RX 450h F sport suddenly stops while driving

[M_biru]

We are from Romania and we had a very serious issue with our Lexus RX 450h F sport which caused a serious accident. The Lexus has suddenly stopped while entering the motorway, no brake light, no nothing, causing the car behind to hit the Lexus very hard. To be more specific, the engine stopped, the dashboard/clocks were on. There was a message: Ignition on which was never before displayed.  After the impact the car could not be moved as it would not start for few minutes.

The background is that the Lexus was previously in the official dealership service for a small reparation and it was picked up only a few days ago.

After the accident we took the car again to the dealership to be checked and see what was the issue. They told us that the diagnosis report is clean and there is no issue with the car, washed their hands of us and our problems. We do not know at this point what to do, who to address to. We are afraid to drive the Lexus again. Has someone else experienced this kind of situation? Our suspicion is that they (Lexus dealership service team) took out the Battery when they performed the previous repairs and then they did not installed it back correctly and therefore it was an electrical issue that caused the car to suddenly stop. Imagine if we have entered the motorway and got hit from behind by a car moving with 130 km/h...

[Herbie]

Wow Marci, that sounds very frightening and I hope everyone in the car is alright.

I'm afraid I haven't got an answer for you because I've never heard of this happening either.

I presume you had to report all this to your insurance company so what have they said about this strange event?

50 minutes ago, M_biru said:

There was a message: Ignition on which was never before displayed.

Only a guess but that would suggest to me that the hybrid system had some sort of catastrophic failure, because "Ignition on" is the message that appears when the car is in Accessory mode, rather than the "READY" light you see when the car is in hybrid mode.

Given that it's a 2022 car it should still be within the manufacturer's warranty period, so surely they can't just wash their hands of it all? If you don't get any further with the dealer, contact Lexus Romania. I hope you get a speedy conclusion that is to your satisfaction my friend.

[M_biru]

1 hour ago, Herbie said:

Wow Marci, that sounds very frightening and I hope everyone in the car is alright.

I'm afraid I haven't got an answer for you because I've never heard of this happening either.

I presume you had to report all this to your insurance company so what have they said about this strange event?

Only a guess but that would suggest to me that the hybrid system had some sort of catastrophic failure, because "Ignition on" is the message that appears when the car is in Accessory mode, rather than the "READY" light you see when the car is in hybrid mode.

Given that it's a 2022 car it should still be within the manufacturer's warranty period, so surely they can't just wash their hands of it all? If you don't get any further with the dealer, contact Lexus Romania. I hope you get a speedy conclusion that is to your satisfaction my friend.

Hi, 

I did not know about the Accessory mode... I will do some digging.

It is Lexus Romania & Toyota all together, the official dealerships/services. We are a small country, not a huge market. We will see what the insurance company would say about this, but given the fact that I was hit from behind, according to the local laws the car behind is the culprit, regardless of the conditions. We opened a complaint with their insurance company....we will see if they will have questions. But Lexus Romania refuses to offer support, they even had the audacity to charge us for the diagnosis (almost 100 euro)!!!! I refused to pay, I am waiting for them to sue me for that. 

[Herbie]

7 hours ago, M_biru said:

I did not know about the Accessory mode... I will do some digging.

If you press the start button without also pressing the brakes, that gets you into Accessory mode. It's like having the ignition on in a conventional car, before turning the key further to crank the engine. To get from Accessory mode into READY mode, simply press the brake pedal and push the START button again.

I'm very surprised by the attitude of Lexus Romania, that's terrible.