Do you prefer driving your LS500 with these two functions turned off? I do. Having the car tugging on the wheel back and forth drives me nuts. I also wonder if they don’t cause increased tire wear. Is it just me or were these features designed for people who can’t drive?
I owned Miatas for 20 years and really appreciated being in total control of my car.
Am I missing something here?

 

Same here. I leave those off. I hate those functions. When there are no vehicles near me, I don't bother to indicate lane changes. Most of the "safety" features on the LS are just ridiculous. I cannot remember whether it's my LS or my IS, but one of them won't let you even select the seat preset positions (Driver 1 / Driver 2 / Driver 3) unless the transmission is in Park. WTF? I love Toyota quality and engineering, but the overkill on "safety" features is highly frustrating.

 

LS won't do the seat thing. Silly really, but if that preset 2 if for 4-2 foot wife and you 6-7 and hit the wrong button it could be ugly fast! I get the reasoning.
As for the lane thing I don't get it. It sort of will steer between the lines but looks like one is drunk. I do put it on if im messing with phone but otherwise I don't fully understand the functionality of it.
The resistance while activated is comical.
I wish the cruise also had the ability to not be laser guided if so desired. We had a 2004 Sienna limited and it could be activated either way.

 

If you push and hold the Cruise Control button on steering wheel for 1.5 seconds, it turns off dynamic cruise and activates traditional cruise control (non Laser).

 

I put it on for my highway commute in the morning so I can enjoy my cup of Joe stress free.
It actually works quite well if the highway lines painted are good.

Not advocating you do this, but if you put a bottle water in the steering wheel cutout at 7:00, the system will think your hands are on the wheel and will be essentially autonomous with dynamic cruise. Otherwise, the put your hands on the wheel notification activates.

 

I can’t wait to try this. Thanks for the information.
Also, why do cruise controls have to be so complex?
My F150 had pretty much the same arrangement of buttons.
Our ‘02 LS430 has a single stalk with a button on the end of the stalk. It’s very intuitive, simple to use, each tap up or down on the stalk is good for 1mph.
I believe Lexus copied this from M-B.
Cruise buttons are my biggest gripe with my car.
It beats me why any car mfr. would use anything but the stalk and one button.

 

FYI, my first attempt to "hack" LTA, i drove about 10 km's (6 miles) without touching the steeringwheel. It works fine, even in bents.

 

Nice! I think the water water bottle looks nicer. Once in awhile the warning pops up, just brush a finger on the wheel and it goes off again.
We have the exact same color interior.

 

Can you make a picture of your water bottle in/on the steering wheel?

 

Here you go.....
You can use a 1/2 size WB or full size and play around with position to optimize.



Autonomous driving hack with LCA/LTA and Dynamic Cruise

 

Glad to help.
You do realized all the items on the stalk you mentioned are all on the buttons on the wheel plus more functionality that could not easily be put on the stalk such as controlling the amount of car lengths following distance for dynamic cruise turning LCA/LTA on/off etc. The + Res / -Set buttons does exact same thing as the tap up and down on stalk for the 1mph increment you mentioned.

This is a really good human engineered system in my opinion.

 

It works!
No lets see if i can hack the system invisible by manipulating some wires under the dash or so...

 

What do you mean system invisible?

 

I want to use a switch to hack LTA, not a bottle or aluminium foil.

 

I read owners manual, but missed that one! Makes sense though.
Thank you!!!