I have 1200 miles on my new ES-350, and I noticed that on the driver's seat (perforated black leather), I can feel small burrs emerging if I lightly brush the surface with my hand. Closer inspection reveals tiny cuts near the front of the seat. It can't be my clothes since it's either jeans or wool dress pants. And nothing sits on the seat except me. Any ideas?

 

It could be a defect, I would ask the dealer. We were told if there was ANYTHING flawed, it would be immediately replaced.

 

Both front seat covers of my highlander had a side crack after two year old, Toyota dealer just replace me two brand new front seats leather covers after confirming it wasn't my fault.
I think Lexus will do same as Toyota does.

 

I have a burr on my front seat that was there when I purchased the car. It's a very small roughness in the leather and I'm not going to do anything about it. But if you have cuts then you should take it back for repair as it sounds to me like they could get worse with time.

 

I took my new ES 350 to the dealer this week. It is near the airport in Albany NY, where I had to go for a brief business trip. So first, the service manager (SM) dropped me off and picked me up to/from the airport.
I showed both the GM and SM the nubs and small cracks forming. The SM then took me to a new ES on the lot, and said "take a look at this seat". I thought, "here comes the debate about the problem". To my surprise, he asked me if it would be acceptable for them to take the seat from this brand new car and use it as a replacement for the one in my car!!!!. I said...uh...yes!!!! They proceeded to do just that. Amazing service.

On the ride back to the dealership from the airport, I asked him about the trans. flare and what his view was. His reply seemed important. He said that Lexus was aware of the problem and have been taking back whole cars which could not be fixed via reprogramming or other simple remedies, and replacing them with new ones. He also said they were reaching out to owners via VIN, based on the data they were collecting. Of all the cars sold, it has been a very small percentage, but he wanted me to know that Lexus was responding aggressively and do not want bad cars to be out there under their badge. To me, that sounds like a fair and honest response. So guys, maybe the problem for some of you is a poor dealership. I have confidence that New Country Lexus will join Lexus in standing by their product and looking out for their customers.

 

That is an excellent way to address a leather seat problem and to your complete satisfaction since you got to see the one intended for your car!

As for the transmission comments made to you: I really think they are all reading from the same PR playbook.

 

Had the same problem with my ES 350 on the cushion of the front passenger's seat. I have gray leather and there was an area of roughness that felt like the inside of the strap on a baseball glove. It took the dye differently causing it to look "dirty" in addition to the roughness. I took it back to Lexus of Portland, they ordered a new leather cushion cover from Japan and they fixed it under warranty.

 

I don't understand why the leather on my ES 350 look like the car is 20 years old. the car is 4 years old. Very unhappy with the quality of the leather. I'm very impress with the car performance but I will not purchase another Lexus in the near future. My wife is the one driving the car everyday. She is only 95 lbs.