What is the best year for the Lexus LS?
No official dataset can support one universal best year. Use the table to compare complaint patterns and EPA figures, then open the shortlisted years for recall campaigns and exact specifications.
Model-year matrix
Lexus LS
which year?
Compare every Lexus LS model year the EPA recorded, 1990 to 2026. See complaint patterns, fuel economy and configurations side by side, then open any year for recall campaigns and the full dossier. Confirm against the official NHTSA recall search.
Evidence-led answer
Looking for the best Lexus LS year—or years to avoid?
The official records cannot honestly name a best, worst or most reliable year. Complaint totals have no sales, mileage or age denominator. They can show where more reports were filed and which components were named, giving you years to investigate more closely before checking the exact car and its VIN.
Which Lexus LS years should you avoid?
The records cannot justify a blanket avoid label. Years with more reports are surfaced below as research priorities, not predictions about every car from that year.
01 · More reports to inspect2007
45 indexed complaint reports; service brakes is the most-reported component label.
Open the 2007 dossier →02 · More reports to inspect200843 indexed complaint reports; service brakes is the most-reported component label.
Open the 2008 dossier →03 · More reports to inspect200617 indexed complaint reports; tires is the most-reported component label.
Open the 2006 dossier →Do not read this as an avoid list. Older and higher-selling model years usually accumulate more reports. A low count can also mean a newer, rarer or poorly matched vehicle—not a safer one.
Complaint totals are counts of owner-submitted allegations, not confirmed defects, and they carry no denominator: they are not adjusted for how many cars were sold, how old they are, how far they are driven, or how much publicity a fault received. A high-volume or older year will usually show more reports than a rare or recent one. The site does not convert these into a reliability score, because the data needed to do that honestly is not in the public record.
Direct comparison
Compare two Lexus LS model years.
Choose any two years. The URL keeps the pair so you can return to the same comparison. Every figure below is an observed official record or EPA estimate—not a reliability score.
2025 Lexus LS
- NHTSA complaint allegations
- 1
- Combined EPA economy
- 21–25 mpg/MPGe
- EPA configurations
- 4
- Annual EPA fuel-cost estimate
- $3,050–3,600
- Fuel labels
- Premium Gasoline
Most-reported component labelsair bags 1seat belts 1seats 1
Open the 2025 evidence dossier →2026 Lexus LS
- NHTSA complaint allegations
- 0
- Combined EPA economy
- 21 mpg/MPGe
- EPA configurations
- 1
- Annual EPA fuel-cost estimate
- $3,600
- Fuel labels
- Premium Gasoline
Most-reported component labelsNo component label indexed
Open the 2026 evidence dossier →Observed complaint-record difference
2026 has 1 fewer indexed complaint allegations than 2025.
This is not a rate or reliability finding. The counts have no sales, mileage, age or exposure denominator, and newer years have had less time to accumulate reports.Side by side
Lexus LS by year.
Complaint bars are scaled against this model’s own highest year, so they compare years with each other and with nothing else.
| Year | Complaints | Most-reported components | Combined MPG | EPA configs | Annual fuel cost | Dossier |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 0 | — | 21 | 1 | $3,600 | Dossier → |
| 2025 | 1 | air bags 1seat belts 1seats 1 | 21–25 | 4 | $3,050–3,600 | Dossier → |
| 2024 | 0 | — | 21–25 | 4 | $3,050–3,600 | Dossier → |
| 2023 | 1 | seats 1 | 21–25 | 5 | $3,050–3,600 | Dossier → |
| 2022 | 0 | — | 21–25 | 3 | $3,050–3,600 | Dossier → |
| 2021 | 5 | engine 1exterior lighting 1tires 1 | 21–28 | 4 | $2,700–3,600 | Dossier → |
| 2020 | 0 | — | 21–28 | 4 | $2,700–3,600 | Dossier → |
| 2019 | 1 | engine 1 | 21–28 | 4 | $2,700–3,600 | Dossier → |
| 2018 | 14 | electrical system 3unknown or other 3wheels 3 | 21–28 | 4 | $2,700–3,600 | Dossier → |
| 2017 | 0 | — | 18–19 | 4 | $4,000–4,200 | Dossier → |
| 2016 | 5 | air bags 1electrical system 1engine 1 | 18–20 | 5 | $3,800–4,200 | Dossier → |
| 2015 | 2 | forward collision avoidance 1service brakes 1service brakes, hydraulic 1 | 18–20 | 5 | $3,800–4,200 | Dossier → |
| 2014 | 3 | engine 1service brakes 1service brakes, hydraulic 1 | 18–20 | 5 | $3,800–4,200 | Dossier → |
| 2013 | 5 | service brakes 4forward collision avoidance 3engine 1 | 18–20 | 5 | $3,800–4,200 | Dossier → |
| 2012 | 5 | air bags 2electrical system 1service brakes 1 | 18–20 | 5 | $3,800–4,200 | Dossier → |
| 2011 | 9 | service brakes 6unknown or other 3electrical system 1 | 18–20 | 5 | $3,800–4,200 | Dossier → |
| 2010 | 8 | service brakes 2suspension 2unknown or other 2 | 18–21 | 5 | $3,600–4,200 | Dossier → |
| 2009 | 13 | engine 4electrical system 3power train 3 | 18–21 | 5 | $3,600–4,200 | Dossier → |
| 2008 | 43 | service brakes 17unknown or other 11structure 5 | 19–21 | 3 | $3,600–4,000 | Dossier → |
| 2007 | 45 | service brakes 19unknown or other 6air bags 5 | 19–20 | 2 | $3,800–4,000 | Dossier → |
| 2006 | 17 | tires 5vehicle speed control 5air bags 2 | 19 | 1 | $4,000 | Dossier → |
| 2005 | 5 | power train 2unknown or other 2structure 1 | 18 | 1 | $4,200 | Dossier → |
| 2004 | 8 | air bags 2engine 2exterior lighting 1 | 18 | 1 | $4,200 | Dossier → |
| 2003 | 1 | structure 1 | 19 | 1 | $4,000 | Dossier → |
| 2002 | 7 | structure 5wheels 2engine and engine cooling 1 | 19 | 1 | $4,000 | Dossier → |
| 2001 | 3 | electrical system 1latches/locks/linkages 1structure 1 | 19 | 1 | $4,000 | Dossier → |
| 2000 | 1 | electrical system 1 | 19 | 1 | $4,000 | Dossier → |
| 1999 | 3 | vehicle speed control 3 | 19 | 1 | $4,000 | Dossier → |
| 1998 | 2 | electrical system 1vehicle speed control 1 | 19 | 1 | $4,000 | Dossier → |
| 1997 | 1 | electrical system 1 | 19 | 1 | $4,000 | Dossier → |
| 1996 | 1 | electrical system 1engine 1power train 1 | 19 | 1 | $4,000 | Dossier → |
| 1995 | 2 | electrical system 1seat belts 1 | 19 | 1 | $4,000 | Dossier → |
| 1994 | 4 | electrical system 3exterior lighting 1interior lighting 1 | 18 | 1 | $4,200 | Dossier → |
| 1993 | 0 | — | 18 | 1 | $4,200 | Dossier → |
| 1992 | 0 | — | 18 | 1 | $4,200 | Dossier → |
| 1991 | 0 | — | 18 | 1 | $4,200 | Dossier → |
| 1990 | 0 | — | 18 | 1 | $4,200 | Dossier → |
Evidence snapshot generated . “Not indexed” means NHTSA holds no complaint record matching this exact year, make and model — not that no fault occurred. Recall campaigns are not summarised here: NHTSA publishes no bulk recall dataset, and fetching them per year would take longer than the page should. Each year’s dossier shows its recalls in full, live from NHTSA.