You have an problem with your mechanic, then. Several of us have found them at under $100 the PAIR after 5 minutes on the internet.
I’m not the experts, I’m just tired of whining. Struts, you are talking about gas struts, which are in fact cheap, nothing parts in the whole of your car. They are an afterthought almost. No serious engineering goes into old fashioned gas struts because they have been around for-ever. As with most engineering selection, the lexus engineer would go to McMaster Carr (or the Lexus vendor guide) and pick a strut that met his/her needs.
I kind of view this problem like I would college grads (I was going to use an ovary/menopause version, but I thought that might be crass). Harvard is on most accounts a reputable school. Lets say they have 2 graduates who turn out to be murderers in 20 years of graduates. This doesn’t mean I wouldn’t pick any of the other 99.9% of the grads in those 20 years just because they go to harvard. Its the same with your Luxury Toyota. Out of the thousands of parts on your car you only notice a couple hundred. Out of those couple hundred parts you see, 2 failed, and you just happened to notice because they made your life a tiny bit harder, and cost what might be “so expensive!!!”(sarcasm). So why would you condemn the other 99.99% of the parts on your car/car design/company/industry because a remotely selected afterthought of a part failed. So what its a Lexus(Angels sing!!) (Cough:: Toyota), but the only differance is the rubber stamp they used on that part I bet.
Perhaps you can try this argument next time you need brakes, or an oil filter, or tires, or hair dye?
RANT::RANT:: “Why doesn’t Brembo/Pram/Pirelli/L’oreal pay for my new Brakes/filter/tires/hair job!!! Don’t they stand by their product!!! Are they faulty from the factory!! Why should I pay!! I’m calling Fox 5/7/10 NEWS!!!”
So, in summary… Stop whining, pay for a part (We don’t care from where or if it is a “Lexus” part), install it yourself if you feel so inclined, and enjoy your funny folding roof and easy opening trunk, because in general, the sum of the whole Toyota is greater than any gas strut.
Good luck and buy German!!
Again, I shall reiterate the fact that we have had TWO Lexus cars whose trunk struts only lasted 2-3.5 years with minimal usage. So, I hope people can empathsize our position and disappointment in these parts stamped and approved by Lexus–no matter who manufactured them.
Sorry…but Two sets of struts in under 5 years does NOT mean that Lexus has a problem with their struts. They make THOUSANDS of these vehicles a year. Now if you have any proof that this is a common problem among other Lexus vehicles then I’ll say yea…there might be a problem…But so far all I know is that there are just these two. I tried a google search and found nothing.
I own a 2005 Scion tC, also a Toyota product, and one of the lift struts blew its seal after about one year of ownership. I replaced it myself…the part cost $162 from the dealer, and at the time no aftermarket replacements were yet available.
I discovered with some research that these struts blowing were not uncommon. Toyota was apparently offering “heavy duty” replacements (in pairs only).
Apparently one of Toyota’s suppliers of struts is not using the best of seals. I’d suspect that the same supplier is used across the Toyota product lines, perhaps even by other vehicle manufacturers.
I summarize with the suggestion that a search for aftermarket struts would not be a bad idea should one blow again. Generics typically cost between $15 and $25 if they are available. The strut itself is a DIY replacement if you’re handy and have some basic tools. I’d suggest lubing the strut ball joints with a silicone of white lithium grease.
Mike is dead-on correct. Lexus builds thousands of cars every year. Multiply that total X 4 struts per car (don’t forget the 2 on the hood) and that’s a lot of struts.
Count the total failures and one would find they are NOT a problem.
If struts were failing en masse within 6 months or a year I might agree there is a problem with them. Otherwise, they’re not “faulty in design” or anything else.
And if struts WERE a problem under this scenario there would likely have been a TSB (Tech. Service Bulletin) issued on them. And it hasn’t been issued.
OP, you state the new struts are far better than the old ones and much stronger.
Has it occurred to you that age has weakened the original ones and you’re comparing apples to oranges now?
If you replaced the 3-5 year old front struts on the car’s suspension with new struts you no doubt would feel a difference there also.
Further question. If these struts were done at the Lexus dealer then are you saying they replaced your old “faulty struts” with new “faulty struts”?
They all come out of the same parts bin.
Maybe I am wrong, Mike, but I am just spitballing now anyway. Could it be you and the OP are talking about two different problems? You seem to be looking at this as a quality control issue, in which case you are right. Two bad parts do not necessarily point to a manufacturing defects or quality control problems. However, the way Lexus has handled this is a whole other issue. It isn’t about manufacturing defects or quality control. It is about good customer service. From the OP’s perspective, she has owned two Lexus vehicles and 100% of them have had the same problem. Yet she is being asked to pay to resolve the problem. Perhaps the problem is related to attitudes and perceptions rather than manufacturing.
Lexus has distinguished itself not by its cars or their quality. Lexus has distinguished itself from Toyota’s other brands by providing a higher level of service. You pays the luxury price, you gets the luxury treatment…and you expect more of it. Regardless of part quality, the dealership should have turned this negative experience into a positive experience, especially if they want the OP’s repeat business in the future. Lexus owners receive a lot of pampering, which might lead to unrealistic expectations.
I kind of view this problem like I would college grads (I was going to use an ovary/menopause version, but I thought that might be crass). Harvard is on most accounts a reputable school. Lets say they have 2 graduates who turn out to be murderers in 20 years of graduates. This doesn’t mean I wouldn’t pick any of the other 99.9% of the grads in those 20 years just because they go to harvard.
Let’s take your analogy a step further.
Let’s say the two Harvard graduates are high profile personalities, like a President and a CEO. Nobody would blame Harvard for turning the President into a war monger and nobody would blame Harvard for turning the CEO into a crook. Where I would judge Harvard is in how they manage this public relations crisis. Did Harvard come out and say “Even though these Harvard alumni killed thousands of innocent civilians and stole millions of dollars from Americans’ pension funds, there are only two of them”? I don’t think that explanation would make any of the victims feel better about Harvard, do you? If Harvard had come out and said, “Although we are not responsible, we here at Harvard would like to be a part of the solution by helping the victims.” Doing that would turn a negative into a positive, even if Harvard played no part in the tragedies.
Like I said to Mike above, this is a customer service failure more than a manufacturing or quality control issue. Lexus usually builds their customers’ expectations by giving them extra service in sales and service. They have raised the bar for themselves and now it appears, at least in this case, they are having a difficult time living up to those expectations.
And here is precisely the reason that my wife and I never speak out loud, inside the car, that the basic 3/36 warranty expired three months ago. shhhh…don’t let it know or it will try to break something. So far, so good…oops!, did I just jinx myself ?
However, the way Lexus has handled this is a whole other issue. It isn’t about manufacturing defects or quality control.
I agree with that. I do believe they should be fixing this on their dime. But that’s NOT what the OP is complaining about. And this is really a problem with the dealer…NOT Lexus.
Thank you. I agree.
I agree w/ Whitey.
Of course you do. The fact is, your car is out of warrenty. If you want to scrimp on things that break, buy a Kia, or Hyundi with their 10 year whatever warrenties and enjoy your sea of shiny plastic. Things break, and when you buy a car and it falls out of that warrenty period, anything the dealership does for you is above and beyond what is required of them. This isn’t a customer service issue, this is a technician/service department who doesn’t want to keep hearing about your gas struts. He did an admirable thing by offering to alleviate some of the cost, and you should be happy with that. Service departments don’t make money on warrenties, that is what you are asking them to do is honor a warrenty that is 2 years out, with no benefit to them.
I don’t know what Whitey’s version of extra sales and service is, but most places I go to it is washing your car for free, decent coffee in the waiting room, and maybe a customer loyalty discount to friendly and reasonable customers, which Camille doesn’t exemplify by her threat to go to the news. Free hundreds of dollars in parts though is something I wouldn’t expect any dealer to do south of a McLaren dealer on an F1.
Sorry, Whitey, but I’ve never experienced ‘extra service’ from Lexus. Do they have fancy waiting rooms? Yes. Do they make you feel good as they try to oversell you on unneeded services? YES! I quit using them years ago. And to contend that this ‘extra service’ should include out-of-warranty free repairs is nonsense, anyway.
texases, perhaps you never experienced the service of which I speak, but I can tell you that Lexus’ overall marketing strategy is to go beyond the call of duty. If your and the OP’s local dealerships have lost sight of Lexus’ mission statement, they should not be selling luxury vehicles. They would be better off selling econoboxes, whose buyers have lower expectations.
Luxury cars typically attract a certain type of customer. Those customers have expectations that are sometimes unrealistic, but managing those expectations is just a part of selling luxury cars. With these “high maintenance” customers, paying for these struts would have paid off in customer loyalty, especially if someone at the dealership had explained that they don’t typically do this and that they would not be able to do it again. This “high maintenance” customer may not describe you personally, but neither you nor I should make the mistake of thinking everyone thinks like we do. Reality is probably somewhere in between.
Yes, I agree with you it isn’t really fair to demand the dealership pay for these parts, but if paying for these struts earned her loyalty and led to the sale of her next car, wouldn’t it have been worth it? The dealership may have cut off its nose to spite its face. They saved some money in the short term, but what will it cost them in the long term? In my opinion that isn’t very smart, and the OP should take it as a message that the dealership doesn’t appreciate her repeated business and move on to another dealership for her next car.
The dealership isn’t obligated to do this by any means. That doesn’t mean they made the smart long term decision.
The average customer will tell 10 of his friends about bad customer service, but will only tell two friends about good service. Double each of those numbers if we are talking about a woman. That is why fostering customer goodwill is so important. It is an investment in customer loyalty.
Whitey:
I am very impressed with your writing skills. This may be off topic, but I am guessing you are in a profession that requires alot of writing, or you read alot.
You missed the point. Is whitey the only one who gets it?
It’s a little of both. Thank you.
For Gods sake just buy German. I have a 1999 ML320 160,000 * miles the rear opening on this thing weighs a ton it the whole back of the car! Still have the original struts absolutly no problems holding that thing up.
My 87 VW hatch struts lasted until about 3 years ago. My 1997 Cavalier hatch struts are still good. Lexus should be better than those.
You can take it two ways:
- You paid for a Lexus, should expect better quality components.
- You paid for a Lexus, strut cost is insignificant.
Take the free struts and find some teenage kid to install them. It is that easy.
I’ve searched the RX discussion board over at Edmund (thousands of posts), and found only a couple of complaints on struts, so Camile, you seem to be the unlucky statistical anomaly that comes along once in a while. Think of it this way - if the odds are 1 in a thousand, out of a million people that doesn’t mean 1000 have one problem. It means maybe 958 have one problem, 18 have two, and maybe 2 have three problems. Just think of it this way - you’re one (or two) in a million!