Kaius88

I had some time to kill last night, so i decided to watch a new movie (The Guardian) on DVD in my ES350. Lemme just say, the surround sound is amazing....the movie is really cool. My car was in the parked position, with engine off but electricals on. After 1 Hr of viewing, the car turned itself off and the steering wheel went back to original position. Does any one know if this is a timeout function? Is there a way to watch the whole movie without interrruption?

ES350Bob

It sounds like it may be a built in feature to save your battery from being drawn down too much. Were you running anything else at the same time, like AC blower etc.?

Kaius88

Just got off the phone with Lexus dealer service department. She indicated that because my engine was off, and I was running in accessories mode (orange light on start button), the car basically turned itself off to prevent complete drain on battery. This makes sense, however:

1) The only way to watch a movie from beginning to end without interruption is with the engine on.
2) The DVD doesnt play when you are driving.

So i assume if you want to watch a movie from beginning to end, you have to park it with the engine on, and waste gas. That's really really lame. So I guess you can't watch a whole movie in your car....just bits and pieces of it while you wait for someone.

ES350Bob

I thought that was what it was, pretty neat feature though, better that than your battery ends up too weak to start the car.

If you were running AC blower maybe try not doing that next time.

Also if you do a lot of stop and go traffic not too fast of driving that may have something to do with how charged your battery is or is not when you have turned off the car and started to watch one.

toneman

One would hope so; it would suck big time if it had shut off because your battery died, rather than it doing so due to a timed cutoff circuit.

toneman

I mentioned this in an older post/thread--the DVD video playback feature has gotta be one of the least-useful "features" in the ES 350 with that restriction in place. Wanna watch the movie w/o killing your battery--leave the engine running; wanna watch it w/o wasting gas--run it solely off the battery. Sort of a Catch-22, if not a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" kind of thing...

toneman

I assume you meant just the fan itself, since it is impossible for the AC compressor to run w/ the engine off...

I know, I know...I'm just being a nitpicking jerk...please forgive me!

ES350Bob

You are forgiven, yes just the blower is what I meant otherwise I would have said running the AC without adding blower.

Nextourer

You're not alone. My Prius also shuts off after 1 hour if I'm in ACC mode.

Well, it's not that big of a deal to restart in ACC mode is it? I know it's annoying to be interrupted while watching a movie but you're one of the rare few that can watch a movie in their car as a factory option.

Lexucan

Yeah, ain't life a beach
Just think of it as a half-time two-second intermission.

toneman

Well that's assuming the battery hasn't completely died by then (after an hour of running on ACC mode nonstop)...or to the point that you'd be unable to start your car...

Actually, it may not as critical an issue on a Prius, perhaps...but could very well be one on a non-hybrid.