Wizard0705

I bought a Certified Preowned 2009 Lexus ES350 with 28,000 miles in December 2011. It was a lease vehicle. On May 22, 2012, I was pulling into a parking space at the gym. I had my foot on the brake and when I turned into the parking space the car suddenly accelerated on its own, jumped over a curb and crashed through a wooden fence into a backyard. I had my foot on the brake the entire time and tried to put the car in park. I finally pushed on the brake hard enough and hit the off button long enough and the engine died. Right up to the time the engine stopped it was still revving as though the accelerator was stuck to the floor but it wasn’t. The wheels continued to spin and spray dirt into the air. The police came and made a report. The officers said they had seen this type of incident before. The car was towed to the Lexus dealership. I signed a release. I was asked a lot of questions such as, if at the time of the incident any of my windows were down, whether or not the air conditioner or radio was on, whether or not it had rained or whether it was humid that day, whether I was turning from the left or from the right when pulling into the space. I answered all of their questions. I signed a release to allow a Lexus Engineer to come and examine the car and “download a black box” with data. The engineer completed his work. They did not show any interest in or want to see the many pictures we had taken at the scene or see the police report. We received a letter from Toyota two to three weeks later stating that their visual examination and data from the car indicated that there was no malfunction and floor mats were not the issue. My car underwent the minor body repairs which were completed. I know what I saw and went through and it was very scary. I do not want to ever drive the car again. In the interim, a friend e-mailed me an article about a California Highway Patrolman and family killed during an unintentional acceleration in a 2009 Lexus ES350. We cannot afford to trade the car in as the car has lost value because of the incident/accident. I am afraid that this might happen to someone else that purchases the vehicle. The car is still sitting at the dealership. It’s been 5 months…we continue to pay the car payments and insurance on it. The Lexus dealership does not seem in a hurry for us to take it back. I’m not sure what to do at this point…..I know there is something wrong with the car! Any ideas would be appreciated!

flowrider

iTrader: (9)

Wow, the California HiWay Patrolman incident was caused by an improper floor mat installation caused by the dealer, not by a defect in the vehicle. This has been documented many times on this forum and many others as well and by the feds. For the dealer to have your car five months is unthinkable. What does Lexus Corporate have to say about this?

Because of the incident you mentioned, Lexus (and Toyota) instituted a recall that included a new gas pedal, an ECU reflash and instructions to dealers about proper floor mat installation. Has this not been done to your Lexus?

For you to allow this to go on, seems sort of strange to me. I really don't know what to say, I am really stunned by your post.

Lou

majorae

It seems like you may have spoke to an attorney. What did they say?

Lexinky

I thought this was stuff was all proved to be false by several investigating teams including one from NASA.

http://www.nhtsa.gov/UA

jkeller

Remember the Audi 5000 unintended acceleration back in the mid 80's? That all turned out to incorrect, but Audi's sales in the U.S. were damaged for many years because of it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audi_100


scroll down aways in the above article to see the section about acceleration.

CQRT

Sorry to hear about your troubles . .the only time our car revs up is at starting, and drops to normal range when placed in gear. The 'black box" should show engine RPM and more specifically, how much pedal pressure was being applied to the braking system.

I'd find a capable attorney -- not the kind that chase ambualnces and will represent you for 40% of the recovery- that settlement helps nobody but the firm involved. If this is indeed a vehicle shortcoming, the only way it'll come out is through the legal process of discovery.

Good luck - - please keep us posted?

Thanks

CQRT in AZ

Tazzman

Toyota/LExus Hire a 3rd party at your approval to inspect the car and download the data. That information is then uploaded to a secure Government website for Toyota's legal dept and the Government to examine, The 3rd party would also send you the same data on a thumb drive for your retention and use.

The 3rd party will inspect, Photo and document a lot of information...3 to 6 hours spent with the car. Then The data that is downloaded will tell the exact sequence of what happened, With what pedal you were pushing, the pressure on that pedal, Also the throttle and braking in sequence to your pedal application.

If your car was the One car that was actualy the cars fault it would be in movie star status!!! You would have Mr Toyoda himself at your door, Along with CNN, Fox, etc...

Your option would be to hire a attorney, He knows how it works, If he knows you have the one case trust me he would know it and retire on it 100xs over.

I cant say what you have stated is False because I was not there to witness, But I can say If lexus came back with a Sorry didnt happen that way and is OK with you keeping the car... It didn't happen.

Lexus would do everything they could to own that car...if it was the ONLY one that actually drove itself.

May I ask your age?

Wizard0705

Well, I just got off the phone with a representative of Lexus, North America. They got police report information, claim information, pictures. They have submitted the vehicle to "Buy Back" Program which I hope works out..and I hope they are serious. Thanks for all the suggestions.

diagtime

It sounds like Lexus is being nicer than they have to be to you. The event recorder data doesn't lie. And the data IS interpreted by an independent company. If they say it wasn't the cars fault.......trust me......it really wasn't.

Most people in these cases know this and are just blaming the car to avoid higher insurance costs.

Some people legitimately don't realize what exactly happened. Either way, it's not the car's fault and I would have no problem driving your car. I know it's not what you want to hear. No one ever wants to hear it. But it's the truth. The data doesn't lie.

jcat_350

um...toyota has had no problem telling people to kick rocks that they think are making false claims. This is a well documented fact. The OP said that the data was sent off to the 3rd party company and after reviewing that, along with police reports and the OPs statement, Lexus submitted the car to a buyback program. Would a company buy a car back just 'being nicer than they have to'? Hell no. Maybe you should read a bit more in this thread.

I'm sure you believe everything the presidential candidates tell you they'll do too, don't you?

diagtime

actually what he said was that after the 3rd party reviewed the data, they found no fault with the car and it was not floor mat interference. i had written a lot more but deleted it. i am very familiar with buy back cases. if it happens to go through.....he's lucky. the cars do not accelerate on their own. anyone that knew how they work knew this all along. nhtsa confirmed it for the rest of the idiots that believed the bs claims

jcat_350

read again...Lexus examined the data and found nothing wrong...then the 3rd party reviewed the data and suddenly Lexus submitted the car for a buyback case. That's a pretty big 180 from 'we didn't find anything wrong' to 'yeah we're gonna buy the car back'.

diagtime

this is pointless. you clearly have no idea how UA claims work. the OP was clearly mistaken when he said a lexus engineer was sent to gather the "black box" data. which by the way is the srs ecu and the data is called an "event." the 3rd party is the only one to retrieve the data. they submit their findings to the manufacturer and then the manufacturer will send the sorry, no faults found letter to the driver. the manufacturer can review the data if needed, and the customer can have a copy of the event as well. what's the point of reviewing data when we already know what actually happened? everything i've said and more is publicly available information, so there's no reason for me to respond any further. OP, best of luck.

Tazzman

Lexus Engineers did not look at this car, A Independent Engineer looked at the car for the Owner and Lexus, took Photos and measurements of the car for HOURS.. then Downloaded the Black box data, Then left..
He then Mailed the owner the downloaded info, Uploaded the downloaded info to a secure website for the government to have access and Toyota.
The independent didn't want the owners photos to stay neutral.

Lexus/Toyota looked at the data and sent the owner a letter stating what was found/not found.
The buy back would be for customer service if done, and ONLY for that. And I would bet if they buy into another LExus only.

I answered all of their questions. I signed a release to allow a Lexus Engineer to come and examine the car and “download a black box” with data. The engineer completed his work. They did not show any interest in or want to see the many pictures we had taken at the scene or see the police report. We received a letter from Toyota two to three weeks later stating that their visual examination and data from the car indicated that there was no malfunction and floor mats were not the issue. My car underwent the minor body repairs which were completed

SW17LS

While I agree that the "unintended acceleration" claims are bogus, and that the OP likely unkowningly slipped his foot onto the gas instead of the brake which caused this accidentI too find it very interesting that Lexus has agreed to buy this car back.

I personally have not heard of a story where they have done that...