The 2009 Lexus IS 250 has 4 recalls, all concerning the same defect: the front passenger airbag inflator can rupture and send sharp metal fragments into the cabin, causing serious injury or death.
These four filings all address the same underlying Takata airbag inflator issue on the passenger side. The inflator uses a propellant that can degrade over time, particularly in high-humidity climates, and when the airbag deploys it can explode with far more force than intended, tearing apart the metal inflator housing and driving fragments toward the driver and passengers. Some of the filings specifically apply to vehicles originally sold or registered in high-humidity states such as Florida, Texas, Hawaii, Louisiana, California, and several other warm coastal areas, as well as U.S. territories, while others cover a broader population of vehicles. Because prior repair attempts under earlier phases of this recall did not fully resolve the issue for all affected vehicles, additional campaigns were opened to capture remaining cars that had not yet received a confirmed fix. Any IS 250 in this model year that has not had the passenger inflator replaced under this recall remains at risk any time the airbag deploys in a crash.
