kqmalik

Hi Buk, I am the owner of this RX350 and I did contact and fight with the Lexus Corporate. Many meetings and arguments. What happened that because it was the new vehicle and was a safety issue, the dealership and I right away approached to the Lexus Head Office. I didn't put the whole story in my earlier note. Initially we (me & my wife) wanted to return or replace this vehicle and Lexus corporate wanted to fix it. So after this struggle and the stage we were in without a car, we decided to give it them, get a loaner and wait for the fix. They have replaced the faulty ABS actuator component almost three weeks ago and so far I didn't see the warning light on my dashboard display. Lexus corporate in Toronto, Canada, doesn’t give me a good impression. First: It is like you are meeting somebody in the jail, too much security and the meeting room is like a cell. This gives me an impression that they may have many serious issues with their customers. Other thing they hired ex-GM customer service representative and the mentality is similar to the GM customer service. Bottom line the Lexus corporate lady was reluctant to do anything and was just repeating what she wanted to do. They are backing up their dealership and aren't fair or open. She even said that after the new vehicle sale they cannot guarantee for any component reliability and because of this reason they have a 4 years warranty. I replied it means that I will be keep coming to the dealership for warranty repairs. Please note that I live far (65KM) from the dealership and it is in the busy area of Toronto City. I am a Nuclear Engineering related professional and well aware of Reliability and Components Quality Level classification. I know Toyota follows six sigma standards. I can understand that they purchase parts from different vendors and same we do in Nuclear industry but there are many barriers to check and test those parts. In this whole scenario, the Lexus On The Park dealership and Lexus Canada customer ship was doing BS. They have no idea initially how to tackle or resolve this promptly. Normally the other Manufacturer or OEM gives free extended warranty on their defective designs or faulty components. I have a similar extended warranty on my Nissan CVT transmission and on my Dodge Grand Caravan AC systems. I can produce the paper work. Also in Canada there are no good consumer protection laws. I have already informed my local MP who is also our Finance Minister. There office like to hear more on this. I want to settle with Lexus corporate and dealership first. Many years ago I used to be an Engineer with Nissan UD (Diesel Truck) division and we had a corporate service team consisted of Engineers and Japanese Technical team to resolve similar new vehicle issue in an effective and fast fashion. Initially I asked Lexus that I want to talk with their technical group to discuss this matter but to my surprise they didn’t have one and the customer service lady keep telling me to see their dealership service people.

On July 31st 2012, Tuesday, “Lexus on the Park” a dealership in Toronto delivered a brand new RX350. The next day on August 1st, at 77KM warning lights appeared on the speedometer. This displayed issues with the ABS and Brake Malfunction warning. After switching the vehicle off and then on, the warnings notifications were disappeared. The dealership was notified. On August 2nd 2012, Thursday, both the brake malfunction and ABS warnings appeared on the display again. The dealership was informed and the vehicle was picked up from our home by the Lexus dealership. They checked the code and removed it as no appropriate action could be determined at that moment. The component suspected of being faulty was manually operated by a technician and was found acceptable for use. The technician kept the vehicle overnight and after a test drive of 65KM it was returned back to the customer on August 3rd. Upon returning the vehicle to the customer, the technician displayed the computer connected to the vehicle with no new coding information. On Saturday August 4th we, the customer, drove to London Ontario for a Wedding ceremony. On our way home at 2:00 AM on August 5th the Brake malfunction notification as well as the ABS warning reappeared on the speedometer. This put the driver in a peculiar position, as there was no safe area to immediately stop. The 401 highway was also filled with vehicles including large trucks. After a few kilometers, the vehicle was stopped on the side of the road and turned off. After a fresh start the warning notification disappeared. These set of events are particularly disappointing considering this is a BRAND NEW vehicle which has not even covered 1000KM and has a quality issue which jeopardizes the safety of the vehicles passengers. The quality control from the factory end and the inspection process during the PDI are completely oblivious to this issue. This issue could have been easily identified and rectified at those earlier stages. Instead it caused great inconvenience and unnecessary stress to the customer who paid full price for this supposedly premium vehicle. This vehicle caused me to take two unnecessary days off from work and ruined a special occasion over the weekend. It is to be noted that we had great amount of trust and faith in Lexus over other manufacturers while making this expensive selection. This matter was taken over by Lexus corporate office. They kept the vehicle for a week at the dealership to replace the faulty component because they didn’t have the new ABS actuator available. Customer requested extended warranty on the faulty system because it was happened on a brand new vehicle As a result of this customer requested for extended warranty on the faulty system. Lexus Canada offered $1000 towards the extended warranty of $2260 for 120000KM/72months. It is to be noted that at the time of the purchase, the customer didn’t purchase the extended warranty thinking that the Lexus is a very reliable brand. Because of the brake issues, the confidence level went down on the Lexus reliability and in order to safeguard the investment, the customer has no option other than to spend $1260 dollar from the pocket. There is another interesting thing that after few days of extended warranty purchase, the Lexus dealership “Lexus On The Park” sent an offer via mail to the customers on the discounted rate of the similar extended warranty from $2260/- to $1750/-. Customer contacted the dealership to reimburse the difference amount of $510/- because of the reduction in extended warranty price but they are reluctant to issue any re-fund. Lexus corporate office is denying their help in this matter because of the dealership pressure. “Lexus On The Park” dealership new Car Service Manager is not answering my phone calls. I am really disappointed with this purchase. First there is no reliability promise by the Lexus Canada per their customer service manager on this expensive vehicle. Other thing, I am forced to spend extra money because of the new RX 2013 quality issue.