2021 LEXUS ES350 tow

1424-1. Before driving
Trailer towing
Lexus does not recommend towing
a trailer with your vehicle. Lexus
also does not recommend the
installation of a tow hitch or the use
of a tow hitch carrier for a wheel-
chair, scooter, bicycle, etc. Your
vehicle is not designed for trailer
towing or for the use of tow hitch
mounted carriers.
Dinghy towing
Your vehicle is not designed to be
dinghy towed (with 4 wheels on the
ground) behind a motor home.
NOTICE
■To avoid serious damage to your vehi-
cle
Do not tow your vehicle with the four
wheels on the ground.
■To prevent causing serious damage
to the transmissi on (2WD models)
Never tow this vehicle from the rear with
the front wheels on the ground. This may
cause serious damage to the transmis-
sion.

1434-1. Before driving
4
Driving
NOTICE
■To prevent causing serious damage
to the transmission and Dynamic
Torque Control AWD system (AWD
models)
Never tow this vehicle with any of the
wheels on the ground. This may cause
serious damage to the transmission and
Dynamic Torque Control AWD system.

1524-2. Driving procedures
The selected shift range, from D1 to D8,
will be displaye d in the meter.
■Automatic deactivation of shift range
selection in the D position
Shift range selection in the D position will
be deactivated in the following situations:
●The “+” paddle shift switch is held down
for a period of time
●When the vehicle comes to a stop
●If the accelerator pedal is depressed for
more than a certain period of time
●When the shift lever is shifted to a posi-
tion other than D
■Downshifting restriction warning
buzzer
To help ensure safety and driving perfor-
mance, downshifting operation may some-
times be restricted. In some circumstances,
downshifting may not be possible even
when the shift lever or paddle shift switch is
operated. (A buzzer will sound twice.)
To enter S mode, shift the shift lever to
S. Shift ranges can be selected by
operating the shift lever or paddle shift
switches, allowing you to drive in the
gear of your choosing. 1
Upshifting
2 Downshifting
The initial shift range in S mode is set
automatically to 4, 5 or 6 according to
vehicle’s speed. However, the initial
shift range may be set to 3 if AI-SHIFT
has operated while the shift lever was
in the D position. ( P.149)
A lower shift range will provide greater
engine braking forces than a higher
shift range.■S mode
●When the shift range is 7 or lower, hold-
ing the shift lever toward “+” sets the shift
range to 8.
●To prevent the engine from over-revving,
upshifting may automatically occur.
●To protect the automatic transmission, a
function is adopted that automatically
selects a higher shift range when the fluid
temperature is high.
■Downshifting restriction warning
buzzer
To help ensure safety and driving perfor-
mance, downshifting operation may some-
times be restricted. In some circumstances,
downshifting may not be possible even
when the shift lever or paddle shift switch is
operated. (A buzzer will sound twice.)
Selecting shift ranges in S mode
Meter displayFunction
S2 - S8
A gear in the range
between 1 and the
selected gear is
automatically cho-
sen depending on
vehicle speed and
driving conditions
S1Setting the gear at 1

1604-3. Operating the lights and wipers
1With the headlights on, push the
lever away from you to turn on the
high beams.
Pull the lever toward you to the center
position to turn the high beams off.
2Pull the lever toward you and
release it to flash the high beams
once.
You can flash the high beams with the
headlights on or off.
AFS (Adaptive Front-lighting System)
secures excellent visibility at intersec-
tions and on curves by automatically
adjusting the direction of the light axis
of the headlights according to vehicle
speed and the degree of the tire’s
angle as controlled by steering input.
AFS operates at speed s of approximately
6 mph (10 km/h) or higher.
When any of the following conditions is
met, while the headlights (low beam)
are on, the cornering lights will addi- tionally turn on and light up the direc-
tion of movement for the vehicle. This is
to ensure excellent visibility when
either driving at intersections or park-
ing at night.

The steering wheel is operated
 The turn signal lever is operated
 The shift position is in R (both left
and right side cornering lights)
■Cornering light control
●The lights illuminate when the vehicle
speed is approximately 19 mph (30
km/h) or less. However, the lights turn off
when the vehicle speed increases to
approximately 22 mph (35 km/h) or
more.
●After the lights remain illuminated for 30
minutes, they automatically turn off.
Turning on the high beam head-
lights
AFS (Adaptive Front-lighting
System) (if equipped)
Cornering lights

1624-3. Operating the lights and wipers
●House lights, street lights, traffic signals,
and illuminated billboards or signs may
cause the high beam to switch to the low
beams, or the low beams to remain on.
●The following factors may affect the
amount of time taken to turn the high
beam on or off:
• The brightness of headlights, fog lights,
and tail lights of vehicles ahead
• The movement and direction of vehicles ahead
• When a vehicle ahead only has opera- tional lights on one side
• When a vehicle ahead is a two-wheeled
vehicle
• The condition of the road (gradient, curve, condition of the road surface etc.)
• The number of passengers and amount of luggage
●The high beam may be turned on or off
when the driver does not expect it.
●Bicycles or similar objects may not be
detected.
●In the situations show n below, the system
may not be able to accurately detect sur-
rounding brightness levels. This may
cause the low beams to remain on or the
high beams to cause problems for pedes-
trians, vehicles ahead or other parties. In
these cases, manually switch between the
high and low beams.
• In bad weather (rain, snow, fog, sand-
storms etc.)
• The windshield is obscured by fog, mist, ice, dirt etc.
• The windshield is cracked or damaged.
• The camera sensor is deformed or dirty.
• When the temperature of the camera sensor is extremely high
• Surrounding brightness levels are equal to those of headlights, tail lights or fog
lights.
• When headlights or tail lights of vehicles ahead are turned off, dirty, changing
color, or not aimed properly
• When the vehicle is hit by water, snow, dust, etc. from a preceding vehicle
• When driving through an area of inter-
mittently changing brightness and dark-
ness.
• When frequently and repeatedly driving
ascending/descending roads, or roads with rough, bumpy or uneven surfaces
(such as stone-paved roads, gravel tracks
etc.).
• When frequently and repeatedly taking curves or driving on a winding road.
• There is a highly re flective object ahead
of the vehicle, such as a sign or a mirror.
• The back of a vehicle ahead is highly reflective, such as a container on a truck.
• The vehicle’s headlights are damaged or dirty.
• The vehicle is listing or tilting, due to a flat
tire, a trailer being towed etc.
• The high beam and low beam are repeat- edly being switched between in an
abnormal manner.
• The driver believes that the high beam may be causing problems or distress to
other drivers or pedestrians nearby.
■Temporarily lowering sensor sensitivity
The sensitivity of the sensor can be tempo-
rarily lowered.
1 Turn the engine switch off while the fol-
lowing conditions are met.
• The headlight swit ch is in or .
• The headlight switch lever is in low beam
position.
• Automatic High Be am switch is on.
2 Turn the engine switch to IGNITION
ON mode.
3 Within 60 seconds after 2, repeat pull-
ing the headlight switch lever to the
original position then pushing it to the
high beam position quickly 10 times,
then leave the lever in high beam posi-
tion.
4 If the sensitivity is changed, the Auto-
matic High Beam indicator turns on and
off 3 times.
Automatic High Beam (headlights) may
turn on even the vehicle is stopped.
■Switching to high beam
Push the lever away from you.
Turning the high beam on/off
manually

1634-3. Operating the lights and wipers
4
Driving
The Automatic High Beam indicator will
turn off and the high beam indicator will
turn on.
Pull the lever to its original position to acti-
vate the Automatic High Beam system
again.
■Switching to low beam
Press the Automatic High Beam
switch.
The Automatic High Beam indicator will
turn off.
Press the switch to activate the Automatic
High Beam system again.
■Temporarily switching to the low
beams
Pull the lever toward you and then
return it to its original position.
The high beams are on while the lever
is pulled toward you, however, after the
lever is returned to its original position,
the low beams remain on for a certain
amount of time. Afterwards, the Auto- matic High Beam will be activated
again.
■Temporarily switchin
g to the low beams
It is recommended to switch to the low
beams when the high beam may cause
problems or distress to other drivers or
pedestrians nearby.

1674-3. Operating the lights and wipers
4
Driving
as snow, the operation of the windshield
wipers may be stopped automatically to
protect the windshield wipers. In this case,
turn the windshield wiper switch off and
remove the foreign object, and then use the
windshield wipers.
■When stopping the engine in an emer-
gency while driving
If the windshield wipers are operating when
the engine is stopped, the windshield wipers
will operate in high speed operation. After
the vehicle is stopped, operation will return
to normal when the engi ne switch is turned
to IGNITION ON mode, or operation will
stop when the driver’s door is opened.When the windshield wipers are not
being used, they retract to below the
hood. To enable the windshield wipers
to be lifted when parking in cold condi-
tions or when replacing a windshield
wiper insert, change the rest position of
the windshield wipers to the service
position using the wiper lever.
■Raising the wipers to the service
position
Within approximately 45 seconds of
turning the engine switch off, move the
wiper lever to the (U.S.A.) or
(Canada) position and hold it for
approximately 2 seconds or more.
The wipers will move to the service posi-
tion.
WARNING
■Caution regarding the use of wind-
shield wipers in AUTO mode (vehi-
cles with rain-sen sing windshield
wipers)
The windshield wipers may operate
unexpectedly if the sensor is touched or
the windshield is subject to vibration in
AUTO mode. Take ca re that your fin-
gers or anything else do not become
caught in the windshield wipers.
■Caution regarding the use of washer
fluid
When it is cold, do not use the washer
fluid until the windshield becomes warm.
The fluid may freeze on the windshield
and cause low visibility. This may lead to
an accident, resulting in death or serious
injury.
NOTICE
■When there is no washer fluid spray
from the nozzle
Damage to the washer fluid pump may
be caused if the lever is pulled toward
you and held continually.
■When a nozzle becomes blocked
In this case, contact your Lexus dealer.
Do not try to clear it with a pin or other
object. The nozzle will be damaged.
Changing the windshield wiper
rest position/Lifting the wind-
shield wipers

1784-5. Using the driving support systems
WARNING
■Limitations of the pre-collision sys-
tem
●The driver is solely responsible for safe
driving. Always drive safely, taking
care to observe your surroundings.
Do not use the pre-collision system
instead of normal braking operations
under any circumstances. This system
will not prevent collisions or lessen col-
lision damage or injury in every situa-
tion. Do not overly rely on this system.
Failure to do so may lead to an acci-
dent, resulting in death or serious
injury.
●Although this system is designed to
help avoid a collision or help reduce
the impact of the coll ision, its effective-
ness may change according to various
conditions, therefore the system may
not always be able to achieve the same
level of performance.
Read the following conditions care-
fully. Do not overly rely on this system
and always drive carefully.
• Conditions under which the system may operate even if there is no possi-
bility of a collision: P.181
• Conditions under which the system may not operate properly: P.182
●Do not attempt to test the operation of
the pre-collision system yourself.
Depending on the objects used for
testing (dummies, cardboard objects
imitating detectable objects, etc.), the
system may not operate properly, pos-
sibly leading to an accident.
■Pre-collision braking
●When the pre-collision braking func-
tion is operating, a large amount of
braking force will be applied.
●If the vehicle is stopped by the opera-
tion of the pre-collision braking func-
tion, the pre-collision braking function
operation will be canceled after
approximately 2 seconds.
Depress the brake pedal as necessary.
●The pre-collision braking function may
not operate if certain operations are
performed by the driver. If the acceler-
ator pedal is being depressed strongly
or the steering wheel is being turned,
the system may determine that the
driver is taking evasive action and pos-
sibly prevent the pre-collision braking
function from operating.
●In some situations, while the pre-colli-
sion braking function is operating,
operation of the function may be can-
celed if the accelerator pedal is
depressed strongly or the steering
wheel is turned and the system deter-
mines that the driver is taking evasive
action.
●If the brake pedal is being depressed,
the system may determine that the
driver is taking evasive action and pos-
sibly delay the operat ion timing of the
pre-collision braking function.
■When to disable the pre-collision sys-
tem
In the following situations, disable the
system, as it may not operate properly,
possibly leading to an accident resulting
in death or serious injury:
●When the vehicle is being towed
●When your vehicle is towing another
vehicle
●When transporting the vehicle via
truck, boat, train or similar means of
transportation
●When the vehicle is raised on a lift with
the engine running and the tires are
allowed to rotate freely
●When inspecting the vehicle using a
drum tester such as a chassis dyna-
mometer or speedometer tester, or
when using an on vehicle wheel bal-
ancer
●When a strong impact is applied to the
front bumper or front grille, due to an
accident or other reasons