2002 Lexus ES300: engine stalls while driving

Filed Jul 14, 2009 · Fuel system · 44,000 miles · FL · fire

On june 15, 2009 we were driving home and my husband felt the car almost stalled. Then we smelled gasoline and saw smoke coming from the bottom right under the engine. We exited the car and it was already on fire. The car burst into flames and was completely destroyed. It was a 2002 lexus 300es with only 44,000 miles. Toyota has been extremely rude to us and took almost a month to inspect the car. They say they cannot determine the cause of the fire. How can a car start on fire while you are driving it over straight roads.? We never had an accident or any other problem. I read of a couple of other lexuses that caught fire. Something should be done to make toyota fully examine this problem.

Filed Jul 28, 2005 · Engine, Transmission · 48,480 miles · TX

Upon acceleration in stop-and-go traffic, severe hesitation with brake-like effect, engine reviving, with driver thrown forward, then lurching into gear. Said was fixed with installation of tsib tc004-3. Narrowly being missed by oncoming traffic when car basically stalled. Tsib not a fix. Now engine light on. Dangerous in stop-and-go traffic.

Filed Jan 18, 2005 · Acceleration · 25,000 miles · CA

When the gas pedal was applied, the vehicle paused for 1-2 seconds before proceeding forward. As a result, the consumer had almost hit pedestrians and rear ended other motorists. If the consumer attempts to switch lanes to avoid hitting or rear ending anyone, the vehicle stalls. The vehicle has been serviced 9 times by the dealership, in which diagnostic test have been performed, but no failure code was found. The dealership only conclusion is that this is how the vehicle is suppose to drive.

Filed Dec 21, 2004 · Transmission · 1,000 miles · NJ

Rough shifting/slipping in lower gears (1,2). When accelerating in stop and go traffic car seems to stall before it suddenly bumps into gear. Intermittently - when accelerated suddenly (moving steady at about 10 miles per hour) transsmision slipped out of gear, engine RPM reached about 4000 RPM. It engaged in gear after I released accelerator.

Filed Dec 17, 2002 · Acceleration · TX

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

Filed Dec 13, 2002 · Transmission · 228 miles · OH

Transmission gets confused when shifting into and out of the lower gears, then spends too long trying to figure out what gear to be in. This causes dangerous delays in acceleration, the effect is the same as a momentary engine stall. We have had this happen on several occasions, freeway ramp entrances are certainly the most dangerous place that this has occurred. Dealer acknowledges that there have been complaints about the shifting delays but they say no fix is available. This is our third es300, the previous models used a cable between the gas pedal and the throttle, this new one uses what is called "fly by wire", a position sensor on the accelarator that a computer is supposed to use to figure out what to tell the engine and transmission. It isn't working very well. If not rectified this problem will certainly lead to a crash someday, then we'll get to see how good the safety equipment is.

Filed Sep 9, 2002 · Transmission · TX

While driving at 20mph and with no warning making a turn and vehicle will stall. It will be hard for consumer to control vehicle. Dealer notified.

Filed May 22, 2002 · Electrical, Transmission · WI

The car stalls and pauses in traffic. The car has rough vibration when the gears shift. The dealer said the computer was designed to operate in that manner and that there is presently no correction for the problem. The dealer acknowledged the problem, but refuses to replace the car or to buy me out because this problem has not resulted in any fatalities.