Driver's side door won't unlock
#16
Driver School Candidate
Success!
Welp 2 years later and I am experiencing the same issue. Driver door won't unlock. It's such bs on a luxury car. They couldn't get the door locks right? Really? Anyways my symptoms are this:
Put my hand on driver side door handle, nothing happens. Click my key fob to unlock everything unlocks except for driver door. Go to passenger door: put hand on handle everything except the driver door unlocks. Guessing it's motor (actuator) in driver door again. I'm calling lexus tomorrow to complain. All of my actuators have been replaced already. This will be my third actuator on this door.
Put my hand on driver side door handle, nothing happens. Click my key fob to unlock everything unlocks except for driver door. Go to passenger door: put hand on handle everything except the driver door unlocks. Guessing it's motor (actuator) in driver door again. I'm calling lexus tomorrow to complain. All of my actuators have been replaced already. This will be my third actuator on this door.
Quick thought though-see this is a situation where the service writer and previous poster were not correct-the problem WAS known to Lexus and when I got vocal and things got embarrassing for my local dealership, yep there was a known problem. All it took was exactly like I'd said to the service manager-do some damn digging. Ask Lexus, ask your techs, do some leg work. As it turned out, I did find other people that had the same problem when I started posting complaints and suggested some methods of investigating the issue. Those people incidentally got their door locks fixed as well.
Good luck. Who knows if it's the same issue but, maybe it is. Like I said, it's not an unknown issue. Mine is FSport IS350, 2014.
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BlazeViper (10-23-21)
#17
Mine is an '07 460. The drivers door lock does not lock or unlock using the fob, but all the locks on the other doors work fine. My independent said it was the motor and the part costs $800. Including tax and labor will total approximately $1,000. I wanted to see what was posted here before going ahead with the repair.
Greg
Greg
#18
Driver School Candidate
I contacted Lexus national and international and posted on some social media sites that I was very unhappy about the poor customer service from the dealership. Suggested the service writer actually talk to his mechanics and ask if they had any ideas,also suggested he contact lexus and ask if this was a problem reported by any other owners, and suggested he actually be interested in the problem because in all honesty the dealership has a miserable track record and reputation but no other dealerships are within a 4 hour drive. Found out, YES, it is a problem and lexus was very aware of it and in fact some of his own texhs were aware of it through whatever lines of communication they were part of with Lexus. Lexus has even manufactured a specific part to fix the issue. Here's the problem: if you are touching the door handle from the inside of the car and have any pressure on the locking toggle when you get out, even just a small amount of pressure, and I'm talking about just having your hand brushing against the toggle, it positions a small arm within the locking mechanism to a point that makes locking the driver's door from the outside (with the fob) possible but causes it to be impossible to unlock with the fob. Sounds ridiculous and I doubted it but I could reproduce the issue as many times as I cared to. And, Lexus could instruct the service manager how to reproduce the problem and he could do it over and over. There's a small piece of hardware that's been manufactured and is added to the locking mechanism to prevent it. Since I've had the 'interim repair', it's only happened once. Prior to the repair, it happened at least once per day. I'd gotten into a habit of getting out of my car the same way every time and I was goofing up the mechanism every time. I wasn't doing anything stupid or special, it's just where the handle and toggle are positioned. It's not an uncommon problem turns out.
Quick thought though-see this is a situation where the service writer and previous poster were not correct-the problem WAS known to Lexus and when I got vocal and things got embarrassing for my local dealership, yep there was a known problem. All it took was exactly like I'd said to the service manager-do some damn digging. Ask Lexus, ask your techs, do some leg work. As it turned out, I did find other people that had the same problem when I started posting complaints and suggested some methods of investigating the issue. Those people incidentally got their door locks fixed as well.
Good luck. Who knows if it's the same issue but, maybe it is. Like I said, it's not an unknown issue. Mine is FSport IS350, 2014.
Quick thought though-see this is a situation where the service writer and previous poster were not correct-the problem WAS known to Lexus and when I got vocal and things got embarrassing for my local dealership, yep there was a known problem. All it took was exactly like I'd said to the service manager-do some damn digging. Ask Lexus, ask your techs, do some leg work. As it turned out, I did find other people that had the same problem when I started posting complaints and suggested some methods of investigating the issue. Those people incidentally got their door locks fixed as well.
Good luck. Who knows if it's the same issue but, maybe it is. Like I said, it's not an unknown issue. Mine is FSport IS350, 2014.
#20
Lexus Fanatic
Mine is an '07 460. The drivers door lock does not lock or unlock using the fob, but all the locks on the other doors work fine. My independent said it was the motor and the part costs $800. Including tax and labor will total approximately $1,000. I wanted to see what was posted here before going ahead with the repair.
Greg
Greg
#21
Driver School Candidate
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: CA
Posts: 26
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Well, for me, every door lock has now failed on my 2012 LS460. Even by using the internal door lock/unlock switch, eventually each door lock has failed to the point where the only way to get in through that door is to manually pull on the lock itself.
Front passenger door - died a few years ago. Local Toyota dealer said there is a plastic mechanism in the door lock that wears out. Had to replace the whole thing - $900
Rear Right passenger door - died about a year ago. Died just before someone side-swiped me. So, the local shop fixing that side of the car made the same diagnosis on the door - $800
Rear Left passenger door - died a few months back. Been super busy so just let it go for awhile.
Front Driver door - just died this past week. Seriously?!?!
So, I'm wondering what to do next. This is just utterly ridiculous and I really can't believe I have to take a $90k car in the replace every single lock that has failed! Any advice?
Front passenger door - died a few years ago. Local Toyota dealer said there is a plastic mechanism in the door lock that wears out. Had to replace the whole thing - $900
Rear Right passenger door - died about a year ago. Died just before someone side-swiped me. So, the local shop fixing that side of the car made the same diagnosis on the door - $800
Rear Left passenger door - died a few months back. Been super busy so just let it go for awhile.
Front Driver door - just died this past week. Seriously?!?!
So, I'm wondering what to do next. This is just utterly ridiculous and I really can't believe I have to take a $90k car in the replace every single lock that has failed! Any advice?
#22
Lexus Fanatic
Well, for me, every door lock has now failed on my 2012 LS460. Even by using the internal door lock/unlock switch, eventually each door lock has failed to the point where the only way to get in through that door is to manually pull on the lock itself.
Front passenger door - died a few years ago. Local Toyota dealer said there is a plastic mechanism in the door lock that wears out. Had to replace the whole thing - $900
Rear Right passenger door - died about a year ago. Died just before someone side-swiped me. So, the local shop fixing that side of the car made the same diagnosis on the door - $800
Rear Left passenger door - died a few months back. Been super busy so just let it go for awhile.
Front Driver door - just died this past week. Seriously?!?!
So, I'm wondering what to do next. This is just utterly ridiculous and I really can't believe I have to take a $90k car in the replace every single lock that has failed! Any advice?
Front passenger door - died a few years ago. Local Toyota dealer said there is a plastic mechanism in the door lock that wears out. Had to replace the whole thing - $900
Rear Right passenger door - died about a year ago. Died just before someone side-swiped me. So, the local shop fixing that side of the car made the same diagnosis on the door - $800
Rear Left passenger door - died a few months back. Been super busy so just let it go for awhile.
Front Driver door - just died this past week. Seriously?!?!
So, I'm wondering what to do next. This is just utterly ridiculous and I really can't believe I have to take a $90k car in the replace every single lock that has failed! Any advice?
#24
Lexus Fanatic
#25
Driver School Candidate
Why does the door unlock if I hit the button on the key fob but does not unlock when I touch the door handle? I think there may be two different issues going on here.
#26
Lexus Test Driver
Did it unlock when you touched the door handle prior? If not I believe that is an option under the "Customize" tab on TechStream. Your dealer should be able to change that setting for you.
#27
Driver School Candidate
The door handle works about half of the time, its just an intermittent problem. When it doesn't work, I have to press lock on the key fob and then unlock and then it will unlock. Is there a sensitivity pad on the back of the handle that may need to be cleaned or replaced possibly?
#28
Does the failure-to -unlock when you touch the handle happen every time, or just some of the time? What happens when you unlock the door with the wireless remote key, don't open it, wait for the auto-relock (you should hear it re-lock after a minute or so), and then try to unlock it by touching the door handle? The reason I ask is that the car is designed to disable the touch-unlock in certain situations. I believe your owner's manual explains this.
#29
Driver School Candidate
Of course, this week it is working perfectly! It is an occasional problem. Does anyone know how touching the handle unlocks the door? Is there a pressure pad or something else?
#30
Driver School Candidate
Drivers door does not open when you touch the handle
SAME issue. Intermittently, when I touch the driver's handle to open the door, the driver's door will not open. However all of the other doors WILL open. I have replaced BOTH key FOB batteries with brand new batteries. This is very frustrating as I understand that Lexus is aware of this issue. I will NOT pay to fix this. Will they cover any repair for free? The care is a Lexus 2015 300h. I love the car other than this issue. Additionally, anyone know how to turn on the beep when a car is in close proximity to my car....at present, the light will light on the side mirrors. I can't believe you can not turn on a beep to warn you when another vehicle is close. Honda's beep. Thanks! Fred