Hello all, I am new to this forum as I purchased my 2020 ES in February. I've had some issues with my car and would appreciate any advice or opinions. This may be long.

The day after I brought my new car home I started the car to pull it out of the garage. After starting, many dash warning icons came on, including an LTA caution box among others (none of this was normal or reoccurring in the subsequent two months of driving). After about 10 seconds all the lights went out except for the rear seat belt warning light and chime, even though no one was in the back seat. So, I buckled all of the rear seat belts and the light and chime went off. After restarting the car, I unbuckled each of the seat belts (with no one in them) and the light came back on, but not the chime. Later that day, I took the car for a ride and found the seat belt light went out after several minutes of driving. I had the dealer look at it and they said, nothing wrong, that the light was staying on for less than 2 minutes and that was allowable according to design specs.

Fast forward two months of trouble free driving. Yesterday, after the car had been sitting in the garage for 9 days (thanks to Covid 19), I was going to make a trip to the grocery store. I opened the trunk several times with the electronic button, no issues. I got in the car and buckled the seat belt - the seat and steering wheel moved into position as normal. I pushed the start button but the engine did not crank, and several warning lights came on in the dash. I thought it might be a dead battery, but wanted to make sure the fob was okay, so I went to get the second key fob and tried starting the car again. The engine still didn't crank, and still had all of the warning lights and buzzers but they were going from dim to bright to dim - back and forth. Then I began to hear a buzzing noise from the right rear seat area. That lasted 3-5 minutes. After that a loud clicking sound started in the engine compartment. It was frighteningly loud so I recording a video of the sound for the dealer to hear. That sound lasted another 3-5 minutes. Finally everything went quiet and there didn't seem to be any power to anything. The entire ordeal lasted about 15 minutes. I called the dealer and let them hear the engine area recording, in which they said they had never heard anything like that. They arranged for a tow truck to take the car into the dealer. When the tow truck got to my home, he suggested trying to jump the car, since the emergency brake was on and he would have had to drag the car out of the garage and onto his truck. After hooking up his charging unit, I tried to start the car and it cranked for 5-10 seconds before it finally started. Again, many warning lights came on including a new one - "park assist unavailable" even though my car doesn't have parking assist. After about 5 minutes of idling all of the warning lights went off. I drove the car 25 miles to the dealer with no issues and got a loaner car. The dealer called a few hours after I got home and said they could find NOTHING WRONG with the car. They said I probably left an interior light on and it killed the battery (not true, as the interior lights turn off after about 20 minutes if left on by mistake). They said the rear seat noise was some kind of depressurizing of the gas line as an automatic safety precaution. And the horrific noise from under the hood was a computer relay trying to restart or something, as the battery totally died. They are keeping the car over the weekend to make sure nothing is drawing on battery power as it sits. After I told them about the interior lights turning off automatically, they could not explain the discharging.

So I have several concerns. First, has any damage been done (the dealer says no). Second, if the battery is going to die after 9 days (which the dealer said it shoudn't), that is a problem as we routinely travel (not by our car), sometimes for 2 weeks or more. Third, since the dealer has done nothing to "fix" the car in either of these situations, I have to assume it could happen again. I need a car that is bullet-proof reliable as it's the only vehicle my wife and I have (that is why I bought the Lexus). Since the service orders that have been written by the dealer for these issues show minimal detail, I am documenting all I have written here and more, for my records. I asked the dealer if they could put my documentation into their system and they said they could not as they didn't witness what I saw and heard.

Thoughts? Do I have a lemon? Anyone have anything like this? Do I just keep driving and hope for the best? Thanks for your help.

 

On my last car I got a bunch of warning lights including brake failure. I tried the brakes in a parking lot and they were fine so I went directly to the dealer. The service advisor had me wait while they checked the car as he thought the fix was easy. It turned out to be a defective battery. Apparently low voltage causes the computer that drives the dash to go nuts. Lexus bought me a new battery and no more problems.

 

Get yourself a lithium battery jumper. I have one in my car for emergencies. It has saved my a** quite a few times. Your electrical problems seem to stem from a low voltage battery. Put a battery tender on it if you're not going to use the car for a while.
Do most of your driving involve short trips? Those are bad for maintaining the life of your battery.

 

Like oldcajun stated, this could all be due to a defective battery; i.e., a bad cell.

 

Yep, sounds like a bad battery...I don't believe you did any damage from what you described.

 

Have not had any battery issues with my 2019 ES 350 F-Sport in the 8 or so months I've owned it. However, I've had a couple Lexus batteries go bad very prematurely on past vehicles - 2015 GS350 and 2017 RX350. So, in my opinion, their batteries are suspect. With the RX350, the battery failed after 2 months and Lexus Roadside assistance came to my home and replaced the battery in my garage. That was impressive.

The advice tike71 provided is sound even after you replace the battery.

 

I agree with the other assessments that the battery is defective. Low voltage and finally a no start is indicative of a low battery that ultimately craps out. The fact that the tow driver could start the car with a jump reinforces this opinion... My thought is to replace the battery and not worry about the previous issues. The loud clicking noise is what you get when the battery is completely depleted and you attempt to start the car. Additionally, the suggestion to carry a small battery jump box - slightly larger than a pack of cigarettes - is a good one.

GOOD LUCK!

 

OP here. Just want to post an update on the dead battery problems I had on my 2020 ES. I got my car back from the dealer yesterday. They could find nothing wrong. They had no explanation of why the battery died after sitting for 9 days on a 2 month-old car. They also refused to replace the battery as they said it tested fine. So I guess I will just wait and see if it happens again. I do have an old charger/starter that I haven't used in 20 years as a backup, or Lexus Roadside Assistance.

Tike71 asked if I use the car for short trips and I do not. In fact I live about 15 miles outside of the metro area so all of my trips are at least 30 miles R/T. I appreciate the suggestions you have all provided.