The contact owned a 2023 Lexus RX 350. The contact stated that while the vehicle was stopped at a traffic light, it suddenly accelerated without warning. While driving in a parking lot, the vehicle again surged forward approximately 20 feet. The contact was able to swerve to avoid striking a pedestrian. The vehicle became uncontrollable, and the brakes were inoperable. The vehicle ultimately crashed into a dumpster fence, which fell onto the vehicle. The contact sustained injuries to her mouth, including cuts to the inside and outside of her mouth, and medical attention was provided by a plastic surgeon. The fire department responded to the scene. The air bags did not deploy during the crash. There was no fire, and a police report was not filed. The fire department was on the scene. The vehicle was towed to a local dealer; however, the vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The insurance company later deemed the vehicle a total loss. The manufacturer has not been notified. The failure occurred at approximately 18,000 miles.
2023 Lexus RX: sudden unintended acceleration
5 of the 62 complaints about the 2023 Lexus RX describe sudden unintended acceleration.
- owner complaints
- 5
- of this car's complaints
- 8%
- recalls
- 0
Sudden unintended acceleration by model year
- 20261
- 20252
- 20242
- 20235
- 20221
- 20202
- 20193
- 20171
- 20111
- 20106
- 20091
- 20081
- 20072
- 20051
What owners say
Unintended acceleration. After complete stop at signal light behind another car electric motor was keep pushing car forward with feet on break and no feet on accelerator. Car was at complete stop and then after complete stop car started moving so press breaks more harder and car started moving up and down due to electric power pushing car forward and break system trying to stop car. Submitted dash cam video to Lexus dealership.
The contact owns a 2023 Lexus RX500H. The contact stated while depressing the brake pedal, the vehicle surged forward. There were no warning lights illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer who was unable to determine the cause of the failure. The contact stated that the failure persisted. The vehicle was taken to another dealer, Lexus of Santa Fe (6824 Cerrillos Rd, Santa Fe, NM 87507) who were unable to determine the cause of the failure. The contact stated that the failure persisted. While the contact’s wife was driving and was idling at a stop light, the vehicle lunged forward aggressively. The contact’s wife turned off the vehicle to avoid lunging forward and crashing with oncoming vehicles at the intersection. The vehicle was returned to the first dealer, Lexus of Albuquerque (4821 Pan American Fwy, Albuquerque, NM 87109) who was able to duplicate the failure and stated that the failure might be caused by a software failure. The dealer could not confirm but had assumed that the software update might prevent the failure. The vehicle had not been repaired. The dealer informed the contact that the manufacturer was made aware of the failure and might be preparing a software update to solve the issue. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and opened a case. The failure mileage was 5,000.
When driving, the car engine will randomly accelerate or race. The car does not physically go faster, but the engine revs at a high speed which is very scary. It will continue to accelerate while your foot is off the gas until you either press back down the gas pedal or come to a full stop. The car engine revs extremely loud making the driver feel like the car is going to keep going. I have had the car for 15 months and it continues to get WORSE. I have taken the car 3 times to the Lexus in Freehold NJ when I first bought it to fix this issue. They were able to replicate it in my car but said the tests came back normal and told me this was a "normal reaction" due to the car being a hybrid. The diagnosis was that it was the battery discharging. I wrote to Lexus and the regional service manager, but they have all dismissed me. I filed a complaint with Lexus, but they also dismissed it. I just went on the Lexus Forum site to find many people are now complaining about this issue. What is very interesting is that Lexus has now put out an "Unintended Acceleration (UA) form which asks questions about this issue. LEXUS KNOWS about this major issue but has yet to do anything about it. The other day I approached a few kids playing in the road and started to slow down only to have the car loudly accelerate/rev as I was approaching the children. Very unnerving...something definitely is wrong and needs to be addressed. I was hoping you could help since the manufacturer refused to.
We have encountered 2 instances of Unintended Acceleration. Lexus has inspected the vehicle and states they could not find anything wrong. In both instances the car jumped forward without notice. No warnings were given. The first time it occurred there was over $8,500 worth of damage. No damage the second time which occurred on May 20, 2024.
Related recalls
No recalls on record for this model year.
Questions about the 2023 Lexus RX sudden acceleration
Is sudden unintended acceleration a common problem on the 2023 Lexus RX?
5 of 62 owner complaints about the 2023 Lexus RX (8%) mention sudden unintended acceleration. The model year with the most reports is 2010.
Is there a recall or service bulletin for this on the 2023 Lexus RX?
There is no recall or service bulletin for this area of the car on record.
Other symptoms on the 2023 Lexus RX
VIN decoder
See the problems and recalls for an exact car
Buying a used 2023 Lexus RX?
Check the exact car before you pay: accidents, salvage or flood titles, odometer readings and previous owners.
Check its history