Hi - I own a 2011 ES350 with NAV. It was purchased brand new in November 2011. There is no issue in syncing the phonebook contacts from my iPhone 4S with the NAV system. It works very well. The issue is that every few months the contacts are mysteriously deleted by the system (no longer on the NAV system). I have had to sync my phonebook contacts three times since I purchased the vehicle. Any help would be appreciated.

Thank you,
Ron

 

I'm bringing this thread back from dead because the same issue has happened to me three times already on my 2012 ISF. Did you find a solution to the problem?

 

Hi - I did not find a solution. If you ever do, please let me know. I would appreciate it. Thanks.

Ron

 

That's happened to me a couple times too...

 

Are you using an IPhone? I have had this issue with the IPhone. See if you can replicate it by turning off your phone and then starting your car. Now turn the phone on and see if your contacts are gone.

 

Yep, iPhone 4...

 

I have found this problem on several forums both for Toyota and Lexus. The common thing seems to be an IPhone and navigation. Several have reported it to Lexus/Toyota all the way to Japan. I havn't found a solution on any of the forums yet. I have an IPhone 4S and a 2012 RX with nav. It has happened to me three times in three months. The annoying thing is redoing the speed dials. I will report it when I take it in this month for the 5k tire rotation but don't expect any answers from the dealer.

 

Yes, I have an iPhone, but this issue has happened to me only on my 2012 ISF with NAV. I had a 2008 ISF with NAV as well and during the almost 4 years of owning it, and going through every single iPhone model since the first iPhone 2G, I never had an issue related to the phone or phonebook on the car.

This thing happens randomly, I can't replicate it so I'll take the car to the dealer and I hope they have some sort of solution. BTW, the iPhone shouldn't be a factor here, contacts were transfered correctly last time over a month ago. The issue is the car, the whole phonebook plus speed dial entries and call history were wiped out.

 

There is something going on with my car! Last time I had this problem was last Friday, and I refused to sync all contacts again and create speed dial entries until I find what's causing the problem. Since last Friday I've made (from the phone) lots of calls and received many as well, that way I've been making some more calls but from the call history on the car. This morning the call history was wiped out again, not a single entry! Really annoying, I'll try to get an answer from the dealer today.

BTW, is there an option to reset phone usage like when you're going to sell the car? Maybe that feature is getting activated somehow!

 

I will be interested to hear what the dealer tells you. I am sure they will blame the phone.

 

^^^ Well yes, of course they did blame the whole issue on the phone. They said that Apple and Lexus are working together to find a solution to the problem, a future iOS update should fix it. According to them every time your phone connects to the car, they sync and the contacts get transferred. The issue stops the car from getting the contacts. Once they finished explaining this whole nonsense I told them that the system doesn't work that way, no phone book gets populated every time you connect your phone! Then I continued, all contacts and speed dials are stored on the hard drive, and even if I leave the phone at home and pair another phone, my contacts will be on the car's phone book. At the end I said, let's assume that you're right and the iPhone is deleting the phone book, how is it possible for the phone to access the car's system and wipe out my speed dial entries and whole call history? Those are things not set up from the phone, the speed dial I do it manually on the car, and the call history gets built up automatically. They scratched their heads and looked confused, took the car in for inspection, an hour later came back saying that they'll have to ask corporate because they don't know what's going on. I guess I'll have to keep syncing my contacts every other month.

 

I was able to replicate the problem using the approach mentioned in joe80's post of 08-05-2012. This means that every time I power off my iPhone 4S, the contacts will be wiped out from the NAV system. I'll contact my dealer but don't expect much. Thanks.

 

I think you can turn the phone off you just can' t turn it on while the navigation system in the car is turned on. I have done the following and it has not reset yet: I do not have my contacts broken down into groups on my iPhone. I have removed all phones except for mine from the memory of the car. I have turned off syncing favorites on the iPhone. And of course I never turn the phone on while the car is running. I think there is also a problem if you exit the car while it is running with your phone and then get out of Bluetooth range and then come back into range.

 

Yes, you two are right! I tried different things after reading your posts and found the following:

1. Turning BT off and on while the car is running won't affect the phone features on the car.
2. Leaving the car with the phone in my pocket while the car is running (farther than BT coverage) won't affect the phone features on the car.
3. Turning the phone off while the car is running, then parking and turning the car off, then powering up the phone and then turning the car on won't affect the car's phone features.
4. Turning the car on with the phone off and then turning the phone on won't affect the car's phone features.
5. Turning the phone off and on while the car is running WILL wipe out everything on the car's phone features, that includes phonebook, speed dial entries, and call history.

Number 5 doesn't make sense but it's happening. How is it possible to lose even the call history? To me this is a glitch on the car, not the phone. Worst case scenario the phone "may" be responsible for the phonebook, but the speed dial and the call history? I don't have a phone other than iPhones to try this again, can someone else try the combinations above with a different phone and see if the phonebook remains?

BTW, I was running iOS 5.0.1, I just updated to iOS 5.1.1, I'll post back tomorrow with the results.

 

Thanks for running all those tests!

I have had it happen a few times to me but just cannot recall ever power cycling the phone with the car running. I can imagine there have been a few times the phone has run out of battery and turned itself off while car is running - wonder if there is any other variation that might result in a wipe from this?

Next time I get a chance will try turn phone off while car running, stop car, start car, turn phone on.

If this also clears then it might be that given a delay between engine start and Bluetooth hook up it could occasionally get confused and treat this scenario as if phone being booted up after the engine start (Again not normally an issue but if phone had previously be turned off while engine running you would end up with result 5 from your tests)

The only other thing I can think of is we have 2 phones configured - wonder if that might end up causing a scenario like number 5 (Like it picks up your phone then switches to the other phone and then back to yours all while the car is running)