Dear All,
I don't know quite how to say this, but I have been tinkering around with Lexus of Serramonte with regards to the USB connectivity and my iPod. What has been working in all major car brands for years still seems to be a major issue for Lexus. Up until the model year 2013 the dealer had to drill a hole into the glove compartment and pull a wire to hook up my iPod with third party software. It never really worked as it should have and I understand that many drivers faced the same issues.
With my GS 350 I was sold on a vehicle that had allegedly overcome these problems. Well, is has not. Allegedly, the iPod can only have a certain amount of songs on it to work fine. I tried to hook up a smaller iPod and still have the same issues. The radio shuts down and everything has to be reset each and every 60 minutes. Besides this, Bluetooth also does not work and shuts down. I photographed the error messages and sent them to the dealer. The dealer tells me that "this is normal" and conveyed in an Email the following:
IPod issue: “Audio Off” while using iPod shutting down Audio and Navigation systems.
· I was able to duplicate your iPod issues on my 2013 GS350, issue does not appear to be unique to your vehicle.
· Each time the vehicle is started the audio system downloads the song list from the iPod to create a sorted and searchable playlist. Unfortunately the audio system cannot handle more than 9,999 songs. I tested your iPod, with 17,600 songs and found that to be the reason why the “Audio Off” message appears and stops the audio system. The data transfer does not complete due to the size of the buffer. There is no solution at this time or currently in development
· The larger iPods such as your 160 GB, in conjunction with a large number of songs, are known to cause malfunction with the Lexus audio system and I’m sorry to say there is currently no solution available or in progress.
· Audio/Navigation shut down (black screen) appears to be related to data load issue.
Voice Commands: not working for audio system
· Verified voice command will functions normally with my phone, in particular voice commands to the audio system when tethered after data transfer completes.
· Data load must complete for voice commands to function with audio system.
· Due to the data load transfer issue voice command for audio controls are not working – due to the fact that the system rarely if ever completes the transfer of data from iPod to audio system.
I responded that all of the above works fine in the loaner I'm having (a RX 450) and that even a very small iPod with less than 1,000 songs does not work. I know from this board that there a some people out there who experience similar issues. How did you solve those?
I love my music and specifically asked if the iPod would now work on the 2013 models and was assured by the dealer that it would. Now I feel duped and tricked. Shouldn't Lexus point this out to the buyers - instead of making false promised? I called their HQ in Torrance (Customer Satisfaction) and they told me to "go away" :-) Thanks,
Erich
