by Siddharth Raja

Lexus cars are regarded as some of the safest on the road, however a new lawsuit against the company could tarnish this reputation. A class action brought about by a Florida law firm alleges that the Lexus ES350 is fitted with a faulty front passenger airbag sensor that could prevent the airbag from triggering in the event of a collision.

The suit goes on to explain that the defective vehicles are fitted with a weight sensor that gauges the weight of the person in the front passenger seat, but that these sensors have been found to be faulty.

One representative claims that he tested multiple ES350 vehicles and found them to be defective, as did other customers from across the country. Worse, it claims Toyota was warned about these issues and failed to correct them. The owners want Toyota to recall and repurchase all ES350s, refunds for those that leased the cars, each car to be refitted with a working airbag system, and compensation for any loss of value and costs owners incurred during this process. We’ll be watching this one closely.

[Source: Business Wire via The Truth About Cars]

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by Siddharth Raja

An all-weather floor mat available in the Lexus ES350 sedan that can jam the throttle and cause the car to accelerate on its own is being investigated by the NHTSA following 40 separate incidents of the frightening event occurring. Of the 40 drivers that experienced unintended acceleration, eight ended up crashing the vehicle with 12 injuries recorded overall.

Toyota told officials that it had mailed out a letter earlier in the year warning owners that the problem was caused by the mats not being secured properly, but the NHTSA is continuing its investigation to determine if Toyota’s response was adequate. One outcome from the NHTSA’s latest investigation could see Toyota conducting a recall, though this seems unlikely.

If this sounds familiar, you’d be right. Just yesterday we posted a story about runaway Toyota Prius hybrid cars. Officials cited the same faulty floor-mats as the reason for the problems, but most owners believe a defect in the car itself is the main reason.

Lexus is also facing a potential lawsuit over the airbag system in the ES350.

[Source: Denver Post]

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Lexus is the luxury vehicle division of Japanese automaker Toyota Motor Corporation. Lexus brand name vehicles are sold in North America, Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Oceania, Africa, and Latin America; in the United States, Lexus is the highest-selling brand of luxury cars. In 2005, the Lexus marque launched in Japan, marking the continued global expansion of the luxury division.
Since its debut in 1989, Lexus has developed a reputation for the reliability of its vehicles and the quality of its customer service. In 2006, consumer ratings firm J.D. Power and Associates named Lexus the most reliable brand in the U.S. based on its Vehicle Dependability Survey, a measure of over 47,000 vehicle owners and the problems they experienced in the first three years of vehicle ownership. It was the twelfth consecutive year that Lexus achieved this top rating.[1] In recent years, Consumer Reports has also named Lexus among the top five most reliable brands in its Annual Car Reliability Surveys of over one million vehicles nationwide.[2] Additionally, Lexus ranks highly on surveys of dealership service experience. The British Top Gear and Auto Express satisfaction surveys have had Lexus at the top of their ratings since the entry of the luxury division, with high reliability and quality among the main selling points of Lexus around the world.
The worldwide motto of Lexus in multiple countries is “The Pursuit of Perfection.” Lexus has used this signature phrase since its inception. The slogan of the Lexus division in the U.S. is “The Passionate Pursuit of Perfection.”

Source: Wikipedia

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by Dan Roth

Unless we see LS 460s and Lucernes out on the greens tearing it up in a combination demolition derby-polo match, we’re going back to sleep. In a snore-inducing move, Lexus has signed up with the US Golf Association to be the official vehicle of the US Open, US Women’s Open, US Senior Open, and US Amateur. Lexus will also be the USGA’s first-ever automotive partner. Tiger, however, will stick with Buick.

Lexus stepped up their involvement with the sport in an effort to further engage their customers, who are apparently passionate about golf. In support of their collaboration with the USGA, Lexus will be rolling out a multifaceted media campaign including advertising, direct marketing, events, and, of course, the auto brand will be on-site at USGA events. We’re sure to see more Lexus branding and signage in television coverage, as well. The Lexus golf team has been expanded by the addition of some members from the Toyota team, and there’s some big names playing for the brand. Lexus is actually involved in sponsoring many different types of sporting events — polo, tennis, golf, sailing; a laundry-list of rarefied sports.

We suppose that there probably are a fair amount of Lexi in country-club parking lots, and most of them can haul a foursome’s worth of clubs without a hiccup. Golf just seems so… dispassionate and indifferent from a car guy’s point of view. Then again, that’s the prevailing car guy notion of Lexus, as well; perhaps it really does make for a neat dovetail. Golf is not particularly easy to excel at, nor is it easy to build cars as obsessively tweezed as the Lexus lineup, but neither golf nor luxo-Toyotas get our adrenaline pumping as much as a simple parking lot autocross with something as mundane as a ‘91 Scoupe.

You can find the press release after the jump.

[Source: Lexus via Automotive News - sub req’d]

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Once you’ve decided the old Locomobile or YT-1300 freighter simply isn’t on the cutting edge of technology anymore and are ready to take a mallet to the piggy bank in order to upgrade your motoring experience, you may want to peruse this list from Forbes, which list’s Figrin D’an Lienert’s top technological vehicles. Watch out for Greedo, though. We he hear he hangs out ’round those parts. Dude’ll carjack your Veyron sure as shit. – Davey G. Johnson

Acura RDX
Audi R8
BMW Hydrogen 7
BMW M6 Convertible
Bugatti Veyron
Lexus LS Hybrid
Mercedes E320 Bluetec
Mercedes S600
Porsche 911 Turbo
Rolls-Royce Phantom Drophead

[Forbes]

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by Damon Lavrinc

About this time last month, Automotive News reported that Lexus would reintroduce their L-tuned lineup of vehicles in order to compete in the ever-growing, performance luxury marketplace. Well, it seems that the letter ‘L’ has been dispatched in order to make room for the real performance division of Lexus.

‘F,’ as it turns out, stands for ‘fast,’ and will grace the trunk lid of Lexus vehicles that seek to do battle amidst the AMGs and Ms of the world.

The first F-inagled Lexus to make its debut will be a hotted-up version of the IS sedan, equipped with a 5-liter V8. What was originally assumed to be called the IS500, the newly dubbed IS-F will come with a revised version of the V8 that resides in the LS600h L and will produce upwards of 425 HP. Pricing is expected to come in around $50k, and is aimed squarely at the upcoming M3.

Other models expected to get the ‘F’ treatment include the GS sedan and a coupe version of the IS.

According to Automotive News, Lexus filed for a trademark on the IS-F and also for the ‘F’ logo above, however, Lexus has not confirmed the reports.

[Source: Automotive News – Sub. Req.]

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