I don't know why but the parking brake release is a different color than the rest of the interior. My interior is the ecru/white color and the handle is tanish/yellow. I have noticed the same thing in another 430 with the same colored interior. Is this normal from the factory? If you pull the handle out you can see the ecru color. Is there a way to remove the yellow color?

 

mine looks like urine also

 

Maybe a fine sandpaper, like 2000 grit. I would price out a replacement though. I can't imagine it costing too much.

 

Obviously the piece is ecru but was either painted a yellowish color from the factory or somehow changed colors over time (doubt it though).

 

I think it did change color over time. It looks as though it had a negative reaction to a dressing or maybe just the UV light. You can see how only the areas that would be exposed to sun or checmicals are discolored. There is no way they (Lexus) intended it to be this yellowish color.

The plastic they used for this part may be different then the rest of the interior and that may be why the rest has not discolored.

 

I agree with you. My handle has also discolored and I have seen several others with the same issue. Wonder why this issue has not been addressed by Lexus.

 

Looks to be fading of the outer shell, but hard to imagine that sun/UV would fade just the handle though, and nothing else. Plus, the handle seems pretty imbedded away down under away from direct light.

Mine is black, so I can't really tell if it's discolored or not. Hopefully the black doesn't fade to yellow too...

 

I figured it was only on the ecru interior but didn't know for sure.

 

Now that I think about it the same handle on my GS may be discolored too. Hmmm.... Me and my cell phone camera will be right back....


EDIT - So my handle has the same type of discoloration. My interior is gray. I remember noticing this when I purchased my car. If you take a look around the interior, at least in my case, there are no other parts made of this same plastic which explains why we don't notice it anywhere else.

 

At least your case is not nearly as dramatic.

 

everytime I get into my car I notice it and I've always wanted to post and see if other have the same issue, but I get side tracked after that.

I have grey interior. Mine is not as obvious as the ecru picture above. It is very noticable though. I figured it was either fade (bought the car used so don't know what it originally looked like) or Lexus did that to make it more easily identifiable to pull.

Guess it was the first of the two.

 

It's a Lexus trait

I have ecru also and it's also discolored, but not as bad as the picture depicts it to be.
My GS grey handle discolored also

 

same for me. my black 05 isn't faded but mine spent most of the last four years garaged and covered.

I also have a 96 LS400 with the tan interior. It matches the surrounding pieces exactly with no fading.

The 96 looks like the color was molded in the plastic whereas with the 05 it is hard for me to tell if it is painted. It's kinda strange that it is uniformly discolored across the exposed surface which implies to me that it wasn't direct sunlight. It looks like they switched to material (paint or plastic) that was very light sensitive.

Bummer either way. It looks like a part somebody found off another color vehicle.

 

They should have just made it RED then... rather than the off color. I would say another "mismatch" of sub-quality materials, like the interior wood being off colored and not stanned consistently to each other.

 

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