I will let you know!

 

Sub'd for results.

 

Never mind

 

This sounds like loss of power assist or the speed-sensitive steering is malfunctioning.

 

My latest attempt to get help through Lexus corporate failed. They would only say that they can only rely on their dealers to find a problem. They would not assign a specialist to further investigate, thus I'm stuck. Your problem sounds identical to ours. Let me know if you find a dealer that can diagnose and fix the problem. Thanks.

 

I an so tired of dealing with this issue I'm just going to trade it.

 

Interesting, I experienced the same thing with my steering about a month ago on a trip. I had driven 5hrs one way and everything was good. Probably averaged around 80mph on the main highway. On the way back, all good until the last 30mins or so.
I noticed on straights the wheel would feel like it "locked" in position and when I would come to a curve in the road and begin to turn the wheel, it would feel stuck. Typically just a small amount of pressure from a couple of fingers would be enough to turn the wheel, but instead I found myself forcing the wheel out of the "locked" position causing the car to jerk as it released. When you normally turn the wheel the feeling is pretty fluid, but it felt like I would have to snap it out of position before it turned normal again.
This happened probably 4 or 5 times at the end of that trip. Hasn't happened since. Just completed an 11 hour drive last night and it didn't happen at all, close to the same speeds too. I guess we'll see on the return trip.

I have a thread about my paint peeling also, and the other day I noticed a gap in my rear bumper that is bigger than the other side. Just barely but noticeable to me, which I did not notice when viewing the car prepurchase.
All to say, I am definitely leaning more towards the fact that the car was in an accident, just not reported. It also always pulls to the right. Plan on getting an alignment next week and seeing if I can see if any work had been done anywhere while it is on the lift.

 

Sounds very familiar! It seems like there are a number of us dealing with this issue with our GS 350's. I'm still trying to find a solution and may end up going the lemon law route - not sure that there's any other option for me. The dealer can't duplicate the problem and Lexus is not offering any assistance.

 

If you can't get the problem resolved, you can file a complaint with NHTSA here: https://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/VehicleComplaint/

These complaints get pushed to the manufacturer, if you give NHTSA permission to do so. If they see enough of these complaints, they will do more investigating. When you fill the form out, keep it to the facts on what you did, what conditions it happened in, etc. and don't make it a b-tching session.

 

Happened to me for the first time last week after about 45minutes a highway speeds on a 90+F day. You can feel the steering wheel stiffen and lock into place at highway speeds requiring some force to unbind it and turn.

After a few more minutes it starts again and kept repeating for the rest of the drive. It hasn't happened since (but that was the hottest day of the year so far). As I don't have LKA assist I think this is something temperature related. Sounds like Lexus and the Dealers are not going to be able to diagnose this problem from the experience here.

 

What's the condition of your tires? Did you notice it on a slight curve in the highway?

 

The tires are all new, probably no more than 2000 miles on them and the highway is a ring road so there would be a constant curve of sorts (E-470 Toll Road in Colorado). It was happening in both directions ( to and from an airport pickup). I have driven it many times in this car and never experienced it before.

 

I also noticed similar steering behavior (subtle, yet noticeable) at cruising speeds above 70 mph. I just seems like power assist 'goes to sleep' momentarily and when it returns you get that snapping to one side motion.
For example if the steering wheel was a mouse where the pointer acceleration is turn off or down, and then suddenly its back on and the pointer jumps.

As other mentioned, the ambient temperature may be relevant as I was driving in 85-90 degree weather on a long distance.


By the way mine is a 2015 AWD f sport (42k miles).

 

So this happens only on long straights?

 

I doubt ambient temperature has anything to do with it since many people drive in locales where the temperature is oftentimes well over 100° and have no symptoms of such a problem.