Hello,

In order to open my center console I have to push the whole thing foward to unlock it. My dealer said that it was "pretty normal" whatever that means. It would not be covered under the lexus warranty.

Does anyone know if there is any truth to this?

 

Mine opens in a manner I would call "normal"

I lift it, it opens. No pushing forward, no mess.. Just lift.

 

Push the whole thing forward to unlock? And the dealer said it's pretty normal.. Hmm.. So you need both hands in opening the center console. Thus you need to take both hands off the steering wheel to open it. While you drive, that would be obviously very unsafe. I don't think Lexus designed their cars this way. This is not normal IMO. What's normal is like what TurboTodd said, push the button, lift, it opens. And is the dealer "pretty normal?"

 

Would that be covered under warranty? He said that since its an adjustment it would not be covered?

 

Thats how mine was, and they replaced it free under warrenty. Its not supposed to do that. Dont take thier BS... have them open any LS430 on the lot, and have them try it.

Indeed it is.

 

I just got of the phone with my dealer, he said that the console is a trim item and isn't covered. I hate when dealers BS me around. I get much better service at my Nissan dealer when I take my titan, they never BS me. They even try to get warranty work covered when its border line instead of just flat out telling me its not covered.

 

One thing to clarify: Did you talk to your "dealer," or to the service manager directly? I wouldn't give up just yet. At least here in Austin, the Lexus service management and staff are excellent and I never get the feeling they're trying to get out of making something right for me (not that I've had many complaints to speak of about my Lexus, mind you!). I realize "your mileage may vary" -- I'm just saying that it pays to get on the good side of the man/woman in charge of the service department. My dealer sales guy is also tops, but I also know his primary preoccupation is to sell and close the deal upfront, so it's good to build a solid relationship with the "backend" folks.

Example situation: I took my Lexus in for a weekly free car wash a couple of Saturdays ago, and when they brought it out, all looked fine as usual except I happened to notice right away some freshly-splashed mud stains behind the front right fender (apparently, they inadvertently drove it over a mud puddle on the way out of the wash -- duh). When I pointed this out to the nice service coordinator, she promptly tried to rectify the situation by grabbing a rag and some touch-up cleaning solution, but unfortunately, on my black onyx finish, she left swirl scratches on the fender (groan -- I couldn't stop this well-meaning gal in time!). Anyway, the swirl marks were very obvious and prominent on the black finish, so she got the service manager involved, and he was very genuinely concerned. After immediately ordering a couple of additional hand washes plus buffing on the fender in question by their on-site detailing pro, the service manager was still not satisfied. After looking the whole car over -- which is otherwise in pristine condition except for a couple of tiny scratches here and there, he basically gave me his card and said that if I bring my car back during a weekday when his chief detailer is on-site, he would have the car completely detailed for free to make sure I was a happy customer (I've got it in writing as well). So next time I have my car serviced (next month for my first complimentary 5K service), I'm going to take advantage of that offer....

Good luck!

 

I would try a little more too. When I tried getting my broken key case replaced, they told me it's $84 plus tax. But when I ran into the service manager on that same day, he assured me that CPO Lexus get these replaced for free (it was broken when I bought it, but I didn't pay much attention back then since it was a spare key and I was too excited about getting my first Lexus). So, go to the right person and you might just get your console fixed free, assuming that your warranty has not expired.

Wow... they really go far in customer satisfaction huh...

 

Read this:
The Basic Warranty coverage is for 48 months or 50,000 miles, whichever occurs first. Wheel alignment and balancing are covered for 12 months or 20,000 miles, whichever occurs first.

This warranty covers repairs and adjustments needed to correct defects in materials or workmanship of any part supplied by Lexus...... except in the following situations: http://www.lexus.com/models/LS/warranty/index.html

Your dealer is saying that the trim item isn't supplied by Lexus?

 

Their jerking you around, call the service manager, and take it up with him. They changed my center console without even a question. I had the SAME EXACT problem you described, and it falls under Lexus warranty 100%.

 

Thanks for the advice.

I wrote the service manager an email, telling him how I felt and how I was treated. I told him that I even decided to get 30K service with the warranty work and they still didn't want to do any warranty work. The service advisor even asked me why didn't I take it to the dealer I purchased the from for the warranty work, but he didn't ask me to take it back to them for the 30k service. Well the Service manager call me back 45min after receiving the email. He is going to pick my car up from my home on monday and resolve any issues that I may have.

Writing letters/email really do work wow. So we will see what happens. If I'm not happy I will gladly travel the extra 20 min to the next Lexus dealer.

 

You have two dealers next to you? You have no idea how lucky you are... we don’t have such privilege in Tampa. One dealer is 45mins away, the others are 1-2 hours away in Clearwater, Orlando, and Sarasota.

Glad you got it worked out. Make sure they dont inflate the price of the 30K on you.

 

Well really I have 7 Lexus Dealerships within 33 miles.