hoonami

with these on going recalls, and incidents with toyotas. how safe is our lexus? i am very concerned about my wife driving her 06 rx400h with our 4months baby girl.... didn't even bother asking SA at dealer cause they won't tell me anything... is it just the ones that was assembled/manufactured in us/canada? are the vehicles manufactured in japan(vin starting with J) is okay? just wanted to see what you guys thought about it...

wei2go

I just read an article in the Los Angeles Times about a 2004 RX330 crashing at almost 80 mph, flipping and killing the back seat passenger. You can read about it here:

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-f...,2282376.story

Don't know how that is different than the Hybrids, since the electrical system would be different, I assume. Before this story, I have not been able to find another case of sudden accelaration on our cars, and thought the RX was safe. Don't know what to think now.

Gibster

I realize that an uncontrollable car can cause panic, but why not shift into neutral or, worst case, into park? Or turn the ignition off? If the key were turned to the Off position rather than lock, steering would still be functional. And even if the key were turned to the lock position, the car would still coast to a stop even with the steering locked.

Maybe it's panic that prevents drivers from considering these options.

968racer

There doesn't seem to be any testing that I could find on the roof strength but the Toyota Highlander did have over Good ratings (Highest rating possible) for frontal offset & side impact. The RX330 faired Poor on rear impact injuries. I would imagine that the Hybrid would have very similar results but I could be wrong.

I have my child seat in the center back seat. It's more of a pain to put my son in the middle but would have a hard time forgiving myself if there was a side impact that did injure him.

Adamjeeps

Even though I believe you have about a 0.0001% chance of an acceleration incident with your vehicle, why not take a few moments to learn what to do just in case it happens?

Find a long and lonely stretch of interestate or highway and experiment; what happens when you put the vehicle into N at 65 mph? It should go into N but some are saying it stayed in gear. What happens when you turn off the ignition, you should still have steering and brakes, just not power assisted. (I would test this in the driveway first to make sure you don't lock the steering wheel.)

All that being said, I would rather be in a Lexus than most anything else on the road, no brands are perfect.

968racer

Car & Driver tested a Camry with wide open throttle at 70MPH & slammed on the brakes. It took only 10 feet longer to stop than if the throttle would have been lifted. Interesting

RXSF

whoa whoa whoa, lets step back a little bit.

There are NO recalls on lexus vehicles (except a voluntary brake ECU upgrade for the HS250h) so you are as safe as if you were in any other manufacturer. There is no reason to be afraid to drive your lexus.

To address certain points in this thread:

Shifting to neutral will always help in the event of sudden unintended acceleration, but shifting into park or reverse will NOT do anything.

turning your key to ACC mode will keep the steering wheel functional, except that you wont have power steering. Turning it to the full off position will lock the steering wheel

the poor in the rear crash test refers to poor whiplash prevention because the 2gen RX does not have active head restraints, there is nothing that can be done here and it has been corrected on newer Lexus models.

to clarify, there are no glaring issues with the 2004-2009 RX nor the 2010- RX. Also I would like to say that the LA times has always been anti lexus and toyota

encore888

I read the LA Times article, and if you are aware of their reporting on this issue, they have been scaremongering and trying to make Toyota look as bad as possible. They quote safety 'experts' without disclosing that they make money off of suing Toyota, insinuate that electrics was the fault in the San Diego incident, when floor mats were a real and present danger. They have a lot of one-sided reporting, and this accident list is included.

That article takes the position that all vehicle operators can do no wrong, and the manufacturer must always be at fault (the last line being ''...this model has not yet been recalled.'') The fact is, driver error is involved in many of these cases, but they leave that out and pin the blame on the manufacturer. Using eyewitness reports to say 'the driver looked terrified' is highly unreliable, as accident eyewitness testimony is often suspect. The LA Times also selectively reported facts, for instance the Avalon-lake case, 1) the driver had a history of epilepsy, which the LA Times omitted from its report, 2) the lawyer's claim that there were complaints made to the dealership turned out to be false, as the dealership records show.

In any case, the safety capabilities for the RX 350 (Canada) and RX 400h (Japan) are about the same, which is very good. The RX 400h probably has an advantage due to its VDIM, more advanced stability control. Both RX's don't have the pedal clearance issue that the ES 350 had, which caused a lot of NHTSA complaints. However, sudden acceleration complaints have happened for every manufacturer, with the Town Car, ES 350, Avalon, and Camry standing out in recent years. The risk of any such event is low, but it is a good idea to be prepared, practice shifting to neutral, and firmly applying the brakes; in worse case scenario, turn off the car. Moreover however, it is important to practice defensive and careful driving, because the larger danger comes from drunk drivers, people on cellphones, and other high-risk behaviors. Stay safe out there!

lexus114

I alway`s think about this wacky stuff of what if`s,way before any of this happened. Like what would I do if I lost my brakes etc.

arnieosp

iTrader: (1)

Buy her an armored Hummer H1.

hoonami

what about that es350 that killed police officer and his family?

mandyfig

Guys, my sister in law had an RX300. The family got into an accident (not their fault) causing the car to roll over 3 times. There was a 4 year son in the car, strapped on the car seat. The RX300 was T-boned on the driver side.

All 3 passengers escaped with minor scratches. Thank God.

I have a healthy respect for the RX's safety design.

Hence the wife drives one! That proves to everyone that I am not after her life insurance proceeds!

rcy

To the original poster, make sure that the "service campaign" regarding the steering rack has been performed. This is an internal Lexus campaign (as opposed to a government mandated recall) where the entire electric steering rack is replaced. Apparently there was some problem with the magnets in the rack coming loose and the steering failing.

Just call Lexus corporate and give your VIN and they can tell you if the campaign has been done.

RXSF

what about it? we dont know why that happened, and it was determined that they had the all weather floormats in that car. As far as we know, it was not an ECU problem or a pedal problem

biff44

In all those articles, it seems like a bunch of old drivers panicking. To run thru 3 red lights without bothering to shift into neutral is clear evidence of that. It does sound suspicious that their accelerator might have been stuck, but human nature is such that they could have just as likely stepped on the accelerator instead of the brake pedal!

The RX drives fine up to 100 mph. If you do not panic and make any sudden jerky moves with the steering wheel, you should have plenty of time to assess the situation and remedy it. Hard on the brakes would be #1. Shift to neutral would quickly follow if it was still accelerating. If for some reason it would not shift, then turn off the ignition switch (a little harder to do if you have one of those new push to start buttons instead).