Costly Drink Spill
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Driver School Candidate
Joined: Jul 2009
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From: LA
Costly Drink Spill
Hey guys, I'm new at this so please be patient!
Long story short, my husband drove my 2008 LX570 to the beach with the kids, and somehow (although nobody is admitting to it) a drink must have been knocked over in the front console drink holder. The next day I started LX570 and 5 warning lights flashed. After 3 calls to Lexus Roadside (what a joke), it was towed 3 hours to nearest Lexus dealership. According to service dept., spilled drink caused 4x4 computer control board to short out. New board is $1,000 plus labor, rental car, and towing...warranty does not cover damage from drink spills. Have any of you heard of a similar problem? Wouldn't one think drink holders are located in bad spot if drink spill can cause such damage?
Long story short, my husband drove my 2008 LX570 to the beach with the kids, and somehow (although nobody is admitting to it) a drink must have been knocked over in the front console drink holder. The next day I started LX570 and 5 warning lights flashed. After 3 calls to Lexus Roadside (what a joke), it was towed 3 hours to nearest Lexus dealership. According to service dept., spilled drink caused 4x4 computer control board to short out. New board is $1,000 plus labor, rental car, and towing...warranty does not cover damage from drink spills. Have any of you heard of a similar problem? Wouldn't one think drink holders are located in bad spot if drink spill can cause such damage?
Last edited by FRITZ7440; Jul 25, 2009 at 02:16 PM.
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Joined: Feb 2009
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From: SA
Hey guys, I'm new at this so please be patient!
Long story short, my husband drove my 2008 LX570 to the beach with the kids, and somehow (although nobody is admitting to it) a drink must have been knocked over in the front console drink holder. The next day I started LX570 and 5 warning lights flashed. After 3 calls to Lexus Roadside (what a joke), it was towed 3 hours to nearest Lexus dealership. According to service dept., spilled drink caused 4x4 computer control board to short out. New board is $1,000 plus labor, rental car, and towing...warranty does not cover damage from drink spills. Have any of you heard of a similar problem? Wouldn't one think drink holders are located in bad spot if drink spill can cause such damage?
Long story short, my husband drove my 2008 LX570 to the beach with the kids, and somehow (although nobody is admitting to it) a drink must have been knocked over in the front console drink holder. The next day I started LX570 and 5 warning lights flashed. After 3 calls to Lexus Roadside (what a joke), it was towed 3 hours to nearest Lexus dealership. According to service dept., spilled drink caused 4x4 computer control board to short out. New board is $1,000 plus labor, rental car, and towing...warranty does not cover damage from drink spills. Have any of you heard of a similar problem? Wouldn't one think drink holders are located in bad spot if drink spill can cause such damage?
I think you could've argue, convince them that the cups holder IS EXPECTED to have spilled liquids on it...
Good luck,
Driver School Candidate
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 45
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From: Alaska
I think that you can argue, that drink holder at that location should be able to handle spilled drinks. At the very least this is a major design flaw not to have some protection around a critial computer component at that location. They should cover the cost of the replacement part and come up with something to protect the rest of their units.
Larry
Larry
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Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 3,426
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From: VA
I think that you can argue, that drink holder at that location should be able to handle spilled drinks. At the very least this is a major design flaw not to have some protection around a critial computer component at that location. They should cover the cost of the replacement part and come up with something to protect the rest of their units.
Larry
Larry
Driver School Candidate
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 45
Likes: 0
From: Alaska
Larry
Thread Starter
Driver School Candidate
Joined: Jul 2009
Posts: 3
Likes: 0
From: LA
...just to clarify a few things...I did not mention any drink spill to the Lexus service department. As a matter of fact, there was no recent spill, certainly not a 20 oz drink. The only spill any of us can remember is the top of a really full ICEE fell off, allowing a small amount (maybe 4 ozs) of ICEE overflow to leak onto the control area. I immediately cleaned it up...and get this...that was over a year ago!!! When the console was dismantled in an attmept to diagnose the problem, they found a small amount of old sticky cola residue on this "control" part of the 4x4 system. The service manager felt it took that long for the cola to cause sufficient corrosion to short out the system. The bottom line, as far as I'm concerned, is that Lexus has a design flaw in the location of the 4x4 controls. Let me also share the outcome of my story. Thanks to an incredible service department manager in Mobile, Alabama, my vehicle was repaired...free of charge. I'm really not sure how he managed it, but he felt this was also a design problem on the part of Lexus, and this was not the first time he has seen a similar problem.
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Pole Position
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 3,426
Likes: 7
From: VA
...just to clarify a few things...I did not mention any drink spill to the Lexus service department. As a matter of fact, there was no recent spill, certainly not a 20 oz drink. The only spill any of us can remember is the top of a really full ICEE fell off, allowing a small amount (maybe 4 ozs) of ICEE overflow to leak onto the control area. I immediately cleaned it up...and get this...that was over a year ago!!! When the console was dismantled in an attmept to diagnose the problem, they found a small amount of old sticky cola residue on this "control" part of the 4x4 system. The service manager felt it took that long for the cola to cause sufficient corrosion to short out the system. The bottom line, as far as I'm concerned, is that Lexus has a design flaw in the location of the 4x4 controls. Let me also share the outcome of my story. Thanks to an incredible service department manager in Mobile, Alabama, my vehicle was repaired...free of charge. I'm really not sure how he managed it, but he felt this was also a design problem on the part of Lexus, and this was not the first time he has seen a similar problem.
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