leon039

One of the reasons I bought the RX was the Enform I live in Western NY and the ability to start the car in the winter was an important feature! With all of the technology they (Lexus) Should have seen this on the horizon. I'm very disappointed and will closely look now to the competition on my next purchase. Could it be they want us to buy a new Lexus?

TechNut

This has impacted pretty much all car manufacturers and very few are doing anything about it. Your question is a good one and it wouldn't surprise me if this is what they are hoping for, but this wasn't a problem they designed. The real question is "at what point should Lexus have been able to anticipate this and switch to newer wireless technologies." It seems to me that by the time this model hit the streets in 2016 it would have been in development for at least a year or two. The first Samsung phone was introduced with LTE (4G) in September of 2010, but I don't know which carriers had fully upgraded all of their towers by that point in time. According to Wikipedia, there were various flavors of LTE and the last version was introduced in 2015. So if an auto maker is watching these evolving standards, should they reasonably wait until it has all solidified so as not to risk selecting the wrong flavor of 4G? It seems a 2016 vehicle should have been operating with an LTE radio but that decision isn't as black and white as we would like to think. So the mistake Lexus may have made was not realizing they need to plan faster for this particular tech. Again, many other car companies, alarm system companies, etc faced the same challenge. The same thing is likely to occur again at some point in the future with 4G tech. Should Lexus begin including 5G radios in all their new cars right now? Given the severe range limitations of 5G this would cause all sorts of problems for a motor vehicle. These are the same questions that likely factored into the early days of 4G adoption by auto manufacturers. The bottom line is there is probably no right answer on this and they are going to be criticized no matter how the go with this since their vehicles are (hopefully) going to often outlast the lifecycle of wireless technology. Communications technology just doesn't move at the same pace as automotive/model lifecycles.

1Louder

If you are going to exclude Lexus over this, then you will need to exclude all the other manufacturers who had this problem too. BMW being one.

I have some insight into manufacturing large, complex products. You are, for the most part, correct.

The 4th Gen RX was likely designed ~2012-2013. When you are manufacturing something in the tens of thousands, it's difficult to describe the complexities of the supply chain you have to deal with and how much lead time is involved in making changes. The 3G receiver was selected when no one had any insight into it's retirement. And for Lexus (any car maker actually), they had to ramp-up suppliers for the receiver and all the software that controls it years in advance so they can make tens of thousands. You can't make changes quickly. In fact, you have to make these kind of changes years in advance so those suppliers of whatever you are moving to can get ready to start pumping out thousands a month of the new widget. And those people have suppliers they all have to get with to send them thousands of parts they need each month. Also when you deal with quantities like this, you typically buy a TON of parts all at once. So by the time Lexus learned about this 3G issue, the 5th Gen was already well into design and prototyping and they likely had all receiver parts purchased and ready for the final production runs of the 4th Gen (which by that time they knew when that would stop).

Never mind the fact this receiver is involved with safety systems. These require a LOT of testing. It's not just plug and play. New receiver likely requires new controllers, new software. It's more invasive than it seems.

People tend to react to this issue like cars are an iPhone with a 12 month refresh cycle. It's orders of magnitude more difficult. And it's not Lexus's fault, nor did they handle it "badly" or any different than any other manufacturer. Retrofitting the 4th Gen late in it's production cycle, when the 5th Gen was already gearing up, wasn't an option.

mikemu30

Nah - I mean when did any company ever foster planned obsolescence?? Clear throat Crapple.

Rarebird

Edit: deleted. Post in wrong thread.

JSracer

You're saying with the VXDIAG vcx nano you were unable to get the remote start working on your 17??
Or your saying since the subscription ended and turned off, you're remote start quit operating..
Mine was shut off the beginning of last month, and I have yet to try.. I have the nano sitting in the table for several months

TTBomB

iTrader: (2)

For Reference: 2017 RX350 F-sport.
I called my local Lexus dealer, they referred me over to Lexus at 800-255-3987. I spoke to a very nice woman that had a good understanding on what was going on with the 3G service going away, the app, etc.
I asked her if there was any hardware that we could install to upgrade to 4G or 5G. She said there is noting that can be done. I asked if there was any work around or anything that Lexus can do so we can still use the key fob to be able to start the car.
We already know the hardware is there, we used it while we had the app subscription.
I asked why couldn't Lexus come out with a software update to "fool" the vehicle to show that there is an active app subscription in order to fool the remote starter to work with the fob. Nope not going to happen!!
They could come out with a fix in order to do this, it shouldn't be too difficult to make a change and have the local dealer upgrade the ECU to override the system.
It's crazy to me that the car has the hardware in place but they don't want to create a fix now that the app is obsolete.
The only option she told me would be to go to the aftermarket if we wanted the remote start function.
It's really unfortunate!

Rarebird

my bad. Posted in the wrong thread. This comment was about using key fob to remote start which doesn’t work on my 2017.

larrytrk

At least AUDI has a fix, for free, that plugs into the OBD port. Provides minimum services, but, better than nothing.
doesn’t allow remote start though.

DrunkFuX

So is everyone going ahead and installing aftermarket devices for remote start? I thought the app would stop but the remote would continue as that should not have anything to do with the 3g... Seems I was wrong... Unless I'm missing something...

TTBomB

iTrader: (2)

No once the app is cancelled the remote start function via the Key FOB will no longer work.

JSracer

There was a thread about the VXDIAG vcx nano and software being able or attempting to enable the remote start... Might have to get the cobwebs off the thread and see if it can be done..since there will be more in the same boat... (thread was under the remote start something.... Don't recall)

kmiller882

My wife's 2015GS expired and her keyfob is still working for remote start. My 2016RX was also still working after it expired earlier in October. That said, we both had active subscriptions at the time so your results may vary. I decided to trade my RX for newer tech, so I now have a 2021 but my wife's 2015GS is still working on remote start with her keyfob (as of this morning) without issue.

ravenuer

Hmmmm.....interesting.

JSracer

mine was active, up until it was sunset for me based on billing date,
my fob no longer starts the car..

a bazillion years ago, onstar offered a free module swap, with a year or 2 of service commitment , if i recall.