Consumer Reports Cars Blog: Lexus

Lexus

November 18, 2009

Toyota safety recall notices arrive in owners’ mailboxes

Late September, Toyota Motor Sales issued advice online for Lexus and Toyota vehicle owners to remove their floor mats pending further investigation into sudden acceleration complaints. As promised, the automaker has sent notifications by mail detailing the risks and corrective measures for owners.

The impacted vehicles identified by Toyota include:

2005 - 2010 Toyota Avalon
2007 - 2010 Toyota Camry
2004 - 2009 Toyota Prius
2005 - 2010 Toyota Tacoma
2007 - 2010 Toyota Tundra
2007 - 2010 Lexus ES350
2006 - 2010 Lexus IS250 and IS350

FloorMatRecall_2 An “interim” notice received by a Consumer Reports staff member lists the specific, factory-approved mats for their Prius. (A sample letter can be view as a pdf.) It advises “Only install floor mats designed specifically for the model and model year.” The multi-page letter provides instructions for identifying the floor mat part number (located on the bottom of the back side of the mat) to confirm appropriate fitment.

The letter warns not to stack mats. This is particularly important with the approach of winter, as many motorists want to install all-weather mats. Such mats are designed to better hold water and debris, and therefore are generally thicker. As with all mats, again, only install models specifically designed for your vehicle.

A key concern is that a mat may interfere with the accelerator or brake pedal. These pedals should move freely without touching a mat.

The bottom-line advice from Toyota is to “take out any removable driver’s floor mat and not replace it… until the campaign remedy is ready and implemented on your vehicle.”

Toyota will notify owners as soon as a remedy is available. And as we have reported separately, there is an indication that they are looking beyond the floor mats to a possible change to the accelerator pedals. (Read: “Toyota may address gas pedals in acceleration recall.”)

Be prepared in case of sudden acceleration on a Lexus, Toyota, or model from any other brand by reading these steps from Toyota, and our test-based advice:
Putting a car in Neutral might save your life
Putting stuck floor mat survival strategies to the test

For more information, visit Toyota.com/floormats.

Learn about safety technologies in our car safety section.

—Jeff Bartlett

November 17, 2009

Toyota may shorten gas pedals in acceleration recall

Toyota will reportedly offer to shorten gas pedals in up to four million of its vehicles, following the company’s largest recall in history for unintended acceleration. This latest solution, following a recall last month asking owners to remove the floor mats in their vehicles, was reported by the Kyodo News and further covered by Reuters.

In a Consumer Reports interview, Toyota Communications Manager for Safety and Quality Brian Lyons called the reports “unsubstantiated.” He said, “We are still developing vehicle-based remedies and still in open discussions with NHTSA, but we’re not ready to announce anything.”

After the floor mat recall, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) insisted that Toyota do more to address the design flaws in the vehicle that were contributing to the problem. Such criticisms included designs that NHTSA says make it difficult for drivers to stop the car in the event of unintended acceleration.

In the 1980s, Audi found itself scrutinized for a series of unintended acceleration incidents. Its recall solution was to move the gas and brake pedals farther apart and to install the first brake-shift-interlock, a device that prevents the transmission from being shifted out of park unless the brake pedal is depressed.

Toyota has blamed floor mats getting stuck and jamming the accelerator pedals to the floor in some accidents. (Read “Misaligned floor mat may have caused calamity.”) If this is a primary cause for the reported sudden acceleration complaints, raising the gas pedal higher off the floor (up toward the driver’s toes) may help alleviate that problem. However, NHTSA said that the investigation into the cause(s) isn’t over.

—Eric Evarts

November 5, 2009

Toyota recall and investigation is not over, yet

It turns out the investigation into Toyota/Lexus sudden acceleration, which prompted the largest recall in the company’s history to remove floor mats that could interfere with the accelerator pedal, isn’t over.

On Monday, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) denied a petition to conduct an additional investigation into sudden acceleration, noting that the agency had previously investigated several similar complaints and that a new investigation was unlikely to draw any new conclusions.

Toyota quickly jumped on the news to proclaim that NHTSA had found no cause for the unwanted acceleration “other than the risk from an unsecured or incompatible driver’s floor mat.” (Original Toyota release.)

Yesterday, NHTSA rebutted that statement with a press release of its own, “correcting inaccurate and misleading information put out by Toyota,” and calling the floor mat recall “an interim measure, not a remedy.”

“This remedy does not correct the underlying defect in the vehicles involving the potential for entrapment of the accelerator by floor mats, which is related to accelerator and floor pan design,” the NHTSA statement says.

In the end, runaway acceleration can happen for lots of reasons. There is no substitute for knowing how to stop the car in an emergency, as we’ve detailed in a series of recent blog entries and tests.

No matter what brand automobile you drive, be sure to read "How to stop a runaway car: Don’t pump the brakes" and "Putting a car in Neutral might save your life." And the report "Owners of Toyota cars in rebellion over series of accidents caused by sudden acceleration" at ABCNews.com.

—Eric Evarts

November 4, 2009

How to stop a runaway car: Don’t pump the brakes

Despite a massive recall by Toyota of 3.8 million vehicles to address sudden runaway acceleration, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is still investigating the exact cause of this problem. They are concerned that the accelerator pedal getting stuck by the floor mat – the purpose of the recall - is not the exclusive cause, according to the New York Times.

Whatever the cause of unintended acceleration, the best defense is to know how to safely regain control of the car should it happen to you. In a previous post, we wrote that putting a car in Neutral might save your life. Our latest tests show that pumping the brakes at full throttle can make a bad problem even worse, as demonstrated this video from ABC News. (See the report "Owners of Toyota cars in rebellion over series of accidents caused by sudden acceleration" at ABCNews.com.)

A NHTSA report released this week points out that some drivers can “react by applying the brake pedal multiple times, depleting the braking system’s (vacuum based) power assist.

Testing theory at the track
We decided to find out just how quickly you could lose power brakes with a stuck throttle. Using our test track and several test vehicles, we accelerated to 60 mph and hit the brakes with the accelerator still floored. Once the brakes were applied, the vehicles began fighting us. The transmissions downshifted trying to maintain speed.

Instead of holding the brakes, we tried pumping them. This test confirmed that pumping the brakes is a really bad strategy. Power brakes rely on engine vacuum to provide additional brake pressure. At full throttle, the engine doesn’t generate any vacuum. So as soon as we removed and reapplied pressure to the brake pedal, the power assist disappeared and stopping the car became hopeless. “There was no way I could push hard enough on the brakes to slow the car down when the engine was fighting me,” said Sr. Automotive Engineer Jake Fisher.

Bottom line
The best strategy to stop a runaway car is to press and hold the brakes and shift into neutral. Modern cars have rev limiters, which will protect the engine from over-revving. Even if your car doesn’t, don’t worry about your engine’s life—worry about your own.

—Eric Evarts

November 3, 2009

2009 Annual Auto Reliability Survey: 10 best and worst models

Just because a model is reliable doesn’t mean it is recommended by Consumer Reports. Four out of the top 10 most reliable vehicles don’t perform well enough in our tests for us to recommend them. The opposite happens as well—some vehicles that score well in our testing are not recommended because they have below average reliability. Seven out of the 10 least reliable vehicles have high enough test scores to be recommended, but their poor reliability prevents them from reaching that recommended status. So, it’s important to look at both performance in our tests as well as reliability because a high scoring car isn’t always a smart purchase choice if it isn’t reliable.

Our 2009 Annual Auto Survey reveals the best and worst vehicles in reliability based on our subscribers’ experiences with 1.4 million vehicles over the past 10 years (2000-2009). Our data helps determine which used cars to choose as well as to forecast how the 2010 models will hold up.

The vehicles listed below are the top 10 most and least reliable new cars in our reliability survey. Models with an asterisk (*) are based on data of one model year only. Click on the vehicles below to visit the model overview pages to see how they performed in our tests and also view a more-detailed look at reliability broken down by 17 potential trouble spots. (Model overview pages are available to online subscribers.)

Most reliable vehicles, listed in order of Ratings score starting with the best score.

Least reliable vehicles, listed in order of Ratings score starting with the worst score.

For more details on our 2009 Annual Auto Survey including the full list of most and least reliable new cars by vehicle type, see our reliability report. Also, check out our guide to car reliability for more details on new and used car reliability, as well as owner satisfaction.

—Liza Barth

November 2, 2009

Gas-pedal inspection shows most do not pivot

Preliminary federal investigation into a highly publicized unintended-acceleration crash involving a Lexus ES 350 crash this past August is pointing toward incorrect floor mats as a significant factor. The cause of the crash is described as “very excessive speed” linked to the accelerator being fully depressed. (Read "More than floor mats: NHTSA report gives more details on Lexus crash.")

Toyota issued a recall on 3.8 million cars to have owners remove the floor mats from the vehicles. But the other part of the equation in the investigation is the accelerator pedal itself. An initial investigation of the crashed car found the rubberized plastic all-weather floor mat was fused to the rubberized plastic accelerator pedal in the fire that followed the crash (pdf). That mat wasn’t intended for the ES; rather it was a mat from an RX 400h.

The report also noted that the Lexus’s accelerator “is not hinged and has no means for relieving forces caused by interferences.” All gas pedals move up and down to control the engine speed, and most are hinged either at the top or the bottom. Some pedals also tilt relative to the arm they’re mounted on (though this has no effect on the throttle. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) seems to imply that if the pedal had a second hinge, it might have been easier for the driver to get it unstuck from the floor mat.

Kia-Pedal-pivot

We checked our Auto Test Center parking lot to find how many cars had such a double-hinged pedal. Of 45 cars we checked, we found only the Kia Optima LX four-cylinder had a double-hinged pedal (show right)—our Optima EX V6 did not. In the LX sedan, the pedal was so high off the floor that it seems unlikely that an unsecured floor mat could reach it, as investigators suggest may have been the case in the Lexus crash. All other pedals checked in our lot were rigid, one-piece designs (see above), some hinged at the top, and some at the bottom.

We’re not sure whether the double-hinged design would help or not. But it seems an answer not many automakers are pursuing. For its part, Toyota says it is working on solutions that prevent the throttle from sticking, rather than those that would mitigate the effects of a stuck throttle.

—Eric Evarts

October 30, 2009

Just In: Audi A5, Infiniti G37, and Lexus IS convertibles

We recently shook off a spurt of December-like weather here in Connecticut and recent rains that have made it a colder, less pleasant October than normal. That cut into our top-down time with our three new convertibles, as well as our beloved Miata roadster.

Lexus IS 250 C
Our Lexus IS 250 C’s 204-hp is outgunned by most competitors, and the small-displacement powertrain has its work cut out for it moving around the 3,845-lb. folding hardtop convertible. (You can get an IS 350 convertible, but we bought the more popular, smaller-engined version.)

Our car has the Luxury Package (HIDs, heated/ventilated front seats with memory, wood interior trim), park assist, and a few other options, bringing the total to $44,400. (At that point, a $100 option for headlamp washers seems cheap -- just make them standard, already.)

Like the IS sedan, our first impressions of the convertible are that it’s a very pleasant and well-finished car, but it falls somewhat short of thrilling an enthusiast driver. As such, it is a reasonable successor to the now-defunct Toyota Camry Solara convertible.

See our convertible buying advice, recommended convertibles, and convertible ratings.

Infiniti G37
The Infiniti G37 convertible comes with only one engine option: a lovely 325-hp, 3.7-liter V6. Ours has a seven-speed automatic transmission; when that gear box appeared last year on the G37 sedan, it improved fuel economy significantly.

We also got the Premium Package, which adds a Bose Open Air Sound System, including “front seat personal speakers” in the headrests that work quite well. There are also heated and cooled front seats, driver’s seat memory, power tilt/telescope wheel, and an iPod controller. Also adding “genuine African rosewood trim” put the sticker at $48,715.

We’re big fans of the G37; it’s currently our top-rated compact sports sedan. However, the convertible is having a harder time winning people over. The responsive steering, slick powertrain, and comfortable seats remain, but the move to a convertible didn’t help structure or the ride. One nice feature in our car is the standard rearview camera -- convertibles end to suffer from visibility problems with the top up.

Audi A5 quattro
Audi has had a history of being something of a bargain upscale brand. But looking at some of their current pricing suggests one of two things: either they’ve been successful at shaking that bargain image, or they’re getting downright audacious. (Maybe a bit of both.) Our $49,300 Audi A5 convertible is one such example.

The A5 convertible has a folding soft top, unique in a world of now-common folding hardtops. Our car also has a 211-hp, 2.0-liter, turbocharged four-cylinder engine. Our Premium plus model adds HID headlights, 18-inch alloy wheels, heated front seats, and an iPod controller. Throw in $400 of “dark walnut wood inlays” and $475 of quartz gray metallic paint and you get a sticker of $49,300.

Let’s compare. You can buy a well-equipped Volkswagen Eos, a very well-finished convertible with a folding hardtop and the same engine (making slightly less hp) as our Audi, for $37,290. At the other extreme, a BMW 328i convertible with similar equipment costs $50,900 -- not much more for a car with a folding hardtop and two more cylinders.

Our pricing protest is somewhat tempered by Audi offering a unique feature for a convertible: all-wheel drive. BMW, Infiniti, and Lexus don’t offer their all-wheel drive systems on their convertibles.

We have found that the lack of a complex folding hard top doesn’t hurt the A5’s livability, and allows for opening and closing the top on the move (it works up to 25 mph or so).

All three convertibles are going through break-in miles as they progress through our multi-week test regimen. Look for further coverage and full road tests in coming months. Learn more about buying a convertible.

—Tom Mutchler

October 29, 2009

More than floor mats: NHTSA report gives more details on Lexus crash

It may not be just floor mats that lead to sudden unintended acceleration in Toyota and Lexus models, which were factors in killed California Highway Patrolman Mark Saylor and his family this summer.

More information has come to light regarding Toyota Motor Company’s 3.8-million vehicle recall for sudden unintended acceleration. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has released a report about its inspection of the vehicle that suggests factors beyond the floor mats as potential culprits or complicating factors (NHTSA report pdf).

Highlights include:

According to the NHTSA report, the mats in the Lexus ES 350 that Saylor was driving were made for a Lexus RX 400h SUV, not the ES 350 sedan.
The gas pedal was fused to the mat in the fire that ensued after the crash. The gas pedal used a single hinge on the upper end, and it did not have a center pivot that might have made it easier to get the pedal out from under a floor mat. (To be fair, most accelerator pedals lack a center pivot – of 44 cars we surveyed in our parking lot, only the Kia Optima had a center hinge pivot.)

The Lexus that Saylor was driving had a keyless ignition, which uses a start/stop button to start and stop the engine. There is no traditional key to turn if you need to shut the engine off in an emergency. In the case of the ES 350, the button needs to be held for three seconds before it will turn off the engine if the car is in gear. Toyota says it considered this a safety feature to prevent the engine from turning off if the button were pressed accidentally. However, the report points out that Saylor was traveling at an estimated 100 mph—that’s the equivalent of traveling one and a half football field in three seconds.

The ES had a data recorder but its information has not yet been reviewed.

Brian Lyons, Toyota’s manager of safety and quality communications, says the company is looking at features to mitigate problems with stuck accelerators following the accident. “Our focus is on avoidance of the problem, rather than measures to mitigate it” in case the throttle becomes stuck, he says.

Bottom line:
As the investigation continues, we expect further insights to emerge from both federal departments and Toyota, especially once the event data recorder has been examined. In the meantime, Consumer Reports will continue to explore related issues, as we have done previously with our blog posts on floor mats and unintended acceleration survival strategies.

For now, our advice remains that moving the gear selector to neutral is the best option.

—Eric Evarts

Updated 11/3/09

October 28, 2009

2009 Annual Auto Reliability Survey: Best and worst models by car maker

It is easy to assume that certain automakers build only reliable cars and others don’t, however, nearly every manufacturer have their share of winners and losers in our annual reliability survey. Each company and even brand product portfolio runs a spectrum of reliability performance, with its own best and worst examples. For some, the range can span from much better than average to much worse than average, whereas other may be centered around average. The key lesson from scanning the data within an automaker is not to make assumptions.

For example, the best Toyota Motor Company model in our reliability survey is the Lexus SC—its predicted reliability score is the second highest out of over 300 vehicles, but the worst is the Lexus GS (AWD), which scores in the bottom 10 percent, and receives a much worse than average rating, and is not recommended in our testing. While it is true that Lexus models tend to be reliable and test well, this is not the case for all Lexus vehicles.

The greatest disparity comes from Volkswagen. The VW Golf (aka Rabbit) is one of the most reliable small cars you can buy, but the Volkswagen Touareg has the lowest predicted reliability score in our 2009 Annual Auto Survey.

In most cases, the best model for reliability is a recommended model and the worst is not. However, Honda’s top reliable vehicle in our survey, the Honda Insight, is not recommended due to low scores in our testing. The least reliable Honda vehicle is the Acura RL, but it has an average reliability score and is recommended. Honda is one of the more consistent manufacturers and has no model that scored below average in reliability.

The two more reliable General Motors products are from two brands that are leaving the GM umbrella. The Saturn Aura (4-cyl.) is newly recommended this year and the Pontiac Vibe will be phased out in the coming months.

Below are the best and worst models in reliability. Models with an * are based on data of one model year only.

BMW
Best: BMW 328i (RWD)
Worst: BMW 535i (AWD)*

Chrysler
Best: Jeep Patriot
Worst: Chrysler Town & Country/Dodge Grand Caravan

Ford
Best: Ford Fusion/Mercury Milan (4-cyl.)
Worst: Ford F-250 (turbodiesel, 4WD)*

General Motors
Best: Chevrolet Malibu (V6)
Worst: Chevrolet Colorado/GMC Canyon (4WD)

Honda
Best: Honda Insight*
Worst: Acura RL

Hyundai/Kia
Best: Hyundai Tucson
Worst: Kia Sedona

Mazda
Best: Mazda3 sedan
Worst: Mazda CX-7

Mercedes-Benz
Best: Mercedes-Benz GLK*
Worst: Mercedes-Benz GL-Class (turbodiesel)*

Nissan
Best: Infiniti M35 (RWD)
Worst: Nissan Versa sedan*

Subaru
Best: Subaru Impreza Outback Sport
Worst: Subaru Impreza WRX*

Toyota
Best: Lexus SC*
Worst: Lexus GS (AWD)

Volkswagen
Best: Volkswagen Golf (Rabbit)
Worst: Volkswagen Touareg*

Volvo
Best: Volvo S40 (FWD)*
Worst: Volvo XC90 (V8)*

The main take away from this information is don’t judge a book by its cover. Avoid assumptions and do your research before you buy your next vehicle. It takes just a few minutes to browse the model overview pages, or use the interactive new car selector tool, which sorts and filters by the parameters that matter most to you.

Either path will reveal Consumer Reports recommended models that did well in our road tests, score average or better in reliability, and performs at least adequately if included in government or insurance industry safety tests.

For more details on our 2009 Annual Auto Survey including the full list of most and least reliable new cars by vehicle type, see our reliability report. Also, check out our guide to car reliability for more details on new and used car reliability as well as owner satisfaction.

—Liza Barth

October 22, 2009

Just In: Lexus HS 250h

Walk into a Lexus dealer with $39,000 to spend on a new sedan and you’ll find you have a surprisingly wide array of choices. That will buy you a Lexus IS 350, a compact rear-wheel drive sedan aimed squarely at the BMW 3 Series. Or, you could get Lexus’ top-selling sedan, the Camry-based ES 350, which is aimed directly at those buyers who used to drive Buicks.

Now there’s a third option: the hybrid-only Lexus HS 250h. Based on the Prius and the sold-overseas Toyota Avensis, the HS uses the Camry Hybrid’s 2.4-liter four-cylinder drivetrain. The HS appears to be aimed at Prius-shopping professionals who want something “nicer” that still gets excellent mileage. Cars like the aforementioned Camry Hybrid, the fun-to-drive Ford Fusion/Mercury Milan Hybrid, or a diesel-powered Volkswagen Jetta TDI might fit that bill, but they don’t have the cachet of the Lexus name. (Vehicle links point to the model overview pages, where online subscribers can access road tests and ratings.)

They don’t have the HS’s price tag, either. Our car is an HS 250h Premium, which gets you a wood and leather trimmed interior, power seats and steering wheel adjustment, and 18-inch wheels. A bunch of piddly little options (spoiler, glass breakage sensors, remote start, a cargo net and trunk mat, and all-weather mats) added a whopping $1,094, bringing the total with destination to $38,939.

We’ll let you know if the HS lives up to Lexus’ standards of quiet refinement as we put miles on our test car.

—Tom Mutchler