Lexus Dealer Sold Me A "certified Lexus With An Outstanding Safety

[SteveZac]

February 14, 2012

This is a copy of a letter which was sent to various Lexus/Toyota executives. I have recieved no updated response. Thought other Lexus owners might like to know.

Dear Sir:

I’m a current owner of 3 Lexus vehicles having purchased the third, a "certified" 2006 RX 400H, from Desert Lexus this past September in Cathedral City, California. I have now come to find out that the car I purchased had an outstanding safety recall, which could "increase the chance of a crash.”

In a letter dated June 29, 2011 from Lexus Customer Service to “All Lexus Dealers” which I have attached, it stated that no vehicles with the current safety recall could be sold as a “certified vehicle” and that the customer needed to be told that it was subject to a recall.

In September Desert Lexus sold me the aforementioned vehicle with no mention of any recall and with the “Lexus Certified” warranty in place. I subsequently received paperwork from Lexus confirming this warranty.

Neither the dealer nor Lexus disclosed the recall to me. In fact they made a representation that there were no outstanding recalls whatsoever and that the vehicle had passed a 171-point inspection.

This past Christmas Eve (2011) while driving the vehicle, it had a total loss of power, and shut down completely. I had no power steering, or power brakes and I coasted to a stop on the side of the road. Two minutes earlier I was driving on the I-10 and had the breakdown occurred then, I am sure it would have resulted in a much different outcome.

After having the vehicle towed I started looking on the internet to see if this had happened to anyone else, and at this point, I became aware of the outstanding safety recall. I went to the dealer and I asked why they had sold me a vehicle with an outstanding safety recall. The first time I was there they denied that they had done so. I informed them that I had found the recall on the internet and the service manager replied verbatim, “You can’t trust the stuff you find on the internet.” When I went back with a copy of the recall from the NHTSA, Desert Lexus said that since no parts were available to fix the problem Lexus allowed their dealers to sell the vehicles with the outstanding recall. When I contacted Lexus they confirmed this but said that they had “strongly recommended“ not to sell them.

Lexus also chose to edit the safety recall on their website to delete the wording "increasing the risk of a crash" which appears on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) website.

On the Lexus website it states the following: “If the fuse blows, the hybrid system will stop and the vehicle will coast to a stop.”

Yet, in a June 29, 2011 letter (see attached) to it’s dealers regarding the recall they state, “The fuse of the power supply circuit could blow when the transistor is damaged. If this occurs, the hybrid system will stop while the vehicle is being driven and the vehicle will coast to a stop increasing the risk of a rear collision.”

Desert Lexus has now replaced the car with another vehicle that while newer, does not have the same options as the original vehicle (i.e. all wheel drive, hybrid system, or the Mark Levinson system). For both the original RX400h and the replacement RX350 certified vehicles, Lexus advertises them as being: 1) History Checked, 2) Meticulously Inspected, and 3) Thoroughly Reconditioned. The original vehicle had the safety recall and a broken sunglass holder, while the replacement vehicle has mismatched floor mats, paint flaws, and a broken gas tank filler cover. I would regard neither of these vehicles as meticulously inspected nor thoroughly reconditioned.

I was told that for any further action on the issue it would have to be escalated. This occurred on January 6, 2012, and since then I have voiced my concerns to Mr. Vaughn Wendelstadt. I have never been able to confirm Mr. Wendelstadt’s title other than he is an ”executive”.

I have repeatedly told Mr. Wendelstadt that I was looking for two things: firstly that Lexus would undertake a review of their policy of allowing their dealers to sell vehicles with outstanding safety recalls, and secondly, to make reparations for deceiving me into purchasing the faulty vehicle in the first place, and then allowing my wife and I to unknowingly drive an unsafe vehicle for 3 months. I stated that if people wanted to put their lives at risk that it should be their decision and they shouldn’t be doing it, unknowingly, by purchasing a vehicle from Lexus that may or may not have a safety recall on it.

What is particularly frustrating is the fact that the car was returned on 2 separate occasions for warranty work between September and the time it totally failed on December 24, and no one bothered to tell me about the recall even though I am sure it must have shown up on their service screens.

One of the reasons the vehicle came back was directly related to the failure. I was told that the abnormal clunking noise that I had complained about was normal in a hybrid. In addition Lexus Corporation would have authorized these repairs and should have noted the fact that they had certified a vehicle with an outstanding safety recall.

I would have thought that Lexus would pay much more attention to recalls, given that their parent company Toyota was fined $32.4 million in December 2010 for their failure to comply with the NHTSA rules regarding the reporting of safety defects. NHTSA rules state that, “Within a reasonable time after the determination of a safety defect or noncompliance, manufacturers must notify, by first-class mail, all registered owners and purchasers of the existence of the problem and give an evaluation of its risk to motor vehicle safety.” Clearly this never occurred here.

At a very minimum, I believe the dealer and the manufacturer have a duty to prominently display on the vehicle any and all outstanding recalls for that vehicle. On February 2, after more than a month of back and forth phone calls with Mr. Wendelstadt, he told me that after consulting with general council Lexus was prepared to replace the vehicle with a new 2012 hybrid, having the same features as originally purchased with the exception of the Mark Levinson system. It was not offered as a standard feature in this model year and that they would have difficulty sourcing the vehicle. In addition, he stated that they would be having discussions with the dealer with respect to their behavior in this transaction. He said that it would take a bit of time to work out the details and to be patient.

On Friday, February 10, I received a call from the Western Division Manager, Ms. Donita Saide (sic), who asked if I thought I deserved a new vehicle and that the offer was now the return of my original purchase price. My response was that this was not the agreement I had made with Mr. Wendlestat and she replied that she knew nothing about that deal. Apparently communication problems are not exclusive to Lexus and their clients, but also seem to exist between their executives. On Monday, February 13, Mr. Wendelstat informed me that he had been overruled by his colleagues. At this point Lexus seems more interested in deflecting the blame back to the dealer rather than taking ownership and responsibility for what has happened. I have now come to believe that the only way to influence Lexus’ behavior is through public opinion and public knowledge of their integrity and practices as it relates to their customers safety.

I think this is a story which needs to be told and that the manufacturers have a moral, if not legal obligation to cease the practice of, firstly, selling cars with outstanding safety recalls and secondly, allowing their dealers to be somewhat less than forthcoming with their customers. One final comment with respect to Lexus communications, in order to find the name and positions of any of the Lexus executives I needed to search the NHTSA site for names and contact information from filings on various recalls as well various internet sites, since the Lexus site carries none of that information. This is more of a comment on how much Lexus values their customers’ needs that have a problem and wish to contact them.

[RX400h]

Wow, what a fiasco!

I believe my RX400h now has 4 recalls and all the parts are in so I am taking in in, this week to have everything done.

Regarding your situation: I think that most owners would've had the repairs/replacements done (free of charge) and chalked it up to bad dealership policy (or lack thereof). But really, negotiating a brand new RX450H because of what happened is well beyond "making things right". In my opinion, the over-ruling of Mr. Wendelstadt was justified.

I (and many, many others, compared to the number of RX400h owners) went through similar aggravation with my Corvette's column lock mechanism. The dealerships would install a block-off plate ONLY if the car had an automatic transmission. My car did not, so the dealership "fix" was to install a replacement module (for which I had to pay) that was no different from the design-flawed original. I had to install my own bypass to circumvent the steering wheel locking mechanism. Of course there was no replacement car even considered, nor did I expect such.

I understand your aggravation but it looks like that particular dealership is at fault for selling you the RX without at least notifying you of the recalls. Lexus should be expected to intervene on your behalf but getting the dealership to give you a car that is 6-7 years newer is not reasonable, IMO.

[maseace]

This recall of the IPM wasn't an immediate safety concern (in fact, Lexus sent a letter with driving tips while we waited for the recall to happen this year, see attached). All us owners of the affected RX400h's have had to wait until the past month to get the inspection/replacement done free of charge. Yes, the dealer should have known about the recall, but they didn't have the parts and inspection procedures ready yet when you bought it. If you had owned it before the recall, you would have been notified by mail like the rest of us. You happened to be one of the few unlucky ones who had the bad solder joint in the inverter lead to a failure while driving. A new RX450h would have been a great deal if they approved it ($50k car for a $25k car) but that's not realistic to expect. For me, I was happy with the way they handled it - I brought mine in last week for the recall, and it turned out not to need the part replaced, so I was out in an hour with a free car wash and tank of gas.

RX Recall.PDF

[lemon]

There was someone else on this forum (or maybe clublexus.com) who had a completely different experience. He bought a used RX400h and the dealer refused to give it to him until the recall had been dealt with. This was sometime in the early fall IIRC, and he was peeved that he had to wait until 'early 2012' as he was told, to get the vehicle.

[lenore]

+1 Lemon, I remember that posting also, apparently that dealer read the memo...

[Cat Rodery]

I bought my used Lexus at a Toyota dealership. We checked and it didn't appear to have any outstanding recalls. I called the local Lexus dealership today to get the cost for the updated Navigation maps DVD and while I was on the phone, the nice Lexus service guy asked me for my VIN so he could check if there were any recalls (he asked for this as soon as I mentioned I had purchased the vehicle used the week before). I was impressed that although I was calling for something else he went out of his way to check for me (And mention that if it was under recall I'd get a loaner car while they fixed it). Thankfully he also confirmed no outstanding recalls to be done on my car :)

[wolseyco]

My power steering failed on a 2005 Rx 400h in October 2012. Had it towed to main Lexus dealership although I hadn't bought it from them (they had been servicing it since I bought it). Found the details of the recall on the internet, after much searching as the recall was only issued to dealers and not the general public; the dealership were amazing; followed up on the issue for me and got it sorted: the whole steering column needed to be replaced, although the problem was electrical. While they were at it, they also replaced the inverter which was another recall on this batch of cars. Fewer power surges since too.

[wolseyco]

Prior to the steering column being replaced on my 2005 RH400h, the steering was occasionally 'notchy, especially at about 100km per hour. That problem is gone.