Interesting article regarding hesitation problems with the ES

Thanks. This article raises a coupla question in my mind:

(1) The article specifically refers to the 2002-2004 ES. Does omission of the 2005 ES mean that it doesn't have the problem or that it wasn't evaluated for the problem? I was under the impression that the 2005 ES has essentially the same tranny.

(2) Who is this Brad Nelson? Is he saying that Lexus CAN fix the problem?

(3) Mr. Nelson seems to be saying that Lexus is now choosing between two approaches --notifying all 2002-2004 ES owners to get the fix or just fixing the cars of the owners that complain. Am I reading that correctly? Can this be confirmed?

Previously in alt.autos.lexus, Buckshop LeFunk proclaimed :

"Typically, when there are just a handful of people and cars involved and it is not considered a widespread or major issue, we try to handle things through a technical service information bulletin."

..how would Lexus know that it's a "small handful of people" having this problem? The only way is if the dealerships actually report the complaints to Lexus Corporate. And from what I've heard, they usually just blow it off at the dealer level.

Additionally, I'm not confident that it's isolated to the later model years either. The hesitation problem goes *way* back....well before

2002.

IMHO, the only way that Lexus will own up to this problem is to have a massive letter writing campaign by the owners suffering with this problem and make sure that the NTSB and consumer watchdog groups are copied on all correspondence.

Unfortunately, I fear that it will take someone getting killed before they own up to the fact that it's *not* just a handful of people and it's *not* just a couple model years.

I presume the Camry has the same issue.

Previously in alt.autos.lexus, "Elmo P. Shagnasty" proclaimed :

I believe the Camry's have the traditional rod connector system.

I had a similar problem on my earlier '99 LS400 and still do on my current '03 LS430.

I complained to Lexus about the problem (with the LS400), but they claimed that they weren't aware of the problem.

HBH

No, camry is not fly-by-wire... i rented one in California and I was suprised how much better a Camry accelerates -- on the same v-6...

I have a 2002 Camry XLE I-4 with a 4 speed automatic. It has "Throttle by Wire". I live in a very rural part of the country and in 35,000 miles, I haven't had to accelerate so rapidly that a hesitation would matter. On one occasion, at very low speed and on a steep hill. I tried to turn right and speed up gently. The car did hesitate for a significant time before it responded.

One way to detect "Throttle by Wire" is with the cruise control. With a traditional cable throttle, the gas pedal actually moves when going up or down hill as the cruise control computer manages the speed. With a "Throttle by Wire" system, the gas pedal goes to the top and stays there.

When I am going to disable the cruise control, I attempt to return the gas pedal to the correct position to maintain speed without causing a lurch. With a cable throttle, you can lightly put your foot against the gas pedal and then disable the cruise control. It smoothly returns control to your foot.

With "Throttle by Wire" you can not detect the correct position of the gas pedal to avoid this lurch. The gas pedal is at the top of its travel and you can not detect where it should be to smoothly transition to manual control.

Ken

I had a 2002 Camry LE V6 with a 4-speed automatic. It was definite fly-by-wire. It did not have the throttle/transmission lag problem. That problem started with the 5-speed transmission that "learns" your driving styles. So, fly-by-wire is not the problem.

-Doug

Hmm.. interesting,... so this means we could default the Lexus to the Camry logic, and things should be better! Maybe they will be forced to do that!!

I have been complaining to the dealer about this problem since the day we bought the car. The dealer's stock answer is to run premium fuel in the car and the problems will go away. I have already done all the lexus solutions from the dealer and the car still does the same. This is the third toyota product that we have had problems with in the last five years, and I sure as hell won't buy another one. Oh I forgot, the fuel mileage on this piece of junk is horrible.

Doug,

My 92 ES300 with 365k miles still gets about 24 mpg.

Seems like those first and second generation ES300s are sure bets. I'm going to hold on to my 97 as long as possible. Maybe replace it with a 01, but won't consider the current generation.

Previously in alt.autos.lexus, "Rog" proclaimed :

we have an 00 ES300 and it (fortunately) doesn't have the hesitation problem and we average about 23mpg.

I swear this problem is plaguing our 2000 RX300. I seem to have hesitation on acceleration also. I mentioned this to the dealer before I saw this post. He of course told me to bring it in.

92-01 ES300s are fine. Lexus in its wisdom decided to an electronically controlled throttle starting in 2002 and continues for current models too. A lot of the current Toyota branded cars have a similar throttle control and although wimpy, people aren't complaining much about them. I'd rather drive an older model than have to deal with this crap.

Older ES300s are retaining value very well and probably will remain strong since people won't want to buy the problematic current gen.