With only 4000 miles, the dash lights on our ES350 will go out and stay out until you restart the car. This problem is intermittent which makes it super hard to pin point. Anyone out their in Lexus land have a similar problem or know of a fix. This may be a tough one to convince the dealer of the problem.

Any thoughts??

 

How far away is the one Idaho dealer from you? Maybe you could video it when it happens and show it to them, if too far.

 

I thought about having a camera at the ready but being an intermittent problem and being my wife's car adds a little challenge to capture the moment. Good suggestion!!

 

Are they completely out, or dimmed? The dashboard top light sensor could be at fault, since the dash lights and headlight auto-on/off operate independently. Nothing sitting on the dash top that could shield the sensor?

Otherwise, no suggestions, no problems on mine.

 

Does this usually happen at a particular time of the day or in particular locations ... such as early morning or early evening or when passing through a forested or otherwise shaded area in which light from the sun is blocked?

It sounds like the dash light level for night mode is set too low. Try increasing the dashboard light level when the dashboard lights are in night mode.

Edit: It is explained not all that clearly on page 95 of the 2013 ES owners manual: http://drivers.lexus.com/t3Portal/do...pdf/sec_02.pdf

 

The dash lights went out completely like turning off the light in your house and nothing was covering the dash. The adjustment dimmer was in the middle of dark and light range. The car was operating around noon on a sunny day. It has only happened twice during the last week.

Thanks jim256, where is the dash board top light sensor?

Thanks Kansas for the link

 

'Just looked at mine---I probably "assumed" something from prior cars. There is black button near the right defrost vent. No idea what it does but I don't see any glass eye. There is what looks like a sensor on the back of the mirror, not sure what it controls, but what I notice on mine is that the dash lights respond to interior conditions more than to exterior lighting. On other cars, on rainy days when the auto lights were activated, I had to override the dash display and nav from "night mode" but on the ES and other Lexus models I've had, the dash displays would stay bright even though headlights were on, both auto and manually selected. Sorry, but not sure where it is. Maybe somebody has better knowledge but it does seem that the dash lights are on their own sensor.