23 replies to this topic

[2klx470]

I have a 2003 GX470 and it has long cracks in the front dashboard. The cracks are in the front edge of the instrument panel and on the driver's side air vent. The crack runs from the driver's side air vent, and all around the front of the instrument panel. The car is a CPO and I got it last Aug 08. I didn't notice the crack until October 08.

The car has been kept inside a garage at all times. No armor all has been used to clean the dashboard, just a cloth to remove dust.

I took it to a Lexus dealership and they are charging me for the labor which is 482.00. They are paying 1100.00 which is the cost of the parts. They are replacing the entire dashboard cover. The dashboard is not covered under the CPO warranty, but they are paying 1100.00 for the parts because I argued that I only had the car for 2 months when I noticed the crack.

Is this a fair price to replace the entire dashboard cover? I think they should pay for the entire cost, but the warranty shows in writing that dashboard cosmetic damage is not covered under CPO.

Has anyone here ever had dashboard crack issues with their GX470? Tell us about it.

Rj

[mann777]

Yes I am one of the victim to this hairline crack which has appeared as exactly you have mentioned, I did have one more along the passenger side above the glove compartment running the whole length along the wood trim. Not noticeable, but if you give a careful thought yes. Now coming to the repair, I weighed all the options available as I had somebody giving me about rectifying the crack by adding metal paste along added with dash board leather trim color paint, finely filled along the crack, and painted, but it would look shabby,So I finally had it imported the part myself from Singapore which worked out very cheap ( 490/-$ ) The shipping was taken care by my friend who was going on a family tour. Once I had them I used the Repair manual, and completed the whole repair in 11 days. It was bit complicated as the locks on the panel dashboard are very tricky. The are perfect now.

[2klx470]

Yes I am one of the victim to this hairline crack which has appeared as exactly you have mentioned, I did have one more along the passenger side above the glove compartment running the whole length along the wood trim. Not noticeable, but if you give a careful thought yes. Now coming to the repair, I weighed all the options available as I had somebody giving me about rectifying the crack by adding metal paste along added with dash board leather trim color paint, finely filled along the crack, and painted, but it would look shabby,So I finally had it imported the part myself from Singapore which worked out very cheap ( 490/-$ ) The shipping was taken care by my friend who was going on a family tour. Once I had them I used the Repair manual, and completed the whole repair in 11 days. It was bit complicated as the locks on the panel dashboard are very tricky. The are perfect now.

Mann777,

Sorry to hear that you had the same problem.

You ended up replacing the entire dashboard or the entire dashboard cover? The part cost you $490.00?

I guess $480.00 sounds fair for Lexus to replace the dashboard (or is it just the dashboard cover) in my GX470.

Thanks for sharing your experience.


Rj

[TA in KC]

$482 sounds very reasonable to me considering the amount of time and effort required to replace the dashboard. I am surprised the labor cost was not higher. I'd be very happy with that price.

[mann777]

The Entire Dashboard Cover was replaced, along with the trims ( w/o the console such as Navigation / ODO / Main Console Controls and the system.

[liger]

I have a 2003 GX470 and it has long cracks in the front dashboard. The cracks are in the front edge of the instrument panel and on the driver's side air vent. The crack runs from the driver's side air vent, and all around the front of the instrument panel. The car is a CPO and I got it last Aug 08. I didn't notice the crack until October 08.

The car has been kept inside a garage at all times. No armor all has been used to clean the dashboard, just a cloth to remove dust.

I took it to a Lexus dealership and they are charging me for the labor which is 482.00. They are paying 1100.00 which is the cost of the parts. They are replacing the entire dashboard cover. The dashboard is not covered under the CPO warranty, but they are paying 1100.00 for the parts because I argued that I only had the car for 2 months when I noticed the crack.

Is this a fair price to replace the entire dashboard cover? I think they should pay for the entire cost, but the warranty shows in writing that dashboard cosmetic damage is not covered under CPO.

Has anyone here ever had dashboard crack issues with their GX470? Tell us about it.

Rj

I also have a hairline crack just like yours starting from the left side of the instrument panel to the right side of the instrument panel. I'm beginning to wonder whether this defect is common on GX470s. I bought a platinum Extended warranty plan thru Lexus when I bought my 2003 GX but they refuse to repair it.
Their explanation was that it "does not effect the safetiness to operate the vehicle". When the dealer sold us the warranty, they told us that the platinum plan would cover bumper to bumper. I am very disappointed because I felt cheated. I believe Lexus should come forward and acknowledge this defect and take care of the rapair.

[mann777]

Well for me I was beyond the warranty stage, was covered under CPO but sewell just refused blantantly.So I knew what the other dealer also would cook up . I had never used any cleanser for dashboard for the entire GX life with me, but it did not sound convincing to them & The dealers would never accept it there fault that this is a manufacturing defect, I did'nt want much time haggling with them, I took my decision of getting this part myself, ofcourse it was factor of time that took while i had to fix in between my business, but it was a pleasure to get to the intracacies of the front panel removal with utmost care. Because it was a bit tricky for me as it was the first time and i had to do it slowly , But the fixing the same new panel this was finished in 72 hours compared to the removal one which took 8days out of which 6-8 hours a day of continous work . The most difficult part was the clips which are placed behind the instrument cluster, and the drive panel. I had to detach around 121 clips and around 23 harness connectors. And mark them also as many harness were look alike and they had to be marked for refixing. The best I could do was write it simultaneously and color tag them accordingly. But I finally acheived them flawless. I cant ask for more.
Just try with few other dealers also, if it works you are lucky, otherwise get it fixed yourself.

Lastly I have to add as you see very few member of this forum have got this defect arising of late on there model. I wish others could contribute their inputs with their dealers on similar cases.

[2klx470]

I have a 2003 GX470 and it has long cracks in the front dashboard. The cracks are in the front edge of the instrument panel and on the driver's side air vent. The crack runs from the driver's side air vent, and all around the front of the instrument panel. The car is a CPO and I got it last Aug 08. I didn't notice the crack until October 08.

The car has been kept inside a garage at all times. No armor all has been used to clean the dashboard, just a cloth to remove dust.

I took it to a Lexus dealership and they are charging me for the labor which is 482.00. They are paying 1100.00 which is the cost of the parts. They are replacing the entire dashboard cover. The dashboard is not covered under the CPO warranty, but they are paying 1100.00 for the parts because I argued that I only had the car for 2 months when I noticed the crack.

Is this a fair price to replace the entire dashboard cover? I think they should pay for the entire cost, but the warranty shows in writing that dashboard cosmetic damage is not covered under CPO.

Has anyone here ever had dashboard crack issues with their GX470? Tell us about it.

Rj

I also have a hairline crack just like yours starting from the left side of the instrument panel to the right side of the instrument panel. I'm beginning to wonder whether this defect is common on GX470s. I bought a platinum Extended warranty plan thru Lexus when I bought my 2003 GX but they refuse to repair it.
Their explanation was that it "does not effect the safetiness to operate the vehicle". When the dealer sold us the warranty, they told us that the platinum plan would cover bumper to bumper. I am very disappointed because I felt cheated. I believe Lexus should come forward and acknowledge this defect and take care of the rapair.

How much did you pay for the Platinum Extended Warranty? Is this a warranty that makes the car a CPO?

My GX470 was purchased as a CPO, and Lexus Extra Care paid for the majority of the cost to replace the dashboard. I was surprised the total came out to almost 2000.00 just for the dashboard replacement! I ended up paying 489.00 for the labor. Also, they gave me an RX as a loaner vehicle for 5 days. It was nice!

It took 5 days because I complained about my driver's side speaker making a crackling sound. They replaced a Mark Levinson L front speaker, lubricate the sunroof, changed the oil and fill up all fluids to the right level. They also took care of the "clunk" issue. The total for everything was almost $6000.00 and I only paid $489.00. I guess a CPO is sometimes better than a brand new vehicle.

Rj

[japparilla]

Yes I am one of the victim to this hairline crack which has appeared as exactly you have mentioned, I did have one more along the passenger side above the glove compartment running the whole length along the wood trim. Not noticeable, but if you give a careful thought yes. Now coming to the repair, I weighed all the options available as I had somebody giving me about rectifying the crack by adding metal paste along added with dash board leather trim color paint, finely filled along the crack, and painted, but it would look shabby,So I finally had it imported the part myself from Singapore which worked out very cheap ( 490/-$ ) The shipping was taken care by my friend who was going on a family tour. Once I had them I used the Repair manual, and completed the whole repair in 11 days. It was bit complicated as the locks on the panel dashboard are very tricky. The are perfect now.

Mann777,

Sorry to hear that you had the same problem.

You ended up replacing the entire dashboard or the entire dashboard cover? The part cost you $490.00?

I guess $480.00 sounds fair for Lexus to replace the dashboard (or is it just the dashboard cover) in my GX470.

Thanks for sharing your experience.


RjWell..... I've been a mechanic for 25 years... Here's my assumption of the dash issue. If the sun beat the crap out of the interior, there'd be signs of failure of other parts, like door panels, plastic warping, moulding cracking and such to warrant such a falure of the dash pad. It's clearly an indication that Lexus used inferior material for the dash pad and blame it on heat or sun issues.... Bull*BLEEP*. Crappy materia;s is what I say. Mine has been protected by the best uv protectants and has barely been in the sun and still cracked asif it was 50 years old. Clearly a piece of *BLEEP* material, if ya asked me....

[jmc11]

My GX 470 2003 dash cracked today as described in other posts. Some posts have had success with Lexus replacing the dash and I am wondering what the secret to persuading them to do so is? Is it just persistence?

[jrollins1]

I too have the same problem. My dash has a crack from the passenger side air vent that runs over the glove compartment, over the radio console, and over the steering wheel on the drivers side. My car has been well kept, so neglect, or improper care is not the issue. I will be taking the car to the Lexus dealer for them to look at the problem. Does anyone have any pointers to get the problem fixed. I plan to be persistant! I would be extremely happy to pay only the labor cost!

[H MAN]

I have an 03 GX that only has 50k miles on it and is garage kept. I work from home so this vehicle rarely sits outside in the sun. We have no children and there has been no hitting or kicking the dash. A 3 inch vertical crack developed over the glove box. Obviously a defect since the car is always in the garage. After being told my extended warranty did not cover such an issue I made a phone call to corporate in California. Long story short, they provided the new dash free of charge (it would have been $700 in parts) and I only had to pay labor which my dealer gave me a break on and came to $300. I was worried about the fit and finish on such radical surgery but the new dash is seemless and looks great. I still feel that I should not have had to pay for this at all since it is clearly a manufacturing defect. Their trim clause is a joke. I have owned serveral cars in my life, usually luxury European models, and I have NEVER had this mysterious crack in any dashboard before.

[use a realtor]

I have an 03 GX that only has 50k miles on it and is garage kept. I work from home so this vehicle rarely sits outside in the sun. We have no children and there has been no hitting or kicking the dash. A 3 inch vertical crack developed over the glove box. Obviously a defect since the car is always in the garage. After being told my extended warranty did not cover such an issue I made a phone call to corporate in California. Long story short, they provided the new dash free of charge (it would have been $700 in parts) and I only had to pay labor which my dealer gave me a break on and came to $300. I was worried about the fit and finish on such radical surgery but the new dash is seemless and looks great. I still feel that I should not have had to pay for this at all since it is clearly a manufacturing defect. Their trim clause is a joke. I have owned serveral cars in my life, usually luxury European models, and I have NEVER had this mysterious crack in any dashboard before.

[use a realtor]

2004 GX 470 (original owner) garage kept
I too have the exact same cracks in my dashboard as described in previous posts. I contacted Lexus of Jacksonville and
they offered to split 50/50 in which my half is $982! I feel as though I'm paying for the entire bill. This is obviously
a manufacturer defect. I would hope Lexus would take care of this as it would definitely make a difference in purchasing
my next Lexus.
Thanks for the information.

[CaptnPete]

2004 GX 470 (original owner) garage kept
I too have the exact same cracks in my dashboard as described in previous posts. I contacted Lexus of Jacksonville and
they offered to split 50/50 in which my half is $982! I feel as though I'm paying for the entire bill. This is obviously
a manufacturer defect. I would hope Lexus would take care of this as it would definitely make a difference in purchasing
my next Lexus.
Thanks for the information.

2003 GX with 52K miles. Had my dash replaced in Sarasota, Fl last year. Same story. After much haggling Lexus offered 50/50 split. Still came to about $800. Basically it cost them NOTHING. Their mark-up took care of that.

Pete