rx350owner2

OK, got a call and went back to the dealership again. As promised, they replaced the "radio", and it is all good now. I am very happy with the dealership, but that does not change my opinion about Lexus. I am just praying that this "radio" will not die again on me because by then my warranty will most likely run out.

I are not talking about troubleshoot at board/chip level. I am talking about the on-board electronics to have a OBD or JTAG type of diagnostic port, to allow a quick scan and find out which unit/module has failed, and order the needed replacement parts. That should be a 10 min job, not 3 hrs and charge the car owners 3k for the time they spent on swapping parts.

@Les Lex 2018 Thanks for commenting my problem. I will keep you guys posted about how this saga pans out. I am an electronics engineer myself. Lack of testability with the LEXUS electronics is a joke. Lexus is obviously good at making cars, but not so good at the electronics they are putting on their cars , which will damage their reputation sooner or later.

If you google it, you will see Lexu has had this problem since 2013 year model. No hope there. As a premium car maker, Lexus not having a diagnostic tool for their electronics is a shocker to me. No more Lexus for me.

Thanks Dave. The scary part is that if my car was out of warranty, this "screen" repair job would cost me almost $3k, for a electronics part simpler than a $300 ipad.

Purchased new in late 2019, and since car has been sitting in the garage most of the time due to the pandemic, maintained on schedule by the dealer no replacement of anything, except a few updates/recalls by the dealer. The car has been running fine until this Wed. The Information screen just all of sudden went dark, no radio, no navigation, no vehicle info, no nothing. The only time the screen comes back to live is when the backup camera is activated. Googling online, it seems this has been a frequently occurring problem for RX350. No obvious solution. Fortunately, my rx350 is still under warranty. Took the car to the dealer first thing this morning, and after spent the whole morning waiting there, they told me they changed the screen, updated the software, only to no avail. They said it was the radio, and they ordered one for me, and asked me to go back in a week or so. This is really too much for me. We paid good money for this Lexus for its reputation of reliability. What gets me is this, 1. How come its electronics is this crappy ? Any cheap electronics from Walmart is more reliable than this ! 2. How come that the LEXUS dealers do not have any testing tools to quickly diagnosis the common problems like this ? Fooling around, swapping parts is the way the DIYers use, NOT for LEXUS dealerships ! Not for the complicated modern auto electronics ! At this point, I have pretty much lost faith in LEXUS brand. It is over rated. We have had Nissan, Mazda SUV, Van, and pickup in the past 30 years, never had any problem this ridiculous. Did anyone else have this problem ? How was it fixed ? Thanks. H.M.