Parking brake failure on the 2002 Lexus Rx300
Only 4 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 parking brake failure gets reported
There are 4 reports of parking brake failure on the 2002 Lexus Rx300, 4 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 88,000 miles. It is the 6th most-reported problem on this model year.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | — | 142,128 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
Putting it right typically runs $250–$1,300 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.
The same failure, every year of the Lexus Rx300
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.
When I switch off the engine, remove the ignition key the vehicle will roll/creep forward or backwards when the shift lock selector lever is left in drive or reverse when the SUV is parked on an incline. I strongly feel this is a serious safety hazard if the SUV is parked on an incline with the shift lock selector lever is left in drive or reverse as the SUV would roll/creep forward or backwards and possibly cause an accident and resulting in bodily harm. To be on the safe side I now make sure that the shift lock selector lever is left in the park position and the parking brake pedal is pushed down when I switch off the engine. My main concern is if my family members drive the SUV and do not put the shift lock selector lever in the park position and have the parking brake pedal pushed down the vehicle will/creep forward or backwards if the shift lock selector lever is left in drive or reverse. I brought this problem to the attention of the lexus dealer and was told that this problem does not come under a 2002 lexus rx 300 SUV recall. The lexus service consultant gave me a quote on 10-10-2017 for $739.89 plus the cost to re-core a…
Suddenly my gears began shifting into neutral, park, reverse and into !st and 2nd gear without locking into any of them. No matter what the shifter moves freely. My car only moves forward no matter which gear it's in, including reverse. I put it into park and it still keeps moving forward. In order to park and stop, I have to use my emergency brake and turn the car off. I do not know the cause (unknown) it just suddenly happened on a toll road at the pay station. Also, my internal lights do not come on when I open any door, including the trunk lights. My radio does not change stations and knob does nothing, reception is poor & comes and goes. I cannot get any am stations.
Suddenly my gears began shifting into neutral, park, reverse and into !st and 2nd gear without locking into any of them. No matter what the shifter moves freely. My car only moves forward no matter which gear it's in, including reverse. I put it into park and it still keeps moving forward. In order to park and stop, I have to use my emergency brake and turn the car off. I do not know the cause (unknown) it just suddenly happened on a toll road at the pay station. Also, my internal lights do not come on when I open any door, including the trunk lights. My radio does not change stations and knob does nothing, reception is poor & comes and goes. I cannot get any am stations.
Also reported on the 2002 Lexus Rx300
Complete transmission failure
Other powertrain problem
Other speed control problem
Other engine problem
Airbag failed to deploy in a crash
Seat belt or retractor failure
How far this goes
This page is kept out of search results because 4 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 4 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 parking brake failure happen on the 2002 Lexus Rx300?
Across 4 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 140,000 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 parking brake failure on the 2002 Lexus Rx300?
4 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 22 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