My 6 week old 2003 SC 430 has developed in rattle in the passenger seat. I know this is the location because if I drive with the seat raised as I would put a passenger in the back seat, the rattle is gone. I tried positioning the seat both forward and backward, up and down but the rattle is still there. Any suggestions before I take it back to the dealership? Thanks

 

There was an earlier thread on this topic and the following suggestions were offered:

-Move the seat as far back on the tracks as possible and leave it there
-Adjust the lumbar support
-Use leather conditioner where the back and bottom of the seat meet.

I had the same problem with my '03 SC430 and I did all three of the above. Apparently, one of them worked because there is no longer a rattle. I believe it was the first one. (FYI, I only heard the rattle when the seat was unoccupied. Don't know if this is the same situation you have.)

Good luck, and hope that helps. Enjoy your new SC!

 

OH MY GOD! The exact same rattle is present in my car. You don't know how annoying it's been during this past month. I'll definintely try those three solutions. You have no idea how much I love this message board.

 

Same problem here... anyone find a solution... dont want to waist a trip to the dealer...

 

I found the things mentioned by dseag2 really worked. Just make sure you also adjust the back to the seat all the way back so it is almost touching the rear seat. The next time I go to the dealer I will try to find out the cause and see what else can be done other than adjusting the seat.

 

Anyone who has seen my previous comments knows I go thorug a lot of cars. This is my third SC430, and indeed the third one with a right hand seat rattle. I think they build it into all of these cars, another Lexus benchmark. Seriously, the car is OK, but I am tired of every one of them having a rattle. I would expect when the hot weather comes, I will also develop a left hand roof noise. Had that on the frist two. I wonder why they can't get this car perfect? Naturally when I talk to the dealer they state "yours is the first car I ever heard of with this problem."

Indeed shoving the seat tightly against the rear seat helps, but that is certainly not a fix for the the quality issue.

Maybe that wil be the major change for 2004-A car without any rattles!!!

 

For whatever it is worth, I have been driving an ES300 for a few days while the dealership is working on rattles in my SC430 . . .and, damn, there is a rattle in the passenger seat of the ES300!!

I have had a few Lexuses and never had this experience before. Could it be that the Lexus brand's success ir ruining their pursuit of perfection??

NDR

 

Did your previous cars go back as lemons??

 

I have developed the same problem and Lexus can fix it. I just finished a lemon lawsuit against Nissan on the Q-45 2002 model regarding their transmission. I hope the Lexus dealer is smarter than to tell me we have never heard of the problem. Frankly, I don't care if they didn't, they should fix it without a hassle.

 

Beginning when I first picked up my car last summer, it had an extremely annoying rattle which I at first thought was emanating from the passenger side sun visor area. The rattle appeared when driving over bumps and uneven roads. I brought the car into my dealer twice, and each time they played around for several days (!) without being able to fix the problem. Ultimately I realized that the rattle's not heard when someone is sitting in the passenger seat, and subsequently I joined this forum and read about other folk's experience with a similar rattle. I adjusted the lumbar support as suggested and moved the passenger seat all the way back so that it is just touching the backseat. Eureka! This has almost completely suppressed the rattle - thanks so much for the advice! Now the question is whether I should be satisfied with this "fix", or should I ask the dealer one more time to try to address the source of the rattle?

 

Yes, even if it is a minor rattle it is not acceptable.
Having paid $60K for a Lexus, you should not compromise quality.
I'm picking up an '05 in February and it better not rattle, because if it does, it will go all the way to Japan to be fixed if it has to.

 

I had the same problem but it went away when they replaced my passenger seat. I posted about this problem (the seat) in September. It was finally taken care of the week before Christmas. They replaced the passenger seat after 3 attempts and it looked different than the driver's seat. It appears that the stitching on the newer (05) models have that plush/wrinkled look on both the rear of the cushion and the front of the seat bottom cushion. The original seat on my '04 was fairly smooth on the front. They then replaced the drivers side seat cushion and now they finally match. In the process, they gouged the black plastic trim that contains the seat controls on the passenger side, dented the brushed alumunium trim on the door sill on the passenger side, deeply scratched the sill on the driver's side, failed to reconnect the power for the seat belt warning and the seat belt buckle illumination and did not reset the memory for both seats. In addition they washed it even though there was a sign in # 20 font on the dash that read "PLEASE DO NOT WASH THE CAR". Needless to say they scratched the HE**out of it. They have taken care of everything except the scratches which I corrected.
However after my experience with the "Ultimate Pursuit of Perfection", I am seriously looking at unloading this horrific experience and trading it on an SL500. At least I know what I am in for and not this load of bull ****** about the wonderful experience wth Lexus.

 

So, you are complaining about your service dealer , the quality of Lexus or both????

 

The service dealer who I would have to live with.

 

I share your pain Lou, but is your MB dealer any better? As a car nut, and a perfectionist, I came to the conclusion that no vehicle is perfect (so I EXPECT some problems), and to the reality that no service visit will be perfect either (and that's based on personal experience, not speculation). On the latter, I evaluate my 'problems' vs the likely outcome (problem fixed, but scratches, stains, and crap like you went thru), and make a decision. So far, I took care of the rattling door with radio, but that was it (I told them ANY scratch, stain, or whatever else -like it happened with my previous Lexii-, and I was going to raise big time hell); no problems at all, even though I didn't buy the car there, but the job only required to jump in my car to drive it to and from the service bay.
I currently have a rattle on the back of the car that I traced to the roof mechanism, but can't pinpoint exactly where. This would require driving the crap out of my car with a guy roaming on the back seat and/or trunk trying to pinpont the source, with the likely outcome of scratched door sills, scuffed and stained leather, and other damage, while arriving at the same results I have, so I'll pass on that one. Rather live with the rattle; I'll catch it sooner or later, especially when it gets on my nerves.
As long as I don't have mechanical or electrical/electronic problems, I'm a happy camper. And that's exactly the kind of problems (mostly electronic in nature) MB has been having. To my detriment, I live in a small city, where there's only ONE luxury dealer if at all (no audi, porsche, nor any exotic ones). Lexus is the best of them (MB, Infiniti, Acura, and Lexus). All in all, both are pretty reliable cars, but I just like the Lexus better. In fact, MB is my second choice now.

Think it over buddy, but your troubles are probably over by now, so why go thru similar ones with another new car (any brand), and lose your @$$ in the process? I learned to deal with that frustration with my motorcycles, and I'm quite happy with my BMW now, even though it's been less than perfect. I'd have to quit riding if I wanted a perfect bike, and that wasn't acceptable to me, so a change of attitude solved my problem.
I do all my maintenance for the same reasons, and enjoy getting to know my vehicles. I didn't even take the SC or BMW for the free service; that's how much I trust dealers .
Hope you enjoyed your weekend.
JC