2004 Lexus GX470 problems
The 2004 Lexus GX470 has 91 complaints on file with NHTSA. The largest share (19%) concerns air bags. Next are body & structure (16%) and drivetrain & axles (10%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 91 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Air bags 19% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 14 and 0
- Injuries and deaths
- 12 and 0
- Typical mileage
- 80,000 miles 55 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 | 9 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 3 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 5 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 8 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 12 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 6 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 10 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 0 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 1 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 1 |
| 200k+ miles | 0 |
What the data shows
Of the 55 complaints that include odometer readings, half describe a problem before roughly 80,000 miles.
Safety-related details: 14 complaints mention a crash; 12 injuries reported.
Looking only at complaints filed within five years of the model year (so older and newer years are comparable), the 2004 ranks 2nd most-complained-about out of 5 model years of the Lexus GX470 with enough data (31 complaints in that window). It is also covered by 1 safety recall campaign.
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.
My husband was driving our newly purchased 2004 lexus 470gx to georgia when he encountered problems with driving under rainy weather conditions in north florida. My husband communicated the steering was very loose and the car was pulling. According to my husband, this happened two times and on the third incident the vehicle went out of control. My husband was not able to maintain control of the vehicle and it flipped approximately three times before ending up in the median on it's side.
Tl* the contact owns a 2004 lexus gx470. The contact was driving 30 MPH when he crashed into another vehicle. The air bags did not deploy. The contact sustained injuries to the right shoulder, head and back. A passenger sustained a broken nose and broken cheek bone. The dealer was not contacted. The vehicle was destroyed. A police report was available. The contact did not inform the manufacturer of the failure. The VIN was not available. The current and failure mileage was approximately 89,000.
Brakes totally failed while descending a steep incline on a city/ state highway causing loss of control and impact with a tree. Air bags failed to deploy.
My wife was driving our SUV and was attempting to park it in a bank parking lot in niles, il. The SUV accelerated suddenly without my wife pressing the gas pedal causing her to drive over a green space, hit a sign on bank's property, drive over a large bush and a wire fence at an adjacent park and finally stop after repeatedly pressing the brake pedal. We towed the car to the lexus dealership and from there to a body shop. We had the car for 8 years and this is the first time that this issue occurred.
There is a huge crack in the dash that has been reported by many gx drivers and is obviously a fault in lexus' manufacturing.