I have voiced my displeasure to my dealer and to Lexus about the disablement of the override function. Lexus is the only luxury car dealer to have this "feature" and quite frankly it would be a deal breaker for me purchasing another Lexus. We have had several instances where my husband or I have been a passenger and we needed to override the system for various reasons...one of them being that I 95 was closed coming into VA and all detoured routes via the nav kept taking us back onto I 95 South. We ended up in a very unsafe area where we had to stop and park in order to manually find a detour. Also, when using the emergency dealer feature, you are unable to select the info button so you cannot dial the dealer...again very unsafe.
It appears that if Lexus has the capability to turn the airbag on and off via weight controls on the passenger seat, they should be able to figure out something if they are so concerned about the driver operating the nav, it can be overridden by weight in the passenger seat.
Personally, I think they should add a disclaimer to the lawyer screen and allow full access just like the Germans do. Allowing full access is a standard operating procedure in the auto industry. Heck, if I did not opt for the built in navigation and used a Garmin I would be able to have full function…I would not have to pull over to use the thing while I was a passenger.
If anyone has heard anything on adding an override or allowing full access, please share!
Thanks!