2004 Lexus RX330: hesitation when accelerating

Filed Feb 24, 2010 · Transmission · 130,000 miles · IL

Purchased a new 2004 lexus rx 330 in august of 2003 and repeatedly brought the car to dealerships complaining of a disconnect between the electronic accelerator and the transmission. When attempting to accelerate in an intersection or on a freeway entrance ramp, the car will hesitate for a few seconds and then catapult forward. Also, when driving at low speeds, the transmission will erratically jump between different gears, as if looking for the optimal gear. I can best describe this transmission as schizophrenic. I have contacted multiple lexus dealers over the years from minneapolis, to chicago to salt lake city and they all told me they are aware of the problem as many customers have complained. However, lexus has never offered service or a recall to fix the problem. They have reprogrammed my transmission on 2 occasions and told me to use premium fuel. None of these actions corrected the situation. I feel that in a busy intersection, the unpredictable acceleration of my vehicle provides no assurance that my car will move forward when the accelerator is pressed. This can lead to collision and injury.

Filed Feb 23, 2010 · Brakes, Transmission · 200 miles · CA · 1 injury

Someone needs to listen! I have a 2004 lexus rx330. It's had trouble from day one, and I got nowhere! They have done 5 updates on the computer. Now it only seems to have trouble at 20 MPH, instead of 40-50 and 65-80, of lurching, hesitating, then taking off like a bat out of hell. It's had a "bulletin" on the front brakes, and shimmied all over the road. I have paper work on all of this and more. You, the ntsb, can take the car and go thru it, I'll give you the repair records. I've called the toyota headquarters in 04 or 05 begging them to help me. A woman said, the car was, "performing in the manner it was designed:" I saved a long time to buy my dream car when I retired, now I have a defective car, with only 48k miles because of fear of driving it. Please please, listen to what people wrote back in 04 about this car. One man said a friend worked for lexus and told him that his boss said there will never be a recall on this car because of the amount of cars sold in the us and canada. We need help. My car is a lemon. I've mentioned numerous times of painting it yellow and putting lemon all over it. Please try to pull up records back then, all these people were writing in with the same problems. No one listened then or now! Please, I'm begging you. I've had 4 toyota's in the past, and all 4 totally, never had the trouble this 1 lexus has. They were actually toyotas. Their complete stature has gone from years of loyalty by me and others, after all the built up trust, gone in an instant! One runaway car is enough! It's now killing people. I bought it for it's comfort, looks, but mostly for safety, and trustworthiness! Gone. All gone! I have a 91 ford van I drive instead of the lexus. I call it a piece of junk, nothing but trouble, and lexus had it more than I did the first 4 yrs. Please look into this all you can. All these people can't be wrong. I can't even sell it now. Shame on you, toyota. Shame on you! Greed! That's what it is, greed.

Filed Feb 22, 2010 · Transmission · VA

I bought a used 2004 lexus rx in december of 2008. Ever since owning the vehicle, at random times when accelerating from a stop or slow movement, it will hesitate and then revs up and thrusts forward. I told my mechanic (a certified lexus mechanic) about it and he said that I should take it to the lexus dealer to have the "computer program updated". I took it to them last spring and they made me drive it with them to feel the hesitation and thrusting forward and then took it into the shop to complete the reprogramming of it. But then they looked at the car's records and it said that the car had already been reprogrammed and they told me that they couldn't reprogram it again. The mechanic said he would send notice of the problem to lexus, but I never heard anything back from the dealer or lexus. My car still does this revving up and thrusting forward. There has been no accident, but I thought you might want to know about a problem with a lexus accelerator and its computer system, that they either ignored or can't fix. Do you think this could be a precursor to a serious problem and maybe an accident in the future? I am nervous now that I have heard all about the problems with lexus accelerators and accusations of cover-ups. I took it to the dealer and nothing was fixed and no one had the courtesy to let me know why not. Who should I trust to take it to now? Am I in danger in the future? Have you had other complaints about the lexus accelerator computer system?

Filed May 29, 2009 · Transmission · 49,000 miles · CA

Transmission jerk, lags and hesitates, car looses power when shifting between 2nd and 3rd gear. On going problem, had dealer perform ECM reprogramming as per technical service bulletin, condition persists, get worse. Safety issue when trying to accelerate out of traffic or avoid an object on the road. Brought car back to dealer service, they stated condition is "normal". Many many more similar complaints on several blogs and message boards on the internet. Car not safe to drive. Should have the transmission replaced.

Filed Sep 13, 2007 · Transmission · 61,000 miles · FL

Upon acelleration, this vehicle sometimes hesitates and at times almost causing an accident. I have taken this to the lexus dealership and they are aware of it. They say there is no fix. I was told to use premium gas, and I havebeen told that the new software is in and that is all they could do.

Filed Aug 16, 2007 · Transmission · NC

On several occasions, I get a lot of hesitation in the transmission during high speed driving on the freeway and also driving in the city. There has been times when I try to accelerate and the transmission struggles to increase in speed and chokes up but it doesn't cut off. I've noticed that when I drive on the freeway at speeds of 55 or 60 and try to increase the acceleration, the vehicle will not accelerate when you press on the gas pedal. It will take 5-10 seconds to think about increasing and then it revvs up in rpms and then just kicks in. You can hear the engine making all of hesitation noise and also seeing the hesitation on the RPM and speedometer reading. I've taken this issue into the dealership several times and they told me that is operating per the design specifications and that it is not out of specs. They then tell me that there is an update to the transmission software so they supposedly update it to operate better. I have never seen a difference after the update.

Filed Jul 30, 2007 · Transmission, Visibility · 47,500 miles · FL

Transmission hesitation on 2004 lexus rx330 nearly resulted in high speed accident on several occasions. On july 14, 2007 while merging from I-75 in tampa on ramp into rush hour traffic, the lexus at first failed to slow (to match speeds) when gas pedal was released, then when the pedal was depressed to accelerate after the merge (traffic flow was erratic), it failed to accelerate for about 2 seconds, and we had to drive off the pavement to avoid a rear end collision. We have reported the transmission hesitation problem to lexus 5 or more times so far, and they say it is operating as designed. This situation is hazardous under certain common traffic conditions. The july 14, 2007 incident was one of several where we nearly had a serious accident because of the transmission delay. *tr updated 01/09/08. *lj the consumer stated in heavy rain defogger turned to keep windows clear. While driving if vehicle hits a large puddle A/C will turn off and no way to restart the A/C other than to turn the ignition off. Updated 12/12/07

Filed Sep 26, 2006 · Transmission · 10 miles · CA

2004 rx 330, still having trouble from day 1. I almost got slammed into by a truck 2 days ago. The have flashed the computer, for transmission hesitation, but insist it is performing the way it was intended. It is a design flaw, and lexus won't do anything about it! Someone is going to be killed! This is very serious, it happens at about 20 MPH, when you need to accelerate to get on freeway, etc, it will hesitate, and act like it died, or revs up, and does nothing. Then you let off pedal and hit it again, and it hesitates a sec then goes. I already have been to the dealer 6 times for this, and called 80025lexus twice, and they are not doing a recall they say. It is performing to the specs of the transmission.

Filed Aug 14, 2006 · Acceleration, Body · CA

1994 lexus rx330 hesitates while depressing the accelerator. *kb the vehicle has been taken to the dealer several times to alleviate the problem but they claimed that the vehicle was operating within normal specifications. The vehicle has also been plagued by other malfunctions to include squeaks, rattles, multiple malfunctions of the sunroof electronics, broken seats and liftgate alignment problems. *nm updated 08/14/06.

Filed Aug 12, 2006 · Transmission · 19,000 miles · FL

Hesitation, jerky when shifting. Took to dealers 3 times and unable to resolve issue. They stated that vehicle is operating within parameters. Now it is jerky when shifting most of the time.

Filed Aug 17, 2005 · Engine, Transmission · 1,000 miles · IN

2004 lexus rx-330 awd. Vehicle hesitates when attempting to accelerate. There is a delay, especially when going from a dead stop such as pulling out into traffic. Also, if you attempt to quickly speed up as when merging or an evasive maneuver, the engine lags. Will also happen when turning a corner, then accelerating. I have been told by lexus that this is a known problem with the "throttle by wire" and "intelligent transmission". I currently pull the ecu fuse monthly to reset the processors and that appears to help for a while. That is the "fix" suggested by the lexus rx-330 forums. Now that 2006 models are coming, I know this is no longer on the lexus engineers' minds, but there are those of us that feel this is a safety issue as you never know if the car will respond reliably, especially when pulling into traffic, creating a real hazard.

Filed Jun 20, 2005 · Transmission · 24,977 miles · MI

Our lexus rx330 was purchased in august of 2003. For the last several months, the vehicle hesitates to shift gears with a lag causing the vehicle to jerk forward. We have trouble merging onto the highway as well as accelerating from a stop and while turning due to this dangerous condition. Dealer keeps performing the tsb tc005-03 "poor shift quality" and reprograms the computer with no improvement. We are told there is nothing more that can be done. After multiple attempts with lexus customer service, they deny a problem exists and states that the vehicle performs within specifications. Customer service even fails to document my complaints by not entering it in the ir computer systems in an attempt to hide the defect. Many owners report this problem on internet message boards. This is a dangerous and unacceptable design flaw that needs to be corrected with a recall.