2004 Lexus RX problems
NHTSA has received 56 complaints about the 2004 Lexus RX, and 21% of them involve body & structure. After that come air bags (11%) and transmission (9%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 56 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Body & structure 21% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 1 and 1
- Injuries and deaths
- 1 and 0
- Typical mileage
- 68,000 miles 35 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 | 7 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 3 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 4 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 6 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 0 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 7 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 1 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 4 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 0 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 0 |
| 200k+ miles | 3 |
What the data shows
Among the 35 complaints that report mileage, the typical (median) problem appeared at about 68,000 miles.
Safety-related details: 1 complaint mentions a crash; 1 complaint mentions a fire; 1 injury reported. Its complaints are less severe on average than those of 81% of model years in our database.
Looking only at complaints filed within five years of the model year (so older and newer years are comparable), the 2004 ranks 11th most-complained-about out of 23 model years of the Lexus RX with enough data (11 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.
Daughter was driving, conditions were dry, sunny fall weather. Avg speed 45 MPH, light turned yellow, vehicle in front started to slow down, daughter applied brakes, pedal went to floor, no slowing down, repeatedly pushed brake and applied full force, car did not slow down, hit other vehicle, totaling the lexus. Airbags did not deploy until after my daughter hit the steering wheel. Witness reported seeing my daughter trying to brake but the car not responding. No evidence of tire marks on the road
I was driving with the driver’s seat heater turned on. While I were traveling, I noticed that the seat heater was very hot, so I turned it off. I arrived at my destination and parked the vehicle for about two hours. I did not turn the seat heater back on when you returned to the vehicle. I was removing snow from the vehicle with the driver’s door open and some of the snow landed on the driver’s seat. When I brushed the snow off the seat, I noticed a burn mark in the seat cushion.
Dt*: the contact stated that the exterior headlights would not illuminate far enough while driving in the evening at a speed of 70 MPH. The vehicle was taken to the dealers who adjusted the headlights but were unable to determine the cause of the problem. The vehicle is still experiencing the same problems.
My left headlight went out while driving and I found water and condensation in headlight assembly compartment. Entire compartment needs to be replaced at cost of $1650.00. In researching this make and model has other consumers experiencing the same issue. I believe this is manufacturer defect that has caused seals to malfunction allowing excessive water into the light compartment which causes all electrical components to fail.
Melting/cracked dashboard passenger side - smells of chemicals - does this affect passenger airbag deployment? I have owned this vehicle for 4 years and was never notified of any programs - dash first started melting/cracking about 6-8 months ago long after their consumer enhancement program went away.