1999 LEXUS SC300 ESP

EXTERIOR EQUIPMENT
91

Always make sure nobody places his/her head,
hands and other parts of the body in the r oof opening
before you close the roof. If someone's neck, head or
hands gets caught in the closing roof, it could result
in a serious injury. When anyone closes the roof,
first make sure it is safe to do so.

Never leave small children alone in the vehicle,
especially with the ignition key still inserted. They
could use the moon roof switches and get trapped in
the roof opening. Unattended children can become
involved in serious accidents.

Never sit on top of the vehicle around the roof
opening.

COMFORT ADJUSTMENT
113
INSIDE REAR VIEW MIRROR
Adjust the mirror so that you can just see the rear of your
vehicle in the mirror.
Pushing the switch changes the mode between ºAUTOº
and ºDAYº.
The indicator comes on when the ºAUTOº mode is selected.
ºDAYº mode: The mirror surface is normal.
ºAUTOº mode: If the mirror detects light from the
headlights of the vehicle behind you, the mirror surface
darkens slightly to reduce the reflected light.
When the inside rear view mirror surface changes, the outside
rear view mirror surfaces will also become darker.
When the ignition key is inserted and turned on, the inside rear
view mirror always turns on in the ºAUTOº mode. When the outside air temperature is low, it may take a little
longer for the mirror to darken in response to the detection of
headlights.

COMFORT ADJUSTMENT
126
The driver and front passenger's seat belt pretensioners
are designed to be activated in response to a severe frontal
impact.
The airbag system and each pretensioner operates
independently because each has its own separate sensor.
A pretensioner sensor is located in each front seat belt
retractor assembly. When the pretensioner sensor detects the
shock of a severe frontal impact, the front seat belt is quickly
drawn back in by the retractor so that the belt snugly restrains
the front seat occupant.
When a seat belt pretensioner is activated, an operating noise
may be heard and a small amount of smoke±like gas may be
released. This gas is harmless and does not indicate that a fire
is occurring.
Once the seat belt pretensioner has been activated, the seat
belt retractor remains locked.

COMFORT ADJUSTMENT
128
NOTICE
Do not perform any of the following changes without
consulting your Lexus dealer. Such changes can
interfere with proper operation of the seat belt
pretensioners in some cases.

Repairs on or near the front seat belt retractor
assemblies.

Modification of the suspension system.

Modification of the front end structure.

Attachment of a grille guard (bull bar, kangaroo bar,
etc.), snow plow, winches or any other equipment to
the front end.
In the following case, contact your Lexus dealer as soon as
possible:

If either front seat belt does not retract or cannot be pulled
out due to a malfunction or activation of the pretensioner.

The front seat belt retractor assembly or surrounding area
has been damaged.
SRS AIRBAGS
The SRS (Supplemental Restraint System) airbags are
designed to provide further protection for the driver and
front passenger when added to the primary protection
provided by the seat belts.
In response to a severe frontal impact, the SRS airbags
work together with the seat belts to help prevent or r educe
injury by inflating, in order to decrease the likelihood of
the driver's or front passenger's head or chest directly
hitting the steering wheel or dashboard.
The passenger airbag is activated even with no passenger in
the front seat.
Be sure to wear
your seat belt.

COMFORT ADJUSTMENT
130
The SRS airbag system is designed to activate in response
to a severe frontal impact within the shaded area between
the arrows in the illustration.
There may be the case that the SRS airbags will not activate
with such an impact in which the occupant wearing the seat
belt correctly would not get serious injury.
The SRS airbags will deploy if the severity of the impact is
above the designed threshold level, comparable to an
approximate 20 km/h (14 mph) collision when impacting
straight into a fixed barrier that does not move or deform.
If the severity of the impact is below the above threshold
level, the SRS airbags may not deploy.
However, this threshold velocity will be considerably higher
if the vehicle strikes an object, such as a parked vehicle or sign
pole, which can move or deform on impact, or if it is involved
in an underride collision (a collision in which the nose of the
vehicle ºunderridesº, or goes under, the bed of a truck, etc.). It is possible with collision severity at the marginal level of
airbag sensor detection and activation that only one of your
vehicle's two airbags will deploy.
For the safety of all occupants, be sure to always wear seat
belts.

AIR CONDITIONING AND AUDIO
181
(a) Climate control
SETTING OPERATION ± automatic control
1. Push the ºAUTOº knob.
Air flow quantity, switching of the diffusers, on±off of the air
conditioning, and switching of the air intake between
RECIRCULATED AIR and OUTSIDE AIR are
automatically adjusted. The operation status is shown by
each indicator.
When one of the manual control buttons is depressed while
operating in automatic mode, the operation corresponding to
the button depressed is set. Other conditions continue to be
adjusted automatically. 2. Turn the ºTEMPº knob until the desired temperature
is displayed.
The ºTEMPº knob is used to set the desired passenger
compartment temperature. The temperature of air delivered
to the passenger compartment will be controlled
automatically according to the setting. The figures on the
panel indicate degrees Fahrenheit.
SETTING OPERATION ± manual control
If manual air flow selection is desired ±
The outlets from which air is delivered can be selected
manually by pushing either side of the air flow control
(MODE) button. The mode appears on the display.
The function of each mode is as follows:
PANEL mode ± Directs air flow at face level.
BI±LEVEL mode ± Directs air flow at face level and
at floor level for both front and rear. Except in ventilation, the
air to the floor is slightly warmer than air to the face.
FLOOR mode ± Directs air flow mostly at floor level
for both front and rear.
FLOOR/WINDSHIELD mode ± Directs air flow to
the windshield and front side windows as well as floor level
for both front and rear.
FRONT WINDSHIELD mode ± Directs air flow
mostly to the windshield and front side windows.
When this mode is selected while operating in automatic
mode, the air conditioning is set to operate and the OUTSIDE

AIR CONDITIONING AND AUDIO
191


Fading and drifting:
FM range is limited to about 40 km (25 miles), except for
some high power stations.
If a vehicle is moving away from the desired station's
transmitter, the signal will tend to fade and/or drift. This
phenomenon is more noticeable with FM than with AM,
and is accompanied by distortion.
Fading and drifting can be minimized to a certain degree
by careful attention to fine tuning, or you should retune the
radio to another stronger station.

Static and Fluttering:
When the line±of±sight link between a transmitter and
vehicle is blocked by large buildings or the like, the radio
sound may be accompanied by static or fluttering because
of the characteristic of FM. In a similar effect, a fluttering
noise is sometimes heard when driving along a tree±lined
road.
This static and fluttering can be reduced by adjusting the
tone control for greater bass response until the disturbance
has passed.

Multipath:
Because of the reflecting characteristics of FM, direct and
reflected signals may reach the antenna at the same time
(multipath) and cancel each other out. As a vehicle moves
through these electronic dead spots, the listener may hear
a momentary flutter or loss of reception.

Station swapping:
When two FM stations are close to each other, and an
electronic dead spot, such as static or multipath area,
interrupts the original signal, sometimes the stronger
second signal will be selected automatically until the
original one returns. This swapping can also occur as you
drive away from the selected station and approach another
station with a stronger signal.

STARTING AND DRIVING
220
2. Set the driving pattern selector switch to the ºNormalº
position.
Your transmission has a driving pattern selector switch which
allows you to select ºPowerº, ºNormalº or ºSnowº mode to
suit your driving condition. For ordinary driving, Lexus
recommends that you use the ºNormalº position to improve
fuel economy.
3. For more powerful acceleration and sporty driving,
use the ºPowerº position.
In the ºPowerº position, the ºECT PWRº light in the
instrument cluster is on and the transmission is shifted up at
higher vehicle speeds and shifted down more responsively
than in the ºNormalº position.
For ºSnowº mode, see ºElectronic Throttle Control
Systemº on page 241.