On January 17, 2005 I was involved in an automobile accident in my 2004 Lexus RX330. This accident occurred less than 1 mile from my home, on my own street, 1-2 minutes after leaving my home. It had snowed the night before and the roadway was still snow/ice covered, it was a frigid morning. I was traveling approximately 15 miles per hour and the vehicle brakes failed to engage. I attempted to push the brake petal to the floor without result. The anti-lock brakes did not function. The damage to this vehicle exceeded $8000. Days after the damage to the vehicle was fixed my husband took the vehicle to the Lexus of towson dealership to have the braking mechanism looked at. During the drive to the dealership (in similar, snow covered/frigid conditions) my husband was able to reproduce this problem, again just after leaving our home. The dealership (a 40 minute drive from our home) was unable to reproduce this problem and told us to call back if the problem occurred again. Today, May 24, 2005, we were informed during a routine oil change that there may be a problem wth the brakes and that a campaign was underway to investigate. I wanted to formally add my vehicle to this list of compaints.

- Fork, MD, USA

I had driven my car to the bank and when I came out to start my car the brake pedal was very stiff. I saw a red brake light on the dash and first thought I had somehow put on the emergency brake. I realized that this was not the case and that I had no brakes. I was still in the parking lot so no injuries occurred. After trying numerous times to move my car, the light went off and I was able to drive home. This was only about a mile. Once I was home, the vehicle again froze up and I had no brakes and could not even push down the brake pedal. There was no prior warning of a problem, no visible signs of a leak. The vehicle was unable to be driven and had to get towed to the dealership on a flatbed truck. This was a new 2004 Lexus RX330 with only 5,000 miles on it. The dealership put a sign on my car...do not drive - no brakes. The next day I was told that the master cylinder had an internal leak. Because it was under warranty the dealership replaced the master cylinder (I was told that there were no parts available in the country and it would take 3 weeks to ship a part) I was not given my old part and the only explanation was that the master cylinder had an internal leak. I have no way of knowing if this new part has a defect too, and if in another 5,000 miles this master cylinder will fail. The fact that no parts were available in the entire country leads me to question whether there were a number of other 2004 Lexus RX330's that had similar master cylinder malfunctions. If you have had other complaints with the brake systems on Lexus RX330's I would like to hear from you.

- Harrison Township, MI, USA

Consumer entered the vehicle, and upon exiting the parking lot, vehicle would not stop. Consumer had to place the vehicle into park in order to stop. Vehicle was towed, and the master cylinder and brake booster were replaced....part was on back order. Mechanic at dealership reported that he has seen a couple of cars with the same problem.

- Ann Arbor, MI, USA