Body Problems of Lexus ES - part 2

My dashboard is melting!.

See all problems of the 2007 Lexus ES 🔎.

At approximately 6:30pm, while making a right hand turn into a friends driveway, the vehicle suddenly accelerated on it's own, and the brakes would not work. The vehicle continued to the right as if locked in to the right hand position, hit a tree and finally came to a stop by hitting high concrete steps. The vehicle was towed to the dealership, and later to the body shop as the vehicle was not drivable. During the interim, the vehicle was inspected by Toyota. Post investigation, the letter recently received from Toyota states "during the limited test drive accelerating and braking tests were conducted and the vehicle performed with no abnormalities found". The vehicle was not drivable per the mechanic at the dealership and the mechanic at the body shop, due to the significant damage and fluid leakage. This letter from Toyota's investigation is incongruent with the facts as I know them. As of this date, June 3, 2012, the vehicle is still being worked on.

See all problems of the 2011 Lexus ES 🔎.

Wife was operating the driver window in our Lexus Es 350. The driver window crashed down into the driver door panel momentarily startling her. She swerved into oncoming traffic. I had a technician pull off the door panel and the plastic mounting tabs on the window regulator and the plastic mounting tabs on the window had disintegrated. According to the Lexus owners web site this is a common problem on all 2007-2008 Lexus Es 350 models. Lexus will not cover this problem unless still under the 4 year warranty. See recall 08v16200 for similar problems.

My wife entered an intersection and was struck by another vehicle in the drivers side door, by another vehicle traveling at 30 mph. The driver's door window exploded on impact and she was hit with flying glass in the face. The driver's door was bent inward approximately 12 inches from the force. We believe she hit her head on the b pillar, because she suffered a concussion and a jagged cut above her left eye. She also suffered a broken left rib in the accident. The vehicle was repaired following the accident. The mechanic who performed the repair noted that there was intrusion on the drivers door, that the lower rocker had been pushed in, and that due to pressure on the b pillar the rear door did not open properly after the accident. This vehicle is equipped with side curtain airs bags which did not deploy during the accident. The owner's manual of the vehicle shows airbag sensors in all four doors of the car. Given the direct hit on the drivers door and the resulting explosion of the drivers window, we feel the side airbags should have deployed, which would have lessened or eliminated the injuries my wife suffered. I informed Toyota motor sales that I was unhappy with the airbag's failure to deploy, and was informed that since "the impact forces were not directed towards the b-pillar, deployment was not warranted". To me this indicates that there are not sensors in the doors as shown in the owner's manual. Additionally, there were forces exerted to the b-pillar in the accident, as noted by the mechanical inspection.

See all problems of the 2005 Lexus ES 🔎.

While we were driving our 2007 Es350 in a high way in December 2011, the passenger-side front window glass suddenly fell off from the track, and we should have stopped the car right away. After replacing it with a "newly-designed" oem glass in a Toyota dealer service dept (it was out of warranty, so we paid $600 for the replacement), the driver-side front window glass also fell off in February 2012, and we couldn't drive the car until the glass was replaced in the same dept. Once one (or both) of the front window glasses falls off, it is very dangerous to drive the car in a high speed. And, we believe the original window-glass design has a defect and that is why Lexus re-designed the glass (please look at the TSB below). I don't understand why Lexus doesn't recall it for the driving safety. . Read more...

Plastic interior body parts, in particular the dash board, have lost their hardness and have become sticky. Everything (dirt, hair, paper, etc. ) sticks to them and they are uncleanable.

I inherited this vehicle in January of 2014 and as soon as I got it I noticed that there were chips of the front dashboard that were missing. I had noticed said damage/defect when I drove in prior years dating back to 2010 or so. Whenever the car is out in the sun, the dashboard gets soft and if you touch or hit it with your finger, you can get some of the soft dashboard under you nail. It gets very soft to the touch. In order to avoid any further damage, I now park my car under shade and use protective visors on the inside of the front windshields in order to protect the dashboard. I was surprised to find this could happen to such a nice and expensive car. It definitely is a flaw in the design material of the dashboard.