NHTSA Complaint #10507227 — 2003 LEXUS GX470

SEVERAL CRACKS (SOME HAIRLINE AND OTHERS WIDER) HAVE APPEARED ALL OVER THE DASHBOARD, NEAR VENTS, ABOVE INSTRUMENT CONSOLE AND IN FRONT OF THE PASSENGER SIDE AIR BAG COVER. INITIALLY, I THOUGHT THIS WAS AN ISOLATED OCCURRENCE BUT IN RESEARCHING THIS TOPIC ONLINE I REALIZED THIS IS PERVASIVE ISSUE WITH THIS MODEL AND IT'S OVERSEAS COUSIN PRADO. THIS IS CLEARLY A MANUFACTURING DEFECT THAT TOYOTA AND LEXUS MUST CORRECT. I BELIEVE THE CRACKS OVER THE PASSENGER SIDE AIR BAG COVER POSE A SAFETY RISK WITH POTENTIAL INTERFERENCE WITH THE OPERATION OF THE AIR BAG DEPLOYMENT. TO BE SURE THIS WASN'T AN ISOLATED OCCURRENCE, I HAVE VISUALLY INSPECTED 5 OTHER GX 470S IN TAMPA AREA (RANDOMLY) OVER THE LAST MONTH AND EACH ONE OF THEM HAD THE SAME CRACKS ON THEIR DASHBOARDS. HERE ARE LINKS TO OWNER FORUM SITES I SURVEYED TO GET A SENSE OF THIS PROBLEM WORLDWIDE ... HTTP://US.LEXUSOWNERSCLUB.COM/FORUMS/TOPIC/54056-03-GX470-DASHBOARD-CRACKS/ HTTP://WWW.CLUBLEXUS.COM/FORUMS/GX-FIRST-GENERATION/427349-CRACKED-DASHBOARD.HTML HTTP://US.LEXUSOWNERSCLUB.COM/FORUMS/TOPIC/61250-GX470-CRACKED-DASH/ HTTP://WWW.PRADOPOINT.COM/SHOWTHREAD.PHP?12073-CRACKED-DASHBOARD/PAGE15 NHTSA MUST ASK LEXUS TO SURVEY GX 470 OWNERS ON THIS ISSUE TO CONFIRM THE EXTENT OF THE PROBLEM. IF THE INCIDENT RATES ARE AS HIGH AS I BELIEVE THEY ARE, THIS SHOULD BE A BASIS FOR A RECALL AND LEXUS SHOULD BE FORCED TO ADDRESS THIS ISSUE. *TR