Photo: Lexus
Toyota Motor Corporation, the company that owns both Lexus and Toyota brands, has announced a fix for the reported glitch of the navigation system found in some of its vehicles.
According to a spokesperson from Lexus, the Japanese company has discovered the cause of the problem and is providing owners with a free fix for the situation.
This is not a recall campaign, so the NHTSA has no link to this, but a voluntary service campaign to repair a bug caused by an external data supplier.
As the Lexus representative explained in an e-mail sent to us, the navigation units of certain 2014-2016 Model Year Lexus vehicles and MY2016 Toyota Land Cruiser might go into a cycle of repeated restarts because of errant data received over the air.
According to Lexus, the data broadcast comes from the traffic and weather data service provider, and it has not been handled as expected by the microchips in the vehicle navigation head unit.
As soon as Toyota and Lexus discovered the issue with the improper data transmission, they stopped sending the suspicious files, and then searched for a solution. Overnight, the traffic and weather data was repaired, so the issue will not spread to other owners.
In some cases, the problem led to the complete freeze of the multimedia unit, including the systems that controlled the climate and audio systems. Driving functions were not affected, and anything with a button or switch worked, except for the elements that were operated through the multimedia unit.
However, the customers that first complained from the matter still need a fix. So Toyota and Lexus dealers are waiting for these owners to visit them for a free forced reset of the navigation head unit, as well as clearing the errant data from their systems. Fortunately, the systems have not been affected on a hardware level.
It is advisable to call ahead and plan your service visit. Until reaching the dealer for the free fix, Toyota and Lexus urge customers to exercise “additional caution” when driving. The automaker has apologized for any inconvenience brought to its clients.
This is not a recall campaign, so the NHTSA has no link to this, but a voluntary service campaign to repair a bug caused by an external data supplier.
As the Lexus representative explained in an e-mail sent to us, the navigation units of certain 2014-2016 Model Year Lexus vehicles and MY2016 Toyota Land Cruiser might go into a cycle of repeated restarts because of errant data received over the air.
According to Lexus, the data broadcast comes from the traffic and weather data service provider, and it has not been handled as expected by the microchips in the vehicle navigation head unit.
As soon as Toyota and Lexus discovered the issue with the improper data transmission, they stopped sending the suspicious files, and then searched for a solution. Overnight, the traffic and weather data was repaired, so the issue will not spread to other owners.
In some cases, the problem led to the complete freeze of the multimedia unit, including the systems that controlled the climate and audio systems. Driving functions were not affected, and anything with a button or switch worked, except for the elements that were operated through the multimedia unit.
However, the customers that first complained from the matter still need a fix. So Toyota and Lexus dealers are waiting for these owners to visit them for a free forced reset of the navigation head unit, as well as clearing the errant data from their systems. Fortunately, the systems have not been affected on a hardware level.
It is advisable to call ahead and plan your service visit. Until reaching the dealer for the free fix, Toyota and Lexus urge customers to exercise “additional caution” when driving. The automaker has apologized for any inconvenience brought to its clients.
Google News