I took delivery of my RX in the beginning of July, which is already pretty hot in South Louisiana. This morning was a little cooler than normal, about 82 degrees, so I decided to turn off the AC and open the sunroof. I noticed it stopped only part way open, so I pushed the button again, which allowed the sunroof to open all the way. All the windows were closed and when the sunroof opened all the way, there was a lot of wind pressure that was almost painful. I quickly closed the sunroof and then reopened it to the first stop. In that position, there was very little pressure. I now understand why Lexus added the stop.

I have had a few cars that had some wind buffeting with the sunroof open and windows closed, but none as severe as this. I'm sure by slightly opening one or both of the rear windows, the pressure would be released. Have any of you experienced this?

 

Yep, I noticed exactly the same thing - open it all the way at 55 and it hurts! Crack the 2 rear windows and it seems to be fine. My 400h did not behave this way so there must be something different about the aerodynamics of the Gen III...or is this a 2013 thing?

 

My '99 RX300 did not have a significant buffeting problem that I can remember. My '06 RX400h wasn't real bad, but as mentioned, had more of an issue if the sunroof was fully opened, and I needed to at least crack the back rear windows to resolve the issue. I actually believe my 2013 is not as bad as my RX400h was, but I also don't open the sunroof all the way the majority of the time. When it's only part way open, I'm very happy with not having to crack my rear windows as I did in my 400h -- I thought that was an improvement! All of this is definitely related to design differences between gens.

 

Pretty sure it's related to aerodynamics. Because of the shape of the roof, the front of the sunroof is lower than the rear, so the wind easily enters the opening, but with the windows closed, the air has nowhere to go. The incoming air attempts to evacuate at the only place it can, back through the opening of the sunroof, thereby causing the buffeting or turbulence. I guess by not opening the sunroof all the way somehow blocks most of the air from coming inside. I didn't notice on the RX, but several of my cars had a wind deflector that popped up when the sunroof opened. Seemed like that helped a lot.

 

Yup. Agree. Our RX's also have a wind deflector that pops up when the sunroof goes back far enough.

 

Yes, my '10 RX does the same thing if I open it all the way. Have to crack open a back window to get rid of the buffeting noise. I just let the sunroof open to the default opening so I don't have to deal with cracking open a back window. Did not have his issue on my '07 RX, but I don't remember the '07 having the two positions that it would open either.

 

my 2010 doesnt seem to have this issue

 

My 2012 does.