cruiter

That's why I have a stereo with wall speakers in my garage .

SirPatrick

Hello Ciege, when I first got my RXh, I noticed an annoying sound coming from the chime. Now that I think of it, I should have recorded it for documentation purposes. Anyways, it sounded like there was something rattling on the chime itself. Can you imagine a piece of metal or plastic on either a speaker or a drum rattling at high frequencies? It was so annoying and when I asked my dealer, they mentioned that it sounded like all of the other vehicles. I figured the guy was older so he may not hear it or even care enough to have his guys check it out. Overall, I'm the type of person that if I don't fix it myself, it won't be done right. I'm sure most people can agree to that. I knew for a fact that they would not do anything about it, so I took it upon myself to take apart the dash to get to the instrument cluster. Once removed, you can take some screws off of the back to expose the PCB and you'll easily notice there is a small black piezo electric chime. What I did to fix it was blow some canned air into the diaphragm to make sure there was nothing inside causing the rattling. Ultimately, I don't think there was anything inside as I did not see anything come out. I really believe that part of the enclosure was not completely tight and was causing the problem. I tightened it up and performed a test fit to see if the noise went away and sure enough, I could still hear it. I then applied some pressure to the whole assembly and it went away. I ended up making sure that it was completely tight and viola, the chime sounded almost perfect. I can only hear the noise if I really get up close and really listen for it. Most people would not be able to discern the noise at all. Okay so I took a few minutes to ramble on. One of the things I was contemplating on doing was to put a small piece of black electrical tape over the small chime. I knew that this would quiet it down considerably but at least I could still hear the chime. I opted to keep it stock and not bother messing with it once I cleared up the rattling noise. I did end up taking pictures of part of the process, but wouldn't you know it, I did not take pictures of the PCB and chime. HAHA... It would have made for some nice pictures and information. Either way, it is simple to find once you finally make it through the fine engineering that holds everything in place rattle free. Here are a few pictures in case you were curious.
I hope this helps you out.

Patrick



View this entire album and more pictures: ClubLexus

Cruiter

I just went into the garage and sat in the front seat of 'Watson'. I looked around at everything all nice in it's place and said "self, it's all fine and doesn't need to come out for anything" .

Being an old (emphasis on old) Navy Photog, I've gone into cameras back in the day and managed to get 'most' parts back in and they'd still work but after seeing your dash, I have to give credit where it's due, I could never even want to attempt that. But seems like you did it w/o a problem just to fix a chime. KUDOS

SirPatrick

Thanks Jim, I appreciate your comments. It was actually fun. I'm not one for building cars but I enjoy taking on a task when something comes to mind.

Patrick

capcap

This works! Radio working right now and blessedly silent door chime!

EOstigaard

I have the same issue with my RX450h. I actually have it at the dealer today to hopefully get it fixed. They say that there is something in the steering column that is causing the chime to be on. Some sort of issue preventing it from being in "normal" mode. I will report back if they actually fix but I have my doubts if they can even find it and I'm only allowing them a few hours to look before they want to charge me more for diagnostics.

Lusal

Hi! Did you ever get the issue resolved? If so what was the problem?

EOstigaard

Sadly, I did not get it fixed. The Dealership said it was something in the steering column that needed to be replaced and was going to cost $1400. I'm going to try to find where that damn chime is and take it out. I have looked but I'm not sure where it is and even though I can hear it under the dash it's hard to locate. I would love to hear if someone else has found a way to silence this because I know others have encountered it. I'd rather not disable the door switch but that would be a lot easier.