Helmar

I left my car out last night and it rained.

This morning, I discovered that all of my windows and the moon roof had opened some time during the night and, of course, the interior was soaked.

I know that you can direct the car to open all windows and the roof from the fob, but has anyone experienced the problem where they did this by themselves?

HBH

Johnny

Arghh Helmar, I feel for you. Is it as bad as it sounds? I've had the interior of a previous Audi soaked by a leaking hot water pipe before and while the insurance covered the damages, electrical problems surfaced years later which I'm sure originated from the soaking. I hope you were able to pat it dry and it wasn't too bad...

encore888

Oh dear, this sounds like some of the incidents we've had on this board where the smartkey system strangely acts up, there has been an IS which unlocked and opened, and I think another LS as well...

...sorry to hear your interior got soaked. How bad was it? I'm hoping the wetness was mostly superficial but a visit to the dealer might be in order...hope that it can turn out ok...

Nospinzone

I would bet that while in the house you (or someone) inadvertently hit a button on the key fob.

I am constantly locking or setting off the panic alarm on my Q45a. The keys are in my pocket and and a button gets pressed. At times I am at least 70 feet from the car and the signal has to go through thick concrete and stone walls.

ls460love

I've heard of stories where the unlock button is sat on or depressed by a youngster inadvertently and the car opens up unknown to the owner... I keep my fobs in a drawer and free from my 2 little girls et al. for that very reason. I feel for you man.

On another note - when your car is dry you can have it professionally ozoned. It can work wonders.

A friend of mine had a good amount of sardine juice (yes you heard correct) spilled in his new loaded yukon. After cleaning it professionally the rancid fish smell was still unavoidable. He had it ozoned and the smell is completely gone. I visited him last weekend (for another fishing trip) and the car smelled great.

Helmar

You've got yourself a bet! When my wife came home at 1am, she parked right next to me.

It was raining, and she said that she noticed that the windows were closed.

My keys were in my pants pocket, and my pants were hanging up on a peg.

The next morning, the windows were open.

I took the car in to Lexus today, and they're going to keep a dehydrator going all weekend. They also said that they'd have a Lexus representitive up to discuss the window opening issue.

While taking the car in, the air bag warning lights came on, no doubt due to moisture on some sensor.

HBH

JTS09

Oh man, that is a sad one!
I went thru the same thing last last year ,on my 460.
It only happened once, and fortunately, I caught it after the rain had just started a short time before. Was able to do a quick mop up. I am convinced I had accidently pressed on the FOB as I had entered the house, and my pocket that had the FOB also had other items stuffed adjacent to it. Hope the Dealers efforts are successful! We all feel for you , and advise the outcome if possible.

Nospinzone

My keys were in my pants pocket, and my pants were hanging up on a peg.

Obviously when your wife was going through your pockets at 1 AM to lift a few twenties from your wallet, she inadvertently touched your key fob!

Hey, look at it this way Helmar, considering where you live, if this happened two months ago you would have had snow drifts inside the car!

G-SharK

If you hold the unlock key down, the doors and windows including moon roof will open, it is a feature that was built in by Lexus. Somehow during the night the keys were held down by a monster to trigger the unlock doors and roll down windows. Hope your car is dry by summer.

Helmar

Well, after a week and a half I got my car back.

It appears to be as good as new.

The dealer had corporate Lexus out who nixed the plan to just dehumidify the interior.

Instead, they removed the seats, carpets and sub-carpets (jute, sound deadening material, etc.). Then they dried the floor pan completely and let the dehumidifier go some more.

After the car was completely dry, they put in new sound deadening material, jute, and carpets and put the seats back.

Oh, and they disabled the ability to automatically open all of the windows and moon roof.....

The loaner RX400h was ok (rode nice, kind of loud), but just made me appreciate the LS even more.

I'll be pretty nervous about leaving the car out in the rain again.....

HBH

Johnny

Hope that experience didn't set you back too much.

Glad to hear your baby is dry.

I've been wondering about the RX400h. I was looking at the '10 RX350 yesterday - not too impressed with the exterior re-styling, but the interior is very well done; the prices in Canada are at par with the US$, so I may move on a new 09. I don't want the leather, Nav and ML version, just a back roads RX. If I need to be pampered the 600 will satisfy that. I agree they are noisy compared with the plush LS. It's nice to step back now and again; makes you realize what a jewel the LS is.

Helmar

No charge. Not even for the state inspection I asked them to do while it was in....

HBH

Johnny

Helmar, I washed my car last night and afterward parked it in my garage. Because I keep some pricey camera equipment in the trunk, I locked the car, ensuring the windows were closed as well. I went straight upstairs, showered and hit the sack, so there is no chance the keyfob in my pant pocket may have been inadvertently depressed.

This morning, I approached the car and noticed both windows on the driver's side were fully lowered. I walked around to the other side and found the same thing, as well as the sunroof; the car was still locked and the alarm system was armed. Had the car been sitting in the driveway overnight and it rained, it would have been flooded as yours was. Similarly, had the car been parked on a city street, its security and contents would have been seriously compromised.

I will report this to Lexus. I seem to recall this happening to another owner, so we should track this as it's obvious something is not quite kosher here. I have also found on occasion when I am washing the car, the doors lock and unlock themselves for no reason, so I wonder if there is something going on with the wipers' rain sensor looping back a signal back to the windows' control circuit. Just speculating here...

Helmar

Burnaby,

Thanks for your post.

I was starting to wonder if somehow I had triggered the event, even though the logistics of my causing it were all wrong.

It sounds like Lexus corporate is aware of at least SOME kind of issue based on the fact that they didn't even TRY to charge me for the work, and the fact that the same thing has happened at least twice now.

Perhaps we'll see a service bulletin about this at some time in the future.

HBH

Nospinzone

So Burnaby, your wife also goes through your pockets at 1:00 AM!