NHTSA — Vehicle Speed Control Problems

10.0

really awful
Crashes / Fires:
6 / 1
Injuries / Deaths:
4 / 1
Average Mileage:
101,436 miles

About These NHTSA Complaints:

This data is from the NHTSA — the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints are spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem.

So how do you find out what problems are occurring? For this NHTSA complaint data, the only way is to read through the comments below. Any duplicates or errors? It's not us.

2006 Lexus IS 250 engine problems

engine problem

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2006 Lexus IS 250 Owner Comments

problem #17

Feb 272018

IS 250

  • 114,000 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

Bought car maybe two weeks ago first day fuel line busted, third day suspension and tires came apart, my electrical components under the hood are mostly fried and worn out could cause for, brake lights uncontrollable

- Hoover, AL, USA

problem #16

May 162016

IS 250

  • 1,000,089 miles
Hi ! so I have 2006 IS250 with carbon buildup, I was driving find I stop at a stop light car turn off out of nowhere I turn off power then try to restart.I had a hard time trying to start the car.you have to push gas pandel..I told to my car to glendale Lexus, they told me that I have carbon buildup so somehow I end up paying 800 for major tune

- Glendale, CA, USA

problem #15

Mar 182015

IS 250 6-cyl

  • 121,896 miles
The check engine, check vsc light would intermittently come on when I turned on my car and sometimes while driving. This has happened since I purchased my car in 2006. I brought my car in for the recall but they couldn't make the light come on when they hooked up their computers to the computers in my car. I recently brought my car to another dealership to perform the recall of the dashboard and side panels and the problem finally happened while they had the car in their possession. They tested it and said this problem would have been covered by a recall had it not expired. They said the reason is that carbon buildup in the first, third, and fifth cylinders are causing this problem. Why didn't they discover this when I took my car in for that recall the first time" because it didn't exhibit the problem at the time doesn't mean it didn't have the issue. Now they said they cannot fix it because the recall expired?! how is that fair or safe?!?!?!"

- Irvine, CA, USA

problem #14

May 062014

IS 250 6-cyl

  • 78,800 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

Accelerator stuck open and had to apply brakes which kept me moving forward in a skidding motion on freeway; luckily I didn't hit the person in front of me as I applied both feet on brake pedal sending the car skidding in a breaking pattern! accelerator finally released.

- Kansas City, MO, USA

problem #13

Nov 212011

IS 250 6-cyl

  • 82,822 miles
Car parked parallel to curb. Opened door, got into driver's seat, fastened seat belt, turned on ignition, as normal. Shifted from park into drive, immediately engine began to "rev up" uncontrolled, based on sound from engine. After a few seconds of increasing pitch of engine noise, car jumped the curb, over the adjacent side walk, and slammed into the brick wall in front of my house, slid along the wall, and car ended up against the fence of next door neighbor. Car moved about 6 feet in 2-3 seconds. Right hand and wrist of driver was injured on impact, trapezium bone broken in half, and a portion of bone smashed into little pieces. Hand and wrist muscles and tendons strained. Surgery was required two weeks later to put 4 metal rods in wrist to assist healing. In cast for total of 8+ weeks. Many sessions of occupational therapy will be needed to restore wrist and hand function, some loss of function is anticipated, and arthritis in wrist may result. Car damage included front bumper, front grill, front spoiler, grill assembly, headlamp, head lamp assembly, fog lamps, rt front wheel, right front lower arm control, right, left outer tie rod.

- Richmond, CA, USA

problem #12

Jun 042009

IS 250

  • miles
The contact owns a 2006 Lexus IS250. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds she has experienced unexpected acceleration on seven different occasions. Each time the vehicle was inspected by a dealer and they advised her that would place a device in the vehicle so that if unattended acceleration was to occur the brakes would override it. The vehicle was repaired for the overriding of the acceleration. She has taken it in each time after each failure and they advised her that there was nothing wrong. The failure mileage was unknown.

- Cottage Grove, MN, USA

problem #11

Jul 012010

IS 250

  • 85,000 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

I have an IS250 for four years. In the last few days, I have experienced a vsc and check engine lights on. The car looses power and can't be driven securely once this happens. This had caused almost two accidents for me on the expressway as I drive about 40 miles each way to my office on a daily basis. Due to this problem and the security risk, I took the car to the dealer to get the problem fixed. I paid $100 just to check the car. The dealer said the problem was related with the springs on the valves that probably needed to be replaced. I took the car home as I did not have the $4K to repair this. On 7/5/10, I opened an incident with Lexus corporation and the very next day I saw on the news the recall on this issue. I followed up with Lexus on 7/6/10 about this and they stated they were looking into this. I followed up again on 7/9/10 (I called this time) and they said they would call me back but none called back so I took the car to the dealership as I felt it was happening more often and was very unsecured to drive. The dealer stated my particular model was not part of the new recall and did not care much about my safety. I sent a follow up email on 7/15/10 to Lexus corporation and they said again they would get back to me. I called again today as I have not heard back from them. Our security is impacted driving this car and does not seem that Lexus corporation is even interested into listening a security concern from a consumer at this time. Please let us know what we can do to get this security risk mitigated for my family and myself. Thanks.

- Coral Springs, FL, USA

problem #10

Jun 132009

IS 250

  • 10,800 miles
The contact owns a 2006 Lexus IS250. While the vehicle was traveling 25 mph the contact attempted to brake and noticed that the vehicle had suddenly surged forward.the contact had to turn off the vehicle in order to stop the acceleration. The same failure has occurred on 3 prior occasions. The vehicle has not been diagnosed by the dealership and the failure mileage was 108000, current mileage was 113000.

- Chicago, IL, USA

problem #9

Apr 172009

IS 250

  • 15,000 miles
My Lexus IS250 sudden acceleration and crash.

- Byram, MS, USA

problem #8

May 202009

IS 250

  • 28,000 miles
Lexus fast acceleration in my car. It has happened 4 or 5 times in my 2006 Lexus Is 250, which I bought new. At first, I thought it was my fault since I usually wear wide athletic shoes. I thought that I was touching both the brake and accelerator and mentioned it to my sister, who works for a Lexus dealer. She told me that they were coming out with a letter about the floor mats causing the problem. I took the driver's side floor mat out of my car. I checked the clearance and it was about 2 inches. My brother, who was the former chairman of the board of engineers at westinghouse, told me that it sounded like a computer problem. I changed my driving shoes to get some thin sole, narrow puma's. it has happened once since then. I usually only use the Lexus for long trips, and most of the problems happened when I was parking the car after driving a long way. Without thinking what to do, I just put the car into neutral or if I wasn't moving, I'd shift it into park. Turn the engine off. Then, I would restart it and it was ok. I was a bit shaky and my wife thought I was nuts. Around town, I drive my old 1996 Toyota Tacoma truck. Never had a problem with it. I bought it new and still use it every day.

- Port St. Lucie, FL, USA

problem #7

Feb 092010

IS 250

  • 19,500 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

The contact owns a 2006 Lexus IS250. While driving 5 mph the vehicle suddenly accelerated and crashed into a garage. The contact applied the brakes but the vehicle would not slow down. The contact called the manufacturer and the stated that the floor mats caused the vehicle to accelerate. The contact stated that the floor mats were removed at the time of the crash. The contact stated that the vehicle was unsafe to drive and the floor mats had nothing to do with the vehicle accelerating. The VIN was not available. The failure mileage was 19,500.

- Webster, NY, USA

problem #6

Aug 152009

IS 250

  • 20,000 miles
Hi, with all the news lately regarding the problems with "sticking" gas pedals on certain Toyota models, I wanted to emphasize that I don't believe the problem is limited to Toyota. I had E-mailed you previously to describe similar problems my wife and I have had with our 2006 Is 250, where the car felt like it wanted to lurch forward with our foot on the brake pedal. Additionally, the tachometer needle was fluctuating while this was happening. Our car even died once at a stop light for no apparent reason. There is a record of our taking the car into putnam Lexus for inspection of this problem. We never did receive a response from Lexus to our first E-mail. And, we do not feel that a creeping floor mat was the cause of the problems we were experiencing. We feel that the problems we've described need to be investigated further since it is safety related. I just tried four times to send this description to Lexus through their online E-mail system but kept getting, "operation failed, illegal parameters."

- Foster City, CA, USA

problem #5

Apr 102009

IS 250 6-cyl

  • 24,000 miles
The contact owns a 2006 Lexus IS250. While driving the vehicle it rapidly increased its speed up to 90 mph. He attempted to remove the floor- mat from under the accelerator pedal. However, the vehicle veered off of the road and then into a ditch. When the vehicle rolled over, one occupant was ejected from the front seat; since he was not wearing a seat belt. The other three passengers had bruises lacerations, and were hospitalized. The vehicle was completely destroyed. A police report was available. The failure mileage was 24,000. Updated 05/10/10 updated 05/13/10. Updated 9/29/2011

- Ft Meade, MD, USA

problem #4

Feb 272009

IS 250

  • 18,000 miles
In light of the recently announced safety recall for this vehicle, we felt compelled to inform you of the following incidents involving the referenced automobile: 'on or about April 2008 we had just left our house and traveled about two miles when we stopped at a red light. With the vehicle in gear and my foot on the brake, I felt the car attempting to surge forward. I applied greater pressure on the brake pedal and was able to keep the car from moving. This surging did not repeat itself at any other stops that day. 'on or about February 27, 2009, my wife had just left costco in our city and traveled about mile where she stopped at a red light prior to making a left turn. While waiting for the green light, the car suddenly stopped dead; the engine had unexpectedly shut itself off with the car in gear. She attempted to re-start the car several times to no avail. The police was called who in turn called aaa. While waiting for aaa to arrive, she attempted to re-start the vehicle one last time and was surprised to find that it did start successfully. The approximate time between the car's engine dying and being restarted was about 15 minutes. This has never repeated; however, my wife has noticed the engine idling fast while the car was stopped on several occasions. We brought the car into putnam Lexus for inspection on March 6, 2009, where they were unable to duplicate the problem. 'on September 2, 2009, we had just exited the freeway when we stopped at the first stop light. The car's engine began idling fast and then began idling rough. With my foot on the brake pedal, I glanced at the tachometer and noticed that the needle was not steady as it normally is but the rpms were fluctuating between a bit higher than normal and a bit lower than normal. This behavior has repeated sporadically on a number of occasions. We do not believe the floor mat caused the above incidents. We have only used the Lexus floor mats that came with the vehicle and the anchor.

- Foster City, CA, USA

problem #3

Sep 222009

IS 250 6-cyl

  • 70,000 miles
The contact owns a 2006 Lexus IS250. While the contact was approaching a stop sign with his foot on the brake pedal, the vehicle suddenly accelerated forward which caused the contact to rear ended the vehicle in front of him. The vehicle was taken to the dealer who informed him to remove the mats from the vehicle. There were no prior warnings. The current and failure mileages were 70000. Updated 1/5/10 updated 01/06/10.

- Newbury Park, CA, USA

problem #2

Jan 102009

IS 250

  • 31,200 miles
The contact owns a 2006 Lexus IS250. While driving 50 mph, the vehicle began accelerating on its own to 80 mph. The vehicle failed to completely slow down when the brake pedal was depressed. The contact was able to keep the speed at approximately 50 mph; however, the vehicle was continuously accelerating to higher speeds. She was unable to slow the vehicle down and crashed into a curve. The contact noticed that the rotors were orange and the rear brake pads were melted into the rotors. The axle failed and fractured. The contact was not injured. A police report was filed and the vehicle has not been repaired. The manufacturer stated that they would send a field inspector to inspect the vehicle. The failure and current mileages were 31,200.

- Austin, TX, USA

problem #1

Oct 202006

IS 250 6-cyl

  • Automatic transmission
  • 5,310 miles
Wife was driving on the interstate with the cruise on doing about 65 mph, and she decided to pass a truck. She accellerated slightly, and the car suddenly "floored" to over 90 mph and the RPM's went all the way up. She truned off the cruise, but it wouldn't slow down. She tried to brake, but the engine was still reving at the highest speed. She forced herself off into the grassy median and sat on the brake until she could jam the transmission into park and turn off the engine. Veh towed to Lexus dealer. Tech couldn't figure out what was causing this, but after talking to Lexus headquarters, they found that the rubber car mat and the back of the accellerator somehow connected and forced the car to be "floored". you could not tell by looking at the mat that it was connected to the accellerator. My wife would of died if there had been another vehicle close to her. No accident or injury. I have no complaint with the dealer. They did everything they could to help.

- Toledo, OH, USA

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