A Lexus customer dedicated an entire TikTok account to raise awareness about a lemon he says he purchased.
According to TikToker @lexusrx500__, the 2023 RX500h he bought from the Japanese auto manufacturer was a dud. Despite getting its from-the-factory transmission replaced due to performance problems, he says he still had issues.
So he decided to get a new vehicle, a 2024 RX350. Unfortunately, he says that this car wasn’t without its faults either. He documents those faults in a viral TikTok that’s accrued over 132,000 views on the popular social media platform.
Unhappy with his new Lexus
“2024 RX350 is now a LEMON AFTER 2 weeks of ownership,” the TikToker writes in a text overlay of their video. In order to further drive the point home, they append a lemon emoji to the end of their message.
The clip begins with a recording of the Lexus vehicle in question. It’s parked as the dissatisfied customer narrates.
“Okay TikTok so this is my family’s new 2024 RX350, that was replacing the RX500h…that had transmission issues,” he says, walking around the car, his reflection bouncing off of the vehicle as he rattles off problems. Next, he cracks open the door of the vehicle to show off the dash.
“We’ve had this car now about two weeks. As you can see it has 918 kilometers on it. Get outside today on this beautiful Saturday morning, try to start to the car…” he explains, before he demonstrates what happens when one engages the ignition on the vehicle.
Lights on the dashboard begin to stutter in tandem with buzzing—but there’s no sound of an engine turning on.
“Car’s dead. Died randomly. Brand new, 2024 RX350,” he says. The TikToker then tries to turn on the vehicle once more, but is just met with more buzzing and spastic lights on the dash.
Drained battery or DOA?
The Lexus owner says this is what now defines the new Toyota/Lexus experience is for him.
“So this is what owning new Toyota and Lexus vehicles are like,” he claims. “They come pre-dead from the factory. Leave you stranded. Luckily we’re at home and didn’t take this out this weekend where we wanted to go.”
At the end of the video, he leaves the car and records the exterior of the vehicle with its front door open.
Several TikTokers, however, said that the issue with the car seems like a drained battery. They weren’t quick to rule out driver error in this instance, either.
One person penned, “The gaslighting is real. Lol. Lexus/Toyota is supreme and the most elite and the best brands. This is a driver’s fault. 100%.”
Another simply replied, “You left the lights on bud!”
“It’s a drained battery. How’s that a lemon lol. If a bad battery = lemon then a sold half the cars would be lemons. I think this is quite a jump to conclusions lol,” a third wrote.
“Your battery is drained. Just get a boost to start the car. lol,” one TikTok user replied.
@lexusrx500h__ Well that didn’t last long 😭😭🍋🍋 #lexus #issues #lexuscanada @Lexus Canada @Toyota Canada ♬ original sound – LexusRX500h
Is Lexus selling defective 12V car batteries?
According to the TikToker, however, he didn’t do anything wrong. While he did mention that there was a problem with the car’s battery, he wrote this has happened before.
“Didn’t leave anything on,” he explained. “This is our second brand new Lexus in the past year and a half that has died randomly. Both have been determined to have defective 12v batteries from the factory.”
It seems that his gripe is that he has purchased 2 new Lexus vehicles that shipped with defective 12-volt battery units. The TikToker’s issue is that the Japanese auto manufacturer is allegedly selling customers new cars with problems from the get go.
He replied to another user on the platform stating that there were other Lexus customers with the same issue: “It’s a brand new car not paying for a battery that’s defective. Having the 12v battery replaced under warranty as many have had defective batteries on the new Lexus vehicles.”
There have been 2024 Lexus customers who’ve also complained about battery issues, however. One Redditor uploaded a post where they complained about their new NX450h was suffering from battery drain.
Several other folks on the platform said that their new Lexus vehicles were also having battery problems. Some said that they needed to get ECU’s replaced in their cars. While another said that their replacement battery also drained prematurely.
“The new battery that replaced the drained one died. Working with the dealership to get rid of this car,” they wrote.
The Daily Dot has reached out to Lexus via email and @Lexusrx500h__ via TikTok comment for further information.
