Seats Problems of Lexus RX

Nhtsa safety complaint – seat heater defect vehicle: 2017 Lexus Rx 350 mileage at purchase: 45,430 purchase date: Feb. 17, 2025 dealer: Lexus of tacoma at fife, wa description of problem: the driver’s seat heater does not function properly. It is slow to activate (5–6 minutes), then overheats uncontrollably even when set to “low. ” on multiple occasions, the seat became hot enough to cause burns through clothing. Defect confirmed by dealership service staff: dealership staff confirmed that the driver and passenger seats heat at different rates. This matches a known defect identified in Lexus technical service information bulletin l-sb-0038-18 (oct 10, 2018). Additionally, they confirmed that the drivers' seat spikes to uncontrolled high temperatures, even on the "low" setting. Despite this, the dealership refused to repair the issue without an extended warranty and suggested using a sheepskin seat cover to prevent further burns, which is prohibited in the vehicle manual. Safety hazard: •the defect caused burns to the driver. •the driver's elderly mother, who has peripheral neuropathy in her legs, did not feel when the passenger heater was accidentally turned on, highlighting the risk of undetected burns should the heater defect remain unrepaired. •risk of fire is also present given the uncontrolled heat and inherent electrical issue. Attempts to resolve: reported to dealership on 3/28/25. Dealer disclaimed responsibility. Reported again to dealership on 6/25/25. No response. Reported to Lexus corporate customer service on 8/28/25. Summary: the seat heater malfunction is a confirmed manufacturing defect, already documented by Lexus in a tsib. Not mentioned in the tsib is the additional problem of uncontrolled heat spikes, which poses significant risk of burns or fire. Request NHTSA investigation and corrective action.

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The contact owned a 2021 Lexus Rx350. The contact stated that while his wife was stopped at a red light, the vehicle was rear ended by another vehicle traveling around 65 mph. During the collision, the driver's side seat reclining mechanism failed to hold the seat in an upright position, allowing the seat to fall backwards, resulting in the driver sustaining injuries that the contact attributed to the failure. The air bags did deploy. No warning lights were illuminated. The vehicle was towed to a tow yard and deemed a total loss by the contact's insurance provider. A police report was filed and injuries were reported. The contact's wife was transported to an area hospital by emt and treated for nondescript injuries to her left hand, left wrist, both shoulders, and bruising to her right hip. The manufacturer was notified of the failure, and a case was opened. The contact was later informed that the vehicle was inspected and that the driver's seat reclining mechanism did not show signs of a failure. The failure mileage was 24,000.

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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.

See all problems of the 2004 Lexus RX 🔎.

The heat control on the driver's side abruptly began to stay on last week. I believe I now smell a chemical odor issuing from the front of the car.

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The leather seat material is discolored yellow due to contact with sunscreen lotion. We were never warned about this before we bought the car. I have found many forums discussing the stain problem on Lexus seats. We feel there should have been a warning or a recall, and that Lexus should re-dye the seats at no charge, at least once, issuing the warning at that time.

See all problems of the 2007 Lexus RX 🔎.

I started to smell something burning, and my seat warmer light wouldn't turn off. The seat kept getting hotter to the point it was uncomfortably hot. Fortunately, I was only 5 mi away from the dealership when I started to smell the burning. During that time, the plastic under my seat bubbled and was within minutes of catching fire according to the mechanic. The previous morning I drove into boston and was stuck in traffic for and hour and 45 minutes. Had this problem occurred one day earlier, I have no doubt there would have been a fire under my seat.

The dashboard is disintegrating. The car has been predominantly kept covered and well maintained. Initially a large piece (credit card size) broke off dash. We repaired with vinyl restoration company, and another area about a year later. Since then, numerous cracks are present - too many to repair. This is not normal wear!.

My Lexus has a mold problem. They have been unable to remedy it, but will not replace the vehicle. They have tried to remedy the problem no less than 7 times, but cannot eliminate the mold. Employees of Lexus of greenwich have admitted to me that they know this is a recurring problem. Yet they continue to return the vehicle, with mold, to their customers.

See all problems of the 2010 Lexus RX 🔎.

I had visited the dealer several times to tell them first about my leather seats. The leather has cracked and the layer has peeled. And my dashboard has cracks and it is melted. Every time the car went into service I had spoken with several advisors and 2-3 service managers. They took pictures and they said that they will get back to me. I made sure I did all of this before the factory warrantee expired. Till this date my Lexus looks like brand new outside, and the inside looks like it is 100 years old. I will never buy a Lexus model ever again unless they make good and repair these problems. I bought this car because it was a pebble beach edition and paid top dollar for this car. You would think the higher priced cars would last longer and this one has disappointed me. I have a 2001 Ford f 150 and this truck is the best vehicle and half the price of the Lexus Rx 350. Please help me get my car fixed.

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