LEXUS Complaints

I own a Lexus 2012 IS250 and currently active duty member stationed at Aviano Air Base, Italy. I was not notified that my vehicle is overdue on a safety recall until today when I am trying to ship the vehicle back to the US. What further actions can I do to get the recall done? Can I get the vehicle waivered to get the recall accomplished when it reaches the US?

I am writing about my 2022 Lexus ES300h. This pertains to the Auto Radar Cruise Control system and also the Lane Keeping Assistance function. First, about the Auto Cruise. On several occasions I have found that while approaching stopped vehicles at a stop light and I am about 300 yards away, driving 35 to 40 mph, the car maintains speed and approaches the stopped vehicles in a dangerous manner. It shows no sign of slowing down. Twice I let the auto cruise do what it was doing till about say 100 yards before the vehicles, and it still maintained aggressive speed so I had to hit the brakes. It seems like the vehicle is oblivious of the stopped vehicles in front, and in my opinion, behaves recklessly. And yet at other times it does sense those vehicles and starts slowing down. There is no consistency. Someone at Lexus said that while the car seems aggressive, it will surely stop in time and not get into a collision when the Auto-Cruise is on. Well, I am absolutely not willing to experiment and put my life and that of others at risk. Surely this radar cruise system is primitive. I also own a 2018 Tesla Model 3, and feel extremely safe and secure with its Auto-Cruise function. The second issue is regarding Lane Keeping Assistance. Again, with the Tesla, the car stays rock steady in the middle of the lane with AutoPilot. Whereas with my Lexus, the car behaves like it has had a couple of drinks, wanders around in the lane, even gets on yellow lines in the center of the road and then buzzes me about it like it was my fault! When we first bought the Tesla it used to weave around in lanes especially when a lane suddenly widens like when two lanes merge, but with progressive software updates, the early problems have been corrected. I find it ironical that Lexus is a few years behind Tesla in this technology. I realize of course that it is only an assist system and I am responsible for steering the car.

The contact owns a 2018 Lexus LS500. The contact stated that while depressing the brake pedal, there was an abnormally loud knocking under the vehicle near the suspension. The contact took the vehicle to the dealer however, the mechanic was unable to identify the cause of the failure. The vehicle had not been repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 33,000.

The contact owned a 2014 Lexus RX350. The contact stated that while the wife was driving approximately 35 mph a dump truck collided with the passenger side of the vehicle. During the crash, the side curtain air bags did not deploy. The front passenger sustained injuries to the head, neck, shoulder, and torso and the front driver sustained injuries to the right foot and chest area. Medical treatment was required for both occupants. The vehicle was destroyed and towed away. A police report was taken at the scene. The cause of the failure was not determined. The local dealer and manufacturer were not yet contacted. The failure mileage was 44,000.

The contact owns a 2009 Lexus RX350. The contact stated she notice a crack across the dashboard near the airbag on the passenger’s side that had started to expand. The contact notified the dealer and was informed that there was nothing they could do to assist because the recall had already expired. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 75,000.

UNKNOWN suspect brake actuator failure. Brake noise when stepping on pedal at a stop.

I was driving with the driver’s seat heater turned on. While I were traveling, I noticed that the seat heater was very hot, so I turned it off. I arrived at my destination and parked the vehicle for about two hours. I did not turn the seat heater back on when you returned to the vehicle. I was removing snow from the vehicle with the driver’s door open and some of the snow landed on the driver’s seat. When I brushed the snow off the seat, I noticed a burn mark in the seat cushion. I called Lexus USA to report this 2 days later and showed my local dealer (Lexus of Portland) and they had never seen this before. Here is the response from Lexus today: "In response to your concerns, a vehicle inspection was conducted by a Lexus Field Technical Specialist (FTS) on January 19, 2022 at Bud Clary Toyota of Yakima. A visual inspection confirmed there was a small 6mm x 7mm burn hole in the driver’s seat leather cover on the bottom cushion. The hole was in the outer bolster portion of the bottom cushion. Resistance was checked through the seat warmer grid. The seat back was recorded at .7 ohms and the seat bottom had an open circuit. The seat cover was removed to examine the seat heater grid. Two wires were found near each other at the burn area. One wire was broken at the location. Our FTS disconnected the seat heater switch after the inspection was completed." They left me with now 2 non functioning seat heaters by disconnecting it during a cold winter. They did not offer any sort of assistance or recommendations for next steps, I feel like they hung me out to dry.

Severe vibration from 30-70mph when acceleration, outboard boot split/slinging grease on left/right sides. CV axle has alot of movement. Right and Left axle shaft needs removed and replaced.

12-VOLT BATTERY IN TRUNK AREA SHORTED/FAILED. THIS RESULTED IN THE FOLLOWING DANGEROUS CONDITIONS: 1. INABILITY TO OPEN THE TRUNK FROM INSIDE OR OUTSIDE THE VEHICLE (THERE IS NO EMERGENCY TRUNK RELEASE IN THIS VEHICLE, POWER ASSISTED TRUNK RELEASE DISABLES MECHANICAL DOOR OPENING AFTER BATTERY FAILURE). 2. ENGAGED CHILD LOCKS DID NOT RELEASE WITH BATTERY FAILURE, SO PASSENGER DOORS WERE ALSO NONFUNCTIONAL FOR EXITING THE VEHICLE. 3. HORN WAS DISABLED, WITH NO WAY TO SIGNAL FOR HELP. THESE SAFETY DEFECTS WERE FORTUNATELY DISCOVERED IN MY GARAGE AS I WAS ATTEMPTING TO CONNECT A CHARGER TO THE 12-VOLT BATTERY LOCATED IN THE TRUNK. WHILE CLIMBING INTO THE BACK SEAT, I INADVERTENTLY SLID THE CHILD LOCK LEVER ON THE SIDE OF THE DOOR PANEL INTO THE LOCKED POSITION. I REMOVED THE HEADRESTS TO GAIN ACCESS TO THE TRUNK BECAUSE THE TRUNK DOOR COULD NOT BE OPENED FROM THE EXTERIOR OF THE VEHICLE. I THEN NOTED THAT THERE IS NOT EMERGENCY TRUNK RELEASE LEVER IN THE TRUNK AREA. ONCE THE PASSENGER DOOR CLOSED, THE ONLY EXIT FROM CAR WAS THE FRONT DOORS. WORSE STILL, THE CAR HORN IS DISABLED WITH BATTERY FAILURE, ELIMINATING THE POSSIBILITY OF SIGNALING FOR HELP. SHORTING OF THE 12-VOLT BATTERY IN THE LEXUS NX 300H, TURNS THIS VEHICLE INTO A SAFETY HAZARD.

Initially, the ABS, BRAKE, and Anti-skid lights illuminated on the instrument panel and braking began to be spongier than normal. This condition continued for approximately 4 years. The brake system now has failed and braking is extremely slow. The car began beeping constantly while on with or without the engine running. This latest error took place while driving at approximately 55mph, soon after a car entered the highway (4 lanes) in front of me, I braked but the brakes did not actuate properly increasing the stopping time and distance. Luckily, I was able to move to the left-hand lane and avoid a collision. This occurred on February 13, 2022 AutoZone pulled the following codes: C1241, C1252-Hydro-booster pump motor malfunction, C1253-Hydro-booster pump motor relay malfunction, C1256-Accumulator low-pressure malfunction, C1311-Open circuit in main relay 1, and C1391-Abnormal leak of ACC PRESS (All except C1241 are related to the braking system) No one has inspected the component. I was able to locate NHTSA Recall Bulletin Reference #10V039000 (SERVICE BRAKES, AIR:ANITILOCK:CONTROL UNIT/MODULE) that references Lexus HS250h models manufactured up to February 2010, yet my VIN doesn't pull up this bulletin when searching the database even though it was manufactured in February of 2010.