LEXUS ES350 · model year

2021 LEXUS ES350

6 NHTSA complaints, 1 crash report for this specific cohort.

NHTSA overall rating

Not crash-tested

New Car Assessment Program

The 2021LEXUSES350 carries 6 consumer safety complaints in NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation database for this specific model-year cohort. Within that volume, owners reported 1 crash, 0 fires, 0 injuries, and 0 fatalities. No NCAP 5-star crash-test rating is available for this model year in the federal database.

Component-level analysis is where model-year complaints become actionable: the top complaint category for the 2021 ES350 is wheels with 2 filings, followed by structure:body (1) and exterior lighting (1). Concentration in one or two component groups is the classic signature of a systemic defect; a flat distribution usually reflects normal aging, warranty complaints, or isolated build-plant variability.

NHTSA currently has 3 investigation files overlapping the 2021 ES350. Owners comparing this cohort against neighboring years should pair the counters above with the complaint-by-year trend on the parent model page — a spike in a single year often tracks to a platform refresh, a new transmission supplier, or an updated ECU calibration. Use the related-complaint feed below to read raw owner narratives before deciding whether any pattern here affects your specific use case.

6
Complaints
1
Crashes
0
Fires
0
Injuries
0
Deaths

Total Complaints

6 filings

Crashes Reported

1 reports

Source

NHTSA ODI

Federal complaints database

Complaints vs. fleet median (215)

At or below the fleet median complaint volume.

Complaints by Component

ComponentCount
WHEELS2
STRUCTURE:BODY1
EXTERIOR LIGHTING1
TIRES1
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING1

Recent Complaints

20221213CrashWHEELS

While driving my 2021 Lexus ES 350 on a Interstate Highway 495 known as the Long Island Expressway my vehicle went over a small pot hole in the road way and the tires side wall was punctured resulting in a flat tire. I replaced the tire having only 4,555 miles on this new vehicle. Following this incident I once again drove over obstruction more than 4 inches and had both the drivers side tire and the drivers side rear tire side walls punctured with the additional damage of the drivers side front rim so badly damaged it had to be replaced. My specific safety issue is these low profile tires are less than 4 inches from the rim AND CAN NOT ACCEPT THE STRESS OF A "NOMINAL POT HOLE TO PREVENT PUNCTURING OF THE SIDE WALL OF THE TIRE AND ARE UNSAFE UNDER "NORMAL ROAD HAZARDS THAT OTHER TIRES DO NOT EXPERIENCE THAT ARE NOT LOW PROFILE TIRES. Tire is Bridgestone Turanza EL440. Called Lexus. They disallow any other tire or rim except the low profile to result in voiding of warranty. Wh

20220601FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING

The contact owns a 2021 Lexus ES350. The contact stated while accelerating from a stop, the brakes inadvertently was activated. The automatic braking system engaged and the vehicle had to be shifted to park, turned off, and restarted to operate correctly. The contact stated that several unknown warning lights illuminated. The vehicle was not taken to a dealer or independent mechanic for diagnostic testing or repairs. The contact stated that several months later the failure recurred. The contact stated that while turning out of a parking lot the automatic braking system engaged and the vehicle had to be turned off and restarted to operate correctly. The dealer was notified of the failure and informed the contact that if the failure did not occur on the way to the dealer there was nothing that they could do. The vehicle was taken to the dealer after the 5th failure and the dealer was unable to determine a cause for the failure. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and sent a fiel

Mileage: 8,000

20220419WHEELS

My car had 3 tire/wheel issues in less than 4 months. Left me stranded on the side of the road. Was told this is a common issue. Basically Lexus knows they have a problem but do not have plans to fix other than offer insurance. It is costly repair. The bigger issue is the safety one. I believe that sometime this will cause a severe accident. I felt so strongly I sold the car back to Lexus. We were surprised at the total lack of concern shown to us. We had 2 episodes in MI and 1 in FL. I was told that an office manger had 3 blow outs this year. Also another customer that had just had her car a week had a blow out. I will never purchase a car with Low profile tires of this kind. If your tires won't hold up you cannot feel safe.

20220419TIRES

My car had 3 tire/wheel issues in less than 4 months. Left me stranded on the side of the road. Was told this is a common issue. Basically Lexus knows they have a problem but do not have plans to fix other than offer insurance. It is costly repair. The bigger issue is the safety one. I believe that sometime this will cause a severe accident. I felt so strongly I sold the car back to Lexus. We were surprised at the total lack of concern shown to us. We had 2 episodes in MI and 1 in FL. I was told that an office manger had 3 blow outs this year. Also another customer that had just had her car a week had a blow out. I will never purchase a car with Low profile tires of this kind. If your tires won't hold up you cannot feel safe.

20210920EXTERIOR LIGHTING

My opened vehicle doors can not be seen in the path of other vehicle drivers when standing outside the opened vehicle door blocking the light on the vehicle doors. To solve this problem I added a Fluorescent Yellow/Green Retro-Reflective Tape to the lower interior door edge of each vehicle door that is automatically illuminated by another vehicle drivers headlights at night to allow another vehicle a visual warning and the added time to allow accident avoidance to occur. I also contacted the New York City Dept. of Transportation that also includes the police department and learned that with the fleet of 31,000 vehicles they have they have a continuous upwards of 1,000 opened vehicle door collisions a year. I believe NHTSA is NOT REPORTING SPECIFICALLY INCIDENTS OF OPENED VEHICLE DOOR COLLISIONS because the specific type of incident is not included in the motor vehicle accident accident reports provided back to NHTSA. I request NHTSA include the following in accident reports

20210315STRUCTURE:BODY

WHEN I OPENED MY VEHICLE DOOR AT NIGHT AND EXITING MY VEHICLE THE VEHICLE DOOR DOES NOT PROVIDE A VISUAL WARNING TO OTHER VEHICLE DRIVERS IN THE PATH OF MY 2021 LEXUS ES 350. I DID AN INVESTIGATION AND FOUND THAT ALL OPENING DOORS ON ALL 17 MILLION VEHICLE DOORS DO NOT PROVIDE AN ADDED ZONE OF ILLUMINATION THAT IS AUTOMATICALLY ILLUMINATED BY ANOTHER VEHICLE DRIVERS HEADLIGHT TO ALLOW ACCIDENT AVOIDANCE TO OCCUR. I PETITIONED NHTSA AND RECEIVED NO REPLY TO MY "FIX" TO MAKE POSSIBLE A NEW FMVSS 108 TO SOLVE THIS CONTRIBUTORY CAUSE OF OPENED VEHICLE DOOR PEDESTRIAN DEATHS. THE APPLICATION TO ADD A ZONE OF ILLUMINATION IS UNIVERSAL IN APPLICATION TO ALL VEHICLE DOORS, AND TAKES ABOUT 10 SECONDS TO APPLY REQUIRING NO TOOLS. I WISH NHTSA TO TAKE A POSITION THAT ALL VEHICLE DRIVERS HAVE THE RIGHT TO SEE OPENED VEHICLE DOORS AT NIGHT TO REDUCE THE NUMBER OF OPENED VEHICLE DOOR COLLISIONS AND OPENED VEHICLE DOOR PEDESTRIAN DEATHS AND TO PROVIDE A SAFETY WARNING NOTICE TO ALL VEHICLE O

Mileage: 15

Compare 2021LEXUSES350 to Similar Vehicles

NHTSA Investigations

Frequently Asked Questions

How many complaints does the 2021 LEXUS ES350 have?
The 2021 LEXUS ES350 has 6 NHTSA complaints, 1 crashes, 0 fires, 0 injuries, and 0 deaths reported.
What are the most common problems with the 2021 LEXUS ES350?
The most-complained component for the 2021 LEXUS ES350 is WHEELS with 2 complaints. Other frequently reported areas include STRUCTURE:BODY and EXTERIOR LIGHTING.
Is the 2021 LEXUS ES350 safe to buy?
Review the complaint history, crash and fire reports, safety ratings, and recall status on this page to make an informed decision. No NHTSA crash test rating is available for this model year. Compare with other model years using the links above.
Where does this data come from?
All complaint, recall, and safety rating data is sourced from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Complaints are filed by vehicle owners through NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation.

Vehicle Safety Guides

Data as of 2025. Sources: NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) complaints database, NHTSA recall campaign API, NHTSA NCAP crash-test ratings, and NHTSA FARS for fatality cross-reference.