This morning I was shocked to discover 3 small rust spots on the sides of the back door of my new Lexus RX350 2013. I leased the car at the end of September, so it's less than 6 months old! The mileage on the car is less than 7K... My previous RX330 2006 (made in Japan) started showing some minor rust after 6 years... What kind of junk metal they use now to build these cars?

Can anybody suggest what to do? I am really not sure what my options are? The car is leased, so I am stuck with it for the next 3.5 years

According to Lexus CORROSION PERFORATION WARRANTY:
"This warranty covers repair or replacement of any original body panel that develops perforation from corrosion (rust-through)"... so until it's "rust-through" Lexus will not do anything.

One thing for sure, it's my last Lexus!

 

Very likely it is railcar wheel dust rust. Seems that if it rains on your car while in transit on a railcar the dust from the steel wheels on the steel tracks kicks up and sticks to the cars paint. It is some irony that we get cars here in the midwest that travel all the way from Portland on a train...and you apparently have a Ontario Canada built RX that went West! Have the dealer deal with it, shouldn't cause any long term trouble.

 

No, it is unlikely to be wheel dust rust as the rust spots are on the inner edges of the back door and almost symmetrical. It is clearly a problem with paint coverage on the edges.

 

Here attached are the pictures of the rust spots (3 on the sides of the door and 1 inside) :-(

 

Yes that should / will be covered.

 

Really hope it is covered. That's definitely not rail dust (which is very common and visible on the white paint but usually looks like small specks).

 

That's what I thought he was talking about, this is just rediculous

 

So far, there has been no response from Lexus. First, I contacted the dealership where I leased the car: Lexus Downtown Toronto. I dealt with salesperson Zeke DesChamp and with his manager Karim Moosa, who sold me 6 years of Platinum ECP (yes, I planned to keep this car past lease end). I emailed these fellows more than two weeks ago... no response whatsoever. Then I called Lexus Canada and described the situation. They asked me to go to the service department, so that they can take pictures and assess the situation. I went to Richmond Hill Lexus (this one is closest to my home), they took pictures and told me that they will contact me soon. This was 12 days ago, still nothing.

I will eventually get them to fix the rust, but what bothers me is the attitude of the company. The situation is ridiculous (THIS IS A NEW CAR WITH 6000 KM), yet they treat it as ordinary situation. Not only I am wasting my time on dealing with this nonsense, but I obviously wasted my money paying for 6 years ECP - there is no way I am going to keep this car past 4 years lease term. If I got 3 rust spots in 6 months, there is clearly more to come...

 

Lexus Canada Head Office should look after this problem asap otherwise they are going to loose a lot of customers. I would return my six years Platinum ECP coverage and let him deduct whatever he wants to and turn around and give the bill to Lexus Canada for reimbursement and explore all my options to return the lease as well. Sometimes talking in a rather high pitch voice helps they do not want their new customers to find out that they are having problems with their existing customer. Hope it works out for you. IT IS COMPLETELY UNACCEPABLE BEHAVIOUR OF DOWNTOWN LEXUS. Pay a visit to Toronto Head Office of Lexus ( Somewhere on progress avenue in Scarborough) . Keep us posted.

 

I have to say I'm surprised: a) for a new vehicle to have this issue, b) that downtown lexus isn't treating you well (because I've heard positive things about them on this forum), and c) that you're also not having a good experience with lexus canada.

One suggestion: if you haven't already, ask lexus canada for an ETA of when you can expect to hear from them again and then hold them to it. They obviously have to conduct their research before getting to resolution so it could simply be that they're failing at communicating with you which is easily fixed.

Hope this works out for you!

 

I am surprised too, because it was totally different experience with my previous Lexuses... Re "ask lexus canada for an ETA", I contacted Lexus Canada and was told that this is something I have to resolve with service department of my local Lexus. I sent email to the service manager of Richmond Hill Lexus (they took photos of rust spots 2 weeks ago) and there is no response so far. It is totally ridiculous that I have to spend so much time on this, it looks like Lexus/Toyota is really bad to deal with if something serious goes wrong... Well, my sister in law works for Toronto Star, I am afraid I will have to publish my "saga" there if there is no quick resolution

 

Any news on this front. Have Lexus Canada done anything to resolve your rust issue, if not , have you considered resorting to your Toronto Star option. Keep us posted!

 

I am very surprised that Lexus Downtown has not responded. They have been very good with me since I bought my car there. I suggest you bring it in to the service department and have them look at it and report to Lexus.

 

Well, there is still no response from Lexus Downtown. Lexus Canada wouldn't deal with me directly, they referred me to the service department of Lexus Richmond Hill. I went there on Feb 25th, they took pictures of rust spots and sent them to Lexus Canada. After two weeks, I got a response that they offer to repaint the rust spots. My friend works at Magna and he advised me against it - he told me that it is likely a manufacturing defect that will affect the entire part (i.e. I will have to deal with more rust there if rusted parts aren't replaced). Hence, I requested that they replace affected parts rather than repaint. Besides, I am still planning to keep the car at the end of the lease (it will have very low mileage and I purchased 6 years ECP), so I am trying to get them replace metal panels with rust spots. Michael Lopez, the service manager of Lexus Richmond Hill, tells me that he is negotiating with warranty department on my behalf but declines to include me in his communications or to give an ETA. I decided to give them another 2 weeks (it's been over a month already) and then go to small claims court. I will keep you updated here on how things progress.

 

It's really stupid when Lexus doesn't stand behind their cars or warranty. They should replace the parts no questions asked.