2013 ES 350 Actuators keep breaking

verybeeg

We have an 2013 ES 350 and the actuators keep malfunctioning. We bought the car brand new. It happens on all 4 car doors at different period of time. The first one broke within the first year of owning the car. Then each year 1 or 2 will break and the dealer replaced them for free. We just purchased an extended warranty since the warranty period just passed. Lo and behold, 2 of the actuators broke again.

The dealership repair shop says that since the car gets locked and unlocked multiple times in a day, we are putting too much stress on it. Well, this Lexus is only used for local commute. We have another larger car (Acura) that we use more often to shuttle kid to and from sports every day and weekend, yet that other car didn't have the door lock issue. We owned several other cars before (Ford, Honda, Nissan) for longer time frame and none of them had this problem. This is the first time we purchased a Lexus. I read that the Lexus actuator mechanism is made of plastic so it breaks easily.

Does anyone have the same issue with their actuators? Is this a common Lexus issue? Thankfully it is under warranty now since we bought an extended warranty. But is there a better way to fix them so we don't have to bring the car in to be fixed every year for this same issue?

0patience

verybeeg said:

The dealership repair shop says that since the car gets locked and unlocked multiple times in a day, we are putting too much stress on it.

What??
So Lexus is saying to NOT use your door locks? Really. Ok, now that I can get up from laughing...
That is a new one on me. Guess Lexus is off my list of vehicles to look at. LOL!

I'm sorry, but I would find another dealer.
Seriously.

It is common with Lexus, so much I know there are a few techs have youtube videos on the replacement.
Since you said you have the extended warranty, is it an aftermarket one?
If it is, check with your Toyota dealer and see if they honor it.
Most likely, they will do a better job at dealing with your concerns, since Toyota makes the part and probably has an updated part.

verybeeg

Good idea in using Toyota dealer. There are only 2 Lexus dealers within 25 miles of my house, and I am going to try to use the other Lexus dealer first. This dealer is not getting any more of my business on other issues they have (1.25 hours just to get a loaner, no communications from them when they had the car in their possession for 2 days, etc.) The warranty was purchased recently through a Lexus dealer I found on this site, so it's through Lexus. They just fixed the 2 actuators, so let's see whether another one would break soon.