My parent's 2003 Es 300 driver's door lock does not unlock when the key is inserted into the keyhole. It does lock.
The doorlocks do work with the remote, and they work with the door unlock/lock button on the door control panel (with the window switch panel)
When the car is turned off, the door lock button next to the door handle on the inside works fine...locks/unlocks manually. When you lock, and pull on the door handle, the lock button automatically unlocks and the door opens.
However, when you put the car in drive, all the doors auto locks, and when you try to unlock the door with the button, it doesn't work...feels like its jammed. An d when i pull the handle, the lock does not auto unlock the driver's door.
The passenger side door still works fine.
I have no idea what is causing this?...b/c its the first major problem that we EVER had with a Lexus.

 

Do you still have warranty on the Lexus? If so, problem soved. If not, I had to replace a door lock on my 97 ES300 and it wasnt the cheepest thing to buy.

 

no warranty. The car has 110,000 miles of trouble free driving...
Just replaced timing belt and the starter. But I don't think i can cough up $500 for a replacement since the remote/locks still work.

 

I find that by ptting the key in hole[starts in middle of left and right] , then turning to the right then returning to middle then turning to right fully again caused it to work.
try that

by the way, that's so annoying, that I just use the key fob