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Hello CL! I bought a 2010 Lexus RX 450h AWD about a year ago and it's been a great car. Yesterday I was driving around town and I randomly got three warning messages below. The first warning was simply "FR. ACT. STABI." with the brake light coming on as well as the other warning lights. Then it shows a Brake Malfunction and a Check Brake System warning along with the ABS.
Does anyone know what the errors mean and how I can diagnose them? Thanks!!!
Thank you vlad_a. I have an OBD II scanner and I plugged it in to the OBD port but it didn't report any DTCs. I didn't see anything suspect on the Live Data either.
Interestingly, I did have the OBD II plugged in when the warnings popped up. I can't imagine though that the OBD II scanner caused the warnings to appear...
"Active Power Stabilizer Suspension System (APSSS), also known as Active Power Stabilizer Suspension System, is an electric active suspension system with active anti-roll bars developed by Toyota Motor Corporation for its high-end vehicles including Lexus models. By altering stabilizer bar stiffness, this system acts to reduce body tilt during cornering, keeping the vehicle more level during turns and improving handling, as opposed to the natural tendency of a vehicle to roll due to the lateral forces experienced during high-speed maneuvering. The active stabilizer system relies on vehicle body sensors and electric motors."
Thank you vlad_a. I have an OBD II scanner and I plugged it in to the OBD port but it didn't report any DTCs. I didn't see anything suspect on the Live Data either.
Interestingly, I did have the OBD II plugged in when the warnings popped up. I can't imagine though that the OBD II scanner caused the warnings to appear...
I wouldn't call it a coincidence. Carista triggers a ton of lights as it scans through ECUs. I would reset ECUs by disconnecting the battery for a few minutes.
What kind of OBDII scanner do you have? If it's an ELM327 v1.4 or newer (and it actually supports that standard), then the Carista app should be able to work with that tool. Carista is free to download, but in order to use the Lexus-specific diagnostics or customizations, you have to make an in-app purchase inside the free app.
In any case though, the difference between Carista and any other app or generic OBDII tool is that Carista communicates with all modules in the car via a Toyota/Lexus-specific protocol and gets fault codes the way that a dealer would, whereas generic OBDII tools/apps just get standard OBDII fault codes (i.e. just engine and transmission, non-brand-specific). As you've seen, a generic tool doesn't find any faults here, but I'm guessing Carista would. If you have a compatible OBD adapter, just download Carista (free) and see if it finds any non-OBDII codes (also free). To actually see what the codes are or reset them, you have to pay.
It's normal for a diagnostic tool to trigger warning lights about the systems that it's in the process of scanning; however, I highly doubt that your generic OBDII tool was even connecting to any ECUs besides the engine and transmission, let alone causing lights in them. Plus, the warnings caused by scan tools go away after the scanning is done or after you turn the ignition off and back on.
I can attest to Carista picking up a Lexus-specific (hybrid) code. That explains why generic scanners are not seeing them.
It also reads a bunch of Audi codes that I have, probably due to disabling a couple features by pulling fuses.
12-02-16, 01:36 PM
FR. ACT. STABI. Warning
