Hi Gang. Well, I was worried that my next Lexus was built in Georgetown, Kentucky. All my Lexus autos were built in Japan. Sure enough, I have had terrible wind noise especially on the passenger side, front. Dealer had separate inspectors on windows come in and they discovered "Poor Windshield Seals". They added some seal, but recommended to dealer and Lexus Corporation that entire windshield be removed and the entire area and window resealed. Lexus dealer ordered a backup windshield as 9 out of 10 windshields removed, CRACK. As I am OCD about noise in the cabin which I never had with other Lexus autos, I agreed to this procedure. As I told Lexus, I was worried that the craftsmanship on these autos would be less than 100% if put together at this factory. The 2023 ES models will be built back in Japan because of platform changes for future autos. I have the 2022 UL with all the noise reduction option, but never expected the windshield to have leaks due to a poor job on sealing the entire window at the factory. Be careful of this situation.

 

The 2023 ES350 will NOT be built in Japan. They will still be built in Kentucky until mid or late 2024. Production for the ES350 will transition to Japan when the new refresh 2025 body style comes out in the fall of 2024. You, me and everyone else in here will have to wait 2 more years before you see a made in Japan ES350 Base, Premium, Luxury and Ultra Luxury model.

 

Classic "made in America" quality. I would think they have a robot that applies the black goo and put the windshield in so yeah I dunno.

Sadly I am about a month away from my American built 22 ES UL coming off that same line. I better check for windshield noise...

 

So tell me, did Lexus put a “temporary” windshield on your 2022 UL so they can order a factory OEM windshield that can be compatible with the Heads Up Display (HUD)? Or did they already replace your windshield with the “correct” OEM Lexus windshield?

 

LS500F,
Is your 2022 ES350 Ultra Luxury going to be built next month in May? Will yours have the rear spoiler option on it? Did you order the rear spoiler option for your UL? My UL will be built next month in May and the ONLY 2 options that Lexus cannot put on my vehicle that I requested for was the rear spoiler option and the smart card key. It will come with all the other options though. What about your UL? Will yours come with the rear spoiler option?

I know that there is still a total of 20 unbuilt Ultra Luxury allocations that will be built next month in May for the northeastern US region. There were a total of 46 Ultra Luxury allocations, but 26 of them were already built last month in March.

Your UL allocation is more than likely one of the 20 remaining unbuilt UL allocations out of the 46. Lexus is right now building their final allocation next month in May for the 2022 end of the year production run for the northeastern US region. They will not produce anymore Ultra Luxury vehicles again until 4 months from now when the new 2023 model comes out in September/October.

The UL builds that Lexus will be doing next month in May will be only for the northeastern US region. Which region in the USA are you located in? Are you in the northeastern region like I’m in? I’m located in southern New England.

 

JAM, I'm sorry you have this defect in your car. If I were you, I too would be sincerely annoyed. But since you brought it up and brought it up and brought it up, I also have to point out that your car's regrettable problem does not prove a direct causal relationship between this flaw and where the car, its parts or its assemblers are from. This has already been flogged to death in another recent thread. Again, my regrets on that sucky problem.

 

Just wait until you see the front bumper to fender misalgnment!

 

I'm in Canada. I "ordered" at the end of a November. However it was not a special order, my dealer used their ES allocation to specify what I wanted to fill my request. I requested the ES300h UL with Moonbeam-Palamino config. Here in Canada all hybrids come with the spoiler and the wallet key to my knowledge. We don't have any individual option choices on the ES, only option packages (Luxury, Ultimate Luxury). My estimated delivery date has changed a few times but it right now about a month from today. I suspect that date may slip again as we get closer to the day.

 

Just want to add something to topic on the quality of a vehicle being built in North America vs Japan. For the most part they are on par but there are some minor differences. It is good enough that most consumers don't notice it. Here is a review from an automobile engineer:


I have book marked the video showing the moment he talks about some of those differences. in JAM's case it might be due a rare event that went undetected on the assembly line. Even ones coming out of Japan can have this defect but probably at a lower rate.

 

I hate to hear that about your vehicle. However, these forums represent a very small sample size of US built ES350s. My vehicle is just one month old and the wind noise is not an issue.
Hate that it happened to your vehicle.

 

Generally speaking,

1) I'm skeptical of any perception of issues and the relaying of those perceptions on a forum. Anything can be lost in translation. In other words, I am not so sure a) you correctly attributed to any "sound" you're hearing to the windshield and b) that a dealer full of kids correctly diagnosed this as having "poor" seals. Not impossible, but windshield installs are pretty routine at any car factory. The "seal" they're likely referring to is a bead of robot-applied windshield glue prior to the glass being lowered onto the frame. Kind of hard to mess up. So assuming all the above is correct, it's a one-off issue.

2) I wouldn't be surprised if the new windshield is in but OP is still hearing the noise

3) I wouldn't be surprised if the noise is just typical wind noise any car has an OP is expecting car to be whisper quiet because "it's a Lexus and my grandfather's Lexus was whisper quiet."

Truly diagnosing such problems, assuming they aren't normal or inherent, takes detailed knowledge and analysis. Not sure that was carried out here.

Of course it could be helpful if OP posted a video of such noise too.

I would not worry about any wide spread problems, as I can almost guarantee there's not any. These things are cranked out in large batches and all tightly controlled. Due to statistics for any car produced, someones bound to be it and that someone may have a forum membership somewhere. I wouldn't worry.

As to fender gaps at bumper, I can assure you there's no problem there.

I've analyzed quite a few of these cars tip to tip and if you guys really wanted to find "problems," you're looking in the wrong areas. But then again I am very meticulous and can recognize actual problems & patterns immediately.

But it's a mass produced good, so considering that it's a great car.

 

OP says he heard it. The dealer agrees the seals are defective. An inspector agreed wth both. Yet you presume to declare that they're all wrong, sight unseen. Then you criticize OP further for not showing you video evidence. All because... you're an expert.

Gotta say, if I were OP, I'd find this post rather disrespectful. Cars are made by humans and their human-built robots. Mistakes happen. IMHO, OP has earned the benefit of the doubt.

 

Thanks everyone for your comments. Most appreciative. As for the ES going back to Japan for 2023, I had head that from dealer and Lexus Corporation, so maybe timeline has changed to the facelift for possible 2025 at this point. I am not stating all ES built in Kentucky are defective especially with windshields. I did test my wife's IS 2021 with my 2022 ES UL with same speed and road and weather conditions. Like night and day with the louder noise level beyond normal wind noise as stated in the forum for my ES. It is Lexus Corporation, window specialist/inspector and dealer stating Poor Windshield Seal at the factory. Dealer just had seal placed where noise is and much better. They want to wait for the new Lexus Windshield before attempting to take out my windshield and redo the seals properly. As I stated, 9 out of 10 times, the windshield will crack as they take it out. So the reason for the backup windshield. Keep you informed. Happy trails.

 

The new redesigned Lexus ES350 will be built in Japan starting in the late summer and early fall of 2024 as 2025 models. The Kentucky factory will continue to build the ES350 until the late spring or early summer of 2024. After then, the ES350 will be shipped to the USA from Japan.

The windshield in your ES350 Ultra Luxury more than likely has a bad seal on it which allows the road noise to be heard inside the cabin while you are driving. I don’t understand how the robot that places the sealant around the windshield frame didn’t put enough sealant to make the seal air tight and noise resistant? Maybe the machines that put the sealant on the windshield and windshield frame didn’t have enough sealant inside the reservoir that contains the sealant or maybe the sealant was running out and that’s why not enough sealant was applied to the windshield and windshield frame.

Lexus needs to replace your windshield and apply enough sealant on the window and windshield frame and they need to be “very meticulous” when they replace and also when they put the new windshield on your car to not scratch, crack or break anything.

 

Agree. A very dismissive post which ain’t helpful at all.