Avista

I suppose I was naive, but when the car was relayed to the local Lexus dealer I expected that due to the public safety nature of the fault Lexus would want to intelligently investigate this incident to prevent a potentially lethal incident, particularly after all that had happened in America. Unfortunately from the beginning I received a standard corporate response of denial in that they had received no other reports of similar incidents in the UK. Well, that may well be true but how does that help me? I also experienced the leaking brake master cylinder problem before Lexus officially announced the problem on 21 October 2010. I contacted Lexus regarding the brake problem 3 weeks prior to this date and considering the fact that I had collected my car only a few days earlier following a 3 month process of investigation into the problem of self-accelerating, the initial response was that there is nothing wrong with the brakes. I am in the process of preparing a set of documents which includes the Lexus/Toyota inspection report of my car and correspondence to and from Lexus regarding this matter. I can publish these on this site if members are interested.

With a high-revving engine the vaccume boost for the brake servo is not replenished and therefore the brake pedal goes very hard. You would probably need to exert nearly 300 pounds of force to depress it. On Toyota America site you are advised to brake with both feet in such circumstances. Now that's something you will not find in the Lexus car manual.

Following the latest recall of some Lexus models with "Brake Master Cylinder" problem, I thought I bring you up to date with my experience. In June 2010 whilst driving my Lexus RX300 I experienced what I now know to be Unintended Sudden Acceleration and Brake Failure where my car suddenly self-accelerated to speeds beyond 100Mph and the brakes did not work. Fortunately I managed to bring the car to a halt by putting the car into neutral. This was helped by a slight uphill incline and the fact that road and traffic conditions were favourable. The AA man who attended the incident recorded an error on his diagnostic kit which indicated a Throttle Body problem. The car was relayed to the local Lexus dealer who involved Lexus GB in the investigation. From the beginning the standard response from Lexus was that there had been no similar incidents reported in the UK. Although not directly accusing me of inventing the story, I still believe that Lexus treated the incident as bogus when it was passed on to their claim investigator. Lexus GB discredited the recorded error code because the AA man hadnt used a Lexus approved diagnostic kit. More than two months later Lexus GB returned my vehicle after replacing the Throttle Body although Lexus stated that no fault had been found. I returned the loan vehicle and collected my car but noticed that the brakes were somewhat unresponsive and felt spongy. Initially I thought this must be because I was nervous following my previous near death experience in this car and also because I had become accustomed to a different car during this time. I returned my car again to Lexus who initially dismissed the problem but after a test drive their technician subsequently confirmed that there was a leak from the Brake Master Cylinder causing the brake problem. I was shocked to hear that once again I had been driving a dangerous car although I had been assured by Lexus that the car was 100% safe following their investigations and component change whilst the car was in their care for the previous three months. Is my trust in Lexus well placed?

2003 Reg. always serviced by Lexus dealer.

I'm a new member and would like to say hello to all members. ............................................................ RX300 Unintended Sudden Acceleration & Brakes not working I experienced a frightening incident in my Lexus RX300 that I thought I have a duty to share with you. On Friday 11 June 2010 at approximately 1:30pm, after overtaking a car in the crawler lane of the A511 in Leicestershire, I noticed that there was sudden acceleration after having eased my foot off the accelerator. I immediately went for the brakes and to my horror the brake pedal would not move at all as if I was pressing against a brick wall. In the meantime the car was continuing to accelerate to speeds beyond 100mph. After a couple of seconds of total panic I somehow managed to deal with the situation by putting the car into neutral and turning the ignition key, I then managed to stop the car after a few hundred meters. The road Gods were smiling on me that day as fortunately there was no vehicle in front of me and the road conditions were perfect. An AA mechanic attended the scene and recorded an error on his ET50 gadget as P2134 and told me this is an engine management error related to the throttle. My car is currently being held by the local dealer who after an initial examination tell me they cannot find anything wrong but the car is not safe to drive and they have been instructed by Lexus UK not to release the car until it has been inspected by them. Lexus UK advise me that they only have one inspector to cover the UK and it would take 6 weeks before my car would be inspected and at this stage they are treating the incident merely as an allegation. In the meantime they have provided me with a small rental car. All the best