2013 Lexus IS: what breaks, and at what mileage
What breaks on the 2013 Lexus IS
On the 2013 Lexus IS, the failure owners report most often is other visibility problem, with 5 reports on file. Across every failure mode on this year, half the dated reports were filed before 55,000 miles.
The failures owners actually file about
Owners have reported 6 named failure modes on the 2013 Lexus IS, and the three most-reported carry 69% of everything filed, so the trouble here is concentrated rather than scattered.
Other visibility problem leads with 5 reports and about 143 per 1,000 vehicles.
Seat belt or retractor failure follows with 3 reports, median 10,000 miles.
Fuel pump failure follows with 1 report, median 55,000 miles.
By system, the reports fall mostly into glass (5), airbag (3) and fuel (1).
The mileage the reports cluster at
Too few of the reports on this year carry an odometer reading to describe the timing: 7 of them do. The mileages quoted elsewhere on this page come from the modes that have enough of them.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
How reports accumulate
Every report with an odometer reading, cumulative, from 0 to 200,000 miles. A curve that climbs early is a car with early problems, whatever its total.
- Line share of reports filed by that mileage
How bad it is when it goes
Across the named modes, 4 mention a crash and 3 an injury. Those are the words owners used in their own complaints, and NHTSA does not verify them, but they are the closest thing in this data to a measure of what a failure actually did.
The average severity weight across every report on this year is 7.08, where a stalled engine or a failed airbag weighs many times more than a rattling trim panel, and a figure this high means the reports are dominated by failures with safety consequences rather than annoyances. The weighting is set out in full on the methodology page.
What the top failures cost to put right, as editorial estimates for an independent US shop rather than figures from NHTSA: other visibility problem at $150–$1,400, seat belt or retractor failure at $200–$900, fuel pump failure at $600–$2,600 and exhaust leak or fumes in the cabin at $250–$2,000. Dealer labour, a seized bolt or a part that is no longer made can push any of these past the top of its range.
8% of the reports on this year sit in the engine, transmission, drivetrain or cooling systems — the four where a repair bill is usually four figures.
Every reported failure mode
| Failure mode | System | Reports | With reading | 25th | Median | 75th | Per 1,000 | Typical repair | Severity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Other visibility problem | glass | 5 | 1 | — | 64k | — | 142.9 | $150–$1,400 | Moderate |
| Seat belt or retractor failure | airbag | 3 | 3 | — | 8k | — | 85.7 | $200–$900 | High |
| Fuel pump failure | fuel | 1 | 1 | — | 55k | — | 28.6 | $600–$2,600 | High |
| Exhaust leak or fumes in the cabin | emissions | 1 | 1 | — | 75k | — | 28.6 | $250–$2,000 | High |
| Other engine problem | engine | 1 | 1 | — | 64k | — | 28.6 | $300–$4,000 | High |
| Other brake problem | brakes | 1 | 0 | — | — | — | 28.6 | $300–$1,800 | High |
| Unclassified problem | other | 1 | 0 | — | — | — | 28.6 | — | Moderate |
This year had no usable recall paperwork, so the fleet-size estimate is the median of other years of the same model. Repair costs are typical independent-shop ranges for the failure, not figures from these reports.
How often, against how many were built
Scaled by an estimate of how many of these cars exist, the 2013 Lexus IS draws about 371 per 1,000 vehicles, which puts it in the 99th percentile of complaint rates among 2013 vehicles we can rate.
That denominator is the weakest number on the page and it is fair to say so plainly. This year had no usable recall paperwork, so the fleet-size estimate is the median of other years of the same model.
The working figure is 35 vehicles. If the true number is twice that, every rate on this page is half what it says; the ranking against other 2013 vehicles, which is what the risk score uses, is far more robust than the rate itself.
What owners wrote
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The odometer reading is the one the owner gave.
Seat belt or retractor failure
While park at a stop light, the auto, third in line was impacted by a truck traveling 40-50 MPH, no braking, and hit and run. My wife was alone in the car, which was driven into a pickup and subsequently into a buick. Of the 12 airbags available, not one actuated, causing serious internal and external bruising with the seat belt and steering wheel impact. The drivers seat broke loose from its mounting, damage more than $50,000. In addition, a broken wrist resulted. Complaints to the local dealer concerning lack of safety from air bags went unanswered and comments from national office said the air bags were not supposed to operate. Since significant damage occurred, she is afraid to ride in the vehicle as we consider it unsafe. I did not know who else to complain to and am adding this note to what will probably be a growing database. I could not provide the VIN, as the car has still not been repaired. *js
While park at a stop light, the auto, third in line was impacted by a truck traveling 40-50 MPH, no braking, and hit and run. My wife was alone in the car, which was driven into a pickup and subsequently into a buick. Of the 12 airbags available, not one actuated, causing serious internal and external bruising with the seat belt and steering wheel impact. The drivers seat broke loose from its mounting, damage more than $50,000. In addition, a broken wrist resulted. Complaints to the local dealer concerning lack of safety from air bags went unanswered and comments from national office said the air bags were not supposed to operate. Since significant damage occurred, she is afraid to ride in the vehicle as we consider it unsafe. I did not know who else to complain to and am adding this note to what will probably be a growing database. I could not provide the VIN, as the car has still not been repaired. *js
Where 2013 sits in the model line
Across the 11 model years of this car that carry enough reports to score, 2007 comes out best at 55 and 2012 worst at 79.
Scores compare each year against other cars of the same model year, so a low number on an older car is a real result and not an artefact of age.
Shorter is better. Years with too few reports to score are shown without a bar rather than as a zero, because no data is not good news.
The limits of complaint data
13 owner reports; fleet size borrowed from other years of the same model. Every count on this page is therefore a floor: it is the number of owners who went to the trouble of filing with a federal agency, which is a small and self-selected fraction of the owners who had the fault.
Of those 13 reports, 7 carried an odometer reading, so the mileages here describe 54% of the sample rather than all of it. Owners also round: readings pile up on multiples of ten thousand, which is why this site publishes "about 90,000 miles" and not "91,438".
Named failure modes come from matching phrases in the complaint text, so a badly worded complaint can land in the wrong bucket. The effect washes out across hundreds of reports and does not wash out across five.
And nothing here predicts what one car will do. These are other people's complaints, filed years apart, on cars maintained by strangers. Read the page as a map of where this model year has previously gone wrong, then have the specific car in front of you inspected.
Questions this page answers
What are the most common problems with the 2013 Lexus IS?
The most-reported failures are other visibility problem (5 reports, median 65,000 miles), seat belt or retractor failure (3 reports, median 10,000 miles) and fuel pump failure (1 report, median 55,000 miles). Counts come from owner complaints filed with NHTSA, which are voluntary, so they show what owners bothered to report rather than every fault that occurred.
Where this comes from. Every figure above is computed from NHTSA owner complaints and recall records for this exact make, model and year. Complaints are voluntary and self-selected, so treat counts as a floor. The methodology page writes out each formula, and the same numbers are available as JSON.
What breaks at my mileage Compare with another car
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