I was wondering if anyone else was encountering problems with the Sirius radio installed by Longo Lexus. This is my second encounter with the same problem. The audio functions were all performing fine but my speaker was not producing any sound. So I took it into a nearby dealer and they said they weren't able to fix it because it's due to the Sirius radio installed by Longo. I take it over to Longo and get a new reciever installed but after a few weeks the same problem happens again. I again took it into a different nearby dealer, just to make sure it's the same problem before taking it all the way to Longo, and it was the same problem. I am scheduled to take it back into Longo, but I was wondering if there is any way I can turn if off or something. Keep in mind I am a female with no real knowledge of how cars work so any labor intensive work should be avoided. Thank you!

I am assuming that you recently purchased your car and Sirius was installed as an aftermarket accessory. From my understanding, Lexus stopped making the Sirius module so they must have used a Vaistech box with a Sirius Connect receiver. If it had been the original Lexus module, your local dealership should have had no problem at all dealing with the problem under warranty. That said, Vaistech is having firmware problems with the SLS Vaistech module. If your problem has anything to do with sound during bluetooth or nav operation, then the Vaistech module is the most likely culprit. A quick way to check is, when the sound cuts out, switch to AM/SAT and then back to whatever mode you were in. If that corrects the problem, it's definitely the Vaistech module. You might also want to call Longo and ask the service dept is they use the Vaistech SLS module.

I possibly disagree with the DDS.

I have the Sirius unit in my car and they (Lexus Brothers) installed the ES330 unit in my ES350. It did not work well at first because they did a botch job of connecting the unit into the head unit. My unit was cutting out in the front right. It took the dealer over a month to finally get it right. This was after they replaced the ML amp unit. I guess that you really have to push those connectors in hard. Once connected it works perfect and does not require a VaisTech interface. This was ALL covered under warranty.

It has been said that XM reception is better.

Heavy rumors are that Sirius and XM will merge, so maybe reception for Sirius owners will improve as part of them combining their services.

That would be a major mess. The two companies have incompatible hardware, meaning millions of subscribers will have to have their radios replaced. Most likely, they would simply offer you a plug and play unit, meaning people like Lexus owners would likely have lay out quite a bit of money to have their XM receivers replaced with Sirius receivers if the Sirius technology was chosen to move forward with.

The bluetooth and the navi works perfectly fine. I can still hear sounds for those functions, it's just the audio functions. The AM/SAT, FM, CD, Tape...none of those work. I called the service guy earlier, before I read this post, to totally uninstall that whole Sirius reciever thing and he said they can't do that. They are able to replace it with another reciever but they can't entirely uninstall it. He says once I bring it in, I can talk to the service guy and tell him that this is the second time and I would like to uninstall the whole thing, but most likely they won't be able to. Does anyone know why?