Buyer Research

2024 Lexus ES — Should You Buy One?

Typical asking price: $34,000–$44,000. This is one of the more reliable vehicles in its class — here's what to watch for anyway.

Deciding between model years? Compare the 15 Lexus ES years we've written up →

Kestrel Take

Nine complaints and no recall campaigns is the whole public record on the 2024 ES, and nine filings on a car that is still inside its factory bumper-to-bumper warranty tells you almost nothing either way — it is not a reliability rating and we will not dress it up as one. The nine split into a driver's airbag cover that pops loose from the steering wheel, blind-spot indicators that light late or not at all, and one reversing bump the owner says the parking sensors slept through. All three are things you can check in the driveway. The mechanical package — 3.5L V6 and eight-speed in the ES 350, the 2.5L hybrid in the ES 300h — carried over unchanged, so the 2022 and 2023 pages are the better read on what the car does at higher mileage. Buy on the dealer service history and the remaining warranty, and pay for the car, not the badge.

What we checked

Checked against public records, 2026-09-25

NHTSA holds 9 owner complaints for the 2024 Lexus ES, and 2 recall campaigns.

That is too small a record to read a pattern from, so we are not going to pretend otherwise — with numbers this low one owner moves the percentage by a lot. What has been filed is grouped under airbags (2), lane departure (2), back over prevention (1). Treat those as things to look at, not as the vehicle's known weaknesses. A thin file usually means few of these were sold or few owners filed. It is not evidence the vehicle is trouble-free, and the issues below are our own research rather than a reading of this record.

2 recall campaigns cover this model year. Recalls are repaired free, for any owner, with no time limit on most safety campaigns — but only if someone books it in. Ask the seller to show it was done, or have any dealer check the VIN; it takes them a couple of minutes and costs nothing.

Counts come from the NHTSA complaint and recall database — free, public, and worth checking yourself.

Known Issues for the 2024 Lexus ES

Ranked by wallet impact. These are documented, recurring problems — not freak accidents. How we decide that.

Driver's airbag cover detaching from the steering wheel hubMedium

Both airbag filings describe the same thing: the trim cover over the driver's airbag sitting open or lifted off the steering wheel on a parked car. In one case the dealer traced it to dashcam wiring that had been routed under the cover, snapped it closed, and it opened again. A cover that will not stay seated is a cover that may not split correctly in a deployment, and Lexus does not sell it separately from the airbag module. Press gently around the edge of the horn pad — it should sit flush with an even gap all the way round — and be wary of any car with aftermarket wiring run through the steering column area.

Repair cost (estimate): $0–$150 to reseat; $600–$1,500 for a driver airbag module if the cover is damaged

Source: NHTSA complaints filed under airbags (2).

Blind-spot indicators lighting late or not at all; rear parking sensors silent in one reversing bumpMedium

Two owners describe the blind-spot mirror icons behaving inconsistently — sometimes lighting for a car alongside, sometimes not, and in one case not showing at all with the turn signal on. A third filing, the one crash on this record, is a 2 mph reversing bump into a parked car where the driver never heard the proximity chime. The rear radar sensors on this generation sit behind the bumper cover and are the usual suspect, and undisclosed bumper repairs disturb them. On the test drive, have a passenger watch the mirror icons as cars pass on a multi-lane road, and reverse slowly toward a wall to confirm the sensors sound off at the right distance.

Repair cost (estimate): $500–$1,500 per radar sensor; $0–$250 for a recalibration

Source: NHTSA complaints filed under lane departure (2), back over prevention (1).

What a nine-complaint record does and does not tell youLow

With so few filings, single reports fill the rest of the table: a seat-belt complaint, a brake complaint that involved a crash, a speed-control report and a seat complaint, one each. None of them repeats and none has a recall behind it, which means we cannot tell a pattern from a one-off, and neither can you. Treat this page as a list of things to look at, not a ranking, and lean on the 2022 and 2023 ES records, which share every mechanical part with this car, for what to expect as the miles climb.

Repair cost (estimate): $0–$200 for a pre-purchase inspection, the best money you can spend on a car this new

Source: not yet checked against public records.

Walk-Away Red Flags

✗Airbag cover on the steering wheel that lifts at one edge or does not sit flush
✗Aftermarket dashcam or accessory wiring routed near the steering column
✗A blind-spot icon that stays dark when a car sits alongside
✗Parking sensors that stay silent when you reverse toward a wall
✗Rear bumper paint that does not match the quarter panels

Good Signs

✓Lexus dealer service records at every interval since new
✓Balance of the 4-year/50,000-mile warranty confirmed for the VIN by a Lexus dealer
✓Blind-spot icons lighting promptly on both sides during the test drive
✓Parking sensors chiming at a consistent distance from a wall in reverse
✓Original steering wheel trim with an even gap around the airbag cover