What 33 owners told NHTSA about the 2019 Lexus ES 350

The first incident occurred sometime in late June/early July...indicator lights mentioned below came on and I cleaned off sensors and indicator lamps disappeared on this occurrence. On July 13 2022, I was driving on a busy local road when the following malfunction indicators were displayed: brake system warning, 'check' engine malfunction indicator lamp, electric power steering system warning, parking support brake system, and pre-collision system. As these indicators were displayed, simultaneously the vehicle decelerated to an almost complete stop on the road (though I was pressing gas pedal to floor) and then to a complete stop as I was able to blessedly pull over to a gas station without getting hit (the car sounded like putt, putt as it shut down). The vehicle would not start even though I cleaned off the sensors this time...I sat for about 15-30 minutes and the vehicle restarted and resume normal operations until I was able to get home safely. This happened again on 15 July 2022 while I was driving on I-75N, a truly busy interstate, I was switching lanes to get to the far right lane when all of a sudden, the aforementioned indicator lamps displayed and the vehicle decelerated to a complete stop as I was able to pull over onto the shoulder of the highway...I believe since I had a family member following me, that definitely kept an accident from occurring along with the oversight of the good Lord. While we sat and waited for tow services, I tried wiping the sensors to no avail...yet, upon 30 minutes of waiting, the vehicle restarted and resumed normal operations. I drove vehicle to an auto shop in which they did a vehicle diagnostics check and couldn't find anything wrong...they even drove vehicle to see if problem would reoccur but to no avail.

NHTSA ODI 11475224

The contact's wife owns a 2019 Lexus ES350. The contact stated that while attempting to park in between two vehicles with his foot on the brake pedal, the vehicle independently accelerated without warning. The vehicle jumped the parking barrier and hit stanchion which caused the vehicle to stop. The airbags did not deploy and the vehicle's electrical warning sensors also failed to operate as needed. No injuries were reported at the scene. Both fire and police reported immediately to the scene and a police report was filed. Due to the failure, the vehicle was towed to a dealer and the contact was given a loaner vehicle. The manufacturer was also notified of the failure and the contact agreed to have the black box inspected for an investigation. The contact was informed that an investigator would be sent to the dealer and that the investigation would last approximately two months. The vehicle remained in the possession of the dealer. The failure mileage was approximately 18,400.

NHTSA ODI 11424038

SINCE I BOUGHT THE CAR IN OCT 2019, THIS HAPPENS EVERYTIME I AM ON LOCAL ROADS (SPEED <50MPH), WHEN I SLOWDOWN PER THE TRAFFIC FLOW, OR TAKING TURN (LEFT OR RIGHT) AFTER YIELDING, THE CAR HESITATES TO ACCELERATE AS IF THE GAS PEDAL DIED ON ME AND THEN I PUSH THE PEDAL FURTHER DOWN ONLY TO GET THE CAR DOWNSHIFT DRASTICALLY AND REVVING UP TO ALMOST ALWAYS ABOUT THE HIT THE CAR IN FRONT (IF ANY) OF ME. IN THE FEW TIMES I AM ON HIGHWAY, WHEN I NEED TO SPEED UP TO CHANGE THE LANE THE CAR ACCELERATES UNPREDICTABLY MAKING THE DRIVING A SCARY EXPERIENCE.

NHTSA ODI 11377378