12 Hidden Lexus Features & Easter Eggs You Might Not Know About

A premium spin-off division of parent company Toyota, Lexus had to fight its way to the table of luxury brands once dominated by the Germans. But that was more than 30 years ago. Fast forward to 2025 and the Lexus portfolio is brimming with hybrids, high-performance sedans, opulent luxury cruisers and serious off-roading machines. Lexus technology is often at the bleeding edge of the auto industry and the level of perfection Lexus pursues with its Takumi master craftsmen has earned the automaker a loyal following. Beyond innovation and craftsmanship, Lexus also hides an impressive number of Easter eggs throughout its lineup.

Over the years, little-known Lexus facts have come to light like workers being provided with three sets of fake fingernails to ensure world-class build quality. Today, however, we'll be zeroing in on hidden features — or Easter eggs — you may not know about in the latest Lexus models, like watching movies with the CD player. Who knew?

Back in the day, a sunroof wasn't necessarily power-operated. Some simply flipped up to let in fresh air. In today's cars, however, the once simple sunroof has been widely replaced by the panoramic moonroof. This feature has numerous forms, including large sliding glass panels, separate glass sheets over individual rows of seats, and huge fixed glass panes that cover the entire roof of a vehicle, as popularized by Tesla.

Then there is the Lexus Dynamic Sky Panorama Glass Roof currently available on the GX SUV. It doesn't open, but it does span most of the roof and its hidden feature is an electrochromic capability. At the flip of a switch, this trick design allows drivers to change the glass roof from transparent for maximum ambient light to opaque for just a hint of the outside. Often referred to as SmartGlass, the technology is based on an electric current being applied to material suspended within the glass roof that can be configured to allow light through or block it out. In the Lexus, there's also a power-sliding shade to keep the whole thing hidden away when not in use.

Another Lexus Easter egg tied to its tough, old-school GX SUV is the Electronic Kinetic Dynamic Suspension System, or e-KDSS for short. Specific to the Overtrail off-road-centric variant, this literally hidden feature delivers both a Lexus-like on-road level of ride comfort and serious rough road suspension travel.

Under normal driving conditions, GX sway bars twist to keep the tires planted and limit body roll under load. However, when the GX goes off-road, this translates to limited suspension travel in extremely uneven terrain — and this is where the Kinetic Dynamic Suspension System comes in. It works by fitting pistons under hydraulic pressure to the GX's sway bars, front and rear. During on-road driving, the pistons remain fixed in place, so the sway bars function normally as a solid piece. When the road gets rough, the system automatically unlocks those pistons, decoupling the two sides of each sway bar for greater wheel articulation – 24.5 inches to be exact. Granted, buyers of this off-road model are likely to be well aware of e-KDSS, but the way it goes about its business, automatically and out of sight, still qualifies it as an Easter egg.

Lexus enthusiasts are well aware that the full-size LS has long been the Japanese automaker's flagship sedan — a platform to show off the latest luxuries and technologies. What some may not be aware of is just how luxurious the modern LS can be.

Leather upholstery, genuine wood inlays, and seat cushions with heat and ventilation are assumed in this arena. But how about rear seats with power-reclining backs, ottomans that slide out to greet your feet, Shiatsu massages, and butterfly power-retractable headrests that can be adjusted to cradle your noggin at the touch of a button?

With the Executive Package, a cool $19,645 extra on the 2025 LS, all of this can be yours. In the LX Ultra Luxury SUV, this feature, which is only for the passenger-side rear seat, automatically slides the front passenger seat forward, drops a footrest down, and reclines the back seat for maximum comfort. Controlled via a dedicated back seat touchpad, owners can even choose the specific areas they'd like to have massaged.

There is automatic climate control and then there is the Lexus Climate Concierge, a feature easily missed as it operates on its own in the background. Forget fiddling with HVAC controls to set a comfortable temperature — the Climate Concierge gets it right without driver input.

The system integrates a host of sensors measuring everything from radiant energy and exhaust gas to cabin humidity and ambient temperature. This data is magically crunched and used to determine not only what temperature air is being blown through the vehicle registers, but also to modulate heat and ventilation levels for the seats and steering wheel. For example, if an occupant gets chilly and turns up the heat in their zone, that seat heater can automatically switch on to lend a hand.

Arguably the best feature of this Climate Concierge Easter egg is found in the much-loved Lexus LC convertible. This advanced version can direct warm air from dedicated vents behind the steering wheel to keep the back of your hands toasty as the wheel itself warms your palms. Then there are upper body heating vents located within the front seats to further encourage open-air cruising in cooler weather.

As a luxury carmaker, Lexus must build vehicles that offer a quiet cabin — one that keeps unwanted ambient noise from disturbing a carefully curated zen-like interior vibe. To that end, Lexus employs a wide array of well-known techniques like acoustic laminated windshields and active noise cancelling systems, not to mention ample sound-deadening insulation.

But as any driver paying attention will tell you, road noise is one of the biggest offenders to a quiet cabin, so Lexus has come up with a truly hidden way to address this. Dubbed Noise Reducing Wheels, this design consists of hollow spokes and a series of resonator holes. Under load, the tires are constantly deformed, which in turn leads to changing air pressure within the tire. This ultimately results in vibrations that create sound waves, or road noise as we know it.

With these special Lexus wheels, the air can enter and exit the resonator holes, which converts the sound waves to heat and muffles the noise. A tangential hidden feature that Lexus employs to keep cabin noise at a minimum are lined wheel wells. Applying a felt-like batting to the wheel wells dampens the din of the tires and road coming through the cabin that much more.

The optional Kiriko glass cabin inlays are a fascinating Lexus Easter egg hiding in plain sight. It might be easy to take the level of elegance found in Lexus vehicles for granted, given how the entire portfolio is stacked with high-end touches. But Kiriko glass is likely not something you'll see in just any Lexus as this cut glass design element traces its complex style back 200 years.

It was then that Japanese artisans developed this hand-etched glass technique featuring intricate patterns known as Kiriko. Of course, Lexus cannot hand-craft these pieces for relatively high-volume use in a car like the LS. But, the automaker did bring together 21st-century master glassworkers to create the Kiriko patterns used in the LS via traditional techniques. A special glass-production software is then employed to ensure the finished piece, and its multitude of facets, is an exact reproduction.

Finally, a team of specialists oversees the polishing and reinforcement treatment phases before these specialty pieces are fitted, causing Kiriko glass to be among the automaker's more exclusive Easter eggs. On the latest LS with its old-school luxury vibe, for example, be prepared to pony up $25,645 for access to the Executive package that includes Kiriko glass.

Along with a quiet cabin and luxurious amenities, a comfortable ride is a signature Lexus feature. To that end, the automaker has a variety of tricks up its sleeve like adaptive dampers and e-KDSS for its off-roaders. But the Roll Posture Control system, a hidden feature that works in concert with adaptive anti-roll bars and brake pressure regulation, aims to push back on the unyielding effects of physics.

Pilot your Lexus through a corner and you'll feel the outer wheels compressing and the inner wheels lifting as your body starts getting pulled to the outside. One way Lexus counters this is via anti-roll bars that work to limit roll, but they are limited in rough sections as a bump on one side naturally affects the other. Enter Roll Posture Control, a comprehensive feature that falls under the Easter egg category as you mostly can't see it and may be unaware it's operating.

It blends active anti-roll bars with the Vehicle Braking Posture Control (VBPC) system to deliver flatter cornering. With the active anti-roll bars, an electric motor applies torque as needed to tamp down roll more aggressively, while VBPC adjusts braking force front-to-rear as a way to control vehicle "posture." Altogether, this is one of the more technically impressive Lexus Easter eggs.

This hidden Lexus feature is for those who appreciate automotive nostalgia with a touch of throwback technology. To experience the joy of inserting a DVD into your Lexus CD player and watching it on the central display, you'll need something older, as only the IS and RC lineup still come with a CD player in 2025.

This is exciting news in its own right as Subaru is the only other automaker to sell cars that play CDs at this point. But with the Lexus, it's extra cool as this old-school audio system doubles as a DVD player. Full disclosure: Official Lexus support says vehicles with the GEN7, GEN8, and GEN9 navigation systems have this capability. So, it is not 100% clear whether the 2025 IS and RC do, but it's certainly worth a try if you have access, as it's almost guaranteed to shock even the most diehard Lexus loyalist.

One could argue that something called Windshield Wiper Service Mode is not nearly as exciting as say, Yamaha dampers or Shiatsu seat massage. But for those of you who revel in the remarkably detailed and thoughtful Lexus touches that are so seemingly obvious yet so generally unavailable across the rest of the market, we give you this nerd-tastic Lexus Easter egg.

On some Lexus vehicles, the windshield wipers are tucked just under the rear edge of the hood. So, when the time comes to raise those wipers in anticipation of winter weather or for replacement of worn-out blades, you may wonder how to get said wipers out from under. Maniacs might simply grab the wiper arm and yank it up to the necessary positions. Please don't do that.

A method this author employs on his non-Lexus car with the same windshield wiper design involves activating the wiper mist function for a single swipe, in accessory power mode, and then quickly turning it off once the wipers hit their apex. A very exciting dance. Lexus, however, employs a far more elegant system it calls Windshield Wiper Service Mode. Just turn accessory power mode on, then off, and push the wiper stalk up to watch the wipers go vertical and stop at the top of their own accord. Very clever.

As with so many of these hidden Lexus features, the cutting-edge adaptive lighting Lexus offers starts with a relatively common technology and makes it better. Take adaptive LED headlights for example. Versus halogen headlights, the LED variety offers remarkably improved driver visibility at night.

Taking it a step further are adaptive LED headlights, which can move in concert with steering wheel inputs to further increase visibility when going around a bend in the dark. But Lexus has two additional Easter eggs that fall within this lighting basket. First up are the LED fog lights that automatically illuminate when a turn signal is activated to help drivers see unexpected obstacles during low-speed cornering. A certain sharp-edged bit of granite driveway curbing comes to mind as just one benefit of such a feature.

Then there is BladeScan, which sounds like a RoboCop villain, but is in fact a Lexus lighting system. An upgrade for the high beams specifically, BladeScan LEDs shine light diagonally across a pair of blade-shaped mirrors spinning at 100 rpm. These mirrors control shading and reflect light into a lens that is designed to be non-blinding for other drivers. Lexus notes this technology improves the accuracy of the controllable illumination area from 1.7 degrees to just 0.7. All behind the scenes in the style of a classic hidden feature.

A key theme of Lexus' hidden features is its focus on delivering a comfortable ride. To further that mission, we give you the lateral performance damper by Yamaha. Discovering this Easter egg requires getting underneath your Lexus and looking for a damper, but not the kind you'd normally see running vertically near the wheels.

Like its name implies, this Yamaha-developed component runs laterally, or side-to-side, and depending on the Lexus can be found in the front and back near the bumpers. It looks just like a suspension damper, but this is a chassis damper that has been tuned to control and absorb distortion and micro vibrations when the vehicle is in motion. Per Yamaha, "A metal vehicle body has elastic characteristics and lacks damping force, meaning that external distortion energy is accumulated and released almost unchanged, repeating the cycle of distortion at a natural frequency."

With the performance damper in place, that energy is absorbed and released as heat to improve ride comfort at low speeds and stability at high speeds by limiting chassis distortion to just a few microns. "The Relentless Pursuit of Perfection" was Lexus' SC400-inspiring tagline, and it seems fair to say that this lateral performance damper reflects that mindset.

Throttle control is another area that Lexus spends a lot of time refining in its pursuit of world-class driving dynamics. For example, its Acoustic Control Induction System alters intake runner length based on engine speed and throttle position. Meanwhile, the Electronic Throttle Control System with intelligence eases how sharply the throttle responds as you step on it, limiting wheel spin to deliver a smoother takeoff.

When you want to really hit it hard, look to the throttle kickdown switch, an Easter egg-sized button hiding underneath the gas pedal on certain models. In Lexus language, engaging this hidden feature by "kicking" hard enough to activate it, pushing the transmission into its fastest response. One Lexus RC-F owner on the Club Lexus forum put it this way, "If I really kick hard then it goes all the way to the floor and the car launches forward with a lot of wheel spin."