Greetings. My car lights come on when I pull into my garage (2008). Usually, once I get out of the car, they turn off after a few seconds. Today they didn't turn off. Had my wife not left to run a few errands, they might have stayed on all day. As it is, they'd been on an hour. This happened another time, but luckily I was still in the kitchen and noticed the lights from the window in the garage door. Once I open one of the doors to the car, within a few seconds the lights go off. Now I'm paranoid about leaving my car before I see the lights go out.

Does anyone know why this is happening?

Thanks, Ron

 

Not sure why they would stay on, but I changed the setting on mine to not delay turning off and it's very reassuring. As soon as I open the drivers door the headlights turn off. This can be done in the car settings found in your Nav display.

 

Could be a faulty doorjamb switch, check out this very helpful post: https://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls-...ml#post8513104

-Joe

 

When I press my remote lock button twice to lock the car, the lights go out. Otherwise, they stay on for the pre-described time I set in my Carista app. I WANT the lights to stay on as I'm leaving my car and getting my house keys out, etc.

 

Honestly, when I saw the title of the threat, jmcraneys' outline of the defective door jamb came to mind.

 

You're are getting some very good advice from Jamodo and CRowe14. You very likely have a defective doorjamb switch for the driver's door. Another good indicator of a defective doorjamb switch is the failure of the courtesy light on the door to illuminate when the door is opened. Some of your other doors may have defective switches too - be sure to check them all and replace any that are defective. It's a very common problem in these cars. Not only is the lights auto-off feature impacted but several other important safety features are compromised. Replacing the switches is an easy and inexpensive DIY project if you are able to that sort of thing. Details are available in this forum and we can direct you to that information. If you are not a DIYer then you can get the repair done at a Lexus dealer or a Toyota dealer - probably less expensive at a Toyota dealer - or an independent repair shop.

And please dial back your paranoia - everything works well when the switches are good.

The advice that roadfrog gave only works if the doorjamb switch is good and is a good indication that the doorjamb switch is bad when it doesn't work. When the doorjamb switch is bad and you press the lock button twice the lights will remain on and you will get a long beep from the external warning chime.

 

Good point. I re-read the post and realized we were talking about the lights being on for over an hour. I originally thought it was after several minutes.

 

Thanks all. My courtesy light works. If you mean the light that shines on the ground and now is a Lexus logo, that's fine. I printed the info on rolling the windows down and putting in the key. I'll try that tomorrow.

 

If your courtesy light is working then doing that test of leaving the key in the car will probably not help. That test is dorky and intended to dramatize the risk of locking your key in the car.

Often the defective driver's doorjamb switches are intermittent and it takes a little effort to observe their failure. One thing you should try is opening the door multiple times while sitting in the driver's seat, with the ignition off, and observing that the courtesy light illuminates every time. I would try it 20 or 30 times and then in the future, for a while, I would watch for proper operation every time I exited the car, whether the lights are on or not.

Your lights-remaining-on problem is related to the doorjamb switches or your not closing one of your doors or trunk properly. The rule for this is: if the lights are on when the ignition is turned off, at least one door must be opened, followed by all doors and trunk closed, for the lights auto-off feature to work.

The advice that roadfrog gave you about using the wireless remote key to truncate the lights auto-off delay might help you identify what's happening. If you press the lock button once on the wireless key and the doors lock without a warning chime (extended chime) then all the doors and trunk are properly closed. If you press the lock button twice, quickly, and the lights remain on and you get a warning chime then the doorjamb switch is probably defective and did not sense that the door had been opened.