Lexus IS 250

Which Lexus IS 250 years should you avoid?

Going by 719 owner complaints filed with NHTSA, the Lexus IS 250 years to avoid are 2007, 2006 and 2008.

• 2007213 complaints, 4.4× a typical IS 250 year, most often about the airbags.
• 2006189 complaints, 3.9× a typical IS 250 year, most often about the airbags.
• 2008125 complaints, 2.6× a typical IS 250 year, most often about the airbags.

Better bets: among years old enough for a low count to mean something, the 2011 drew the fewest complaints without an unusual share of serious ones.

How this is worked out: each year is compared with a typical year of the same model, which takes most of the difference in sales out of it, and its share of serious failures is compared with every other car of the same model year, because older cars were complained about differently. A year needs 25 complaints to be judged at all. Complaints are unverified owner reports. Full method →