Lexus RX300 jerking problems

Filed Mar 16, 2019 · Transmission · 200,000 miles · TN

The vehicle was started and in park in a flat lot. When I shifted to reverse, it did not engage/roll back. As I applied pressure to the accelerator nothing happened until a it suddenly clunked and lurched back. I put it back in park and then it repeated the same synptom. The transmission has now begun to whine and there is rumbling and jerkily between rough shifts on the streets and highway. After hearing and reading numerous horror stories of these transmission problems, and how they have suddenly gone out or locked up at highway speeds, I'm sure this is a problem lexus has known about and is defective, especially since it represents more than 70% of the nthsas published complaints on this vehicle. There should be an investigation into this. The sudden unreliability of this transmission and it's potential to cause harm is not a coincidence among these many reports. If this were a boeing max 8 plane it'd be out of commission for a failure like this!

Filed Jul 27, 2017 · Engine, Fuel system · 65,000 miles · MI

Engine knocks on acceleration, burns oil bad, hard to start, transmmision will not auto shift into high range on freeway, car lurches when getting up to freeway speed

Filed Dec 2, 2016 · Acceleration, Engine · WA

My 2000 lexus rx300 had an unexplained sudden unintended acceleration where the vehicle almost killed me and my son. I was driving residential backroads by my house, accelerated slightly to get up a hill and that's when it took off. The brake pedal was unresponsive, the emergency break was unresponsive, I pulled the floor mat out for good measure, nothing worked, it kept accelerating at a high rate until I finally slammed it through gears to "park" to get it to a stop. I had it towed to the lexus dealership, where the tow truck driver even told me when it started the car to get it up on the truck, after being turned off for over 12 hours, it was still red lining the engine, and even lurched forward but because the car was in park, it didn't crash into the back of the tow truck. Lexus investigated the car and did absolutely nothing. They wouldn't tell me why it happened. I demand an explanation and a replacement vehicle - one that doesn't have a history of having sua problems. I fear for my life everytime I have to drive this vehicle.

Filed Jan 21, 2015 · Transmission · 198,000 miles · NV

Tl* the contact owns a 2002 lexus rx300. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds, the vehicle started to jerk and failed to accelerate as the vehicle stability control and traction control off warning light illuminated. In addition, the contact stated that the vehicle failed to shift gears. The vehicle was taken to a dealer. The technician diagnosed that the throttle body and e- solenoid needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 198,000. The VIN was not available.

Filed Jan 3, 2015 · Acceleration, Engine · 137,200 miles · IL

While driving, the car jerks and then cuts off. This has happened at least half a dozen times within the last 2 months. Engine light is constantly on, even after servicing the car at local lexus dealer. When car is parked, I noticed exhaust fume smells heavily with gas.

Filed Nov 3, 2014 · Acceleration · 156,500 miles · MD

Had car in driveway unused for month or two. Car seemed to be idling at higher than usual speed after starting (@2300 RPM). Vehicle jerked a bit at each stop sign as if problem with transmission. Took vehicle on road at 35 to 40 MPH, took foot off gas and vehicle kept accelerating at a modest pace to above 50. Glanced at floormat (not touching accelerator), put car in neutral. Engine revved to high RPM than came back to normal. Put back in gear and drove short distance home.

Filed Feb 11, 2014 · Engine, Transmission · 186,000 miles · CA

After first having to replace my transmission at 75,000 miles. It seems I will have to pay to do it again at 186,000. The problem started out with the vehicle having trouble climbing a hill. I changed the transmission oil and two weeks later the vehicle move about three feet from a parking stall made a loud noise jerked to a stop and would not move. I was able to put it into drive and repark the car. It will not reverse and had to be towed to a mechanic.

Filed Mar 5, 2013 · Brakes, Driver assistance · 228,000 miles · VA

My check engine light came on. I had the oil changed for the second time within 30 days because I thought it was an oil problem. The light went off as I was leaving the place. A couple days later the light would come on when I made turns, blink, then go back off. A few days later, it came back on steady, and the car started to jerk while I was driving on the interstate. It would jerk, then slowly increase speed. Last saturday, I applied brakes, and the car rolled another few feet. Had to swerve left to keep from rear ending a vehicle. Today, upon slowing down to enter my driveway, it did it again, and I nearly hit a brick column at the beginning of the driveway. It doesn't jerk frequently, but it seems to do it more often when I am on cruise control. I love my SUV and am always bragging about what a reliable car it is. I can't afford to replace it, retired and on disability.

Filed Sep 26, 2012 · Transmission · 146,000 miles · TX

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.

Filed Jun 15, 2012 · Transmission · 106,857 miles · FL

On april 25, 2012, my wife and I were driving to my brothers home, a distance of 50 miles. About two miles from our destination, we stopped at an intersection. When the light turned green, I accelerated and the car went forward about ten feet and lurched to a stop in the middle of the intersection. We were thrown forward, and the driver behind us had to jam his brakes. We were able to leave the intersection only by putting the car in low gear and slowly moving through the traffic to the far right lane and into a bank parking lot. We had the car towed to a nearby mechanic. The following day I received a call from the mechanic who quoted $3,766 for transmission replacement. I authorized the work to be done. On april 27, I told a friend who was visiting our area from canada of the incident. That day, he spoke with an acquaintance who is a service representative for a canadian lexus dealer. He said that failure at around 100,000 miles is a well known problem with the 1999 lexus rx300 and that lexus had been working with customers on this issue .I went to the internet to see what I could learn. There was no recall, but there were sites referencing the pervasiveness of transmission failure in the rx300. From what we have learned , we believe that transmission failure on the 1999 lexus rx300 occurs frequently at around 100,000 miles and is caused by a design flaw in that model year. That being the case, it seems to us that lexus ought to have taken preemptive action so that owners such as my wife and I would not have to suffer a near collision, not to mention unnecessary costs and inconvenience. Lexus offered a token service credit but was unwilling to admit to any inherent problem in the rx300 transmissions and offered no comment regarding our suggestion that the owners should be forewarned of the possibility of transmission failure at around 100,000 miles.