A few weeks ago my wife returned home from a week long trip to find our car (250) with a dead battery in the airport parking lot. It really wasn’t a big deal; it just needed a jump start. The next day she was driveling it to school and she noticed that the windows did not work, none of them, and then for some reason the drivers door window started working on the way home from school later that day but the other windows where still not working. Also, the one window that did work didn’t operate in the auto mode up or down she had to hold the switch. So she drove the car for like this for a few days and then she called Lexus of Roseville, CA. They told her to lower each window one at a time by using the applicable doors switch and that they should start working after this. It worked on the driver side front and rear doors, but both passenger doors are still not working.

So she called up Lexus again and they asked her to take in the car to have it checked out and that this is a common problem. They told her that it has something to do with the battery being dead and that the windows need to be reprogrammed. They stated that the computers for the car are all still active when the car is shut off and that is why the battery died. I think that is a load of BS! I know that on new cars the computers are somewhat active even though the car is off, but it shouldn’t be that much of a drain on the system. We had our Tundra sitting for about 3 weeks one time and it fired right up, I also had my Z28 sitting in storage for over eight months and it fired right up like a champ, and I even had a light weight race battery in that car.

I have never had a car die from sitting for only a week, unless a light was left on. And I have never herd of something so stupid as the windows not working after a dead battery. If this is true then their needs to be some kind of recall for this problem. Imagine all the stranded people with dead batteries at airports. Another issue is that my family is going to be moving to Europe in the next few months and the car is going to be shipped over. It is going to take about a month for the car to arrive and then I will have to go through all this crap again.

Has anyone heard of this ridiculous problem?

 

Have you rolled each window down individually all the way down and back up again?


I've had my IS in the garage for 2 weeks and the battery didnt die, So it depends im guessing.

 

Not a ridiculous problem at ALL. Most cars now have so many control modules you wouldn't even believe. Our S550's (I work at MB) have over 100 control modules in the cars. The systems do manage to "stay awake" after the vehicles have been locked and are the ABSOLUTE HARDEST to diagnose even w/ our Diagnostic machines. You're allowed to have like 0.02AMPS of draw after a car is left alone for a couple mins and depending on how much amperage draw there is the battery WILL die if these control modules don't go to sleep mode. What the dealership told you is 100% true and it is something that will be covered under warranty with no money out of your pocket.

 

the battery dying after only a week sounds a bit fishy. i took a 2-week trip back to taiwan a few months ago, and all i had was a bit of hesitation during startup.

if i'm not mistaken, the windows and sunroof need to be reprogrammed after the battery is disconnected because of the anti-jam feature. the computer probably needs to determine the normal travel distance for each window, so that it can tell when something is jammed in the windows or sunroof. i'm pretty sure its normal for many cars out there. i had to do the same for my gf's Tc after installing hids for her.

 

You have to understand that technology is getting disgusting complex..you have control modules that talk to each other and are all connected to each other through what they call CAN(Controller Area Networks.) FOr example when you as a passenger are in the LEFT REAR and you request to have the window go down, it'll actually talk to the RIGHT REAR, RIGHT FRONT AND LEFT FRONT door control modules but only the modules that need to listen to this request will act upon it and tell the window actuator to go UP or DOWN. They're all tied together, meaning when one module takes a crap it is VERY VERY likely that it'll take some down w/ it. That's why you have multiple problems rather than just one from your battery drain.

 

Install a battery charger, for your battery

 

I've taken several 15 day trips, and always returned to find the battery strong and able to fire the car up as usual. It shouldn't die after a week just due to parasitic drain of car's own electronics.

What he told you about the windows was accurate. When the battery is dead or disconnected, the lights on the window switches will flash indicating a need to be reset. The procedure is in the owners manual, and involves opening and closing the window with its own switch, and the holding the switch in the "close" position for a few seconds after the window is up. If you do it right, the light on that switch should stop flashing.

 

Is this what I have to look forward to when I need to swap out my dead battery for a new one? Anyway I went to Mexico for 2 weeks, and I left my car sitting in the garage. Came back and it started up with no problems. I don't see how one week could have an effect? Maybe you just needed a new battery?

Wow...moving to Europe. How exciting!

 

She is going to take it in on Friday to have it checked out, the windows are still not working on the passanger side. I told her to have them replace the battery too.

I understand that the car has all these sensors that dont "sleep" when the car is off, but its still very GAY that the windows need to be reset. The only thing that should ever be affected by a dead battery is the clock and radio presets, IMO.

 

You can get a solar trickle charger that will maintain a battery over an extended period of time. It won't charge a dead battery, but will help maintain what you've got. It plugs into the power outlet and suction-cups to the inside of the windshield.

 

My Volkswagen New Beetle (and most of the VW) has same problem. If it is not driven for few weeks and especially if left unlocked./unarmed, car drains out the battery completely. I have never seen any issue with my IS. But never left it untouched more than a week either.

It is also possible that the car was not shut off before leaving it because of which it drained out the battery. That happened to me once when I possibly left the car in ACC mode and walked away from it. Next morning I had to jump it.

 

Like it or not, the way the system is designed requires you to reset each window individually. It's no big deal.

They won't replace the battery under warranty unless it is defective, so expect pushback when you demand that they replace the battery.

I let my car sit for two weeks at a time since I work elsewhere, and last summer I came home to a completely dead battery. I jumped the battery and had Lexus check it out (it was ok), and they stated that they are seeing more and more Lexus' with dead batteries. That's a fact of life with increasingly complex electronic systems. I put it on a BatteryTender when I'm gone and have experienced no further problems. It SHOULDN'T go dead so quickly, but sometimes they do. Just a fact of life.