DrComputer

Is it just my car or do the interior floor lights NOT come on when you open the door? They seem to come on when you turn on the car and have it in park. They then dim and stay lit while driving when the headlights are on. But I would think they should go on when the regular interior overhead lights go on. It makes it hard to grab my briefcase in the garage because it's so dark without the floor lights.

Anyone else notice this? Is it CBEST settable?

encore888

Are you referring to the puddle lamps that illuminate the ground outside the door? Because with SmartAccess I believe they should activate on the side of the car that you approach.

Edit: Interior floor lamps...shouldn't they activate as you open the door?

DrComputer

I agree they SHOULD light when opening the door... but don't. That's why I am asking other owners to tell me if theirs do.

DrComputer

Follow up:

I went to the dealer today and checked one of the cars on the showroom floor. The interior floor lights work as expected. I then spent the next 1/2 hour with the head tech and the CBEST tool in my car trying to figure out why my floor lights come on only after the car is started. He was stumped. We reset all the options back to factory defaults and it still didn't work. They are going to call Lexus support on Monday and see what could be wrong. Hopefully this is the first (and last) problem I will have with my new car.

encore888

Hmmm...sounds like first batch glitches...well at least it should be all under warranty, hope it gets taken care of soon!

DrexLex

Dr. C,

Just a long shot, but are these lights normally also supposed to illuminate when the passenger door(s) is opened? Does that also fail on your car, or just the driver's door is bad? If it only fails for one door, then it might be the switch (or circuit) that checks to see if the door is closed. Anyway, let us know what they find.

DrComputer

Nope, not a door switch problem. The floor lights don't go on no matter which door (or more than one) is opened. I'll find out tomorrow after they call corporate tech support. Hope the car is not running on Windows 98

encore888

The floor lights go on in the side where the door is opened on the LS, there's never a moment when the floor area isn't properly illuminated...I imagine with the GS it should be the same.

DrComputer

Tech support figured out the problem.... and it's a really stupid one.

If you dim the dashboard lights below 1/2 way it will make it so the floor light do not turn on. I think this is really stupid. I usuall keep the dash low because I hate being blinded at night with a really bright white dash. Guess I'll have to keep it a bit brighter than I like so I have floor lighting.

encore888

^^^
LOL, I should've realized!!! Just yesterday I helped a friend who couldn't figure out why their NAVI screen wouldn't go to 'Night Mode' coloring at night---turns out their instrument panel lighting was set on MAX so it overrode other settings.

soon2benags4

Thanks enig, that is what is probably wrong with my night mode on Navi!

XeroK00L

Ahh sounds like another example of car electronics trying too hard to be smarter than their owners.

Glad you found the source of the problem though. Hopefully Lexus will listen and improve such litle annoyances in the future.