smarty666

I've been having some wear/quality issues with my ES350 that has had me seriously questioning how great the quality and wear is on a car, as expensive as the ES350 is. Some background, my car is only a little over 1 year old, has about 16k miles on it, a little more than the usual but not terribly out of sight either.

(1) I have had to have the batteries in the intelligent key replaced 4 times over the last year. Every 3-4 months, the battery gets low to the point that the information display say, "Low Key Battery" or "Key not Detected" and I have problems with the car not opening the doors when I put my hand on the handle sensor.

(2) I have had to have 2 all wheel alignments done in the the last 10k miles because the steering wheel does not center and the car pulls heavy to the left. They can't tell me why this is happening, but its beginning to ruin my OEM tires. The dealership won't even guarantee the alignment for 1 year of 15k miles which was even more ridiculous.

(3) There is virtually nothing left of the butt/lateral cushion on the driver side seat. It has become so soft and mushy, I can feel the mechanisms/bars under the seat. I have had to resort to putting a towel under my butt to drive.

Wouldn't you agree that all these things are just completely unacceptable in a 1 year old car? These are the types of issues I would possibly expect to see in a 7, 8, or 9 year old car. What has me the most stressed out and concerned is, when I bring these up with Lexus, they don't stand behind their product and make excuses. If I'm having these wear and quality issues now, what in God's name is the car going to be like when its 4 and 5 years old? Each of the issues above, Lexus tells me they can find nothing wrong or its a wear issue, but they keep on happening and Lexus admits that but won't do anything about it. These are not normal occurrences on a 43k dollar, 1 year old vehicle.

DaveGS4

iTrader: (2)

On item #1, do you regularly keep your key next to or with your cell phone? Many cell phones will keep the smart key from going into sleep mode if placed close to each other causing it to more drain rapidly. Not the exact same as yours, but has that in the owners manual of my LS.

smarty666

Actually, Lexus HQ brought this up with me. They told me I shouldn't keep my cell phone, other keys, coins, near the intelligent key. There is only 2 problems with this possibility:

(1) I have intelligent keys from Nissan, Acura, and Audi and have never had these issues with batteries being drained this quickly and they have been near my cell phone, etc.

(2) I'm a guy, where the hell am I suppose to my cell phone, coins, etc in my pants that isn't near the intelligent key?

I mean c-mon. If the other automakers can design intelligent keys that don't drain the battery, you mean to tell me Lexus can't? Thats ridiculous and unacceptable. I should be able to carry my cell phone, coins, etc in my pockets without having it drain the battery. If I can't, then that tells me Lexus engineering has much to be desired.

DaveGS4

iTrader: (2)

All I can say is I manage it fine after reading in the manual that its a potential issue and haven't thought about it twice in terms of complaining about it as 'unacceptable'.

I've got two pockets and I put my key in one and my iPhone in the other and I don't have any battery issues. Also make sure not to plunk them down on the dresser overnight sitting on top of each other.

Different tolerances for different people I guess

LexBob2

I've had two ES350's, a 2007 and a 2010. On the '07 I replaced the batteries in the fobs once in 4 years. The current car will be 3 years old in Jan. and the fobs are on the original batteries.

Just out of habit I keep my fob and phone in separate pockets.

garsarno

I keep my car keys in my left pants pocket and the cell phone in the right as needed. Never had an issue. My 2011, bought new in 10/2011 and has 8,000 miles on it, no issues as described above or any other ones. Seats are wearing without any issues and the alignment is spot on. I used to get alignments with me sitting in the drivers seat and my trunk full of my samples needed in previous job (windows). My local garage did that to insure a realistic alignment as driven.

lgb0250

Sounds to me like you need to have your dealership service manager set up an appointment for you to discuss these problems with the district zone.

We will have had our 2010 for three years next month and it has 26K miles on it with no problems at all. I'm just starting to get the message about low battery in my fob.

If I had the problems you are having I would have escalated it to a higher level a long time ago. Wheel alignments are a tricky diagnosis. All it takes is bumping one while parking or hitting a pot hole to throw them out. Since you say you carry your cell in the same pocket as your fob and the manual basically tells you it could create a problem, what do you expect the dealer to do?

Good luck

chefchoy

I don't know about everyone else, but I keep my phone in a pocket by itself. I dont want my phone to get scratched and damaged buy other things in my pocket. My other pocket I keep both my house/work keys, smart key, and pocket knife. No issues yet. The alignment issue however seems off. Have you taken it to get a 2nd opinion?

glepera

never had any of these problems and have my car longer than that. like everything else it is sometimes good, sometimes bad.

SW17LS

My 2010 just rolled over 40k miles. I had one alignment done when I installed the Michelin Primacy tires around 15k. No alignment since, and I drive in pothole ridden DC. I need to put a battery in my key now, but the battery is over a year old. Seat comfort and cushioning are fine.

smarty666

I've done the very same thing and the battery still gets drained. It has nothing to do with "tolerance." I'm going to keep complaining until Lexus does something about it. The experience you have had with the batteries (i.e. replacing them every 3-4 years) it what I have had with all my other intelligent keys, except for these two Lexus ones and is what I would have expected.

LexBob2

It sounds like it just might be time to get out of the Lexus and move on to something else.

SW17LS

The Lexus maintenance schedule calls for the batteries to be replaced I believe every year or 15k miles.

What do you want Lexus to do? Obviously the issue with your keys is environmental since our keys are fine...

xanderES

iTrader: (8)

I have had the ES since december of 06. Have an accumulated stack of papers from the dealship of about an inch thick and have been following this sub-section since it started.
I can honestly say, that although I wouldn't buy another 1st model year, i still love driving my ES.

Problem 1- Batteries lose charge slowly after being manufactured and sitting for a prolonged amount of time. It is possible that you received multiple old batteries from the same dealership shipment because you kept going back. I have replaced mine on average ~1 every 2 years years only because the range was less than 15 ft.

Problem 2- No dealership will guarantee an alignment for X miles or for X duration of time. People bumping into curbs and terrible streets/highways mess up alignments all the time. This is just not economically viable for anyone. The only way to be sure is to get a sit-in test drive after it is done.

Problem 3- Seats are felt differently by different people. However, if the bars really are able to be felt through the seat... such a problem would be felt by a comparably sized service tech. And should be remedied fairly easily by a replacement or a dealership free of charge offer to reinforce the seat with extra foam.

All in all, I would say its still a pretty good car. Its comfy as hell during my 1 1/2 hr commute into downtown la.

smarty666

Quit puffing the magic dragon already. Do you know how stupid that sounds? I didn't realize having a cell phone and coins in the vicinity of an intelligent key was such an "unusual" environmental circumstance. C-mon, give me a break.