I posted this two weeks ago when I did the Lexus Event in NY (Sep 17) but in case people missed it:

I drove a fully loaded IS350 around the track.and at the first chicane I heard a RAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT sound and the seatbelt tensed up and tried to strangle me. After getting over the surprise and NOT crashing the car due to the sudden noise and constriction I guessed the car had PCS (Pre-Collision System) and my gentle manuevers around the course had made this kick in (no sign of VDIM in action that I could tell). I wasn't going that fast or doing anything too crazy at the time.

Afterwards I confirmed with the event people that the car I drove did have PCS and that the professional drivers were setting it off non-stop earlier that morning. One of the event people thought you could turn of fthe seatbelt tensioner but didn't know how to do it.

In any event I would suggest anyone who wants PCS (I don't) to try the IS350 demonstrator out in a car park to see if it is compatible with their driving behavior before purchase.

 

Wow, that's definitely something I would not have considered. Thanks for the heads-up, I'll be sure to test that out when I got to the TOL event here in L.A. next month.

 

How interesting---weird. So it was a 'residual effect' of the previous drivers? The car was 'primed' to engage the PCS collision procedure?

 

At least you didn't end up almost getting killed like the one C&D editor that drove the E90 with the ABS light on, then did a 360 beginning around 60 mph

Strange though

 

No surprise here. To the sensors of the PCS, those cones you were approaching in every corner of the autocross courses are just as potentially dangerous as a pole or a wall, and thus the PCS took the precaution and reacted accordingly. In a real world environment this makes a lot of sense (imagine hitting a cone on a highway...not exactly good to your car ), but I agree that there should be a switch of some sort to turn it off temporarily, along with the VDIM and the likes, to allow the car to perform un-intervened when the driver desires to do so.

 

problem with turning off VDIM or even PCS is that you would turn it off when you actually need it the most :-).

PCS engaging in autocross course makes perfect sense, although original article just mentioned track and not cones. From PCS view, cone is not very different from pole, or dog or anything similar.

In general, it is not like you would buy an IS350 for autox, and thats the only reason I can forsee that PCS would turn on frequently. If you are buying it for autox, then you better make sure there is an way to turn VDIM first.

 

Not a residual effect - PCS was just ON (as VDIM is ON) but one of the people running the driving event thought it might be possible to turn it off but they didn't know how to do that. PCS is a high cost option and very few IS350s will have it.

I was at the Lexus driving event in NY - basically a 35 second autocross track lined with cones in a large carpark. So yes, the PCS was seeing cones in front of the car, especially in the chicane after the initial straight. However I live near some very tight winding uphill/downhill roads in PA near the Delaware River where the front of the car is often pointing at things (trees, walls, bushes etc) only feet away as I am going from hard right to hard left and back again - I think I would be setting off PCS in these conditions too (albeit at only 20mph or so).

 

Thought I would bump this for those considering PCS. It's a $2,800 option that I skipped on my order.

 

Anyone know of any first batches coming with PCS and radar cruise control? I skip those too but would like to hear more about them....

 

Bumping this since there is another thread that speaks about the topic.

 

I just want to clarify with you guys, these cars that are being used at Taste of Lexus are pre-production meaning you will unfortunately experience some quirks and bugs during your experience.