AutoUtility currently tracks 35 official NHTSA owner defect complaints for the 2021 Lexus ES. Air Bags & Restraints issues are the most frequently reported category, appearing in 26 complaints (74.3% of submitted records). Among these NHTSA complaint records, 2 filings cite a crash, 1 reports one or more injuries. The 2021 Lexus ES belongs to the 7th Generation (XZ10) platform.
- • Total NHTSA Complaints: 35 reports
- • #1 Reported Problem Area: Air Bags & Restraints (26 reports • 74.3% of submitted complaints)
- • Secondary Problem Areas: Steering System (2), Driver Assistance & Safety Tech (2)
- • Crash-Citing Complaints: 2 filings
- • Fire-Citing Complaints: 0 filings
- • Complaints Reporting Injuries / Fatalities: 1 injury filings • 0 fatality filings
Most Reported Problems for 2021 Lexus ES
Top automotive subsystem defect categories ranked by unique owner complaint volume in federal records
Air Bags & Restraints
NHTSA records list 1 official safety recall campaign for this model year involving the same broad component area:
- Campaign #23V865000 AIR BAGS:SENSOR:OCCUPANT CLASSIFICATION
Steering System
Driver Assistance & Safety Tech
Wheels & Tires
Brakes & Traction Control
Recent NHTSA Owner Reports for 2021 Lexus ES
Representative defect filings submitted by owners to the NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation
"On or July 28, 2026, I experienced a safety incident involving the driver’s side power window on my 2021 Lexus ES. The vehicle was running, and I reached through the driver’s side window to retrieve an item being handed to me. Without me pressing or activating the window switch, the driver’s window..."
"The contact owns a 2021 Lexus ES-300H. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 23V865000 (Air Bags); however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The local dealer was contacted. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time..."
"Still no parts for fix"
"The contact owns a 2021 Lexus ES 300H. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 23V865000 (Air Bags). The contact called the dealer for over a year for parts availability updates and was informed that parts were not yet available. The contact stated that the manufacturer had..."
"Recall on my vehicle has been out for 1.5 years. Dealer states no parts yet & that I should be fine. But I don’t feel safe if my passenger air bag won’t deploy in any emergency."
Complaint History for Lexus ES
Reported defect complaint volume across sibling model years (2015–2026)
| Model Year | NHTSA Complaints | Crash Reports | Safety Recalls | Detailed Report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 Lexus ES | 5 | 2 | 0 | View 2015 Problems → |
| 2016 Lexus ES | 9 | 2 | 0 | View 2016 Problems → |
| 2017 Lexus ES | 2 | 0 | 0 | View 2017 Problems → |
| 2018 Lexus ES | 5 | 1 | 0 | View 2018 Problems → |
| 2019 Lexus ES | 34 | 6 | 1 | View 2019 Problems → |
| 2020 Lexus ES | 24 | 6 | 1 | View 2020 Problems → |
| 2021 Lexus ES Current Page | 35 | 2 | 1 | Current |
| 2022 Lexus ES | 13 | 1 | 0 | View 2022 Problems → |
| 2023 Lexus ES | 12 | 3 | 2 | View 2023 Problems → |
| 2024 Lexus ES | 9 | 2 | 2 | View 2024 Problems → |
| 2025 Lexus ES | 4 | 2 | 1 | View 2025 Problems → |
| 2026 Lexus ES | 0 | 0 | 0 | View 2026 Problems → |
Detailed NHTSA Component Breakdown for 2021 Lexus ES
Complete distribution of consumer defect reports across all 11 granular NHTSA system and subsystem classifications
| Vehicle Component / System | Total Complaints | Crash Reports | Fire Reports | Reported Injury Entries | Reported Fatality Entries |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Air Bags NHTSA category: AIR BAGS | 25 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| EXTERIOR LIGHTING | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Forward Collision Avoidance NHTSA category: FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Seat Belts NHTSA category: SEAT BELTS | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Steering NHTSA category: STEERING | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| STEERING,SERVICE BRAKES | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Structure & Body NHTSA category: STRUCTURE | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Other / Uncategorized NHTSA category: UNKNOWN OR OTHER | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Wheels & Hubs NHTSA category: WHEELS | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| WHEELS,TIRES | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Official NHTSA Defect Investigations (1)
Formal safety defect inquiries and engineering analyses opened by the NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation (ODI)
Pedestrian alert sounds
NHTSA received a petition on or about July 18, 2022, requesting that Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) 141 be applied to all electric and hybrid vehicles operating in the United States. The petition can be reviewed at NHTSA.gov under ODI Number 11486072. FMVSS 141 establishes performance requirements for pedestrian alert sounds for motor vehicles. The standard applies to hybrid and electric vehicles that have a gross vehicle weight ra...
The complaint records on this page are retrieved directly from the NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) public database.
Local Production Store Compiled: August 2026 • Deterministic Audited Dataset • Zero Dynamic External API Runtime Latency.