“They duplicated Consumer Reports’ results on the GX 460 and they are currently evaluating potential remedies, but at this point there is no details of what the remedy is,” Bill Kwong, a Lexus spokesman was quoted as saying by the New York Times. According to Kwong, the rear of the Lexus began sliding during the carmaker's test, exactly as it was reported by CR.
The new problem for Toyota began last week, when CR issued a rare "don't buy" warning for the Lexus model. The magazine's editors found that "in real-world driving, lift-off oversteer could occur when a driver enters a highway’s exit ramp or drives through a sweeping turn and encounters an unexpected obstacle or suddenly finds that the turn is too tight for the vehicle’s speed."
As a result of the finding, Toyota decided to stop sales of the model, first in the US and then worldwide. The Australian model of the GX 460, the Toyota Prado, is not affected by the problem, which apparently only occurs in the V8 engine, but interacts differently with the vehicle stability control (VSC) system found in the GX 460.
A more official position from Toyota is expected sometime during the day.
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