Consumer Complaint Detail

LEXUS / LS430 / 2001

Recalls
0 Injured
Investigations
0 Death
Complaints
No Fire
Components - Details
NHTSA Complaint Number: 004268004 Incident Date: Mar, 31 2004
Consumer's City: ROHNERT PARK Consumer's State: CA
Vehicle Transmission Type: AUTO Manufacturers Name: Toyota Motor Corporation
Model Name: LS430 Model Year: 2001
Vehicle Involved in a Crash: No Component's Description: Vehicle speed control:linkages
Vehicle Involved in a Fire: No Persons Injured: 0
Vehicle's VIN#: JTHBN30F410 Date added to File: May, 25 2021
Date Complaint Received: Mar, 30 2004 Complaint Type: IVOQ
Incident Reported To Police: No Purchase Date: Dec, 23 2000
Was Original Owner: No Anti-lock Brakes: Yes
Number of Cylinders: 8 Date of Manufacturer: -
Was Vehicle Towed: - Description of the Complaints: This car has a "drive-by-wire" throttle control system in which the throttle is not directly connected to the engine but is digitized and sent to a computer for analysis prior to controlling the engine speed. the speed control computer analizes the throttle input over time and "learns" the drivers throttle control habits and adjusts the engine response to throttle input based on the long-term driving history of the driver. if the driver drives aggressively all of the time then the throttle response is good. however if the driver drives conservitively most of the time then the throttle response is poor. i normally drive conservatively and i have found on many occasions that this car does not respond in a timely manner in case of emergency accelleration. that is, when i drive conservatively and then need to accellerate quickly to avoid another vehicle, this car hesitates for several seconds before deciding to speed up, even when i stomp on the accellerator. i do not feel safe in this car. i believe that this is a serious safety flaw in the design of this car. i have reported this problem to my lexus dealer on every visit to the service department since i purchased the car new in 2000, yet they have failed to address the problem. i was told by the service department that lexus was aware of the issue as several customers have complained about the problem. on one occasion i was told that the engineers had an experimental firmware upgrade that they were testing with some customers. i have contacted lexus customer service, but they just referred me back to the dealership.*ak