Airbag inflator rupture on the 2010 Lexus Es350
3 crashes 1 injury 4 of the 92 reports for this failure mention a crash, a fire, an injury or a death. Those are the owner's words on the complaint form, not a verified finding, and one report can mention more than one.
Only 7 reports for this mode came with an odometer reading, which is too few for percentiles to mean anything. The page is here because someone linked to it; treat the figures as anecdotes, and see the full report for this year instead.
When airbag inflator rupture gets reported
There are 92 reports of airbag inflator rupture on the 2010 Lexus Es350, 7 with a mileage attached. That is too few to place the failure on the odometer with any confidence.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 80,000 miles. It is the 1st most-reported problem on this model year.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | — | 78,000 miles | — | — |
Read the 10th percentile as “one report in ten arrived this early”. Exact figures are shown in this table because it is the table of record; everywhere else on the site they are rounded to the precision the sample can carry.
What a percentile can and cannot tell you here
These five numbers describe the readings owners gave, in order. The median is the middle one: half the reports arrived below it. The 10th and 90th are the edges of the bulk of the distribution, and the distance between them is the part worth reading. A tight spread — say 70,000 to 95,000 miles — points at something that wears out on a schedule, and the schedule is knowable. A wide one, 20,000 to 190,000, points at a fault that hits some cars and never troubles others, which means the mileage on the listing in front of you tells you very little about your odds.
What these figures are not is a survival curve. Every reading here comes from a car whose owner filed a complaint, so the sample contains only failures: it cannot say what share of the fleet made it past 150,000 miles untouched, because those owners had nothing to report. Nor is the mileage the moment of failure — it is the odometer reading as recalled at the time of filing, which may be weeks later and is sometimes rounded to the nearest ten thousand by the person typing it.
Percentiles are shown at all only once 8 readings exist for the vehicle and mode. Below that the middle of a handful of numbers is noise wearing a decimal point, so the figures are withheld rather than dressed up.
What happens, and what it costs
Of these reports, 3 a crash and 1 an injury are mentioned. Owners write their own complaints and the agency does not verify them, so read this as what the reports say happened rather than as a confirmed count.
Putting it right typically runs $0–$0 at an independent US shop. That range is an editorial estimate held in this site's failure-mode catalogue, not a figure from NHTSA, and it is a repair cost rather than a diagnosis cost.
This mode is classified as critical, which means a failure can leave the car unable to stop, steer, or stay out of the way of traffic. It is weighted accordingly in the risk score.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 6 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2009, at a median of 45,000 miles, and latest on the 2008 at 100,000 miles.
By volume the 2008 carries the most reports, with 128; the 2010 has 92. A mode that appears across most years of a model is usually a design choice rather than a bad batch.
If one year stands out to the left, that is the year to avoid; if the whole line sits at a similar mileage, this is wear rather than a defect in one production run.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
What owners wrote
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The mileage is the one the owner gave.
Takata recall. Lexus has distributed an "interim notice" of this recall that advises owners not to operate the vehicle with an occupant in the front passenger seat. The letter states lexus is "taking this action to ensure your safety". In reality, the notice is an obvious attempt to protect lexus from any liability. This notice was sent three months ago, and yet there is no remedy available. The recommended solution is impractical for most families. The question is how long should consumers consider is a "reasonable" time for this problem to be corrected. The issue essentially prevents an owner from honestly trading, selling, or otherwise disposing of the vehicle while the problem exists. I also lease another lexus vehicle and was told by lexus that I could drive that one while we waited for the recall to be resolved. That adds miles to my lease obligation that were not planned for. Lexus indicated they would provide alternate transportation, but I have received no confirmation of that offer. The vehicle that I purchased is not usable through no fault of mine, and it does not appear there is any urgency by lexus to correct the…
Takata recall, in june 2016 I received in the us mail a notice of recall for the front passenger airbag. The notice advised me to not drive the vehicle with a passenger in the front passenger seat. It is 5 months later and lexus still has no solution or available remedy for this situation. In the meantime the resale price of the car has fallen due to this situation. I want the airbag replaced by lexus soon.
Tl* takata recall. The contact owns a 2010 lexus es350. The contact received notification of NHTSA campaign number: 16v340000 (air bags). While driving 50 MPH, the contact had to abruptly depress the brake pedal, but it failed to respond. As a result, the contact rear ended another vehicle. The air bags failed to deploy. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic, but was not diagnosed or repaired. There were no injuries and a police report was filed. Prior to the crash, the manufacturer exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The vehicle was taken to sterling mccall lexus (10025 southwest fwy, houston, tx 77074, (713) 995-2600) where it was confirmed that the parts were not available for the recall remedy. The manufacturer was not notified of the issue. The failure mileage was 100,000. Parts distribution disconnect.
Also reported on the 2010 Lexus Es350
Other body or interior problem
Other speed control problem
Alternator or charging system failure
Cruise control failure
Other electrical problem
Other brake problem
How far this goes
This page is kept out of search results because 92 reports is not enough to publish percentiles from. It stays reachable because somebody looking at this exact car would rather see the reports than be told there are none.
Complaints are voluntary, so 92 is a floor and not a count of affected cars. Mileages are typed in by owners and cluster on round numbers. And the mode itself is assigned by software reading the complaint text, which is reliable in bulk and fallible one report at a time.
Questions this page answers
At what mileage does airbag inflator rupture happen on the 2010 Lexus Es350?
Across 7 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 80,000 miles. A quarter were filed before — and a quarter after —. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is airbag inflator rupture on the 2010 Lexus Es350?
92 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.8 per 1,000 vehicles. Complaints are voluntary, so this is a floor rather than a count of affected cars.
What this is and is not. These are the mileages at which owners chose to complain to a federal agency, which is not the same as the mileage at which the part fails on every car. It skews toward failures that happened outside warranty, cost real money, or frightened someone. It is still the only public dataset that carries failure mileage at all, and the shape of a few hundred readings is informative even when a single one is not. Methodology · JSON · this failure on other cars
Source Owner complaints and recall records published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, model years 1996–2027 Figures rebuilt Published by AtWhatMileage How every figure is computed