CONTEXT:
Over the weekend, we had a tiny power blip at our home early one morning, but this does happen from time to time, so it was not too much of a surprise aside from the fact it was not raining and we were not having high winds a the time. Also, our new to us 2010 RXh is parked in the garage directly underneath a newly installed rolling code Amarr garage door opener. One of te garage door opener buttons in the RXh (#1) is programmed for the garage door opener and appears to be working perfectly.

Well, I used the car Friday evening and when I parked it in the garage, every window was completely closed, as was the sunroof. HOWEVER, when I walk out into the garage on Saturday morning (after the power blip), I found that every one of the RXh windows is about 75% of the way down, and the sunroof was partially open as well. I am absolutely certain that no one accessed the vehicle and left the windows down. Both of our electronic keys were upstairs in the kitchen and well out of range of the RXh (the garage is in the basement). Since we've never parked any of our vehicles in the garage before, we've never had a chance to observe this kind of thing before, and that leads me to my questions...

1. Have any of you ever seen something like this happen to one of your vehicles? If so, did you ever discover the root cause, and if so, what was it?

2. Is there a chance that the power blip could have caused some type of power cycle in the garage door opener which could have sent some type of stray radio signal to the RXh causing it to malfunction in a way which affected all the windows, but NOT the garage door itself? This seems like quite a leap, to me, but I do know that electronics can do weird things at times.

Thanks ahead of time for any and all input and insights.

Pete

 

Pete, the brief electrical outage probably didn't have anything to do with it. More likely the unlock button on the key fob was pressed and held by accident. You can read more about it here.

 

Thanks for that link, Anita. Sounds like that may have been what happened. I'll play around with it in the next day or so to verify, and if it does prove to be the source, I'll be getting that disabled ASAP.

 

Your post reminds of something I read from Car and Driver 12 years ago. Don't ask me why I recall these articles.......... but the situation seems exactly the same. I'm copying C&D for the next 2 paragraphs: (full article here http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/...term-road-test )

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One night our managing editor drove the long-term Jaguar XJR to the gym (to watch others exercise, no doubt) and then home to his driveway. As he approached the Jag the next morning, he was startled to see that the driver's window was rolled down halfway. The weather report the day before had called for hard rain overnight, and he distinctly recalled editor Csere's declaration that the Jag's cream-colored chairs best be as pristine at 40,000 miles as they were when new. He was certain he'd left the car's windows up. Of course, he was also sure that his Mitsubishi stock would provide him with a future involving streams of mai tais on Waikiki Beach and many koa bowls filled with kalua pig.

At that moment he also noticed the passenger window was down—and the rear windows, too. Then his jaw dropped when he saw that the sunroof was fully open. Now, the sunroof he knows he didn't leave open. How does he know that? We don't know.

 

Well... I really don't need to respond again yet, but I just got out of Signature jail today (I've passed my 30-day probationary period), so my curiosity is driving me to see if my newly entered signature actually shows up yet. I'll still be doing some additional checking on the key fob interactions.

Low and behold... it's actually there!

 

OK. I went out with the key fob last night and verified that indeed, once I hold the unlock button for an extended time period, all windows and the sun roof open. Now that I know what happened the other night (my the unlock button on wife's key fob must have gotten pressed while in her purse where it was hanging on the wall just inside the doorway to the garage), I am planning to go by the dealer to get this feature disabled altogether. I also might just wait until I invest in a diagnostic troubleshooting tool for other future opportunities.

 

This happened to my neighbor a few times shortly after he bought a new 2010 RX350 (before I got mine) He parked in the driveway and a few times found the windows down etc, but nothing missing from the car. He initially thought it was pranks or something and I am not sure if he ever figured out this may have been the cause. He traded it in for a BMW X5.

 

FYI, this feature can be fully or partially disabled at the dealer or through Carista App/Device.
I have mine set to only open windows and not the moonroof. I also keep the number of keys/fobs on a keychain to a minimum.

 

This is a good idea, I may have to do this..

 

I'm just not sure I even see a reason for the DEFAULT being for ANY of the glass to open, especially given the way that fobs in pockets and purses are notorious for getting pressed inadvertently causing the vehicle's emergency horn to go off. Surely I and my family are not the only ones who experience these annoying episodes from time to time. Couple that reality with having the windows and/or roof open QUIETLY without any notification that it has happened, and your left with exposure to potential theft, bird droppings, water intrusion, and/or insect/wildlife intrusion.

 

As I recall from mine, the default is actually that they don't open. Assuming it was the same on the 2010 as my 2013, the previous owner must have had the dealer enable the feature.

I always enable it on my cars as I like it. I've never had it open inadvertently. There is an audible "beep" that happens when it occurs, which could help to avoid the situation.

 

You are correct about teh DEFAULT for my 2010. I had read otherwise somewhere else, but that must have been for a different year/model. The "beep', though, is useless in my case, especially when you are within Fob Range yet at the same time removed or secluded far enough away and/or in a building when the Fob button gets pressed inadvertently in a purse. If you are standing near the vehicle when it happens, the beep can be helpful. In our case, it is a mute point (pun intended)!

 

I see what you did there.

When our cars are in our garage we can still hear the beep from inside, but I get that this is not the case with everyone.

Best to just have it deactivated by the dealer or, better yet, get Carista and change those settings yourself.

 

Pete, the windows and moonroof opening when pressing and holding the unlock button is standard on 2010s IIRC. It's part of Lexus Personalized Settings. Do yourself a favor and go through the entire list before heading to the dealer. You might have other things you want to change. Accidentally opening the tailgate using the remote is another issue for some. You can disable it right away by pressing the button inside the glove compartment on the left side. Or get the Carista app like vlad mentioned so you can do it yourself. The dealer will charge for changing LPSit though they may do it as a goodwill gesture.

 

Thanks, Anita. Good thought!

We are taking our time getting to know this new RXh machine in our garage, along with it's capabilities and nuances. Consequently, it's probably going to be several weeks or so before I go to the dealer to get this done. I may even wait until after I choose my diagnostic tool software just in case it has the capability of letting me do it myself. I already have AutoEnginuity for my Fords, and am considering adding their Lexus/Toyota/Scion Extended Coverage Collection just to keep my diagnostic tool resources to a minimum. The AE tools allow full live monitoring of OE sensors, OE sensor configuration, DTC's, etc.

We haven;t had the rear hatch open inadvertently yet, but I can see it happening the same as the windows and roof. At this point, though, my wife is enjoying having the Fob hatch button as a way for the RXh to easily receive her arm load of grocery bags, so we may end up just living with the risk of that function.