Guys,
New LC owner (but long time Sequioa/4Runner owner -25 years with terrific reliability ) who is hoping for some advice and insight on some problems I've had with my 2-month old LC.
About a month after buying the car I noticed the parking lights would stay on at odd times. The parking light setting is above the auto setting on the light stick, but I never use it. It seemed related to having opened the rear hatch but it was hard to replicate. Despite being in "auto mode" for lights, I know of at least one time when the parking lights were on for 5 hours. It was hard to get them to go off, though I later realized that mashing "lock" on the key fob 2-3 times would turn them off. I couldn't explain it but wondered if it was related to the non-OEM remote starter the dealer installed when I purchased the car. Regardless, it made me extra careful when ever I left the car to ensure the lights were off.
I returned from a 3 day trip only to be greeted by a dead battery at the airport. To say I was po'd was an understatement. The car was 6 weeks old. Unfortunately it got Worse from there. The car jump started easily but I immediately got several error messages that engine power was limited, the brakes were offline, and the trac4 light and engine service lights were on. This was, as I later learned, an indication that the car was in "limp" mode. Essentially you step on the gas and...nothing happens. The car would roll at about 15-20 mph but I really doubted it would go up hill because flooring the gas does nothing. I went about a mile on a flat road near the airport but realized there was no way I was going to make it home. I pulled over, contacted Toyota safety Connect, and had the car towed. I did try restarting the car a few times with no change. I left it off a couple minutes between starts. I called the dealer to see if there was any way I could get out of limp mode on my own and they said "no". I was confident that this was related to a drained battery and not an actual mechanical issue so I was hopeful here would be a way to reset it. So I stood there and watched my new $$$$ LC get towed away. So much for reliability.
It was taken to the nearest dealer. When they finally got to it several hours later it started fine and was not in limp mode. This suggests the problem times out though I don't know the time required. The dealer did check the battery and determined there was a higher than expected drain while the car was off. They were suspicious of the non OEM starter also, but wouldn't touch it because they didn't install it.
Has anyone else experienced limp mode from a drained battery? It seems like a real programming flaw to me and makes me paranoid that it will reoccur whenever the battery runs down. Any problems from non-OEM remote starters? At his point I'd happily take it off because I can't afford for this to happen again. Thanks for any insights you can provide.
