Tl* the contact owns a 2001 lexus rx300. The contact stated that the vehicle failed to shift into reverse. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic who diagnosed that the transmission needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 162,000.
2001 Lexus RX300 transmission complaints
Page 2 of 5: complaints 11 to 40 of 123, newest first, as owners wrote them.
Tl* the contact owns a 2001 lexus rx300. While driving 40 MPH, the transmission seized and the gear could not be shifted into park. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic who diagnosed that the transmission needed to be replaced. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 145,000. Updated 3/13/15*cn the vehicle was taken to a repair shop, where the transmission was replaced. Updated 01/25/16.
Transmission went out ,the vehicle jus stopped in the middle of the road thank god it was not the highway. There seems to be a problem with the transmission in these vehicle ,a very serious life threatening problem.
While traveling at 25 MPH the car stopped accelerating forward and seemed to not be in gear. As I pressed the gas pedal the engine revved up, but would not go forward. Car was taken to the dealer who stated even though the car only has 123k , you need to replace the transaxle. I confirmed that their was no maintenance required.
Left home to go to grocery store. As I entered a major road near my home the car lost power almost causing an accident. I was able to limp home. The repair shop diagnosed a faulty transmission and commented that they see many rx300's with transmission problems. The transmission was rebuilt at a cost of $3214.00. This car has been well taken care of, including recommended transmission fluid replacement. I feel that the transmission failure was very premature. Judging by the number of similar reports at or around the same mileage, I feel that the transmission was not engineered properly and lexus did nothing to correct the problem.
Tl* the contact owns a 2001 lexus rx300. The contact stated that when attempting to shift, the shifter would delay. In addition while driving at 35 MPH, the vehicle lost power and failed to accelerate. The contact attempted to restart the vehicle and after multiple attempts, the vehicle was able to restart but the failure recurred. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic, who stated that the transmission needed to be flushed. The vehicle was repaired but the failure recurred. In addition, the vehicle failed to reverse after the repairs. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was 192,000.
Tl* the contact owns a 2001 lexus rx 300. The contact stated that the while driving at various speeds, there would be a sudden loss of acceleration. The vehicle was taken to a dealer where it was diagnosed that the transmission needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 150,000.
Transmission failure at 145000 (approx) after performing all schedule maintenance at the dealer since purchase. I have read countless entries where the 1999-2002 lexus rx300 has had premature transmission failures. This is a costly repair and a I feel lexus should have recalled the vehicle and provided assistance.
It started with a high pitch whinning noise followed by a clunking noise whenever it shifts. It is getting progressively worse each day. Shavings were found in the transmission fluid when it was changed.
My wife was taking our kids, 7 and 9, to go shopping and as she drove down the hill from our apartment complex, with no warning, the wheels just suddenly locked up and the car would not go forward or reverse. She was literally stuck on a one lane hill, due to a massive snowstorm that left the sides, of the street covered with piles of snow from the snowplow, with other vehicles behind her who could not go anywhere. Some guys from the apartment complex got out and helped her and managed to get it to a parking lot at the bottom of the hill. We had the car towed to a local garage, but being a sunday night, we could not find out anything until morning. I went online and started researching what might have caused this and discovered numerous others with similar problems, all of whom reported the transmission failed with no prior warning. A lot of the people said they reported it to lexus and it should have been recalled, but lexus refused to do anything about it and did not issue a recall. This is the web address that I discovered while researching it, http://forums.edmunds.com/discussion/9657/lexus/rx-330/lexus-rx-transmission-problems/p35. We purchased the vehicle from my brother who bought it with less than 10,000 miles on it and was very meticulous about having all of the maintenance done at the dealer recommended intervals. The car was garage kept and well maintained. In fact when I drove it to work and showed people, most of them said it looks like it just came off a showroom floor. My brother had the transmission fluid changed 3 times and told us it was due again when he sold it to us, and we had it done right away. When I contacted lexus about this they refused to do anything for us. My concern is with another transmission, where and when will it happen again? On a highway at 65 MPH? They could be killed.
I have just sat and read probably 50 complaints; safety and defective, concerning the transmission for the 2001 lexus rx300. From what im reading, I guess I should consider myself lucky, I currently have 142,000 miles on my vehicle and although I've experienced non-periodic shifting abnormalities, I haven't experienced any of the horrific problems I've been reading in the federal safety agency complaint section of this site. It is obvious there is a manufacturing defect that needs to be addressed before someone (if not already) is mangled or worst, killed. It astonishes me that a company that survives by there reputation for quality would not address what is obviously a serious and costly burden to there loyal customers. We are talking about a 35,000 dollar vehicle in 2001. Apparently lexus is not planning on resolving the issue, so what can consumers do other than complain which obviously is doing nothing to force big business to take responsibility for there poor design that resulted in unsafe costly products, leaving the consumer powerless, with no option but to pay them again to fix the problem they created in the first place.
Car can only be driven at <5mile for 10 second. Loss power at higher gear.
Driving along normally, the transmission began moving in and out of gear spontaneously. Depressing the accelerator resulted sometimes in revving the engine, other times in acceleration, and other times switching back and forth between the two causing the car to jerk. Thankfully, I was not far from home and was able to get back safely.
While entering a freeway onramp the transmission slipped out of gear. I tried to accelerate but there was no power the engine just revved. The transmission reingaged as I was pulling to the shoulder so I continued my trip home. Later on the same drive home, at an interchange between freeways it happened again but this time the transmission didn't re-engage and there was almost a deadly multiple car accident. It was towed to a transmission specialist who had to replace the transmission. Soon after replacement I was on another trip and I attempted to accelerate to pass a car, the transmission slipped and I barely avoided being in a deadly auto accident on the freeway with a big rig. On this same trip I almost lost my life three times due to this identical occurrence. It is absolutely unacceptable and unforgivable that toyota hasn't taken responsibility for this manufacturing error and announced a complete recall and replacement of all transmissions for this year, make and model of vehicle. If, I keep this car and I have an accident due to their manufacturing negligence action may be taken.
Driving on the freeway. Transmission disengages and fails to drive car. Automatic transmission failure. Serviced transmission at 63,200 miles. Many others have reported problems with this model year.
My 2001 lexus rx300 which only has 115k miles on it, completely shut down in rush hour traffic. I could not accelerate at all and I was almost side swapped by an oncoming vehicle. No service light came on and I had not had any problems indicating this. After having the car towed to my mechanic, the diagnosis was that my transmission had completely failed, the trans clutches burned out, along with fluid debris in oil pan. I have my car regularly serviced and even the mechanic said there was nothing I could have done to prevent this. My mechanic said he has worked on several rx300 whose diagnosis was the exact same-transmission. After researching this further, it appears lexus has not taken ownership of this problem and even though this is an older model, this should not be taken lightly. What if my 2 children in the car? Is it going to take a fatality for lexus to own up to this?
Transmission completly failed to move the car. Had it repaired and the tech told me the planitary gear unit had completly destroyed its self. Very common I am told on this model.
The transmission of my 2001 lexus rx300 with only 83,000 miles, just failed. This car was fully and timely serviced by lexus and is otherwise in pristine driving condition. We noticed the problem months ago when we experienced engine hesitation and transmission related symptoms, but our lexus dealer checked the car and assured us it was fine. My wife and son continued to drive the car and were exposed to dangerous driving situations due to engine hesitation and failure to accelerate. Despite transmission related symptoms and full knowledge of widespread transmission failures the lexus dealer did not raise any warnings with us and assured us the car was fine and safe to drive. When lexus finally acknowledged it was the transmission all along, I was shocked to learn how widespread, pervasive and well documented this problem is and how unsafe this car is to drive given the dangerous effects of transmission failure while driving. As an attorney I will not let this rest and want to know why the federal safety agency is not taking action on this, and why lexus is not recalling this vehicle.
I started hearing a noise when the car was cold and started it. The noise went away after I started driving it. After a while, I took it to a mechanic, who told me that the noise was that the transmission was failing and it will cost over $5,000 to replace. In searching about it, I was told that the company knew that the transmission on the 1999, 2000 and 2001's rx 300's were a problem, but they decided not to do anything because the troubles would start after the warranty is over... When I purchased my car, I was planning on having this car for a long, long time. I feel that the rx-300 was misrepresented to me, the company knew that the life of this car was going to be cut short and decided to do nothing about it.
Own a 2001 lexus rx300. While driving 40 MPH the vehicle would not accelerate even when I depressed the accelerator pedal. The vehicle was towed to the dealer and they stated that the transmission needed to be replaced. The current mileage was 125,000. Will cost me $4500 to repair(refurbished part).
Transmission failure-2001 lexus rx 300, 88,000 miles, purchased new, car was babied, services regularly with transmission fluid flushed at 30,000 mile intervals. Never towed anything, drove about 9,000 miles per year. You don't expect a car you buy for reliability to have the transmission fail at 88,000 miles with a $5,000 price tag to repair. Research show this is a genetic problem for an under engineered transmission for a awd auto. 100's upon 100's have the complaint on this model from 1999-2002 with failures at 85,000- 95,000 miles. Deceptive advertising as to quality, reliability and pursuit of perfection with the manufacturer not willing to admit they have a problem. Just read the lexus and edmund boards on rx 300 awd transmission failure. Manufacturer corrected the problem in 2003 or 2004 transmissions but for the people that purchased before we have to pay the consequence. There should be a recall due to safety concerns on transmission failure while driving. Reports are numerous.
2001 lexus rx300 failed transmission with no prior symptoms @ 106k miles. Estimated $3,800 - $4,800 to replace with rebuilt transmission.
2001 lexus rx300 shifted out of drive into neutral while going down the freeway at 60mph (redlining the engine) and almost causing an accident from behind. Apparently this car has a known defect with the transmission. The vehicle shifted into reverse while in the drive position shortly thereafter. The transmission is now having to be rebuilt for $3000 that we don't have. The car shifting into reverse while in the drive location scared the heck out of us. Thank god no one was behind us!!!
2001 lexus rx300 at 113k mi. Suddenly the gears are slipping or loose in reverse or drive when starting from stop - takes a second to click into gear and move the SUV- random in nature and occurrence. About a few months later the dash lights come on vsc and check engine lights. Lexus dealer says warning lights are for solenoid e. They recommend replacing full transmission as they cannot be sure replacing the solenoid will not damage the transmission - $4,500 is the damage - ouch! I am reading this is a common problem for lexus rx300's - why isn't lexus doing anything about this- large hit to the family budget!!!!
I drove this car from school to home as usual. The transmission is gone suddenly that I had no time to prepare, the car was losing control and driving into an elementary school. The car almost hit an old lady with a small girl. Fortunately, I finally got control of this car and we were all safe. This generation of lexus rx300 has serious transmission problem, many cases can be found online. I would highly suggest the manufacturer recall those cars and carefully examine the problem, in order to avoid such incident happen again. Those cars are becoming older, many more problems will be manifest.
Tl* the contact owns a 2001 lexus rx300. The contact was driving approximately 35 MPH and attempting to accelerate but the vehicle would not respond. The contact applied pressure to the accelerator pedal and the engine would exhibit an increase in rpms but the vehicle still would not accelerate. The vehicle was towed to an independent repair shop where the contact was told that the transmission would need to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure and current mileage was 104,000. The VIN was not available.
I would like to report a safety issue with my 2001 lexus rx 300. The transmission went out when I was driving in traffic when attempting to get on interstate. The vehicle has 120,000 miles on drive train and vehicle was properly maintained. The transmission was looked at months earlier to fix potential problems with transmission. The technician did not discover anything unusual and said vehicle was okay to drive. The transmission just quit and left my children and me stranded in rush hour traffic. Real dangerous!!! I think vehicle needs to be recalled.
Tl* the contact owns a 2001 lexus rx300. The contact stated that when shifting into reverse, the vehicle would not respond. She then shifted into drive and the vehicle exhibited an abnormally loud thump. The vehicle was not inspected or repaired for the failure. The failure and current mileage was approximately 105,000.
Normal driving conditions applied. Transmission stopped working at traffic light while going home from work. Was finally able to move from light into nearby parking lot. Had to call tow truck from there. Told by dealer that this was rare occasion and that they had never seen this happen before. Have learned since that it has happened quite frequently. This happened around 97,800 miles. A cost of around $3957 for the replacement of the transmission.
My vehicle was stopped for a traffic signal and shifter in "drive". When light turned green I applies gas and the vehicle went into reverse with the shifter still in the drive position. Transmission will need replacing. Repairing dealer advised this is a common problem with this model vehicle.
VIN decoder
See the problems and recalls for an exact car
Buying a used 2001 Lexus RX300?
Check the exact car before you pay: accidents, salvage or flood titles, odometer readings and previous owners.
Check its history