2005 Lexus ES330 problems
Owners have filed 176 complaints with NHTSA about the 2005 Lexus ES330. Cruise control is the most reported problem area, at 29% of complaints. After that come transmission (19%) and air bags (10%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 176 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Cruise control 29% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 44 and 5
- Injuries and deaths
- 24 and 0
- Typical mileage
- 33,000 miles 129 complaints with mileage
Source: NHTSA owner complaints
Where the complaints are
Share of this model year's complaints by the part of the car involved. One complaint can name more than one part, so the shares can add up to more than 100%.
When problems show up
View the numbers
| Mileage | Complaints |
|---|---|
| 0k to 20k miles | 49 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 20 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 14 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 20 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 7 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 10 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 5 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 1 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 2 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 0 |
| 200k+ miles | 1 |
What the data shows
Among the 129 complaints that report mileage, the typical (median) problem appeared at about 33,000 miles. For cruise control specifically, the median reported mileage is about 24,000 miles (41 complaints with mileage).
Safety-related details: 44 complaints mention a crash; 5 complaints mention a fire; 24 injuries reported. Its complaints are more severe on average than those of 93% of model years in our database.
It is also covered by 2 safety recall campaigns.
What owners wrote
A few complaints as filed, shortened and with personal details removed. The first ones are among the most serious reports for this model year; the rest are typical.
Contact owns a 2005 lexus es330. The contact was driving approximately 10 to 15 MPH two blocks away from home. While approaching and preparing to stop at a stop sign, noticed the inability of the brake system when applied pressure to the brake paddle, vehicle would not stop. At this point, vehicle began to accelerate unintended (without input on accelerator), causing to rapidly surge and launch straight ahead uncontrollable at a high speed of approximately 55 to 60 MPH, which resulted the contact to crash though a…
2005 es330. Pulling into parking space ready to stop and experienced sudden acceleration incident resulting in a crash into another car. Tw*
I purchased my 2005 lexus es330 as a certified pre-own in september 2007. After driving it for a month or two. I experience a consistent hesitation issue. I took it to the local dealership and they said they would reset something in the computer to adjust to my driving style. It did not appear to help. So I've taken it back 2 times since and they say it's the normal function of the drive by wire and nothing they can do.
My complaint is in regard to the ignition switch for my 2005 lexus es-330. While trying to start my vehicle the case that houses the key broke apart. The key was still in the ignition, the car running, but the other half of the case was dangling from the key itself.after I was able to stop the engine by turning it off with the key itself and gathering up all the parts of the ignition switch, upon observation I found a very small screw that supposedly was used to secure the switch case together had become loose and…