Newbie questions: 2019 RX 450H engine / battery issues and recalls

[Jellygeee 0]

Hello there,

Apologies if I'm reposting a similar thread or not following the rules for creating a thread. I'm a new member.

Want to provide an overview of my situation: I bought a brand new 2019 RX 450H F Sport for Wifey 2 weeks ago. Last night while trying to start the car in the garage, the whole odometer and lights started flashing (feels like disco lights). It went on for about 10 mins. The car couldn't be started. The message displayed was something about the Brake (P) malfunctioning. The car just reached 600 miles.

Had to call the Lexus Emergency line and got the car towed to the nearest Lexus dealership. Received a message this morning from the dealership that the car and battery will be inspected (will need few hours). I wished I would have taken a video of it to show the magnitude.

Want to get your advice and opinion from fellow members. Has this ever happen to anyone? What could have cause the issue? My Wife was both distraught and disappointed since it's a brand new car. On the bright side, this happened in our home (situation could have been worse if it happens in the middle of freeway).

Thank you for your responses in advance.

Kind Regards,
Jellygeee

 

[Les Lex 2018 0]

This got my attention because I’d am interested in a 2021 400H Sport. Let us know what they find.  The Lexus computers should be able to figure all that out.  Your concern about an engine stall on the road would be very rare, and it is considered a dangerous condition if not fixed, and soon enters assessment under the lemon law and makes it a candidate as a crusher. So nothing to be worried about there. Lemon law is on your side. Your system computer should never go off into the wild blue yonder like that, except for maybe a virus, program error, or a memory chip failure, but again, the Lexus guys are pretty smart, or at least they have the right equipment to track down just about anything.

Regards, Lex Les

[Jellygeee 0]

From chatting with service manager, the problem lies with the battery (one of the 6 fuel cells fails). It’ll have to be replaced.

[Jellygeee 0]

[Jellygeee 0]

Was just informed that the battery was on backorder from Interstate. 😨

I'm new to the whole Hybrid scene so I'm taking this as I go along. Was told the battery is called Auxiliary battery and it's not the one that is used to power the gas vehicle.

For those who have/had similar experiences, can you chime in? Thank you 🙏

[Les Lex 2018 0]

The 19 Fed Econ Guide claims you have a 288 Volt Ni Metal Hydride battery. So you have a bunch of low volt cells daisy chained to build up 288 volts.  If one opens in the chain, you have no voltage. Same as your standard 12 volt car battery.  I am very surprised to see that Lexus went to a Lithium Ion battery instead in the 2020.  That is a big step forward. Toyota started putting it in the Camry. I had the 15 Camry Hybrid with the NMHi and it was awesome=40mpg in city traffic. Had to sell to get out of the sedan market into an Suv. Hated to do that. Looking at the 2021 in 450h...