We leased a 2007 Lexus RX350 in January 2007. Since may of 2009, my wife has been feeling sick each time she was in this car. She has developed progressive worsening symptoms of difficulty of breathing and swallowing with dryness sensation in her throat and chest, throat pain and pain in her chest in the tracheal and both bronchus distribution. We noticed a large amount of white dust came out of the ac/heat vent in October. My wife was seen by a pulmonologist in December, 2009. Her symptoms was related to the repeated inhaling of the white dust emitted from the ac/heat vent of the RX350 each time she was in this car. She developed severe permanent injury to her lung from repeated inhaling the white dust. We told this problem to the dealer in December, 11, 2009. Dealer replaced the evaporator system in December 18, 2009. But, it was too late. My wife has already suffered permanent injury to her lung. Even the evaporator was replaced, there was still some white dust coming out of the vent, just not as much as before the repair. I informed the Lexus dealer in englewood, New Jersey. The dealer advisor told me just to blow it off. We searched the internet and found out this is not an isolated event. Lots of people has/had the same problem with the white dust. Some of them (even a three year old child) also developed health problems. Lexus admitted the white dust was from the corrosion of the coating material inside the ac/heat vent system. This is a health safety issue. As a physician of myself, I believe Lexus has the responsibility to inform the public. Lexus knew this problem as early as June of 2007. Lexus has already replaced evaporators in many cars in 2007-2008. Why Lexus did not warn or inform the public at that time? Lexus should warn its customers or do a recall for the defective ac/heat vent system. Updated IVOQ 06/08/10

- Englewood Cliffs, NJ, USA

I have a Lexus 2007 model rx 350. When driving with the windows up and with the HVAC set on recirculation, there will be a pronounced smell of sulfur dioxide within the cabin. This smell can occur when we are driving alone on a highway with no other cars within 20 miles. When I complain to the dealer, all I get is a printout with the official Lexus position that the sulfur dioxide smell emanating from the tailpipe is normal. Of course that is normal, it is coming from the catalytic converter. What is not normal is that it is penetrating the cabin with all of the windows up. If sulfur dioxide is coming into the aft air ventilation ports, so is carbon monoxide. The dealer refuses to investigate this problem or to escalate the issue up to the manufacturer, Toyota, for investigation and correction. According to the service advisors, they are receiving this complaint from a large number of owners, but no one in the dealer's or the manufacturer's organization have grasped the significance of the issue.

- Mesa, AZ, USA