I am writing to you to describe a very dangerous characteristic of the Lexus Rx 450H. I am lucky that a guardrail prevented me from going off a cliff and I am very concerned that other drivers will not be so fortunate. While driving down a slight incline on an inch of so of fresh snow in incline village, Nevada at 25 mph, I found myself out of control even though I had at least 200 feet to slow down for a turn; I hit a guardrail at 15 mph, causing $20,000 worth of damage to my Lexus Rx 450H. Needless to say, I traded it the next day for an Rx 350H to avoid another similar experience. So how did the situation I describe happen? when I braked, I quickly noticed that the wheels were locked and that the steering no longer worked (I have forty years of experience driving in snow, having been in snow since my youth in Canada) and I removed my foot from the brake to regain steering control. Unfortunately, the wheels remained locked and I ran out of time. My Lexus Rx 450H had less than 2,300 miles at the time. I acquired it when my lease on my Rx 400H ran out. While I was aware that the Rx 400H locked its wheels in slippery road conditions (a known attribute documented in the user manual), I knew how to react and never panicked when the wheels locked; I simply removed my foot from the brake and regained steering control. So what makes the Rx 450H different than the Rx 400? a look at the power gauge while driving identifies the difference quickly; in the Rx 400, the charging system does not try to capture energy to recharge the batteries except when one is touching the brake pedal, while in the Rx 450H, the charging system tries to capture energy as soon as one removes his/her foot from the gas pedal, not when one touches the brake. From an engineering perspective, it makes sense to leverage the fact that the driver is intending to slow as S/he has removed their foot from the gas pedal but it is a disaster when the roadway is icy.

- Nevada, NV, USA