NoiseFree

<RANT>

But I'm absolutely seething!
I am royally pissed off with my car.
You can trace back my previous posts, but I've had nothing but problems with my car almost since the day
I drove it out of my dealership.

If it was possible to rip out the GPS/entertainment screen I'd do it in a heartbeat!
Along with all the rest of the so-called 'smart' electronics in the car.

I had my previous ES-350 for 17 years (that's when I joined here) and had no problems with it!
I really miss it now.

I have my front display screen turned off by default, but it still finds ways to turn itself on when it feels like it.
Like for example, every time I turn on my car!
You see, it finds it's necessary to display some kind of warning message about something (never read it) and then
turns itself off again. Is that some kind of legal obligation?

GPS HURTS my head! That's the reason I turn off the front display. And I don't need a white entertainment screen distracting me while I drive!
But the car still has insidious ways to get to me with GPS signals besides the front display screen!

I learned early on that there are display menus on the screen in back of the steering wheel.
One screen can be toggled through various functions/settings.
One of those settings displays street names as you approach them. A kind of mini-GPS function.
It also hurts my head. So I made sure that I never use that screen display.

But TODAY it started to act up on its own!
That's right, after three months my car started to go completely AWOL!
When you get to the screen that I have been mentioning, you can toggle through the screens and then they are gone. Goodbye.

Today I was driving and all of a sudden the street name screen turned on, on its own!
I turned it off immediately.
It came back on as approached the next street, giving its name!
I turned it off again.
It came back on as approached the next street, giving its name!
I turned it off again.
It came back on as approached the next street, giving its name!
I turned it off again.
etc. etc. for my entire trip!
My head was hurting already from the GPS and the aggravation.

My car was distracting me from driving safely. That's dangerous!

When I was driving to my first destination the big front screen came on with a message saying something like "You've almost arrived!"
I said to myself WTF!
1. The screen is supposed to be OFF.
2. How TF do you know I have almost arrived to my destination?

The RCTA warning telling me to see my dealer because it's malfunctioning, keeps coming on roughly every week now.

Driving along the highway yesterday I was startled when a woman's voice came on telling me "There's traffic ahead!"
There was absolutely no traffic in front of me!
And coming back home I was given a concert of beeps every time I tried to change lanes. As well taking control of my steering wheel
and preventing me to change lanes!

My car is driving me absolutely crazy.

</RANT>

jimbosr1

If I had those issues I would sell or trade it in,life's too short for that BS.

ESh

Sorry to ask, did you read the users manual? Do you know how to use all these systems/electronics?

alextv

What kind of car and year do you have? If you have the newest info system it has warnings no matter what you do can't be turned off. It will even warn you entering a school zone when the school was torn down 10 years ago. Very smart. Make sure all software updates have been done. Call the service dept or main tech and tell them what is going on and maybe can help.

scubapr

17 yrs ago, that type of in-car navigation and safety systems were not available or weren't as advanced as of today. For better or worse the technology has evolved and now it's mainstream. Most newer cars will have more or less the same nagging for your rant.

IMHO the default Lexus Nav is nowhere near Google/Apple Nav. So if your model has Android Auto or Car Play you can try those for a better navigation experience. If you don't want any NAV you can default to some of the Vehicle information screens; or as other have suggested:

1. Get a different car
2. Check model YR user manual for settings or how to update the system
3. Contact Lexus Dealer

Life's too short....

ESAsh

Consider changing the UI theme to dark, much easier on the eyes and blends in with the thick bezels better making the car look more premium, I have it on dark mode and even reduced the brightness a scootch.

DocEnuf

just sell the car. you will never be happy with it at this point. go to a different brand... with very little techo items. or just cover the screen with a black cloth.

scubapr

OP. ^^^^ This is a good advice you could try.

Dark mode definitely is easy on the eyes. Also IMHO it looks better for the car aesthetics.

Margate330

Awesome rant! 🤓

es250fsport

Is the dark mode available for models prior to 2023? I have 12.3 touchscreen with touchpad (don't have the new UI).

ESh

Do you mean Carplay theme?

scubapr

I do use the mode on Android Auto but I suppose it's also on Car Play. I also do have Dark Mode enabled on the infotainment settings.

Dunno if OP has that feature on his model year. But on my '23 it's at (Main Menu / Settings / Display) the option for Automatic* / Daytime (light) / Nighttime (dark).

hotwings

@NoiseFree Funny you should mention this problem, Last week I noticed my Nav screen (Google maps, not Lexus) was automatically popping up for no apparent reason. I keep switching to "Radio" but the Nav screen keeps popping randomly.

I've owned the car for 6+ Months and this just started.

ndunn

Try unlinking the phone from the car and signing out. I hope my car doesn't start doing this as I enjoy the screen being off.

Bankses350

Bad situation! I have a 2021 ES and no problems. Got a 2024 and it has been slightly challenging.

the 2024 has three potential information/gps/entertainment systems. One is the Lexus system and the other CarPlay or Android auto. in my case the Lexus system is by subscription only and you better believe I will never ever subscribe to it! it sounds like the interference you’re receiving as far as directions must be coming from the Lexus based GPS system. Did you subscribe to it or did this come as pre-subscribed in your car as a “trial“? if it’s there as a trial, maybe you could get it discontinued. And that might stop your problem from the start.

the other potential problem is that your phone may be delivering Bluetooth signals to the Lexus, causing it to speak directions to you. You might try switching the Bluetooth off of your phone and seeing if that improves anything.

you can definitely turn your home screen into a permanent “dark mode” and I did that right away. It’s quite easy to do. Last thing I wanted was a bright white light shining in my face from the front of the car.

the lights on the screen that come on when you turn on the car are the same in my 2021 as a 2024. They are blue against a black background and it doesn’t bother me and they don’t last long

I use CarPlay in the car for any kind of GPS/texting/music apps. in general is working very well, although I do have a little bit of trouble with texts. It seems like the microphone is sometimes miss-timed when I go to reply. I’ve managed to work around it. My 2021 never has these issues. The 2021 is not part of the proprietary Lexus info/gps/entertainment system. I don’t think that system existed when I bought the car. So fortunately, I was never exposed to it