2002 LEXUS ES Complaints

THE LEXUS ES300 WAS DRIVEN AT ALMOST 0 MPH SPEED TO GET READY TO PARK OUTSIDE THE GARAGE. THE CAR CONTINUES ACCELERATING EVEN AFTER THE DRIVER WAS HITTING THE BRAKE TO STOP THE CAR. THE CAR SMASHED THE CAR GARAGE DOOR, AND EVERYHING ON THE WAY. THERE WAS MORE THAN $5,000 DAMAGES TO THE CAR AND $1,250.00 ON REAL PROPERTY. THERE WAS NO MAJOR INJURIES TO THE DRIVER, BUT BODY PAIN ON SOFT TISSUES OCCURRED AFTER THE ACCIDENT. *AK

BRAKE ROTORS WERE REPLACED, ENTIRE NEW BRAKE KIT INSTALLED AND ALL FOUR TIRE WERE REPLACED PRIOR TO REACHING 20K MILES. *PH THE CONSUMER HAS NOT BEEN PLEASED WITH THE SHIFTING PERFORMANCE OF THE VEHICLE. THE AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION DEMONSTRATE ERRATIC, ROUGH AND INCONSISTENT SHIFTING. THE MANUFACTURER INSTALLED A SOFTWARE UPGRADE BUT IT ONLY SLIGHTLY IMPROVED THE PERFORMANCE. THE CONSUMER ALSO HAD A 2000 LEXUS GS 300 WHICH HAD A MORE DRAMATIC TRANSMISSION PROBLEM. THE LOCAL DEALER INSISTED THAT NOTHING WAS WRONG WITH THE VEHICLE. *NM

CAR PULLS VERY HARD TO LEFT ON HIGHWAY. DEALER HAS TRIED TO CORRECT THIS BY ALIGNMENTS, NEW TIRES AND SWITCHING TIRES. IF I AM ON THE HIGHWAY IN THE LEFT LANE, I WILL NEVER HAVE TO TURN LEFT! EVEN ON A LEFT HAND CURVE, I HAVE TO TURN RIGHT TO KEEP FROM GOING OFF OF THE LEFT SIDE OF THE HIGHWAY. ***NOTE THE 3 LOANER ES300'S DID THE SAME THING. LEXUS CUSTOMER SERVICE HAS TOLD ME THAT THIS IS THE WAY THE CAR IS DESIGNED! I HAVE GOTTEN THE CAR TO TRACK SOMEWHAT BETTER BY SWITCHING MY TIRES, BUT NOW I CAN'T ROTATE THE TIRES! FRUSTRATED!*AK

I PUCHASED A 2002 LEXUS 300 FROM WESTSIDE LEXUS IN HOUSTON, TEXAS. SINCE PURCHASE THE VEHICLE HAS SURGED WHEN SHIFTING AT LOWER SPEEDS NUMEROUS TIMES AND HAS SURGED WHEN THE VECHILE IS ON CRUISE CONTROL. I HAVE COMPLAINED NUMEROUS TIMES TO WESTSIDE LEXUS ABOUT THE PROBLEM BUT THEY AWAYS SAY THAT LEXUS IS AWARE OF THE PROBLEM AND IS TRYING TO COME UP WITH A FIX. LAST YEAR THEY ADJUSTED THE ENGINE CONTROL MODULE (ECM) CALIBRATION AND LEXUS SAID THE CAR SHOULD DRIVE BETTER - IT DID AT FIRST BUT IS NOW BACK TO THE SAME OLD SURGING AT SLOW SHIFTING SPEEDS. I BELIEVE LEXUS INTRODUCED THE ES330 MODEL THIS YEAR TO AVOID A PROBLEM WITH THE ES300 THEY COULD NOT FIX. I AM DRIVIG AN UNSAFE VEHICLE THAT LEXUS MAKES NO EFFORT TO FIX EXCEPT HAVE THE SERVICE TECH. GIVE LAME EXCUSES. I THOUGHT I WAS PURCHASING AN UPSCALE CAR TO DRIVE INSTEAD IT HAS TURNED OUT TO BE A MISERABLE UNSAFE EXPERIENCE. PLEASE MAKE LEXUS FIX THE DEFECT OR MAKE THEM REFUND ME MY PURCHASE PRICE. THANK YOU.*AK

WAS DRIVING TO CALIFORNIA IN MY 2002 LEXUS ES300 LAST SEPTEMBER AND WAS ADJUSTING THE CRUISE CONTROL WHEN SUDDENLY IT ACCELERATED AS IF I HAD FLOORED THE GAS PEDAL. INCIDENT DID NOT RESULT IN AN ACCIDENT. NO PROBLEMS SINCE THEN BUT DECIDED TO REPORT IT AS I READ AN ARTICLE IN THE NEWSPAPER TODAY THAT YOU WERE INVESTIGATING UNEXPECTED ACCELERATIONS FOR THIS CAR.

I PURCHASED A NEW LEXUS,MODEL ES300 ON JULY 17,2002. AT 17,000 MILES I HAD PROBLEMS WITH THE TIRES AND WAS TOLD THE EDGES WERE CUPPED AND MANY CUSTOMERS HAD REPORTED THE SAME PROBLEM. ACCORDING TO INFORMATION RECEIVED FROM THE CAR DEALER AND TIRE DEALERS IN OUR AREA, THIS HAS BEEN AN ONGOING PROBLEM WITH THE TOYO PROXES J33, P215/60 R 1694V SERIES TIRE. THE TOYO COOPERATION WILL ONLY COVER 50% OF REPLACEMENT COST ON A TIRE WITH 17,000 MILES, 6/32 REMAINING TREAD. THERE SHOULD BE A RECALL FOR THESE TIRES, THEY ARE UNSAFE TIRES AND AN ADDED EXPENSE FOR THE CONSUMER. AFTER A LITTLE RESEARCH I HAVE FOUND FOUR OTHER CUSTOMERS WHO HAD THE SAME PROBLEM WITH TOYO TIRES, TWO WHOM HAD MORE MILES THAN WHAT I REPORTED HAD THERE TIRES REPLACED WITH NO ADDITIONAL CHARGES. IT IS NOT RIGHT FOR THE CONSUMER TO PAY FOR MANUFACTURER DEFECT AND WORKMANSHIP.

ORGINAL TIRES PREMATURE WEAR......THE VEHICLE DISPLAYS INSTABILITY ON THE HIGHWAY.

2002 LEXUS ES300 HAD A MAJOR SURGING PROBLEM AT APPROXIMATELY 40 MPH. AFTER A YEAR OF PROMISES, LEXUS CAME OUT WITH A COMPUTER UPGRADE THAT CHANGED THE PROBLEM FROM ANNOYING TO DANGEROUS. THE 1/2 AND 2/3 SHIFTS ARE WILDLY INCONSISTENT, SOMETIMES TAKING 2/3 SECONDS AND FEELING LIKE A SLIPPING TRANSMISSION. WHEN ACCELERATION, AS IN A PASSING OR AVOIDANCE SITUATION, IS CALLED FOR THE MOTOR REVS UP AND THE CAR GOES NOWHERE WHILE THE TRANSMISSION SEARCHES FOR A GEAR. THIS CAN TAKE 3/4 SECONDS AND HAS ALREADY ALMOST CAUSED A ACCIDENT. LEXUS CUSTOMER SERVICE SAYS THE CAR IS PERFORMING AS DESIGNED AND NO FURTHER MODIFICATIONS ARE PLANNED. *LA

1. WHILE PULLING INTO A PARKING SPACE, AT 2-4 MPH, WITH MY FOOT ON THE BRAKE, THE CAR SUDDENLY ACCELERATED AT FULL SPEED, JUMPING THE CURB AND HITTING A TREE WITH FULL FORCE. BECAUSE OF PREVIOUS CONCERNS WITH THROTTLE PROBLEMS NOTED WITH THE DEALERSHIP AT 1000 AND 5000 MILE CHECK, I IMMEDIATELY CALLED THE LEXUS DEALERSHIP. AFTER A CONFERENCE CALL WITH LEXUS ROADSIDE ASSISTANCE AND THE DEALERSHIP, MY CAR WAS FLAT BEDDED TO THE DEALERSHIP. THE FRONTAL CRASH RENDERED THE VEHICLE UN-DRIVABLE. RADIATOR DAMAGE WITH LEAKAGE OF FLUID COVERED A PORTION OF THE PARKING LOT. THE LEXUS DEALERSHIP SAID THEY WAS NO PROBLEM WITH THE CAR. I COULD HAVE BEEN KILLED OR SOMEBODY ELSE LIVE COULD HAVE BEEN IN DANGER. 2. THE FRONT AIR BAGS DID NOT INFLATE. 3. THE BRAKE ROTORS HAD TO BE CORRECTED AT 1500 MILES AND A "PART" WAS ORDERED AND PUT ON THE CARE TO CORRECT THIS PROBLEM. 4. THE CAR WHEN DRIVING AT ABOVE 50 PULLS TO THE LEFT AND FROM THE BEGINNING IT FELT AS THOUGH THE CAR WAS UNEVEN EVEN WHEN NOT MOVING. AT THAT TIME I REQUESTED A WRITTEN EXPLANATION OF THIS PROBLEM AND TOLD MY RECORD AT THE DEALERSHIP WOULD SUBSTANTIATE THIS. ON THE NIGHT OF THE ACCIDENT I LEARNED BY REVIEWING COMPLAINTS FROM THE OFFICE OF DEFECT INVESTIGATIONS ON THE NHTSA WEB SITE THAT THE PROBLEMS HAVE BEEN KNOWN BY THE CORPORATE OFFICE OF LEXUS FROM AS EARLY AS JANUARY, 2002 IN REGARDS TO ALL OF THE ABOVE PROBLEMS. I ALSO FOUND OUT THERE HAVE BEEN TWO RECALLS ON THIS VEHICLE THAT I WAS NOT INFORMED ABOUT. I WILL BE REQUESTING AN INVESTIGATION WITH THE LEXUS EAST REGIONAL OFFICE AND DISCUSSING THIS WITH THE ROCKVILLE LEXUS OFFICE. I BELIEVE THAT THIS CAR IS UNSAFE TO DRIVE. I BROUGHT THE LEXUS VEHICLE EVEN WITH IT'S PRICE TAG BECAUSE OF ITS REPUTATION AND TO DRIVE MY 3 YEAR OLD GRANDSON AND 1 YEAR OLD GRANDDAUGHTER IN THE SAFEST MANNER I COULD FACILITATE. I AM SURE THAT MY SON AND DAUGHTER-IN-LAW WILL NOT ALLOW THIS AFTER THIS CRASH!!!!*AK UPDATED 7/3/12 *CN

TRANSMISSION IS UNRELIABLE. SINCE MARCH 2003, WHEN ACCELERATING THE TRANSMISSION SLIPS. *AK *TS UPDATED 7/2/12 *CN