NICO1972

Nice one, it actually helps me forget this problem so it is a keeper for sure!

Truly very disappointing, as my experience with 2 attempted thefts including poor action on trying to resolve this issue quickly has led me to sell my car quickly. Now driving a very good Audi A6 Avant but keeping my SC430, which I still love driving by the way. Overall, my experience with Lexus has been a bit of a setback. I thought very highly of the brand but knowing that they will not be doing their best to keep existing customers reassured when they clearly have a serious weakness with the CANBUS system is hugely concerning.

Honestly, it makes no difference as thieves do not necessarily know that 2023 is fitted with encrypted CANBUS. they will potentially damage the bumper and loom cable. Worst I would say is that if a proud owner wishes to have a private plate number, the thieves will not know which year the car is from so it will be prone to attempted theft...

Thanks but I think you forgot to disclose the article. Would love to read this...

It is difficult to say if they are the same thieves but I suspect they could be since they knew where the car was for the second attempt. The thing is even if you have a ghost immobiliser, the thieves can still do some damage with the ES ie bumper and loom cable. This issue can still be a problem for the more secured ES 2023 and above (as encrypted CANBUS is programmed instead of 'open' program for all previous ES models) as thieves may try the same technique pulling the bumper out (damaging it) and cutting the loom cable. The risk is very serious as if loom cable cannot be repaired then, you would be looking at near £6k cost for the replacement loom, which would take 3 months at least wait... It would be an insurance claim but overall, the premiums will rise dramatically... Under these circumstances, Lexus should have reviewed this problem much sooner to try and mitigate the vulnerability. It is pretty serious and sadly more of us who owns or owned a Lexus ES will agree with this. Lexus will be loosing customers in the long run. Sad but a fact.

I have, for a matter of fact, installed the same ghost immobiliser in with my new vehicle for peace of mind...

The ghost stopped them from getting inside the car and they could not do anything else on both occasions. It is impossible to start the engine without the fob with key so Metatrak Plus is brilliant in that aspect and it has a tracker too. If the car gets towed away, you will get an immediate call from Metatrak to warn you and they will ring the Police on your behalf if this is what has happened. Their system is very good.

This is awful. you did not have an immobiliser fitted in like Metatrak Plus? I consider myself really lucky that they failed to steal my car on the 2 attempts. Now my experience with Audi A6 Avant Quattro Black Edition S Line 2018 C7 is quite an awesome experience, I must say. I really hope you get a good payment from your insurance. Did you take a GAP cover when you purchased the vehicle? I guess you reported the situation with your Lexus Dealership and they must be feeling rather annoyed and embarrassed... It is frustrating.

I had a ghost immobiliser fitted with Metatrak Plus and it did a great job: I had 2 attempted thefts with my ES in mid Sept and in mid Oct and Both times, thieves were unsuccessful. But bumper was damaged and including loom cable... Sadly, when I got the car back 2 weeks ago, I immediately sold it for another make... I honestly did not want to depart from my lovely ES but I was not prepared to risk a third attempt...

I am so sorry to hear about your car situation! Really is awful. I hear that quite a few Lexus cars are being stolen in London at the moment. The Police must know the numbers and so does Lexus. It is so frustrating to hear. It may be in Dover in one of the containers on its way to Middle East or Africa (sadly)...

Sad to hear your story with stolen car. It breaks my heart that these scums are getting away with murder so to speak. I did not hear back from the Police about my attempted thefts even though I gave them the plate and make of their vehicle that thieves were caught driving away... I know that it could be a stolen vehicle but still, there is a huge problem and it is getting worst and worst. We are paying the price collectively with increase insurance costs....

It is so frustrating and I feel for anyone who has had their ES stolen or almost stolen. Lexus really needs to work on a fast solution or they will be losing customers quickly...

I am sorry to hear this. I had 2 attempted thefts on my ES300h (2019 premium edition) and luckily both attempts (mid Sept and mid Oct) failed because my car has metatrak plus immobiliser fitted in. but they damaged the bumper and the loom cable. So I only got the car back last week (5 weeks without it) Thursday from repair (adaptor was replaced and new bumper was fitted in) and immediately exchanged it with another car and this time, I bought AUDI A6 AVANT Black edition Quattro S Line 2018. I am super happy with this new car and I got Metatrak plus fitted in too. Lexus is in serious trouble in my opinion as these kind of thefts with loom cable will continue to happen (even to newer models that have encrypted canbus system to prevent successful theft) and owners will risk one losing their car or have it damaged. I also suspect that the value of the ES will depreciate much quicker in the near future when people will know how risky the cars are. There could be an issue with insurances from even refusing to insure Lexus cars if thefts continue to rise...

Ahah, no way, the SC430 is a keeper for a long time to come!

Dear all, It is only today (16th Nov) that I am getting my car back from the workshop. They said that the loom cable did not need to be replaced but that the repair was successful and a new adaptor was plugged in on the headlight. new bumper was fitted in to complete the work. So I was without my car for near 6 weeks and had to bear driving the Hyundai Ionic in the meantime. All in all, I am extremely displeased with my insurance (Churchill) for failing to provide me with a car that is in the same category group as my ES, so they will be informed that I will cancel Churchill insurance as I have got another car insurance set up for a new vehicle that I am going to pick up tomorrow. Yes, sadly I am getting rid of the ES300h, as I do not wish to repeat this experience should there be a 3rd time with another attempted theft. I certainly am not willing or prepared to wait for another 6 weeks without my car for more repairs to be done worse is if the loom cable needs replacing, it would be a 3 months wait without the ES. In my opinion, Lexus has seriously failed to address this matter quickly: currently all ES are vulnerable, even if the 2023 is more secure with the encrypted CANBUS, it will not fully stop thieves from trying to steal the car knowing how easy it seems to be with headlight hacking techniques, so prospect of damaging the bumper and loom cable remains a huge risk in my opinion. I remain glad that the Metatrak Plus as additional immobiliser has done a great job keeping my car in my parking drive regardless of the 2 attempted thefts. So, tomorrow I am picking up an AUDI A6 AVANT 2.0L Black Edition Quattro S Line 2018, which ticks all the boxes with all options I wanted. I never had this car before and think it will be a very practical car for my family. However, I am still a Lexus fan and I am keeping my SC430 and NX300H.

Here is a lovely response I received from Chris Hayes CEO Lexus - at the moment, process is very slow from my insurance car repair workshop as I am yet to discover what is being done with the loom cable - so frustrating as it is going rather slow to get this in motion from the repair centre: Dear Nick, Thanks for reaching out, and please accept our genuine empathy for the situation you have found yourself in. I’ve spoken to the team, and if they have not done so already, they will be in touch to confirm that we can and we will arrange an alternative vehicle for you directly. Please just leave that with us for a moment. I’m reviewing details later this week and will be back in touch (the team will) as necessary. Again, so sorry to hear of this situation, it’s a harrowing and really unsettling experience all round. Please let me reassure you we are doing all we can, as quickly as we can to neutralise any and all vehicle thefts to our models. The type of organised and coordinated activities the industry has seen (all brands) in recent months, and particularly in the London area, has been frankly unprecedented. We will do all we can to support you and your ownership experience in the interim. Warm regards, Chris.

It is very sad indeed. I remember the first time experience with LS400 when there was a recall to be made, they collected cars from customers home addresses, got the work done, clean the car and fill up with petrol before returning it to customers. That was impressive...

Thanks for sharing. The thing is having a second immobiliser causes another issue with loom cables as thieves are not going to know it is fitted with one. so they will continue doing the damage and even if the vehicle is not stolen, it will have to go in for repair and for quite a few weeks as it is for my case. Not fun at all, you own a car that you cannot drive for 3 months is not ideal...

Sure, sadly on the two attempts I never had a steering wheel lock in place. A mistake now, but it is really annoying to be having to do this these days...

Worth trying though... I will keep you all updated if I ever receive a response.

I do feel so strongly about what has happened that I just wrote an email to CEO Lexus in Uk Chris Hayes... Here is what I wrote and sent to Chris today: Dear Chris, My name is Nick and I would like to reach out to you to explain what has happened recently with my ES – I have been victim of 2 attempted thefts in the space of 4 weeks recently at my own home address in London. But first, allow me to say that I have been a Lexus customer for over 5 years now and I truly love the Brand and what Lexus really is doing. Over 5 years ago, I began discovering Lexus buying my first car with GS 450h, a car that I purchased from Lexus Edgware Road and had it for 4 years and absolutely loved every minute of it (I drove many German cars in the past: Mercedes and BMW). I was so happy with the car that I convinced my wife to get a new replacement car for herself and we bought a second Lexus with NX300h over 2 and half years ago. Again, we think the Lexus NX is superb and suits our need with our 2 young kids as a family. In Sept 2022, I decided to opt for a newer car as a replacement with my GS450h and bought an ES300h (2019), which I have been loving very much for its smooth drive and I have been advising many of my friends to go with Lexus if they were in a position to change their cars (I persuaded 3 close friends to purchase a Lexus car of their own!). So it is fair to say that my experience was overwhelmingly amazing (same with the staff at Lexus Edgware Road who have only been fantastic, always made sure I was very happy with the service and still I am with wonderful team at Lexus Edgware Road) that I even did a new project of my own purchasing a Lexus SC430 in April 2023 and did lots of renovation work with it that even Lexus staff at Edgware Road were astonished with the end result – I had it painted identically with my ES and had the new paint PPF and did lots of upgrade with the audio, sat nav, new suspension, ECU upgrade etc. Now comes the bad news: on the 15th Sept 2023, my Lexus ES300h sadly suffered with its first attempted theft at my own home address but luckily, I had installed an additional immobiliser with Metatrak Plus back a few months ago, which made the car fairly secured with immobiliser and tracker and with a 24 hour call if necessary in case of emergency. Lexus at Edgware Road (workshop team) checked the damage and it was found that the car thieves used a technique known as ‘headlight hacking’. The left front side bumper was pulled out by force near the archway area where front left wheel is (which was found to be damaged on the inside with a missing part that was used to hold a clip – the bumper is not holding well anymore because of the attempted theft now) and they cut 2 main wires from the loom cable. I was then advised to have the loom cable replaced under insurance to get it working properly again. But at the time, I used an alternative option, which was to hire a knowledgeable technician to examine and get the two main loom cables wielded and repaired. Thanksfully the job was done well and the car was back functioning normally but the side bumper still had the damage. I had a feeling then that the thieves could be returning to try again, hence why I did not do the claim with my insurance the first time and thought I would wait a bit before deciding when to get it done… Sadly, my gut feeling was not wrong, last week on Thurday 19th October early hours at 0142am, 2 car thieves attempted to steal my car once more at my own parking drive outside my house (same address). They used the same technique again, but this time they cut another section of the loom cable and cut the small wires – they still could not steal the car and left 5 minutes afterward. But the damage this time was more considerable. On both occasions, I have reported the matter to the Police and have got a crime reference number for both incidents with CCTV video footages as thankfully I also have got CCTV cameras recording 24 hours outside our house back and front for our security. The car was again brought to Lexus at Edgware Road (workshop and I could not fault the team as they did their absolute best and quickly too to help me get my car back and running). Upon inspection, it was clear that the loom cable could not be repaired due to extensive damage caused with the small wires being cut right behind the headlight unit. The side bumper suffered more damage as well. I was then informed that the work will be quite expensive i.e. near £6k to change the loom cable on its own plus labour and that it is very likely that the car will be in workshop for 3 months before I see it again. Currently, my ES is with VTEC repair centre approved and arranged by my car insurance (Churchill) and I have been provided with a hire vehicle, which is not of the same category group as my current car sadly (so I am having to complain with car insurance to get me a better car than what I was provided since Monday this week: a Hyundai Ionic Hybrid car). My whole experience has been quite time consuming and negative to say the least, as I was such a overwhelmingly happy customer (currently owning 3 Lexus cars) and the whole truth that the ES is sadly a very easy car to steal due to this new theft technique with headlight hacking is making feel rather uncomfortable to keep my ES after repair, as I fear sadly that the car thieves know my address and they also know that I own an ES (a very well spec model with all options available) and that they may try for the third time soon. Honestly, I am not prepared to pay another excess of £470 plus being forced to drive a smaller group hire car such as Hyundai car that I dislike so much for another what may be 3 months once more… I am writing to you to say that I am really dismayed that Lexus has not yet combatted this situation swiftly enough to address the security issues with the ES. I am also aware that I am not the only customer who suffered similar situation as my case (quite a few sadly have been getting their cars stolen). I have done extensive research on this and understand that the RX450h has also been a problem of its own with high number of thefts using the same technique and that Lexus has now got a solution fitting a metal plate to safeguard the loom cable and CANBUS. I also discovered that the newer model Lexus from 2023 have got an upgrade with the CANBUS system to prevent this theft technique to succeed. But sadly nothing has yet been addressed with customers like myself who already own a Lexus ES (I even fitted the Metatrak Plus with my wife’s NX to prevent successful theft with the same technique) hence my emailing you now. You will agree with me that I have gone above board to try and keep our cars safe from theft investing additional expense with Metatrak Plus immobiliser installation. But overall, when the same car is targeted twice in my own home, I DO feel very nervous that it will be bound to continue until they successfully steal the car or until the Police successfully arrest them too. So my email is really to give you my overall experience as a customer how much I love the brand (and still do!) but this situation with my ES and the zero solution to address this security weakness is leaving me with no choice but to sell my ES car as soon as it will be back from repair. I am lucky enough that I have 2 additional Lexus cars (NX and the SC) that I can still very much enjoy driving in the meantime, but this ongoing problem is also giving me some serious thoughts about replacing my ES (only) with another brand car that is more secure in that respect. This decision about changing car with another brand, should really concern you in my view, as it is potentially a huge risk that I may like another car manufacturer better than my current ES. I run my own business and I know how much hard work we have to do to keep customers happy (but Lexus has achieved that easily over the years) and it is on the contrary very easy to lose a loyal customer after a negative experience that has not been addressed and more quickly so if I may say. I fear that you could be losing far more quickly loyal customers like me, who have been in the same position as mine. This ought to be tackled as a top priority if I may say. In my opinion, it is madness to allow such security weakness to to carry on without correcting this (I would suggest a recall even would be appropriate in this instance if Lexus had a good solution to stop this theft problem) as none of the ES cars are currently safe from such thieves (unless it is fitted with an additional immobiliser like myself of that it is a newer car built from 2023). I am hoping you will read my email and digest one example of my unfortunate incident, which otherwise, I really really love the ES. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me. Thank you and warm regards,

I have been advised that the work will take at least 3 months!! The loom cable has to be made and delivered and the car to be stripped completely. This is going to be a long wait. And in the meantime, my car insurance is playing game giving a lesser group category with a smaller vehicle than my current: Hyundai Ionic that is the best they could do!!?? Unbelievable. I am not looking forward to this long wait with this car. I have been complaining daily to car insurance (Churchill) to give me a like for like vehicle. Still fighting today to get that. I now wish the car was stolen... Sad

It is embarrassing to know that all these cars are subject to the same issues with Headlight hacking. It is not good enough and this will be extremely damaging to Lexus. I have been a victim of 2 attempted thefts and now believe it would have been better that I did not put an additional immobiliser so that I could activate my GAP insurance. Really sad to be thinking like this. I was such a fan of Lexus until now. I still have my SC430 (will intend to keep) as it is the safest car of my cars now. Insane, a 23 year old car is better than a 2019 ES...

That is what I also fear... Frankly, I am annoyed with Lexus as this issue should have been addressed a long time ago. The ES car is a magnet for thieves sadly and I am already looking for other car manufacturers to change the ES as soon as it is back from repair... I am looking at BMW touring 5 series and Audi A6 Avant so that would be a change having a car with bigger boot since I have 2 kids, we need space sometimes. The next estate will be a new adventure - Lexus has lost a customer with ES.

Shocking! but good it was the other party that paid. I am feeling at a starting point with car where I am thinking what next car should be...