losiglow

I'm curious, for those with the hybrid model, what mechanical or electrical problems have you had? I'm not so much interested in small things like rattles, lights burning out, weather stripping coming off, headlights fogging up. I'm talking about things like wheel bearings, suspension parts, internal engine and hybrid components, stuff like that. Serious dollar stuff. I plan on putting a lot of miles on this car and would like to know what chronic problems other owners have had.

Good news is, when searching for problems with this car, not much of anything comes up in Google searches or YouTube videos. Whereas, if you type in the same thing for other vehicles, you'll get a pretty good list or several videos of issues that other owners have come across. That's positive but I thought I would throw this out there in caseacase owners on the forum have had any significant issues and what you did to fix it (dealer, warranty, do-it-yourself, independent mechanic, etc).

don1

I have a 2014 ES300H UL (or whatever it was called in Canada) and have just had the 120K km (75K mi) service. In six years of ownership I have had zero issues with the car. The only major expense was tires at 110K km.

NYBrian

Here's a recent thread with a similar discussion: https://www.clublexus.com/forums/es-...with-100k.html

Freds430

On our second ES 300h a 20013 and currently a 2017 with not one problem. Never had the car back for anything other then oil changes and brake fluid change. Never had to replace brake pads or rotors which is a big money saver or 12v battery. Would I buy another in a nano second.

NdYAG

I have 2014 ES300h with 115k. The only problem was sunroof rattle at around 100k that I fixed with a new sunroof rubber gasket ($50 part).

And my brake rotors seem to rust quickly since I do not use them much (I live in rust belt).

The dealer also did some ECM software update under TSB at 60k.

Also I have some rattles in the driver's door that I am still procrastinating to fix.

The dealer also did the TSB for ventilated seats but there was minimal improvement - the ventilated seats just don't work well on this generation ES period.

TechNut

I had a 2015 ES 300h for about 4&1/2 years. Zero issues. My wife and I liked it so well that we didn't hesitate to buy a 2019 model. Now to be fair, we don't put a great deal of miles on a car and ours was a garage queen, especially after my wife retired. My guess is that you aren't finding much because there isn't much to find.

jollick

2013 ES300h purchased January 2013. No issues since new and now at 52,000 miles.

losiglow

Thanks for all of the replies. Looks pretty optimistic overall.

​​​​​​Yeah, I'm not that impressed with the ventilated seats but its enough to keep my back dry during the summer months. Can't say the same thing about my old Acura. I'm used to a ton of rattles (I think it's a requirement for Hondas and Acuras) so this thing seems dead quiet. But I do have a small rattle in the driver side door.

TheRas900

Glad you mentioned the ventilated seats. I can’t even feel them in my car. I was wondering if they were broken or just not strong. Saves me a trip to the dealer.

12jimmyjam

I picked up a 2013 ES300h almost a year ago with 70,000 miles. It now has about 101,000 miles. No issues except an occasional startup problem where I get significant vibrations. But it goes away quickly.

Sometimes when I drive On highways I can feel a steady pulsing which I think is probably related to the battery powering the drivetrain.

Haven’t seen a CEL yet.

losiglow

Sometimes I get a bit more vibration than I'd like when the engine starts up. I only notice it if the car is stopped. Not if it's happens when the car is moving. And it's not all the time. If it gets real bad, it's likely due to the motor mounts. It's not a big enough deal to me to worry about it yet.

I also get that occasional jerkiness when at highway speeds if the car is at that specific throttle level where you're maintaining speed but not accelerating. It's sort of feels like the engine and the electric motor are trying to decide who's boss 😋. I've heard of similar sorts of things with all sorts of hybrid cars. Some seem to have it more than others and some drivers may not even notice it. There's that intrinsic transition between the engine and the motor that is pretty difficult for engineers to design so that it's perfectly executed. It's a common criticism of car reviewers. I've just chalked it up to that. But I might mention it to the dealer next time I'm in there and see if it's something they've had complaints or comments about. But yeah, no check engine light and no signs that it's due to any defect.

12jimmyjam

Good to know. Sounds like normal issues that don’t affect drivability. The vibration that concerns me most is upon cold startup and is significantly more rattling than normal driving. I tend to always drive slowly in eco though. I redlined it in sport mode the other day to see if it will have any impact though.

Overall great car though! I’m hoping for another 200k+ mile Lexus driving experience with little to no repairs.

Caydoc

I had a leaking/failed rear shock at only 20k miles.

losiglow

I'm assuming it was fixed under warranty? You didn't happen to see a price on the work order or invoice did you? I'm curious what they would charge for something like that.

On some of the OEM Lexus parts sites, replacement struts are about $220. It doesn't look like they offer the entire coilover assembly with the spring. RockAuto offers aftermarket assemblies for about $120.

If that happened to me out of warranty I would probably purchase the OEM strut and have a mechanic install the spring since I don't have a spring compressor. But it seems like that failure is an isolated incident. I replaced suspension parts on quite a few cars but never worked on a Lexus before. I've worked on Toyotas and they've been pretty easy. Hopefully (assuming anything ever goes wrong) Lexus would be the same.

ThumperPup

My 2016 which I’ve had an accident of an other than some collision work done haven’t heard anything that’s an issue that needed to be covered or worked on like I think one I think it had like 37,000 miles on it and the battery had to be replaced but that was just the 12 V battery in the trunk that went bad and it was like three years old when it went bad I thought I had an issue with a breaking component or something like that where it was making a irritating noise a lot apparently it went away after I had the brake fluid Flushed out at the dealership I have the brake fluid Don at a Toyota dealership three months earlier for months earlier when some noises started happening after that and then I just went to the Lexus dealership where the Internet and it’s been better since then it’s a 2016 ES 300 H with 91,000 miles on it staring still great suspensions still great only thing I’ve had to have done is regular maintenance if we’re talking about things that aren’t related to the accident that I had the year of the only things are really maintenance
I did have an issue were the mirror started to leak the dealership was able to get Alexis to approve supplying a new mirror since it was still within mileage but it was over the time for the basic warranty and then a month later it went bad again and the dealership was able to get my arm service contract that I had to cover the other mirror and that was my bad without having any impact there was no reason at all nothing struck them nothing they just went back and started leaking