Crunge

The car went into the shop for a fourth time. The dealership took it to a body shop where they injected automotive foam into the front passenger door. In total they had it 12.5 days. We got it back and the rattle returned a few days later. The car went into the shop for a fifth time. The dealership decided the rattle was in the console and replaced it. They had the car either 9 or 10 days. We got it back and the rattle returned the next day. During the fifth repair, the dealership asked us to contact Lexus and open another case. The dealership says they are out a tremendous amount of money and said that Lexus must step up and "make it right." I'll be curious to see what they say. (BTW, in regards to other comments... I'm not out to blast Lexus. My father has a 12+ year old ES300 and has never had a single issue. Any car company can make a lemon and I understand that. I just want my problem fixed and so far I've had no luck.)

Unbelievable... The car is now on its 8th day in the shop on this, it's fourth visit. Yesterday morning they said they thought they might know what the problem was and would let me know in the afternoon... no word. And oh, they say they have ruled out the spot weld issue mentioned above. On 2 January 2009 I contacted Lexus via their customer support site. They emailed back on 5 January 2009 and said they needed additional information and someone would contact me in 3-5 business days. I sent the information back to Lexus the same day. After 5 business days no one contacted me. I emailed asking why. Another business day passed with no response. I called this morning and they claim they never got my emails, even though they confirmed I was sending it to the right address. Hopefully Lexus will get involved and make sure this finally gets resolved.

As I feared, it is not fixed. The rattle has returned so it's back to the shop for the fourth time. Where's the vaunted Lexus quality I heard about before making the purchase? Very, very frustrating.

Actually, in my state, the rattle would be enough. One of the criteria is: "The problem must substantially impair the use, value, or safety of the automobile." (from http://ag.ky.gov/civil/consumerprotection/cars/lemon.htm.) The noise was loud enough that we would not have purchased the car had we heard it first. The good news is that the rattle has not returned (although the dealership says it might) but I have to go back and drive another vehicle because I'm now hearing a lot more road noise than I would expect. My concern is that in all the repair work, something hasn't been reassembled properly. Based on this experience, I cannot imagine ever buying another Lexus. What a huge disappointment.

Thanks for the information. They returned the car to us today; the rattle is gone but they have no clue why, and said it may well come back (and I suspect it will.) If it does I'll have them check this.

My wife and I picked up her new 2009 ES350 on October 30. When she first drove it two days later she heard a loud rattle coming from the passenger door. She took it in and was told this was a known issue with the moon roof. Over the next 3.5 days they removed the headliner, put in some foam, and put it all back together. Three days later, the noise returned. We took it back and the service manager discovered the problem was in the door, just like we'd told him the first time. They found something loose, tightened it, and sent us on our way an hour later. A week later and the noise returned. The car is now in the shop for the fifth straight day. The service guys said they took the door panel off, found a broken clip, fixed it, put it all back together... and the noise is still there. They say they're taking it all apart again today. So here's where we are: Days owned: 19 Times in shop: 3 Days in shop: 8.5 and counting Problem still not fixed and no ETA My concerns are two-fold. First, the car has a problem that has the service guys stumped. Second, they have done some pretty major work and I'm not sure it's been done correctly, since I think I'm hearing far too much road noise on the driver side since their first "repair." Any suggestions would be appreciated.