Rx Speedo Errors

[JB Not happy]

I purchased a RX350 from Melbourne City Lexus 12 month ago. The

car is very good and has in all but one respect lived up to its

reputation. Prior to buying it, I noted the RX350 has won many awards

including winner best luxury 4WD 2003, 04, 05 (& 6). “The RX350 not

only won its class, it won it for the fourth year in a row, proving that a

successful formula will stand the test of time, even when it has a

couple of dozen worthy challengers snapping at its high-class heels.” 1

Almost as soon as I purchased the car I noted that the speed display

appeared to showing the car was traveling at a higher speed than it

really was. This was noticeable because people were often tailgating

me while I was driving at what the rx350 showed me to be the

prescribe speed limit while I was the in the left hand lane of the

freeways and flashing lights and tooting horns before overtaking me

on single lane roads. I often drive to destinations several hours away

and was unpleasantly surprised to take over an hour longer as soon as

I took the trip in my new Lexus RX350.

LEXUS is aware of the problem and has yet to fix it ( three years Plus) You can test your car by using a hand held GPS. Then demand your car is fixed. IS250 models in Australia have even worse errors depending on the option rims sizes. :chairshot:

[RX400h]

Did you post this in the Lexus RX300 / Lexus RX330 / Lexus RX350 Forums? I understand that the non-hybrid RX350 is similar to the RX400h in many ways, but to be honest, I haven't seen any complaints regarding speedometer and/or odometer accuracy in this forum.

How far off is your vehicle's speed and distance measurement?

[silvercorvette]

I don't think it is the Lexus, maybe your old car was wrong, maybe other cars like to drive over the limit (I push it by about 5 over) and you were slowing them down by doing the exact speed that was posted. I have a Garmin GPS that I use it in my Lexus because I can't get the darn Lexus to work while the car is moving. The Garmin has a GPS readout that tells you your exact speed and altitude by calculating your GPS reading and the Lexus agrees with the speed posted on the Garmin.

[skyfish400h]

Almost as soon as I purchased the car I noted that the speed display

appeared to showing the car was traveling at a higher speed than it

really was.

Check your tire and rim sizes for deviation from Stock. There are tire size calculators on the Internet that will show you how much deviation from nominal you can expect on your speedo for any given tire geometry.

here's one:

http://www.discounttire.com/dtcs/infoTireMath.dos

Once you have confirmed the deviation, you can just drive faster knowing that your speedo is reading too high.

[silvercorvette]

I just re-read your post and one thing that struck me was your comment about cars tooting horns and flashing lights. Didn't that give you a clue that you may have been holding up traffic. I am a retired cop and I believe that most cops will not bother you if you go with the flow of traffic. On the other hand if someone is driving in the left lane holding up traffic with a long line of cars behind them they they are sure to get noticed. It may have been a good idea to be courteous and let other cars pass. If I am driving slowly because I am looking for a specific location I usually pull off to the shoulder to allow cars to pass, it is just the courteous thing to do reguardless of what the speedometer says it is still wise to use common sense and allow faster moving cars to pass.

[Gryphon]

Beg, borrow, or buy a hand-held GPS receiver and you will know the accuracy of your odometer to within 1 mph. I use one to check/calibrate all of my cars/motorcycles.

Tom

[Rx330driver]

ive already determined that this is a flamer.

he says that he is getting to destinations over an hour later...that would be he would have to be traveling 50% less than what he usually travels. that would be such a serious problem...so yeah hes a lexus hater

[silvercorvette]

ive already determined that this is a flamer.

he says that he is getting to destinations over an hour later...that would be he would have to be traveling 50% less than what he usually travels. that would be such a serious problem...so yeah hes a lexus hater

You are wrong about traveling 50% less because you would need to spread out the longer time over several hours. He did say when he traveled for several hours. However the guy does seem to be quite rude and lacks common sense. Anyone the ties up a long line for cars and refuses to move from the left lane while the toot horns without moving over to the side to allow them to pass is rude. and someone that refuses to keep up with the flow of traffic lacks common sense.. He could be a Lexus hater or there could be other problems with his personality. By the way this is my first lexus and there is a good chance this may be my last one. The car is perfect. no surge, no rattles. good mileage, almost zero complaints. But the fact that Lexus has made a decision in the way they set up their NAV and radio to prevent me from using the full all the function of the NAAV really bothers me to the point where I probably won't get another Lexus. By the way who's stupid idea was it to no allow you to see radio messages on the NAV screen while the car is moving but it is OK to have them displayed on the radio. It would be nice to see the name of the song displayed on the NAV while the car is moving

PS there should be a shut switch off for the day time running light so we don't have to take the car apart to turn them off.

[Rx330driver]

well im guessing Lexus lawyers decided to have the nav blackout function

as for the daytime running lights...i like them. haha. They provide for a little light when you first enter a parking garage. Also, it is a law in Cali that says you must have your lights on when its raining. We dont since we have the daytime lights.

[silvercorvette]

well im guessing Lexus lawyers decided to have the nav blackout function

as for the daytime running lights...i like them. haha. They provide for a little light when you first enter a parking garage. Also, it is a law in Cali that says you must have your lights on when its raining. We dont since we have the daytime lights.

My Jeep and I am petty sure the Lexus is programed to have the lights come on when the wipers are turned on. The only thing the DRL did is waste my time taking the car apart to disconnect the DRL. By the way there is no conclusive evidence that DRLs present any real safety advantages

http://www.lightsout.org/story.html

As far as the lawyers at Lexus go I am sick of them making the decision as to what is best for me. On my last trip from TX to NY I had my Garmin on the dash board. It helped a lot to be able to use it while driving. I used the Garmin to look up motels on the route back to NY and use the cell phone to reserve a room ahead of time. If I didn't have the Garmin I would have had to pull over to a rest stop or exit to look up motels and lost a lot of time. The I agree warning we have to push every time we start the car should be enough to please the lawyers. Also at the very least Lexus should allow the passenger to use the NAV while the driver is driving the car.

PS I love the RX400H and if Lexus didn't have the NAV block out the car would be perfect

[Rx330driver]

nope. lights dont come on when the wipers are turned on. How long have you owned the car? lol

[silvercorvette]

nope. lights dont come on when the wipers are turned on. How long have you owned the car? lol

Funny that you ask because although I got the car in mid Oct of 06 it wound up sitting in the garage of a house I own in Texas collecting dust. The car has a little bit over 5,000 miles on it and most of that is the miles I drove from LI NY to Conroe TX and then back o NY again. I just drove it back from Texas last Easter but don't drive the car that much. I am retired and don't drive the car every day. I haven't put gas in the car for two weeks and when I filled up yesterday it only took 4 1/2 gallons. When I got the car I sat in a room with a woman and she asked me a long list of questions, I could swear that one of those questions she asked last Oct was if I want the light to come on.

Back to the wiper thing. I am a bit surprised that they don't come on automatically. My Jeep has the feature and a few other cars I have owned or rented while on vacation also had the feature.

[SOMEONE ELSE'S GOT MY NAME]

Almost as soon as I purchased the car I noted that the speed display

appeared to showing the car was traveling at a higher speed than it

really was.

Check your tire and rim sizes for deviation from Stock. There are tire size calculators on the Internet that will show you how much deviation from nominal you can expect on your speedo for any given tire geometry.

here's one:

http://www.discounttire.com/dtcs/infoTireMath.dos

Once you have confirmed the deviation, you can just drive faster knowing that your speedo is reading too high.

I'm thinking you're right. If (s)he didn't notice the thread was in the hybrid section, that same unawareness may be going on w/ their rim/tire size . . . and like you mentioned, the spedo can be easily remedied once armed w/ that data. Seems like a lot of solutions have been given here for "not happy" . . . where'd they go? Could it be . . . . ? ;)

[SOMEONE ELSE'S GOT MY NAME]

nope. lights dont come on when the wipers are turned on. How long have you owned the car? lol

Actually, on 'auto' the 400h lights will turn on when you enter night, or a dark garage, etc

[RX400h]

The wipers DO come on when it starts raining and will automatically adjust their speed, depending upon how hard it is raining. I like that feature!

[silvercorvette]

The wipers DO come on when it starts raining and will automatically adjust their speed, depending upon how hard it is raining. I like that feature!

I am aware of that, I tought that the headlights came on when the wipers were on. A few of my cars have this feature and I thought the lights came on withthe wipers.

I just got my DRLs turned off this morning so now I have to remember to turn on the lights when it rains

[SW03ES]

I am aware of that, I tought that the headlights came on when the wipers were on. A few of my cars have this feature and I thought the lights came on withthe wipers.

I just got my DRLs turned off this morning so now I have to remember to turn on the lights when it rains

Thats a GM thing unfortunately. Why everyone else doesn't do it is beyond me, kind of like the Ford combo locks.