There has been an intermittent airbag warning light on my vehicle. When taken to the dealer for service, unfortunately the light went out, and no code was captured. It was returned to the dealer recently, and a fault code was recognized; a possible knee airbag issue. When talking with the service writer, their technicians had mentioned it was most likely a short in a wiring harness at a cost of $3500 to replace. I was told all of the airbags may be inoperative with the warning light on, but the dealership was not sure. A number of online lexus blogs talk about similar circumstances and struggling why a faulty (defective) wiring harness that disables all airbags is not a safety recall. It shouldn't have to be a fatal crash due to inoperative airbags to warrant a recall.
2008 Lexus IS 350 airbags problems
10 complaints (33% of all complaints for this car). Typical mileage when it fails: 77,000. 1 crash reported.
- owner complaints
- 10
- of this car's complaints
- 33%
- typical mileage
- 77,000
- crashes
- 1
- recalls
- 3
Which part fails
- Knee bolster1
At what mileage
Complaints by mileage at the time of the problem.
Lexus IS 350 airbags problems in other years
Related recalls
Air bags: frontal: passenger side: inflator module
- What is wrong
- Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing (Toyota) is recalling certain 2010-2016 4Runner, 2003-2006 Tundra, 2003-2013 Corolla, 2009-2010 Corolla Matrix, 2004-2005 RAV4, 2002-2007 Sequoia, 2011-2013 Sienna, 2008-2012 Scion xB, 2008-2009 Lexus IS-F, 2007-2012 Yaris and Lexus ES350, 2010-2017 Lexus GX460, 2002-2010 Lexus SC430, 2006-2012 Lexus IS250 and IS350 and 2010-2015 Lexus IS250C and IS350C vehicles. These vehicles had their driver or passenger frontal air bag inflators previously replaced under a prior recall using inflators of the same design. The inflators may explode due to propellant degradation occurring after long-term exposure to high absolute humidity, temperature and temperature cycling.
- Risk
- An inflator explosion may result in sharp metal fragments striking the driver or other occupants resulting in serious injury or death.
- Remedy
- Toyota will notify owners. Depending on the vehicle model, dealers will replace the front driver inflator, front passenger airbag inflator, the airbag assembly, or the front passenger airbag sub-assembly and inflator. The recall began November 20, 2019. Owners may contact Toyota customer service at 1‑888‑270‑9371 or Lexus customer service at 1‑800‑255‑3987. Toyota's numbers for this recall are J0A, J0B, and J0C. Lexus' numbers for this recall are JLI, JLJ, and JLK.
Recall number 19V741000 · Recall details
Air bags: frontal: passenger side: inflator module
- What is wrong
- Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing (Toyota) is recalling certain 2012 Toyota 4Runner, Corolla, Corolla Matrix, Sienna, Yaris, Scion xB, Lexus ES350, GX460, IS-F, IS250, IS350, IS250C, IS350C, and Lexus LFA vehicles originally sold, or ever registered, in Alabama, California, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Texas, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands (Saipan), and the U.S. Virgin Islands, or "Zone A." Additionally, unless included in "Zone A" above, Toyota is recalling certain 2009 Toyota Corolla, Corolla Matrix, Yaris, Yaris HB, Scion xB, Pontiac Vibe, Lexus, ES350, IS250, IS350, and IS-F vehicles originally sold, or ever registered, in Arizona, Arkansas, Delaware, District of Columbia, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia, or "Zone B." Additionally, unless included in "Zone A" or "Zone B" above, Toyota is recalling certain 2006-2008 Lexus IS250 and IS350, 2007-2008 Lexus ES350, Toyota Yaris, Yaris HB, and 2008 Lexus IS-F and Scion xB vehicles originally sold, or ever registered in Alaska, Colorado, Connecticut, Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire, New York, North Dakota, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin and Wyoming. These vehicles are equipped with certain air bag inflators assembled as part of the passenger frontal air bag modules used as original equipment or replacement equipment. In the event of a crash necessitating deployment of the passenger frontal air bag, these inflators may rupture due to propellant degradation occurring after long-term exposure to absolute humidity and temperature cycling.
- Risk
- An inflator rupture may result in metal fragments striking the vehicle occupants resulting in serious injury or death.
- Remedy
- Toyota will notify the Toyota, Scion and Lexus owners. General Motors will contact the Pontiac owners. Depending on the model, dealers will replace the passenger frontal air bag inflator or the air bag assembly, free of charge. The recall began on February 1, 2017. Owners may contact Toyota customer service at 1‑800‑331‑4331, or Pontiac customer service at 1‑800‑762‑2737. Toyota's numbers for final remedy for this campaign are G0P (Toyota Zone A), G0R (Toyota Zone B), H0A (Toyota Zone C), GLG (Lexus Zone A), GLH (Lexus Zone B) and HLA (Lexus Zone C).
Recall number 17V006000 · Recall details
Air bags: frontal: passenger side: inflator module
- What is wrong
- Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing (Toyota) is recalling certain model year 2008-2011 Scion xB and Lexus IS F, 2009-2011 Toyota Corolla and Corolla Matrix, 2006-2011 Toyota Yaris, Lexus IS250 and Lexus IS350, 2010-2011 Toyota 4Runner, Lexus IS250C, Lexus IS350C and Lexus GX460, 2011 Sienna, 2007-2011 Lexus ES350, and 2009-2010 Pontiac Vibe vehicles, originally sold, or ever registered, in Alabama, California, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Texas, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands (Saipan), and the U.S. Virgin Islands, or "Zone A." Additionally, unless included in "Zone A" above, Toyota is recalling certain model year 2008 Scion xB and Lexus IS F, 2007-2008 Toyota Yaris, 2006-2008 Lexus IS250 and Lexus IS350 and 2007-2008 Lexus ES350 vehicles, originally sold, or ever registered, in Arizona, Arkansas, Delaware, District of Columbia, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia, or "Zone B." Vehicles of these model years and models that were not originally sold or ever registered in either Zones A or B are not subject to this safety recall. These vehicles are equipped with certain air bag inflators assembled as part of the passenger frontal air bag modules, and used as original equipment or replacement equipment. In the event of a crash necessitating deployment of the front air bags, these inflators may rupture due to propellant degradation occurring after long-term exposure to absolute humidity and temperature cycling.
- Risk
- An inflator rupture may result in metal fragments striking the vehicle occupants resulting in serious injury or death.
- Remedy
- Toyota will notify the Toyota and Lexus owners. General Motors will contact the Pontiac owners. Depending on the model, dealers will replace the passenger frontal air bag inflator or the air bag assembly, free of charge. The recall began on December 6, 2016. Owners may contact Toyota customer service at 1‑800‑331‑4331. Toyota's numbers for interim notification for this campaign are G1P (Toyota Zone A), G1R (Toyota Zone B), G2G (Lexus Zone A), and G2H (Lexus Zone B). Toyota's numbers for final remedy for this campaign are G0P (Toyota Zone A), G0R (Toyota Zone B), GLG (Lexus Zone A), and GLH (Lexus Zone B).
Recall number 16V340000 · Recall details
Related investigations
Desiccated Air Bag Inflator Rupture
From 2000 through 2017, Takata produced millions of air bag inflators using two types of phase-stabilized ammonium nitrate ("PSAN") propellant -- propellant 2004 and propellant 2004L. After prolonged exposure to high temperature cycles and humidity, inflators using propellant 2004 can degrade, causing the propellant to burn too quickly when ignited. The rapid burning can cause the inflator to rupture during deployment, potentially causing serious or even fatal injury to vehicle occupants. See 2016 Blomquist Report at all frontal inflators using propellant 2004 that do not contain a "desiccant" (a substance that traps and holds moisture) in US vehicles are under recall. These "non-desiccated" inflators either have been or are required to be replaced.In some cases, the remedy part for these recalled inflators was, or will be, an inflator using either propellant 2004 or 2004L that does contain a desiccant. None of these "desiccated" remedy parts (which were installed in older model year vehicles) are currently under recall for a degradation concern. Certain subsets of desiccated PSAN inflators using propellant 2004 for use as original equipment, however, have been recalled for a degradation concern. All Takata inflators produced with propellant 2004L contain desiccant, and none of these desiccated inflators using propellant 2004L are under recall for a degradation concern. There have been no reported field ruptures in any non-recalled desiccated PSAN inflators.It is understood that desiccants fully saturate at some threshold, at which point any additional moisture will not be captured. This means the degradation process observed in non-desiccated inflators using propellant 2004 may also occur in non-recalled desiccated inflators using propellant 2004, assuming additional moisture enters the inflator and high temperature cycling occurs. Based on available information, desiccant saturation can occur within the first five years in the worst environments, and the time required for full saturation is affected by multiple factors. While no present safety risk has been identified, further work is needed to evaluate the future risk of non-recalled desiccated inflators using propellant 2004.Three entities -- Takata (now known as TK Global), the Independent Testing Coalition, and Exponent -- have been studying the long-term behavior of Takata desiccated PSAN inflators using propellant 2004L (as well as 2004) in the presence of moisture and temperature cycling. The research efforts, which include development of predictive modeling techniques and field sample analysis, are ongoing. To date, none of the researchers have identified field evidence showing that propellant 2004L is undergoing a degradation process that leads to aggressive deployment and potential rupture. However, the time in service of such inflators remains short compared to that of the inflators using propellant 2004. Further study is needed to assess the long-term safety of desiccated inflators using propellant 2004L.The Office of Defects Investigation is opening this investigation to examine whether a safety defect related to propellant degradation exists in non-recalled desiccated PSAN frontal inflators manufactured by Takata. This investigation will require extensive information on Takata production processes and surveys of inflators in the field. Lists of recall actions that may have used desiccated PSAN inflators as remedy parts, as well as the makes and models originally manufactured with them, is available with the downloadable version of this document (see -- note this information is subject to change/revision as the investigation proceeds). This investigation does not supersede EA15-001, which remains open.
EA21002
What 2008 Lexus IS 350 owners say
Most recent owner complaints, unedited.
After hitting a hard bump, the vehicle threw a b1866 code indicating an open circuit on the front passenger knee airbag. The connector has become loose and after reading other complaints online it seems to happen frequently with this connector or on the driver side knee airbag connector.
Takata recall. After letting the lexus dealership do the recall on my airbags, I received a airbag light shortly after and let them know I didn't have the issue until after they serviced the airbag. The issue is stated that they made the harness too short in my year car and lexus is not taking responsibility for their error which is putting my life and my child's life in danger if we were to get in a accident with my car. The airbags are disabled due to this faulty harness. When contacting corporate they only offered to help with $500 of the cost while the dealership wants $3500 to fix. This is absolutely ridiculous. Why should I have to pay for a issue that lexus knows was there mistake. This is a major safety concern and should be addressed immediately!
On november 8, 2017, I was involved in a traffic accident in santa monica, ca as I was making a left turn from an alley onto a two-lane residential street. The other vehicle struck me on the left front corner of my car. While the airbags of the other car were deployed , none of my airbags were deployed. Further, my shoulder belt failed to properly restrain me and the top of my head struck the left 'a-pillar'. Soon after the accident, I requested that lexus download my car's edr( aka "black box" ). The injury to the top of my head did not turn out to be serious. However, about 2-3 weeks following the accident, I started having pain in my lower right abdomen. This was soon thereafter diagnosed as a right side inguinal hernia. About this same time, I received a download of the raw data from my car's edr. I was able to compute that I experienced a 20 g force towards the left front corner of my vehicle. My conclusion is that my body was forced upwards and torqued to the left during the accident with a force equal to 20 times my body weight. I conclude that this caused the injury leading to the hernia. When I first contacted lexus last november, I indicated that I believed there was a "safety gap" in my vehicle. While I accept that the air bags did not deploy, I strongly believe that the shoulder belt should have precluded my head hitting the "a-pillar' and the injury to my lower right abdomen. After much delay, I finally received a response from toyota on february 8, 2018. In a brief, dismissive one-page letter, their response was that my car performed properly during the accident. In this letter, they failed to even mention the failure of my shoulder belt to properly restrain me. Based on earlier conversations via phone with lexus, I had been expecting a report prepared by lexus safety engineers. In conclusion, I will not purchase another lexus vehicle.
Tl* takata recall. The contact owns a 2008 lexus is 350. The contact received notification of the federal safety agency campaign number: 16v340000 (air bags); however, the parts to do the repair were unavailable. The contact stated that the manufacturer exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The manufacturer was not notified. The contact had not experienced a failure. Vin tool confirms parts not available.
Takata recall I would like to register a complaint about the length of time for me to be notified that my car is affected by this recall ( august 2016) and the fact that there is no time line for a fix. The recommended work around is to not have someone in the passengers seat. This is obviously a ridiculous option.
Tl* the contact owns a 2008 lexus is 350. The contact received notification of the federal safety agency campaign number: 16v340000 (air bags); however, the part to do the repair was unavailable. The contact stated that the manufacturer exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The manufacturer was made aware of the issue. The contact had not experienced a failure. Vin tool confirms parts not available.
Tl* takata recall. The contact owns a 2008 lexus is 350. Upon attempting to pull into a parking space, the steering wheel locked. The contact was unable to get the steering wheel to unlock. The vehicle was turned off and would not restart. The vehicle was towed to a dealer for further inspection and diagnosis. The contact also received notification of the federal safety agency campaign number: 16v340000 (air bags). The dealer was unable to determine when the parts would become available for the recall repair. The manufacturer was not notified. The failure mileage was not available. Vin tool confirms parts not available.
Tl* the contact owns a 2008 lexus is 350. While parked, the air bag warning light illuminated. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The failure recurred. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The VIN was invalid. The failure mileage was 45,700.
Dashboard has developed a sticky, shiny appearance. Dealership has acknowledged that these models have this problem but will not cover under warranty. The shiny appearance makes it difficult to see out the windshield in strong sunlight. I feel this is very unsafe. Will the airbag deploy properly with a sticky surface?
Questions about the 2008 Lexus IS 350 airbags
Does the 2008 Lexus IS 350 have airbags problems?
Owners have filed 10 complaints about the airbags of the 2008 Lexus IS 350, 33% of all its complaints, more than any other problem.
At what mileage do 2008 Lexus IS 350 airbags problems start?
The typical (median) mileage in owner complaints is 77,000 miles.
Was there a recall on the 2008 Lexus IS 350 airbags?
Yes, 3 recalls: 19V741000, 17V006000, 16V340000. Check your VIN to see if your car still needs the free repair.
What year does the Lexus IS 350 have bad airbags?
The Lexus IS 350 model years with the most airbags complaints are 2006 (17 complaints), 2007 (13 complaints) and 2008 (10 complaints).
Other 2008 Lexus IS 350 problems
Body 7Acceleration 5Electrical 4Steering 3Engine 2Transmission 2Visibility 2Brakes 1Seat belts 1
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