Bad Luck With Brand New Rx450H?

[Jay_Shopping]

Would like share a couple of pictures of my brand new RX450h got towed onto a flatbed. 2010 RX450h, inservice from Stevenscreek Lexus on 09/11/2010, no license plates yet, 741 miles. Dead last night, tried to start it for more than 1 hour until after midnight. Called Lexus Roadside Assistance, tow truck came, technician tried start and could not, had to be towed to the dealer.

In my >20 years driver life with so many different cars, the 1st time the car was so dead that had to be towed in.

[cduluk]

Would like share a couple of pictures of my brand new RX450h got towed onto a flatbed. 2010 RX450h, inservice from Stevenscreek Lexus on 09/11/2010, no license plates yet, 741 miles. Dead last night, tried to start it for more than 1 hour until after midnight. Called Lexus Roadside Assistance, tow truck came, technician tried start and could not, had to be towed to the dealer.

In my >20 years driver life with so many different cars, the 1st time the car was so dead that had to be towed in.

Damn...

Make sure to tell us what caused this. <_<

[SW03ES]

Did they try to jump it?

My guess is the 12V battery is dead. A lot of tow companies just wont jump-start Hybrids, they just tow them in.

[Jay_Shopping]

Would like share a couple of pictures of my brand new RX450h got towed onto a flatbed. 2010 RX450h, inservice from Stevenscreek Lexus on 09/11/2010, no license plates yet, 741 miles. Dead last night, tried to start it for more than 1 hour until after midnight. Called Lexus Roadside Assistance, tow truck came, technician tried start and could not, had to be towed to the dealer.

In my >20 years driver life with so many different cars, the 1st time the car was so dead that had to be towed in.

To follow up: The car is working fine for now. Sure it was the battery (I am pretty handy with cars, worked on my cars before to change clutch, starter and etc. and also know electrical and electronics well with an EE background, however I have no intention to work on this brand new car at my current stage of life). I was told the battery had been discharged. So the dealer charged it and was ready to go. I was asked whether the car had been parked for too long. Somehow according to the dealer's record, the car was sold in March, and I was questioned why I had only only 750 miles on the car after seven months. Of course you can tell I was not happy with this line of questioning and I could have had a good reason to become agitated and suspicous after wasting all the time and going through such a hassle. I had to make my point that the car was bought and delivered on 09/11/2010, it was three weeks not seven months, and I drove it every day. Anyway they were not able to find a cause for the low battery, and you know how the finger-pointing game can be played. Thank you all very much for the replies. I will keep my fingers crossed and keep you guys posted.

[Buk]

Did they try to jump it?

My guess is the 12V battery is dead. A lot of tow companies just wont jump-start Hybrids, they just tow them in.

I wash and waxed all day listening to the radio. Went to put the car away and no display, all dead. Called Mother Lexus and tow company had brief case sized battery booster, but neither of us knew where to connect up. He thought under the rear seat....eeiikes!

We read the manual to find where to connect.

Much more cautious about listening to the radio!

[SW03ES]

Well yeah...listening to the radio all day will run the battery down for sure.

A dead or weak battery on a new car is not uncommon...discharged and jumped all the time on the lot...

[Jay_Shopping]

A quick update. Yes the car died again on 10/20 (less than three weeks after it was "fixed", 40 days since I bought it). This time they came to pick up the car and after the repair work, they came to drop the car off (today 11/01/2010). I had to drive a loaner car for 11 days (RX350).

I was told it was the battery problem, and the battery was back ordered. Several observations:

1) The battery was weak after the car have been sitting at the dealer's lot. Sounds like they antipcipated that, but they did not take action to prvent it from happening to a customer, and they did not fix it the 1st time when they had the opportunity.

2) The loaner car is also new, <4000 miles, missing half pair of the roof rack, whistling noise from the leaking window above 40 miles/hour and navigation system cannot find Santa Clara when you tried to set destination. So many problems when the car is so new, whcih shakes my confidence.

[SW03ES]

Can't speak to your 450h, but 4,000 miles is not exactly new for a loaner. Loaners live a hard life...

[skipugh]

Same thing happened to my Lexus after less than a week. However, the roadside technician I got was from Lexus and he jump started the car right away. I bought the car in October from a Lexus dealer 40 miles away. The car had been sitting in the dealers lot since April and the battery died. The technician told me to take the car to the dealer and have them check it out. They did and they replaced the battery -- took less than 1/2 hour. Kudos to Lexus of Mt Kisko New York (not the same dealer I bought the car from).

[450hky]

Had the same happen to my wifes new 450h. The first time was on the 12th called service they jump started it atributed it to sitting outside a store with to many gadgets going. The secound time was in the garage over night on the 19th. I will be calling the dealership on Monday hopefully there willnot be a hassel. We planed to take the car to fl. the day after christmas now we are having secound thoughts. My wife was angry that her weeks old $58000 car would not start and my $15000 Honda Fit commuter started right up. There may just be to much of a drain for a normal 12volt to handle there should be some sort of a cross over from the hybrid battery. It seems silly to have a 300lb full charged battery yet need a jump.

[450hky]

This is an update to my husband's post about my new 450H, which still has temporary plates. When I went out to get into the car after church today it did not start for a third time. Getting this battery replaced cannot come soon enough especially during this very busy holiday season. We will keep you informed about how Lexus reponds to this problem. Signed, Wife on the side of the road, wishing for her old 350RX back.

[SW03ES]

Batteries have got to be replaced, I'm sure the dealer will replace them no problem.

Very same thing could have easily happened to your RX350, the 12V battery is basically the same thing. Like I said, more common than you'd think...

[lenore]

You know Lexus could put trickle chargers on these cars while in the lots....Solar powered even...No excuse for brand new car having these kind of problems...

[SW03ES]

Some do...some don't. It depends on the dealer. Its a really common issue across all makes and models of cars, especially cars that have been in the showroom.