This is our Lexus IS350.

Except for the poorly designed traction control and VSC it is a great car.
Click on the icon to the left to see how I defeated the VSC.

0-60 in 4.9 seconds and sub 13.5 second 1/4 Mile as tested by Road & Track.


Click on one of the pictures to see more

The inside is comfortable and well laid out for a compact car.

There have been a few service bulletins. Loose mirror Rattle in Dash

Here are a few tips on customizing the electronic features of the car:

Radio Diagnostics: radiodiag.pdf

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Resetting the oil maint. indicator:
Make sure the mileage odometer is displayed on the dash as opposed to a trip meter as they would get reset.
Turn off the car.
Hold the trip reset button down.
Now push the ignition button twice while still holding down the trip reset. Do not press the brake pedal.
Continue holding the trip reset until the odometer changes to all dashes
Let go and turn off the ignition

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Auto unlock all doors from the outside door handle:

The default is to only unlock the Driver door when you grab it, but usually I'm with other people and I'd like all the doors to unlock without me having to grab the remote and hit unlock while walking up to the car. So you can program it to do this.

Simply walk up to your driver door, and hold the LOCK / UNLOCK buttons down together (on the SmartKey until the Car beeps, now if you lock it, walk away, come back and touch the door handle, ALL doors will unlock.

Do this procedure again to reverse the feature.
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Auto lock/unlock doors when you drive

Ignition on, then press door lock button for exactly 5 seconds while in Park or Neutral,
We turned:
off (a) lock when out move shifter out of park
on (b) unlock when move shifter into park
on (c) lock when drive 12mph or higher
off (d) unlock all doors when driver opens door after turning off engine.

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VDIM defeat at all speeds. This is what the Trac off button should do!!! No wonder the BMW gets better handling ratings. The car feels like a 90hp Yugo when exiting a corner. Fortunately the VDIM/VSC/TRAC can be partially disabled though it's a "are you sure? Are you really sure? Are you really really sure?" procedure. Without the VDIM there is proper throttle response, less understeer and you can steer the car with the throttle.

Start the car with the parking brake on
Cycle the foot brake twice....
(keep the foot brake down)....
Cycle the parking brake twice
(keep it down )
Cycle the foot brake twice....
and the skid light should illuminate on the dash

This feature resets when you turn off the car. You can also pull the accessible connector on the brake pedal and disable the whole thing including ABS. Maybe a switch is in order. Don't get me wrong. These systems are great for normal driving, accident avoidance and foul weather but there needs to be a switch to turn it off too. The TRAC OFF button is a token gesture. Maybe I'll rewire it to disable the system because the pedal dance only works at startup and the lobotomy works at any time.
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Navigation bypass allows programming it while moving. Intended for your passenger really.

Hit MENU button on the right side of screen
Click on Volume.
Once in the Volume MENU, click on top left where the picture of the speaker is
Then Click on bottom left
Then Click on top left again, the picture of the speaker
Then Click on the bottom left again
It should bring you the SERVICE MENU
Once here, click on OVERRIDE
Keep holding it until you here a beep.
Once you hear a beep, the OVERRIDE should be highlighted
This feature resets when you turn off the car.
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Seatbelt beeping

1. turn the key to the ON position which means pressing the start button twice on the new IS since it doesn't has the key, foot off the brake
2. Press the trip reset button couple of times until the ODO is displayed (not trip A or B)
3. turn the ignition to the LOCK (OFF) position
4. unbuckle the driver's seatbelt if it was buckled.
5. turn the key to the ON position again (press the start button twice.) When the dash lights comes on, press and hold the trip reset button and count 30 sec
6. while still holding the trip reset button, buckle the driver's side seatbelt.
7. The odometer display should read "b ON" or "b OFF". toggle the beep OFF with the trip reset.
8. The process should be completed when you unbuckle or turn the key off.