A few months back, I brought my IS350 in twice to have a dash gap next to the center stack diagnosed/repaired, as well as several rattles. To make a long story short, the dealer made the dash gap significantly worse, misaligned two vents, smeared silicone grease on the dash, and told me that everything was normal because it's a sports car.

I called Lexus corporate two weeks ago and asked them what they could do for me. They called me back tonight, and told me very nicely that both the rattles and the dash gap are considered within spec for this vehicle, and there's nothing else they can do for me.

This is my first and last Lexus. I had a Saturn in the early 90s, and even that car rattled less than my Lexus. Within spec my ***...

 

Any before and after pictures?

 

I thought they'd fix it, so I failed to document the 'before' condition, but I can tell you that 'after' is bad enough that green LED light shines through the gap in my dash near the vent, and I can see the "guts" inside the dash at night.

Aside from the dash misalignment, I'm absolutely amazed that Lexus corporate would tell me that rattles are normal in their cars.

*Edited to include 'after' photo of dash gap. You can see green LED light through this at night - great feature! </sarcasm>

Notice how the vent is also misaligned with the nav now as well.

 

sport car my ***.. we didnt buy our is because its a "sport" car.. an IS is no where near a "sport" car
wow.. cant believe corporate would tell you something like that.. can you post a few pics for us to see?

 

try another dealer?

 

No way, if it's any different from any new Lexus thats bullshi* what they are telling you. I say fix the problem or try lemon law. I know it's a extreme measure for a rattles but the gap sounds like your driving a Chevy not a Lexus. You need to speak to someone a lot further up the food chain., good luck.

 

Shame on Lexus

 

+1 on going to another dealer and definitely talk to someone higher in the food chain at corporate.

 

To be quite honest, I have that gap as well but no light shines through as you say. I will take pictures tomorrow and show you guys the types of gaps I have on my car but after looking at several cars on the dealer lot before we bought the car, it seemed like this was "normal."

 

The light shines through on mine immediately adjacent to the illumination on the rotary switch on the vent.

I'm surprised you have the gaps on a 2007. Mine is a 2006, and I was told this was a normal characteristic for that model year, which is dealer-speak for "we're not going to make this right". Apparently it was considered within spec for 2007 as well.

 

I would say that there are differences in the gaps in my car, though nothing like what you are describing. Sometimes you have to be your own advocate.

 

I'll point out that (from what I can tell) that gap is less than 1 mm, and that's well within the manufacturer specification.

As for the rattle, the manufacturer's spec is "no abnormal noise." Yea, good luck. Dash rattles are hard to track down, there's a lot of parts, wiring harnesses, etc. back there.

Did you bring up your comment with the service manager, the dealership gm, etc? As much as we think corporate has a lot of pull, I find things work better when you go up the chain of command.

 

I guess my standards are too high, then. I haven't had gaps on other cars, and seeing the brackets behind the dash through the gaps makes it harder to write that check every month.

I discussed with the service manager, but haven't gone to the GM yet.