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2005 Lexus ES330 acceleration complaints

Page 2 of 3: complaints 11 to 40 of 51, newest first, as owners wrote them.

See the summary of 2005 Lexus ES330 acceleration problems: which part fails, at what mileage and related recalls.

Filed Jan 28, 2011 · Acceleration · 105,000 miles · MA · crash

Tl* the contact owns a 2005 lexus es330. The contact was reversing5 MPH when the vehicle suddenly accelerated without warning crashing into a steel pole and damaging the entire rear end of the vehicle. The vehicle was towed to the dealer for diagnosis and repairs. The vehicle was inspected and the contact was advised that she would be notified at a later date of the results of the investigation. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was 105,000.

Filed Oct 15, 2010 · Acceleration, Airbags · 74,400 miles · NY · crash · 1 injury

I was leaving a car wash (at a busy intersection in penfield, ny), the "car wash" light turned green, I put it in gear and lightly pressed on the gas pedal to approach the workers for them to dry and vacuum the car. There was no floor mat in the drivers front side so that they could vacuum that area. The car speed forward out of control I tried to steer between 2 steel safety post, missed the workers, crossed the sidewalk and 5 lanes of traffic toward a telephone pole, hit the curb, flipped over, I lost consciousness. The car stopped right side up pointing toward the car wash. Car wash employees (and other witnesses) rushed across the street and when I woke up one of the attendants was removing my seat belt and pulling me out through the broken window, there were many witnesses who thought it was a miracle that I was still alive and that the car did not hit any workers, pedestrians or drivers of other vehicles which had now all stopped . No air-bags were released? I was rushed to the hospital . I was released 4 hours later stiff, sore, bruised, minor concussion and told to stay around for a week (we were planning to return to fl the next day) to make sure that there are no serious problems. Police were on site, did a report, fireman were there to clean up the leaks. My insurance co. Has totaled the car. I feel that lexus should evaluate this car to determine the actual cause, it was not the floor mat, it was in the back seat, nor was it operator error, the car was accelerating out of control and very hard to steer. If the "lexus" had a mind then it had gone crazy? I have talked to the local lexus dealer who told me that there are no recalls on this vehicle and read me the party line that there are no problems with the 2005 es330 lexus, it's operator error? I guess the other 38 owners of the 2005 es330 that have postings on this site are all wrong. Based on toyotas (lexus) attitude I will never buy another product made by toyota. I am happy to be alive, thank god.

Filed Oct 7, 2010 · Acceleration · 33,000 miles · CA · crash

Tl*the contact owns a 2005 lexus es330. While driving approximately 5 MPH, the contact took her foot off the accelerator pedal and the vehicle suddenly surged forward crashing into a curb. A police report was filed. There were no injuries. The vehicle was towed to an authorized dealer where an investigator sent from the manufacturer stated that there was nothing wrong with the vehicle. The vehicle had not been repaired. The current and failure mileages were approximately 33,000. Updated 01/14/11 *bf the consumer stated his/her foot was still on the brake, when the vehicle suddenly accelerated. Updated 04/19/11

Filed Aug 18, 2010 · Acceleration · 28,000 miles · CA

Tl* the contact owns a 2005 lexus es330. The contact was pulling into a parking space with the brake pedal depressed when the vehicle abnormally accelerated and jumped a curve. The vehicle was towed to the nearest authorized dealer where the contact was advised that the issue would need to be escalated to the manufacturer due to damages to the undercarriage. The contact was awaiting a decision from the manufacturer. The vehicle was not repaired. The VIN was not available. The failure and current mileage was 28,000.

Filed Aug 6, 2010 · Acceleration, Engine · 25 miles · MA

Tl* the contact owns a 2005 lexus es-330. The contact stated when shifting gears, the vehicle would abnormally jerk. When accelerating, the vehicle was hesitant to respond. In addition, the vehicle would intermittently lose power as if it were attempting to stall. The dealer advised they were aware of the failure in his year and model vehicle. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was 25 and the current mileage was 20,000. Updated 10/25/10 *bf the consumer also stated the vehicle stalled in traffic. Also, the vehicle would move forward on its own at times. Updated 10/27/10

Filed May 25, 2010 · Acceleration · 64,000 miles · CA · crash · 1 injury

Tl* the contact owns a 2005 lexus es330. The contact was driving approximately between 10-15 MPH in a parking lot. The vehicle began to surge forward and accelerated rapidly. When pressure was applied to the brake pedal there was no power response which resulted to the vehicle crashing into three parked vehicles. The contact suffered minor pain in the right side of the body. A police report was filed of the incident. The vehicle was towed to a storage evidence facility with major body damages. The cause of failure had not been determined at the time of the compliant. The failure mileage was 64,000. Updated 11/16/10*bf updated 11/16/10

Filed May 24, 2010 · Acceleration · 95,000 miles · SC

Tl*the contact owns a 2005 lexus es330. While driving at approximately 60 MPH and passing another vehicle, the contact depressed the accelerator pedal but the vehicle continued to accelerate. He depressed the brake pedal and but the vehicle did not stop. The contact shifted into neutral to stop the vehicle. The contact called the dealership and was advised to remove the floor mat. The failure occurred again but the contact did not remove the floor mat. The vehicle had not been inspected at the time of the complaint. The failure mileage was approximately 95,000. The current mileage was approximately 98,000.

Filed May 23, 2010 · Acceleration, Fuel system · CA

Lexus es 330, when accelerating, there is a hesitation. Dealer said it was related to octane of gasoline, that I should increase the octane to 92. This did not help. They lie at every angle...

Filed Apr 8, 2010 · Acceleration · 42,000 miles · VA · crash

Tl*the contact owns a 2005 lexus es330. The contact stated that on april 2, 2010 while driving approximately 2 MPH, the vehicle suddenly accelerated, struck a curb and then crashed into a cinder block wall. The air bags did not deploy but there were no injuries or police report filed. The contact called the manufacturer who requested that she not have the vehicle repaired until their investigators inspected it. The vehicle was at a local body shop when the complaint was filed. The current and failure mileages were approximately 42,000.

Filed Apr 5, 2010 · Acceleration · NY · crash

2005 lexus es 330. Consumer states unintended acceleration. *tgw the consumer stated the sudden acceleration resulted in an accident.

Filed Mar 17, 2010 · Acceleration · 21,000 miles · WI · crash

Pulling into my garage. 2005 lexus es330 suddenly accelerated and went thru the back brick wall. One-time occurrence. Cost $10,000. Insurance paid to fix car, fix garage. Then dropped me.

Filed Mar 16, 2010 · Acceleration · NC

I have a 2005 lexus e330 and have the similar issues as others on this post. It is extremely frustrating but at very slow speeds, the car accelerates (surges) almost on demand. I have not taken it to the dealer due to the costs that may be involved.

Filed Mar 4, 2010 · Acceleration · 19,000 miles · IL

While driving, I too experienced sudden unintended acceleration of the vehicle. I overtook a slow moving vehicle in front of me on otherwise an empty one-lane straight road. As I eased back into the lane, the vehicle began to race. I pressed the brake pedal and the car really wanted to go faster and faster. As I was reaching speeds in excess of 50mph, I then shifted to neutral but to no avail as the vehicle continued to accelerate. Luckily, the brake worked at all times. I kept it pressed down real hard while the rpms were going well above 6k. The vehicle behaved as if both the gas and brake pedals were pushed down all the way. Finally, the brakes did their job and as I slowed to a stop and turned the engine off with a key. After collecting myself I turned on the ignition and continued with my trip. Next day, I took the vehicle to highland park lexus in northbrook, il at which point the service manager just shrugged his shoulders in disbelief. I long returned the vehicle after the lease expired but can provide me info so that you guys can locate the vehicle and test it if it still on the road somewhere.

Filed Mar 3, 2010 · Acceleration · CA · crash

Car out of control on residential street near my home. Sudden acceleration; brakes would not stop car and I could not control steering. Hit telephone pole then a parked car. That car and my 1905 lexus es 330 were totaled.

Filed Mar 2, 2010 · Acceleration · 24,266 miles · CT

On dec. 9, 2006, our '05 lexus es330 accelerated spontaneously in reverse down our (fortunately long) driveway. Braking did not stop the car. In fact, the tires squealed loudly as I braked. I put the car into neutral in order to stop it. We immediately took the car to a lexus repair shop. They, of course, could find nothing wrong. They mentioned having received some reports of floor-mat problems causing acceleration, but couldn't tell me more. The floor-mat on this lexus was fixed, so that wasn't the problem. This incident only happened one time. I thought the problem was related to the cruise control, because my brother-in-law had a similar problem (going forward though) that was diagnosed as the cruise control causing acceleration. Even though lexus said my cruise control checked o.k., I never used it again. We decided to sell the car, & did so within 6 months.

Filed Mar 1, 2010 · Acceleration · 27,000 miles · DE

I own a 2005 lexus es 330. Last june as I was attempting to park on the 3rd level of a parking garage, the vehicle accelerated on its own. I was actually at a standstill and the vehicle engine roared and proceeded forward on its own. I put both feet on the brakes and put the car in park. The engine then died down. I checked to make sure that the floor mat was not obstructing the accelerator and it was not. At the time, I chalked it up to "a fluke"; however, in light of the problems that have occurred in relationship to the toyota vehicles, I felt I should report this occurrence. I personally do not think this was related to the accelerator, I think it had to do with the electronics. I have not had any further occurrences; however, it is worth a notation.

Filed Feb 26, 2010 · Acceleration · 10,350 miles · CA · crash

While pulling into a parking lot my 2005 lexus 330 suddenly accelerated and went through a fence and did $1784 in damage to the car. I do not believe I pushed on the accelerator pedal but pushed on the brake pedal. Since then I have not had a problem and have routine maintenance at an authorized dealer.

Filed Feb 24, 2010 · Acceleration, Electrical · 500 miles · CA

Hello: I drive a 2005 lexus es330. While I have not had a problem with the braking system, the electronic throttle is a different story. If you are entering an on ramp to a freeway then release the throttle, then almost immediately reapply the throttle the car will not respond. It takes 2 seconds or so before the engine starts to rev up and the car is definitely unhappy about this. This process of acceleration, the coasting, then accelerating again yields this same result with almost 100% repeatability. The internet forums are loaded with information about this same issue. Definitely something in the electronics is not right!

Filed Feb 23, 2010 · Acceleration · 5,000 miles · IL

I have the infamous es330 hesitation problem which is part of the sub-standard operating parameters of the car. When purchased from the dealer new in 2005, I was advised after taking the car back several times, that updating ecc module probably would not fix the problem and it didn't. The dealership was very aware and blamed the lag on toyota's "drive by wire? Design used on this car. Further, they said lexus new about and probably wouldn't correct the problem until the next model year. The hesitation is especially apparent when pulling away from a full stop or when power is required to merge into traffic. To compensate, the driver has to keep pushing down on the gas until the car decides to accelerate -- then the driver has to quickly ease up on the gas to keep the car from over accelerating.

Filed Feb 23, 2010 · Acceleration · 13,000 miles · OH · crash

2005 lexus es330 with sudden acceleration. Consumer stated on two incidents her vehicle rapidly accelerated. In one incident there was an accident. *kb the consumer stated if felt as though the cruise control had activated and the vehicle suddenly lurched forward and took off from a parking lot, down a slope, into traffic and into an oncoming car. The dealership inspected the vehicle and the consumer was told nothing was wrong and that the floor mats had possibly been the cause of the acceleration.

Filed Feb 22, 2010 · Acceleration · TX

Accelerator pedal becomes hard often. This causes abnormal response while accelerating. Complained a few times to the dealer when bought this car. They upgraded ECM software. However, the problem did not go away. Dealer says this is how acceleration by wire works. I never experienced this behavior with any of my cars including toyota before. I strongly believe lexus should fix this problem as it may cause accident if I'm not very aware during driving with this issue - luckily, there has not been an incident so far.

Filed Feb 16, 2010 · Acceleration · 16,000 miles · NC · crash

Tl* the contact owns a 2005 lexus es330. The contact stated that while driving at 45mph, without a warning the vehicle accelerated on its own while depressing the brakes. The vehicle crashed into a median and when he put pressure on the brakes the vehicle stopped. The contact was then able to drive off normally. There were only damages to the rims. The dealer was contacted and they stated that they could not assist him with the issue that the vehicle had.this acceleration problem had occurred three times at the time of the complaint. There have been no repairs to the vehicle to- date. The failure mileage was 16000 and current mileage was 25003.

Filed Feb 10, 2010 · Acceleration · 18,000 miles · NJ

I was driving our lexus es330 with my wife from nj to ct on a highway. At one point during the drive, removed my foot from the gas pedal, but instead of slowing down, the car started accelerating. In panic I started applying the brakes, but the car would not slow down at all. Fortunately, there was no other car right in front of me, otherwise it would have resulted in a messy crash. It was very scary. Eventually accelerator stopped working completely and the car stopped in lane of the highway. I can't believe toyota has not included this model in their recall list. This is ridiculous. And, I checked it then, the mat on the driver side was not stuck in the gas pedal.

Filed Feb 4, 2010 · Acceleration · 5,000 miles · IN

The toyota problem of unexpected acceleration is a problem with my 2005 lexus es330, I have complained to toyota/lexus and they claimed to have fixed it with a software programming update (which did not help) I have explained to them that it is dangerous and has almost caused an accident in traffic on numerous occasions. They claim it is not a fault and have refused to fix the software programming problem.

Filed Jan 29, 2010 · Acceleration · 45,000 miles · NY

Tl*the contact owns a 2005 lexus es330. When he attempted to start the vehicle and press the accelerator pedal it became stuck and the rpms increased rapidly. He did not take the vehicle to the dealer; yet, he removed the floor mat. The failure mileage was 45,000 and the current mileage was 79,000. Updated 2/22/10

Filed Jan 28, 2010 · Acceleration · 13,000 miles · OH · crash · 2 injuries

2005 es330. Pulling into parking space ready to stop and experienced sudden acceleration incident resulting in a crash into another car. Tw*

Filed Jan 27, 2010 · Acceleration, Transmission · 1,000 miles · MS

We purchased our lexus 2005 es330 brand new. We noticed the hesitation and jerking when accelerating immed after buying the car. It was taken back to the lexus dealership for the complaint two or more times. When we recieved normal services, I would ask about the acceleration and I was told that there were not any bulletins issued for the issue in which I spoke of. We were told that the car would adjust to the driver over a period of time. Presently the car shifts improperly when driven at 20-35 MPH, unexpected up shifts that occur to early and down shifts while slowing down causing the driver to have to modulate the braking to avoid either coming up to cars in traffic ahead to quickly or traffic coming from behind so as to avoid an accident from behind as you slow to quickly. Constantly scares me when I drive it because of the non responsive and quick acceleration.

Filed Nov 4, 2009 · Acceleration · 25,000 miles · IL

2005 lexus es350 leased new in august, 2005. I overtook a slow moving vehicle in front of me and tried to ease off back into the lane. Instead, the car began accelerating: 2k RPM, 3k RPM, 4k RPM, almost redlining. I put on the brakes and kept holding the brake pedal down. Pushing accelerator pedal down was no help. Instead, I shifted to neutral and after about 10 seconds (felt like eternity since shifting to neutral did not help) turned the ignition key off. The car stopped. After several minutes of collecting myself, I turned the ignition key back on and the vehicle behaved normally. After that experience I always made sure I did not accelerate quickly. The car was returned back to the dealer after the original lease expired last year. I can assure you floormat wasn't the problem. I am concerned that toyota only issued recall on 2007- lexus es350 models. They should also include previous es330 model as well.

Filed Nov 4, 2009 · Acceleration · 39,000 miles · IL · crash

I owned a 2005 lexus es330 that was involved in a crash. On 4/29/09 the driver of the vehicle was pulling into a parking spot when the car accelerated after her foot was off accelerator causing the vehicle to crash through a storefront wall and windows, causing extensive damage to building and totaling the vehicle. The police did not believe that there was an acceleration problem nor did I, until hearing this recent report on the news.

Filed Oct 28, 2008 · Acceleration · 45,550 miles · VA

I was pulling into a parking space in a shopping center with my foot on the brake when the car suddenly surged forward. The car sped up to a speed of approximately 45mph. I swerved in and about the cars in the parking lot and had no control over the speed, braking or steering. I eventually stopped the car after about 200 yds. By shifting into neutral, turning off the ignition and bouncing over at least four curbs. No physical injuries or property damage. The car is at the dealers for inspection.

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