My lexus es330 2004 has about 17k miles on it, and I have noticed several indications where I try and brake and it feels like the brakes will not fully engage, or that the ebs braking system is engaged, when I do not believe it should be engaged. This has happened mostly in the winter or fall months when the road was dry and the air was dry. It has taken me way to long to brake and come to a proper stop. It has occurred about 10 times. I do not drive very much as you can note from the mileage. A few times it occurred when the road was wet, and felt like the brakes actually locked up and then released and then went into the ebs mode. If I drive aggressively, and want to stop quickly, this can occur on dry pavement, in situations where the car is clearly not acting in a manor that it should. I have not been in an accident. I have brought the car to lexus and they say that there is no recall or reported problems etc. It is a problem that I suspect would be difficult to test. I have had several high performance cars before, such as a porsche 944 and a mercedes and never ever experienced this before. I do not want to sell the car to an unsuspecting purchaser, and thus I want it resolved. If I am driving aggressively, and go to stop, at time it is as if the car assumes that the ebs system will be necessary given the speed, but it should not be. Also, a few times when this occurred, the back brakes seemed to lock and I felt my back end fish tail. I got out of the problem by releasing the brake and hitting it quickly twice. It really is disturbing that I drive a car that I simply do not trust to stop appropriately. Even at a relatively slow speed, if I hit the brakes hard, the car continues to travel engaging the ABS (that what it is not ebs0 braking system when really it should not be doing so given the speed and weather conditions. I will put 1/12009 for incident date, but I have not had an accident.
2004 Lexus ES330 brakes complaints
Page 2 of 2: complaints 11 to 16 of 16, newest first, as owners wrote them.
2004 lexus es 330 developed a problem with braking.*mr the consumer noticed that the brake pedal was noisey when pressed and released. The vehicle was taken to the dealer and they explained that there was nothing wrong with the vehicle and that it was the way it was designed.
I not longer have confidence in driving my lexus 2004 es330 with 12,500 miles due to 2 main reasons. (a) this car continue to pull to the left to the point that I must continually put pressure to the steering wheel so the car wont move to the left. This is happening even after the dealer has supposedly fixed issue. (b) the very well known transmission problem. This vehicle is unsafe to drive in many instances where you need to merge into traffic and the car does not responded to the gas pedal. The symptom is very noticeable when you are on stop and go traffic or in slow traffic. I urge your agency to investigate this matter before any casualty occurs. Lexus normal response is that the car is operating as designed. The dealer must have been told to express the same line as they always have the same answer for anything they do not have a solution for.
The brakes on my newly leased 2004 lexus 330 do not engage with pressure for the initial 1/2 to 1 inch of pressure and are inconsistant. They also make a distracting and irritating knocking noise when the pedal is released. I have had the vehicle in for service 3 times and each time the service manager has told me the brakes were fine, but they are definitely not.
My lexus es330 was less than two months old and the mileage read about 950 the time when the accident happened.t occurred on the way to work at 8:40 am march 8th, 2004. It was a sunny warm day. As I was driving on the far right lane of south 5 freeway with speed around 65 to 70 MPH, a car next to my lane was trying to cut in front of me. In order to keep a safe distance, I tried to slow down the car by pressing the brake. The moment I pressed the brake the car swerved to the right. I couldn't control where the vehicle was heading and the car didn't slow down as I further pressed the brake. It bumped into the guardrail and turned 180 degree facing the oncoming cars. Luckily, I was able to make a turn and parked the car without hitting anybody. The car was damaged from the right head light all the way to the rear bumper. I immediately called the dealer and lexus sent a inspector to check on the car. One week later, I was informed the car is ok and there is nothing abnormal after their investigation. I requested an investigation report and the response I got is I have to "go through the legal system". There was no explanation for the exact meaning of this phrase. I am a good driver with excellent record. The whole experience was totally out of nowhere and unpredictable. I kept looking back to find any clues that might lead to the accident. As I studied the federal safety agency complaints, most of them happened during slow speed driving. My case happened on the freeway and all I remembered was the car didn't slow down as I applied the brake.
As I was pulling into the garage at my place of employment, I pressed on the brakes and the car began to accelerate, I continued to bounce off the wall several times before the car would stop. I felt that the brakes failed or the throttle was stuck. I have contacted my dealer, they called me back 30 minutes later and said that there was nothing wrong with car and I could pick it up. I felt as if I have been "blown off' and I am terrified to drive this vehicle again. I have since contacted the corporate offices and placed a complaint, however, this issue still remains unresolved. The form will not let me enter the correct model of my car, it is an es330 not and rx.
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