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.
2002 Lexus ES300 acceleration complaints
Page 3 of 3: complaints 41 to 50 of 50, newest first, as owners wrote them.
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.
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 federal safety agency 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
I was driving at about 35 MPH on highway. When the traffic slowed down, I applied the brake to bring down the speed of the car to about 3-7 MPH. After following the car in front of me for about 5 seconds at about 3/4 car distance, I saw the car in front of me speeded up slowly and I decided to follow up by pressing the accelerator moderatly. The car first shuddered, then paused for about 1 second, and finally accelerated at almost maximum power. This was a near miss. Before this happened, I brought our car to lexus dealer to complain about shuddering/pausing when accelerating from low speed after the car was updated with tsb-tc004-03; the chief technician drove the car and reproduced the kind of problems that we had. However, he said that he could not do anything about it and was going to write a report to toyota corp because it was a software problem. On the other hand, the receipt from the dealer said that they did not find any abnormal transmission shift during test driving, but would file a report. What a contradication! The danger of this transmission problem was further magnified by the fact that 2002 es300 runs very smoothly at most times (>98%). This shudder/pause/acceleration or pause/acceleration that only occurs sporadically under very special conditions gives drivers surprise that is the last thing they want during driving. For curiosity, I tested driving the car for about 50 miniutes by repeatly slowing down to about 5 - 10 MPH by applying brake, then allowing the car to roll for about 3 seconds without pressing gas paddle, and then accelerating moderately to about 20 - 30 MPH. The probobility for the shudder/pause/acceleration is about 5%, while that for pause/acceleration about 15%. It seemed that this problem happended more often on down/up hill..
When pulling into a parking space traveling at less then 10 miles per hour, the car suddenly accelerated, proceeded forward hitting another parked car head on. The vehicle then jumped a curb and hit a second car. When attempting to stop the car using the brakes, the brake pedal was depressed but the car did not stop. In addition the air bag failed to deploy. Significant damage was done to two other vehicles beside mine.*ak updated 7/3/12
2002 lexus malfunctioning brake system. *mr the engine surged while braking. It was indicated that this may be due to an increase in idling speed when the A/C was operating. On one occasion the vehicle continued to move although the consumer applied extreme pressure on the brake pedal. *scc
The speedometer is not visible in bright sunlight. Consumer has no idea how fast the vehicle is going. *jg *jb
While driving the vehicle at any speed, the engine suffered sudden acceleration. The dealer could not duplicate or correct the problem. Ts when accelerating to change lane or enter the freeway, the vehicle almost stalled and or decelerated. Scc
While pulling into park with foot on the brakes, vehicle suddenly accelerated and hit a tree. Also while driving in cruise control, tapped on brakes to disengage cruise control and vehicle suddenly accelerated.*ak dealer checked vehicle and could not find any problems.
We have a surge or skip on deacceleration.this will happen from 40 to 60 MPH. The dealer will only tell us they are aware of the problem but have no cure. I feel that after 7 months they should have a fix.
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