Poppa

Okay guys, need a little help with a very minor issue i'm having with my 2013 ES. It centers around the voice recognition software. Almost everytime I try to use it, for example like making a call on the phone, I have to get loud or angry sounding for it to work. If for example I want to use the phone, I push the little button on the steering wheel, and then after getting a voice prompt, in a normal tone of voice ( and I do have a fairly deep voice ) i can say " Call Home"... but instead of calling home, i hear "pardon"... so the next time I say CALL HOME.... honestly it's almost like I have to yell and sound angry... but when I do that it works everytime.. I mean everytime. I* looked thru some of the settings to see if there was some way to "adjust it", but I'm unable to find it. I don't mind raising my voice to get it to work, but I sound kinda stupid yelling at my voice recognition when I have others in the car. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated...

Poppa

roninlexus

There is a mic sensitivity setting I believe but perhaps that is just for the phone? I have seen it in the settings, but I can speak in a normal voice and it's recognized. Not always understood though. Last time I asked "find nearest vitamin cottage" and it replied "find Whataburger-ok?" lol...

PAcommuter

Mine doesn't recognize a thing I say. Husband has a deep voice and he has to yell at it. Very frustrating when trying to get the nav to find an address and we have to yell in a full car. I wish Lexus would recognize when there is a passenger when the car is moving, so they can enter the address in.

Poppa

Yep.. I hear ya... talk normal and most of the time i hear the lady say "pardon".... but raise my voice a bit like I'm getting angry and it works EVERY TIME...... I went thru every setting I could find on that car earlier tonigt... I found nothing that addresses this problem... Next time I'm over at the dealership I'll ask the "tech" guy.. but that may be awhile since I no longer make weekly visits to the dealership for the free car wash....

lesz

I found the voice recognition on my 2013 ES to be essentially worthless. Not only did it usually not recognize my commands, but the system was far from a "natural language" system, and the range of commands that it was capable of understanding was quite limited. However, about a year and a half ago, Lexus added a new Destinations app to the free Enform App Suite, and I found that using it with voice commands to find and set destinations for the navigation system was a major improvement over using the navigation system itself. Not only could it understand my commands at a significantly improved level, but, because it uses a larger and frequently updated data base, I found it to be more capable of finding destinations than with using the data base in the car. For those who are frustrated by the voice command capability in a 2013 or 2014 ES, I recommend trying the Destinations app in the Enform App Suite.

Also, the voice command capability in my 2017 ES is a vast improvement over that in the 2013 ES. The 2013 ES has a Generation 7 navigation system. The 2017 ES is the first ES to use the Generation 9 navigation system, and that system shows significant development, not only for the navigation system, but also for other car systems. Not only does it understand what I'm saying in the vast majority of cases, but its natural language capabilities are much improved, and it can understand a much wider range of voice commands. For example, if you say "72 degrees", it will set the climate control system to 72 degrees. If you say "AM 780", it will set the radio to that station. And using the voice commands to set navigation destinations is much more straight forward.

TechNut

What model year is your car? I have heard this same comment numerous times, but I don't find that to be a problem in our 2015. It doesn't always get it right, and I always have to confirm the right phone number, but it's workable and I don't have to raise my voice at all. I have better success with it than my spouse. She tends to favor the Siri hands free feature (I believe that was new on the 2015), but I favor the Lexus voice recognition.

PAcommuter

Mine is a 2013. I might have to give the enform app a try on Monday when I have to take my car to the lexus dealer for it's oil change.

TechNut

I wish I had something positive to offer but I don't. I also understand there are some mild updates every two or three years to some of the electronics, so I'm not even sure if the voice recognition components are the same between our cars. Hopefully someone on here that has or previously owned your model year can offer some positive advice.

PAcommuter

I don't have the lexus enform app on my phone, nor did I sign up for the service through my car. I will use Waze app on my phone while driving. I tried to use the voice assist this morning to see what would happen. Doesn't like my voice lol

jloftus

Greetings again Lexonians !

I use that 'Destination Assist', then I save the destination so it'll find it quickly next time.
I believe it's complimentary for the first year.

I haven't yet used the Destinations app, or anything on that Enform app suite.

Lesz - that's great news, if the 9th generation is a lot better w the 2017 models. It's something to look forward to for when
I end this lease. I suppose then it'll be 2019 models, if I go again with Lexus.

John

VuVewVoo

I just bought my MY 2017 and if I remember correctly, there is a menu in the settings where you can "train" the voice recognition. I haven't done it in mine yet but I wouldn't mind recording it and positing it here if anyone has any interest in it.

lesz

Yes, that is correct. When I bought my 2017 ES, the dealer's tech specialist actually had me train the system to recognize my voice before I even left the dealership. I can't say for sure, but I'm wondering if the ability to train the system to recognize your speaking might be a major reason why voice recognition on the the Generation 9 Navigation System on the 2017 ES seems to work much better than that of the Generation 7 system on my previously owned 2013 ES.

mss1234

voice processing / speech recognition in Lexus and Toyota are pretty close to useless unless you have a Japanese accent. It is pathetic in natural language processing. I hope they outsource it to Google, Amazon or Cortana for future models. When i went to dealer for first service, and complained about it, they called "tech specialist", and he simply said Lexus speech recognition sucks! I think, Japanese are excellent at hardware, but poor at Software (e.g. Sony, from world leader in consumer electronics to me-also.)

Poppa

a couple of days ago I'm driving thru town and I try to call my sister in St. Louis... and just like before, I say her name normally the first time, then I hear the ever angering " pardon "... so I scream CALL MICHELLE.... and of course after using the "angry voice" it worked... got in the car yesterday, tried to make a call, wouldn't work at all... wouldn't even acknowldege I was trying to make a call... I checked all the phone settings in the car, nothing wrong there, then check my android... don't know how but somehow my bluetooth setting was "off".. Turned it back on and immediately it connects with the car.. I tried calling home using just a general tone ( no anger ). It worked!!!! made a couple of other calls on the way home, normal tone of voice, worked everytime... I can't believe just turning my bluetooth off and on on my phone and rebooting would make a difference as far as voice recognition is concerned.. but since turning the BT back on, it's working "normally". We'll see how long this lasts!
Poppa

CharmCtyIS

I just bought a 2017 RX 350 last week and I love the car! I haven't had the other common issues I've seen i the forum but my voice recognition is horrendous! When I make calls, I can hear them but they can't hear me. When I try to give voice commands I get,"Pardon?" When I tried to do the voice training I can't even finish the sentence before the system tells to me repeat the sentence. Has anyone else come across this? I'm hoping it's just a microphone issue but I should find out more when I bring it to the service department on Saturday.