2018 Nav update fried my '16 GS's head unit.
01-11-19, 05:41 AM
#1
Intermediate
Thread Starter
2018 Nav update fried my '16 GS's head unit.
This was unbelievable.
A few weeks ago I stopped by a Lexus dealership to buy the 2018 nav update for my '16 GS. I bought the SIM card in the parts department and took it out to install. The parts dept. told me that the update should take ~20 mins. and to be sure not to turn the car off. Fine.
So the update began normally. But after 20 mins. nothing was happening -- the update stalled. I kept the car running. About 10 mins. later the screen started flashing pink and black. The radio was still on but no infotainment options were available.
So I took the car back to the dealership. The parts dept. said, "We've never seen this before." The service writer wrote a ticket and the shop foreman took charge. About 1 hour later the service writer came out and said, "Would you come with me please." I was then told that the update fried the whole multimedia unit. The unit would have to be replaced at a cost of $8000. The car would be out of commission for a least 2 weeks (getting the part, installing it, etc.).
I'd been thinking about trading the GS for a '18 ES350 UL, which is exactly what I did. I found a ES with the colors that I wanted at a Lexus dealership on the other side of town. They took the GS in on trade and replaced the multimedia unit under warranty. They eventually sold the GS as a CPO.
A few weeks ago I stopped by a Lexus dealership to buy the 2018 nav update for my '16 GS. I bought the SIM card in the parts department and took it out to install. The parts dept. told me that the update should take ~20 mins. and to be sure not to turn the car off. Fine.
So the update began normally. But after 20 mins. nothing was happening -- the update stalled. I kept the car running. About 10 mins. later the screen started flashing pink and black. The radio was still on but no infotainment options were available.
So I took the car back to the dealership. The parts dept. said, "We've never seen this before." The service writer wrote a ticket and the shop foreman took charge. About 1 hour later the service writer came out and said, "Would you come with me please." I was then told that the update fried the whole multimedia unit. The unit would have to be replaced at a cost of $8000. The car would be out of commission for a least 2 weeks (getting the part, installing it, etc.).
I'd been thinking about trading the GS for a '18 ES350 UL, which is exactly what I did. I found a ES with the colors that I wanted at a Lexus dealership on the other side of town. They took the GS in on trade and replaced the multimedia unit under warranty. They eventually sold the GS as a CPO.
01-11-19, 05:58 AM
#2
Racer
If they did a warranty replacement of the head unit, why would you have ever had to pay $8k to fix this?
edit: Also I have seen replacement hard drives as a separate sku for ~$1k, which was probably an option as well. It's very unlikely that an update damaged the hardware, just messed up the data on disk, which the whole OS and Apps and map data.
edit: Also I have seen replacement hard drives as a separate sku for ~$1k, which was probably an option as well. It's very unlikely that an update damaged the hardware, just messed up the data on disk, which the whole OS and Apps and map data.
Last edited by jonathancl; 01-11-19 at 11:30 AM.
01-11-19, 07:05 AM
#3
This was unbelievable.
A few weeks ago I stopped by a Lexus dealership to buy the 2018 nav update for my '16 GS. I bought the SIM card in the parts department and took it out to install. The parts dept. told me that the update should take ~20 mins. and to be sure not to turn the car off. Fine.
So the update began normally. But after 20 mins. nothing was happening -- the update stalled. I kept the car running. About 10 mins. later the screen started flashing pink and black. The radio was still on but no infotainment options were available.
So I took the car back to the dealership. The parts dept. said, "We've never seen this before." The service writer wrote a ticket and the shop foreman took charge. About 1 hour later the service writer came out and said, "Would you come with me please." I was then told that the update fried the whole multimedia unit. The unit would have to be replaced at a cost of $8000. The car would be out of commission for a least 2 weeks (getting the part, installing it, etc.).
I'd been thinking about trading the GS for a '18 ES350 UL, which is exactly what I did. I found a ES with the colors that I wanted at a Lexus dealership on the other side of town. They took the GS in on trade and replaced the multimedia unit under warranty. They eventually sold the GS as a CPO.
A few weeks ago I stopped by a Lexus dealership to buy the 2018 nav update for my '16 GS. I bought the SIM card in the parts department and took it out to install. The parts dept. told me that the update should take ~20 mins. and to be sure not to turn the car off. Fine.
So the update began normally. But after 20 mins. nothing was happening -- the update stalled. I kept the car running. About 10 mins. later the screen started flashing pink and black. The radio was still on but no infotainment options were available.
So I took the car back to the dealership. The parts dept. said, "We've never seen this before." The service writer wrote a ticket and the shop foreman took charge. About 1 hour later the service writer came out and said, "Would you come with me please." I was then told that the update fried the whole multimedia unit. The unit would have to be replaced at a cost of $8000. The car would be out of commission for a least 2 weeks (getting the part, installing it, etc.).
I'd been thinking about trading the GS for a '18 ES350 UL, which is exactly what I did. I found a ES with the colors that I wanted at a Lexus dealership on the other side of town. They took the GS in on trade and replaced the multimedia unit under warranty. They eventually sold the GS as a CPO.
Curious, how did multimedia failure keep your car out of commission? My thought is you could have driven the car until the multimedia replacement.
Guessing you wanted the ES whether or not the multimedia went out—that’s okay as it is a great car as well.
01-11-19, 07:08 AM
#4
Intermediate
Thread Starter
The original dealership would NOT file a warranty claim. Also, the parts department would not refund me for the nav update. I'm in the midst of a credit card dispute for the latter.
01-11-19, 07:12 AM
#5
Intermediate
Thread Starter
I was out-of-state when this happened. When the unit fried I had no air, no radio, nav, etc. My home dealership was a bit reluctant to get involved because the failure did not occur locally. So the alternative was to leave the GS out of state to get fixed, rent a car to get back home, and then 2 weeks later rent a car to pick up the GS, etc,
01-11-19, 07:56 AM
#6
Lead Lap
This was unbelievable.
A few weeks ago I stopped by a Lexus dealership to buy the 2018 nav update for my '16 GS. I bought the SIM card in the parts department and took it out to install. The parts dept. told me that the update should take ~20 mins. and to be sure not to turn the car off. Fine.
So the update began normally. But after 20 mins. nothing was happening -- the update stalled. I kept the car running. About 10 mins. later the screen started flashing pink and black. The radio was still on but no infotainment options were available.
So I took the car back to the dealership. The parts dept. said, "We've never seen this before." The service writer wrote a ticket and the shop foreman took charge. About 1 hour later the service writer came out and said, "Would you come with me please." I was then told that the update fried the whole multimedia unit. The unit would have to be replaced at a cost of $8000. The car would be out of commission for a least 2 weeks (getting the part, installing it, etc.).
I'd been thinking about trading the GS for a '18 ES350 UL, which is exactly what I did. I found a ES with the colors that I wanted at a Lexus dealership on the other side of town. They took the GS in on trade and replaced the multimedia unit under warranty. They eventually sold the GS as a CPO.
A few weeks ago I stopped by a Lexus dealership to buy the 2018 nav update for my '16 GS. I bought the SIM card in the parts department and took it out to install. The parts dept. told me that the update should take ~20 mins. and to be sure not to turn the car off. Fine.
So the update began normally. But after 20 mins. nothing was happening -- the update stalled. I kept the car running. About 10 mins. later the screen started flashing pink and black. The radio was still on but no infotainment options were available.
So I took the car back to the dealership. The parts dept. said, "We've never seen this before." The service writer wrote a ticket and the shop foreman took charge. About 1 hour later the service writer came out and said, "Would you come with me please." I was then told that the update fried the whole multimedia unit. The unit would have to be replaced at a cost of $8000. The car would be out of commission for a least 2 weeks (getting the part, installing it, etc.).
I'd been thinking about trading the GS for a '18 ES350 UL, which is exactly what I did. I found a ES with the colors that I wanted at a Lexus dealership on the other side of town. They took the GS in on trade and replaced the multimedia unit under warranty. They eventually sold the GS as a CPO.
If it was the dealerships fault, they should've fixed it under warranty.
01-11-19, 08:32 AM
#7
Lexus Champion
That's crazy. I've never heard of that happening.
Enjoy your new ride!
Enjoy your new ride!
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01-11-19, 09:44 AM
#8
Intermediate
Thread Starter
Thats REALLY odd - but its a little unclear: you were doing the install yourself and when it didn't work, you took it to the dealership where they confirmed it was "fried" and were trying to charge you $8000 to replace the unit?
If it was the dealerships fault, they should've fixed it under warranty.
If it was the dealerships fault, they should've fixed it under warranty.
01-11-19, 09:59 AM
#9
Lead Lap
This seems a bit dishonest but if that happened to me and I was still under full warranty, I would have waited and told the dealership it worked but suddenly stopped working after a day or two...but, congrats on the ES!
01-11-19, 10:01 AM
#10
Lexus Champion
I wonder if the 2018 map data set is corrupt somehow. There was a thread in the 5ES section where something similar happened but it was the dealer performing the update and they tried to tag the owner with the replacement head unit. Interesting to see two cases of this type of head unit failure.
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...=906694&page=1
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...=906694&page=1
01-11-19, 10:16 AM
#11
Lexus Champion
I never cared about in-dash Nav. update. I carry Garmin free standing unit with free life time update.
I think car does not have to be running. All you need is accessory power has to be on when doing something
like that. IMO, there must be a way to recover from this disaster instead of new head unit.
I think car does not have to be running. All you need is accessory power has to be on when doing something
like that. IMO, there must be a way to recover from this disaster instead of new head unit.
01-11-19, 10:20 AM
#12
Lexus Champion
Originally Posted by Htony
I think car does not have to be running. All you need is accessory power has to be on when doing something
like that.
like that.
01-11-19, 10:51 AM
#14
Intermediate
Thread Starter
What do you mean? I have no reason to lie about anything that happened. I thought a major purpose of these forums is to share information and help others in their decisionmaking.
Given this experience and the risk of a head unit failure (even if remote), someone wanting a nav update might consider paying the extra $$$ for a service appointment rather than doing it themselves.
Given this experience and the risk of a head unit failure (even if remote), someone wanting a nav update might consider paying the extra $$$ for a service appointment rather than doing it themselves.
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Im2bz2p345 (01-12-19)
01-11-19, 11:00 AM
#15
Lexus Test Driver
I never cared about in-dash Nav. update. I carry Garmin free standing unit with free life time update.
I think car does not have to be running. All you need is accessory power has to be on when doing something
like that. IMO, there must be a way to recover from this disaster instead of new head unit.
I think car does not have to be running. All you need is accessory power has to be on when doing something
like that. IMO, there must be a way to recover from this disaster instead of new head unit.
You rarely see many stand alone GPS devices (e.g. Garmin units) in automobiles anymore. They are going the way of phone booths, typewriters, rotary dial telephones and floppy discs.