Other speed control problem on the 2001 Lexus Rx300
5 crashes 2 injuries 7 of the 14 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.
When other speed control problem gets reported
Owners of the 2001 Lexus Rx300 report other speed control problem at a median of 60,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 55,000 miles and a quarter after 90,000 miles, from 11 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 78,000 miles. It is the 3rd most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 30,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 140,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 111,100 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
A spread this wide points at use rather than design. Towing, climate, service history and city mileage all move a failure like this, so the median is a weak guide to any individual car.
18% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 31,000 miles | 56,500 miles | 60,000 miles | 90,838 miles | 142,100 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, 5 a crash and 2 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 $250–$2,000 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 5 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2003, at a median of 40,000 miles, and latest on the 2000 at 125,000 miles.
By volume the 2001 is the worst of them, which makes this a problem of this specific year rather than of the model as a whole.
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.
2001 lexus rx300, 30degree outside temp, vehicle warmed up until heated seats worked, drove vehicle about 80 yards forward, vehicle put into reverse, sudden acceleration occured at full throttle, brakes did not function, unable to shift into drive position with vehicle in motion, RPM needle at redline 8000rpm, vehicle finally brought to screeching and shaking stop when shifted into park. Engine was shut off, when started again, rmp needle jumped up to redline again and stayed there. This repeated about 5 times. Acceleration was stuck at full throttle. No collision. Vehicle malfunction reported to dealership, vehicle towed for diagnosis and repairs. Noticed ticking sound coming from drivers side.
Two (2) incidents of sudden acceleration by the vehicle - the dealer was not aware of any similar issues. I was not aware that NHTSA was conducting an investigation into similar occurrences with other toyota/lexus vehicles.*ak
Throttle stuck wide open following routine acceleration going up hill. Engine continued at high revs. Control and braking were difficult as engine raced uncontrollably. Vehicle stopped by exiting into parking lot and being put in park.*ak after 1 hour when vehicle restarted engine immediately red lined. It did the same the following day and at dealer after being towed in. Diagnosis from dealer- throttle control body stuck. Fortunately driver dealt with potentially fatal situation without injury or damage. Manufacturer unwilling to disclose similar episodes.
Also reported on the 2001 Lexus Rx300
Complete transmission failure
Other powertrain problem
Other engine problem
Airbag failed to deploy in a crash
Other electrical problem
Parking brake failure
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 14 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 other speed control problem happen on the 2001 Lexus Rx300?
Across 11 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 60,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 55,000 miles and a quarter after 90,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is other speed control problem on the 2001 Lexus Rx300?
14 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 75 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