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Ipod Control - Continued


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Has anyone heard from their dealer about changes/upgrades for the iPod control unit? I spoke with a service manager at my dealer back in mid-June. He said that some new deliveries were coming with updated iPod control units, but it was undetermined if these would be made available as a replacement for current owners. The whole slow scrolling, select whatever album/song the cursor happens to stop on is still very annoying.

Thanks

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Has anyone heard from their dealer about changes/upgrades for the iPod control unit? I spoke with a service manager at my dealer back in mid-June. He said that some new deliveries were coming with updated iPod control units, but it was undetermined if these would be made available as a replacement for current owners. The whole slow scrolling, select whatever album/song the cursor happens to stop on is still very annoying.

Thanks

My RX was produced in July (Japan) and has a change to the IPOD control. There was no change to the functions you describe and in fact I added similar comment to yours in the survey I received recently. The prior 2010 RX's were compatible with the gen5 IPOD NANO but mine isn't so it's been in to service for a fix. Lexus & dealer service confirmed that the issue exists but after 3 weeks they still don't have a fix.

As far as the scrolling it would help if they let the IPOD scroll like it does in native mode.....but with a hard drive a search function would sure be nice.

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Deep down, I'm thinking the folks who engineered the ipod controls were looking more at playing music from generic folders on a USB device, not necessarily an iPod (I've noticed that the materials don't display the "made for iPod / iPhone" logo - means they haven't gotten the stamp of approval from Apple that they followed the specs.. This is pretty disappointing for a luxury car that is perfect in just about every other way. My dealer is going to callme during the week to see if they've found out anything.

Thanks

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Deep down, I'm thinking the folks who engineered the ipod controls were looking more at playing music from generic folders on a USB device, not necessarily an iPod (I've noticed that the materials don't display the "made for iPod / iPhone" logo - means they haven't gotten the stamp of approval from Apple that they followed the specs.. This is pretty disappointing for a luxury car that is perfect in just about every other way. My dealer is going to callme during the week to see if they've found out anything.

Thanks

Agreed, appears that some of the other software is weak also. The Nav has several weak spots, a $150 Garmin has more functionality; when you set cruise it puts the cruise light on and then changes the display to read "set" so you have to toggle back-redundant and not well conceived; if you want to see what song is playing you have to page back twice vs letting the artist and title use the upper Nav screen as the song changes (when you change other settings like fan or temp. it displays on the screen) I could list several other items and I've only had my Lexus 6 weeks.

I have a Sony Walkman also and it doesn't work with the USB connection-Sony says the vehicle device must be configured "mass storage", not a Lexus option and Sony is also a Japanese Co. My Sony has Bluetooth also and I have it paired but it's not worth the effort to use the BT MP3-not nearly as seamless as Blue Tooth phone. I can't use the pairing button on the Walkman and when I do get it paired and stop for gas it doesn't reconnect-have to start over again.

It seems to me that Lexus did not test enough before production and probably didn't get much/any consumer input to make functions more "user friendly". My dealer told me that Lexus doesn't usually make changes in response to customer complaints unless it's a bug fix like my IPOD gen 5 that doesn't work....so don't hold your breath.

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Deep down, I'm thinking the folks who engineered the ipod controls were looking more at playing music from generic folders on a USB device, not necessarily an iPod (I've noticed that the materials don't display the "made for iPod / iPhone" logo - means they haven't gotten the stamp of approval from Apple that they followed the specs.. This is pretty disappointing for a luxury car that is perfect in just about every other way. My dealer is going to callme during the week to see if they've found out anything.

Thanks

Agreed, appears that some of the other software is weak also. The Nav has several weak spots, a $150 Garmin has more functionality; when you set cruise it puts the cruise light on and then changes the display to read "set" so you have to toggle back-redundant and not well conceived; if you want to see what song is playing you have to page back twice vs letting the artist and title use the upper Nav screen as the song changes (when you change other settings like fan or temp. it displays on the screen) I could list several other items and I've only had my Lexus 6 weeks.

I have a Sony Walkman also and it doesn't work with the USB connection-Sony says the vehicle device must be configured "mass storage", not a Lexus option and Sony is also a Japanese Co. My Sony has Bluetooth also and I have it paired but it's not worth the effort to use the BT MP3-not nearly as seamless as Blue Tooth phone. I can't use the pairing button on the Walkman and when I do get it paired and stop for gas it doesn't reconnect-have to start over again.

It seems to me that Lexus did not test enough before production and probably didn't get much/any consumer input to make functions more "user friendly". My dealer told me that Lexus doesn't usually make changes in response to customer complaints unless it's a bug fix like my IPOD gen 5 that doesn't work....so don't hold your breath.

I've spent a fair amount of time investigating the iPod/iPhone scrolling issue when using USB. There was an improvement in the 2010 RX model during this model year. It's related to the navigation firmware. Version 3350 is "defective" and the newer version 3357 has been "fixed". When scrolling in the defective version, the top song of a list plays. In the fixed version the originally chosen song continues to play while you search the list and actually choose a new song. The fixed version is more intuitive and a method we are more familiar when using an iPod/iPhone.

If you have the "defective" version I would suggest you call corporate Lexus 1 (800) 255-3987, option 3 and explain your situation and ask that your dealership's service manager is called by corporate Lexus to let him/her know they should check back to find out when the fix maybe available.

I compared my 2010 RX to a newer 2010 RX to verify the difference, then I called Lexus. I'm not holding my breath, but I'm thinking letting them know may help.

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  • 1 month later...

Deep down, I'm thinking the folks who engineered the ipod controls were looking more at playing music from generic folders on a USB device, not necessarily an iPod (I've noticed that the materials don't display the "made for iPod / iPhone" logo - means they haven't gotten the stamp of approval from Apple that they followed the specs.. This is pretty disappointing for a luxury car that is perfect in just about every other way. My dealer is going to callme during the week to see if they've found out anything.

Thanks

Agreed, appears that some of the other software is weak also. The Nav has several weak spots, a $150 Garmin has more functionality; when you set cruise it puts the cruise light on and then changes the display to read "set" so you have to toggle back-redundant and not well conceived; if you want to see what song is playing you have to page back twice vs letting the artist and title use the upper Nav screen as the song changes (when you change other settings like fan or temp. it displays on the screen) I could list several other items and I've only had my Lexus 6 weeks.

I have a Sony Walkman also and it doesn't work with the USB connection-Sony says the vehicle device must be configured "mass storage", not a Lexus option and Sony is also a Japanese Co. My Sony has Bluetooth also and I have it paired but it's not worth the effort to use the BT MP3-not nearly as seamless as Blue Tooth phone. I can't use the pairing button on the Walkman and when I do get it paired and stop for gas it doesn't reconnect-have to start over again.

It seems to me that Lexus did not test enough before production and probably didn't get much/any consumer input to make functions more "user friendly". My dealer told me that Lexus doesn't usually make changes in response to customer complaints unless it's a bug fix like my IPOD gen 5 that doesn't work....so don't hold your breath.

I've spent a fair amount of time investigating the iPod/iPhone scrolling issue when using USB. There was an improvement in the 2010 RX model during this model year. It's related to the navigation firmware. Version 3350 is "defective" and the newer version 3357 has been "fixed". When scrolling in the defective version, the top song of a list plays. In the fixed version the originally chosen song continues to play while you search the list and actually choose a new song. The fixed version is more intuitive and a method we are more familiar when using an iPod/iPhone.

If you have the "defective" version I would suggest you call corporate Lexus 1 (800) 255-3987, option 3 and explain your situation and ask that your dealership's service manager is called by corporate Lexus to let him/her know they should check back to find out when the fix maybe available.

I compared my 2010 RX to a newer 2010 RX to verify the difference, then I called Lexus. I'm not holding my breath, but I'm thinking letting them know may help.

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Thank you for the tip! I had the maddening Ipod scrolling problem as well since I purchased the car in Nov 2009. Here's my story.

Based on this post, I called Lexus as described. They seemed to not really understand I was inquiring about a software update - not an upgrade to the existing software. At any rate they seemed to believe, though not certain, that such an upgrade exists and encouraged me to talk to my service manager.

A few days later I had to bring my car in for service. I asked about the firmware upgrade. The manager had not heard of it but agreed to look into it. By the end of the day they determined that there is an update. They had to keep my car over night because they had to figure out how to download the software from Lexus and put it on a disk that could be installed on my system. He added that the firmware upgrade appeared to be for VIN numbers that were prior to mine - in other words my version of the software should have been the latest available. We agreed it probably would not hurt anything loading it on.

Though based on my VIN number I should have had the most current software, the upgrade did the trick. Now the song playing will not end unless I actually click on a different selection. Just scrolling through song choices or playlists will no longer force the highlighted song to play unless clicked on.

Thanks for helping find the fix to this annoyance. Anyone else out there with this problem should take the vehicle back to their dealer and insist they find the patch. It does exist.

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  • 2 months later...

I just had the dealer install the firmware upgrade. I had 3350 on the car and was expecting to have 3357 installed. I checked it after they were finished and it now reads 335A. I did some quick testing with an iPod Touch and the scrolling problem appears to be fixed.

Bob

2010 Rx350

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