Brake failure on 2007 prius
Created November 22, 2006, at 7:57 am by Calafras
Had my prius for 12 days and it had to be towed to dealer, the brake warning lights came on, brake fluid was leaking and the car did not brake well!!! Had only driven the car 75 miles. Dealer called Toyota who told them NOT to touch the car until they sent out a technician from CA, I am on the east coast. Toyota never heard of this problem and wanted to look at my car just in case other prius's came up with the same problem. BEWARE of 2007 Prius. I liked the car for the short time I had it. BUT am scared to drive it now. Will not let my family into the car, if I ever get it back. It has been at the dealer for over a week now, almost the same amount of time that I actually had it. Dealer is being very evasive. Anyone have this problem, and what was the outcome.
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I've had my Prius 2007 for two weeks, put 600 miles on it and will never want my old car back (was not a bad car, BTW - a sporty Mazda 3s). At 75 miles your car was not even broken in, you've been very unfortunate to hit a manufacturing defect. Also, I would be inclined to think that 100% Japanese-built car would have less of those failures on average than your domestic car. But what does it have to do with safety of your family? I've had brakes COMPLETELY fail on a Chevy S10 truck (I understand you still had a little bit of "bite" left on yours, right?) so should I now avoid EVERY S10? Cool down, man. I know how it feels but when the first shock is over you should realize that this is just probabilities and once fixed, they are most likely will never fail again. BTW, just in case, you have a "B" mode there that lets you brake with your (electric) engine. Not a very effective brake but if you are not flying 80MPH, it'll bring you to complete stop in a few hundred feet.
I actually have a feeling that Toyota dealerships are not really prepared to sell Priuses and actually even hate to sell. I also feel that there may be some electricity fear going on among the mechanics. The guys that sold me mine had very basic knowledge of how to operate a Prius and I would be simply mislead in my purchase if I hadn't read about Prius before I even came to buy it. For example, he said that the "B" driving mode (braking with engine) was for highway driving(!) to save even more fuel(!!). That's what I'm saying - no clue.
Also, flying a mechanic from CA may very well be a BS designed to cover up other unrelated delays.
Cheers,
D~
Check out my Prius Blog
I don't have a persistant problem but I locked up the brakes the other day and a tablespoon of brake fluid was on the ground when I stopped. From the front passenger tire to the rear were drops everywhere. The master cylinder was full still but no problems or leakage since. Will keep my eye on it. When I locked it up the battery sounded like it shifted, loud thud.
All things mechanical occasionally have problems. Toyota usually does a great job standing behind their products. The fact they want to know exactly what caused the problem should provide some piece of mind they are working on your behalf. Take a deep breath, all will be OK!
Things happen! It is how they take care of you that counts!
I had a very strange experience in my 2006 Prius driving home from work today. I was in stop-n-go traffic, traveling about 5-10 mph, when the cars in front of me slowed to a stop. I stepped on the brake, but I kept rolling. I had to watch myself roll into the car in front of me because absolutely nothing happened when I stepped on the brake. I was not pressing the accelerator. I was definitely pressing the brake.
I'm fortunate I was going very slowly when this happened.
My Prius has 11,000 miles on it. It's up to date on all the services.
Has anyone heard of such a problem with other Priuses? Haven't found anything like this on the internet so far. I'm taking it to the dealership first thing in the morning - would have taken it tonight if they weren't closed..
Wow, that sucks. Keep us updated please.
Prius is now at the dealership; it has been "quarantined" (Toyota's term). I'll update here when I have more info.
Hi,
Certainly hope they are giving you a Prius loaner (with brakes) while yours is being disected.
All should still be covered by warranty EXECPT your costs for the "slow" fix.
Carl
No loaner car. I had the car towed to the dealership service dept (where I bought the car). The dealership said they couldn't touch the car until a Toyota inspector looks at it. They told me I had to call Toyota "Legal" and report the problem ("product liability claim"). The dealership "quarantined" (their term) the car. The dealership called me a few days later to say the inspector had been there, inspected the car, told the dealership to call me and tell me I can come and pick it up, and the inspector will call me within 30 days. No info from the svc dept about the findings, no way to contact the inspector, no written report. The service dept did tell me that they expect the inspector to tell me that he found no problems, otherwise he would not have told them to release the car to me, but the svc dept wouldn't state that for certain. Basically, the svc dept took a hands off approach and told me the issue is between me and Toyota Headquarters.
Some more detail about the incident:
I had approx 15 feet between me and the car in front of me. The brake did not respond. There is no question in my mind that I applied the brake, not the accelerator. (I checked where my foot was, and I also wasn't accelerating). I had enough time to watch the whole thing unfold. With my foot on the brake, I could not stop my car, and I rolled into the car in front of me. I so surprised and confused by the brake not responding, it didn't occur to me to step on the emerg brake until too late.
There was no damage to either car because I was going very slowly (less than 10mph) and I was well behind the car in front of me.
Bumping into the car in front of me was what stopped me (not my brake). After I was fully stopped, I was able to pull over to the side of the road, and the brakes worked again.
Please don't anyone post back saying what I might have been doing wrong, or how it's impossible for this to happen. It did happen, exactly as I've described. I am posting this only to share information with others so that the body of knowledge about this problem builds. Maybe down the road it will help me or someone else.
I also found a similar experience on priuschat.com from 2006 (post is titled "brake failure 2005 Prius")
http://priuschat.com/index.php?showtopic=20093&hl=
Thanks Mel,
Please continue to keep us updated and I do believe you hit the brake:)
I was driving along a narrow lane in Gloucestershire/Herefordshire border today and doing less than 20mph - a car appeared going slowly towards me on road only wide enough for 1 car - applied brakes suddenly and just as the incident above the brakes simply didnt work until the last thing and I narrowly missed hitting the car. I would have expected to have stopped easily without concern but my wife, son and I all thought we were not going to stop. I was certain that I hit the brake - not much choice on an automatic as it wasnt the accelerator. The sensation was like riding a bicycle in the wet with old caliper brakes - they just dont grip until the last minute. It was very unnerving and i wonder what it would have been like on a wet road at high speed. The road surface was loose and slightly wet and I suspect this confuded the ABS ir whatever is used to control the braking.
I will be going to Toyota carefully tomorrow morning.
I have also had a brake problem with my 06 Prius, around 15,000 miles. On two occasions the brakes failed to activate for 2 – 3 seconds, then they took effect. On the second occasion I started to swerve to avoid the car in front of me before the brakes took effect. On both occasions I was traveling at slow speeds ( under 30 mph), moving uphill, and braking with the intention of coming to a complete stop. There was no rain, sand or gravel, and the car was not skidding. The anti-skid light went on.
I took the car to the dealership, they could not replicate the problem, they said they could not find anything wrong & were going to return the car to me. I insisted something be done, so they sent a mechanic to observe as I test drove the car. I was not able to get the brakes to fail, but I was able to make the anti-skid light go on when it shouldn’t. The dealership then bled the brakes & returned the car to me.
That same day as I approached a stop light, the car did a strange, very slow anti-lock brake response. The brakes applied, then unapplied with about one to 1 ½ seconds between each application. On two occasions since then the brakes have not applied for 2 – 3 seconds after I stepped on them. The anti-skid light went on one of those times, the other time I was too busy looking at the road to notice. I was going over a rough road surface, but not a surface on which the car was skidding.
I have noticed the anti-skid light goes on sometimes when the car is not skidding but going over a rough surface.
I really liked the Prius before this happened, but I do not feel it is not a safe car to drive until is resolved.
Like Melmiley, I too had a problen today with the brakes not being there when I needed them. I ended up hitting another car and damaged my 07 Prius.
When I hit the brakes I hit them suddenly and hard, yet I kept on rolling until I hit the other car. They may have slowed me down a little, but not much. Nothing close to the feeling of ABS when it kicks in. I have stopped trucks in a shorter space than I coasted today.
I fully intend to make an issue out of it at the dealership on Monday Morning.
I will keep you posted
By the way, if you have an 07 Prius take it out to an empty parking lot, get it up to speed (20-30MPH) and hit your brakes like your life depended on it. Your life may actualy depend on how it reacts. For me it was pretty scary. I would like to know how other Prius' act in an emergency braking situation.
AMEN....Cars are made by assembly lines, which are made by humans, thus none of them are perfect!!!
You are fortunate the air bags did not deploy!!!
Hi,
These brake problems sound pretty ugly but one of the better gatherings of Prius technologists can be found in "Prius_Technical_Stuff", the YahooGroup. Understand, we're a bit 'anal' about getting into the guts of our Prius so this is not a place to bring advocacy or trivial maintenance questions. But folks in that group are the kind who have and do take Prius apart and figure them out.
Those who have had brake or other unusual, complex Prius problems are welcome to join and post what happened and questions. There are no guarantees but folks in "Prius_Technical_Stuff" are pretty good about offering serious, qualified opinions.
I've had no problems with or reasons to investigate the brake system. Hobbit has done more work and Julian developed a 'regen' hack for an NHW10. We've also had some discussions about the anti-lock features and dealing with marginal traction. So as a suggestion, those who have had these brake problems might want to visit and share the symptoms.
Thanks,
Bob Wilson
I recently had a problem with the brakes on my 2006 Prius with 20,000 km on it.
I was driving into my garage with my foot on the brake and as I was about to come to a complete stop the car accelerated forward, as if you took your foot off the brake and put it on the accelerator. It hit and destroyed our snowblower which in turn put a hole in the drywall of our garage. I believe it was the snowblower that saved the car from driving right into my house.
Fortunately no one was hurt, my husband was in the passenger seat, with seatselt on and my 6 year old neighbour buckled in her car seat in the back.
I was able to reverse the car a few feet and stop.
I have not driven the car since.
We have an excellent Toyota, dealership, Race Toyota. We called the Sales Manager, who we have bought cars from for over 25 years, on a Saturday evening and he called us back, came over on Sunday morning and drove my husband to the dealership to get a loaner car.
The next morning their service people came and picked up the car along with our snowblower and took it to their dealership.
My husband and I had a very sleepless night as all we could think of was what if it had have been a person we hit rather than our snowblower and wall of our garage. We figure we were really lucky. But we were both unanimous that we did not want to get back behind the wheel of this car.
The sales manager bought out our lease and a few days later we were driving a 2008 Toyota Matrix, which was the car we had driven before leasing the Prius and had always enjoyed driving.
The next day they sent someone over to fix the drywall in our garage and we have been informed our 1 1/2 year old snowblower is not fixable so they will be replacing it for us.
It makes me appreciate having a good Toyota dealership. However, Toyota Canada on the other hand is another story. Our dealership contacted them and because they cannot recreate the problem Toyota Canada will not take any responsibility so our dealership is probably going to be out the money for this mishap.
I have written to Toyota Canada asking them to step up to the plate and take responsibilty for their product. Because if I hear that one of these cars cause injury or death, I will sing like a bird.
These cars are so technological that things are bound to happen, that might not happen to all. I work with computers everyday and am responsible for some troubleshooting. They can do something today and when you call a technician to look the problem it is no longer doing it and they can't fix it unless they can see it happening.
I feel sorry for the people who have had problems and still have to drive these. Saving gas is great and helping the environment is all well and good but at what cost.
Update on my situation, When I took the car to the dealer they found no indication of any problem. No computer codes, we also tested the ABS braking on the back lot and the ABS kicked in as it should. This was nothing like when I had the collision which indicates to me that this is an intermittant problem (the worst kind). I also understand that if they have no indication of the root cause, and all the self diagnostics pass, they wouldn't know where to start with any repairs so nothing was done. I have opened a NHTSA complaint to document the event. I would recommend that any one else who had similar problems do the same.
Thanks Bryce, almost 8,000 miles on mine and no brake problem....yet.
Another update:
I have discovered two things:
First, I can reproduce the issue. It is intermittant, but after several attempts I have found that there is a slight delay between hitting the brakes and any serious reaction of the car, some braking yes, but not full braking.
Second, on my Prius I have noticed that I can always reach the floor with my brake pedal with the hybrid system turned on.
I discussed this with my dealer again, they say that this is normal, that with the Prius the initial braking is in the electric motor so that it can regenerate the batteries, then based on sensors there is an electronically assisted hydraulic braking, and finaly, the ABS system. The dealership told me that the pedal reaching the floor is normal since the system is electronic. My issue is that if the computer doesn't properly interpret the sensors it may not recognize an emergency braking situation right away. If I cannot apply full force to the hydraulic brakes because the pedal is at the end of its range then I will never have 100% unless the computer decides to give me that 100%.
Please give me feedback, does everyone else reach a mechanical stop at the end of their brake pedal range or is this unique to my car? My dealer is telling me that it is designed that way and that a delay in braking is possible as the computer transitions the braking from motor-braking to the electronically assisted hydraulic brake system.
The brakes consistently but unpredictably fail to work for us in our brand new 2007 Toyota Prius. This occurs for about a second in various situations and conditions. It has happened going over mildly damaged roads (on bumps), when moving forward into a parking space, when stopping at stop signs, when braking for a red lights.
So far, I apply the brakes the same way as I do at other times. The car begins to brake, then the brakes no longer work and the car continues to move forward, the sliding light comes on, sometimes solidly and sometimes it flashes and then the brakes start working again. It has happened on bumps, but not always, it does not have to do with weather conditions- it has happened typically on dry roads. I can not replicate it by slamming the brakes on. It usually happens at slow speeds (when I am braking) I have not tried it during a high speed situation. The brake does not go down to the floor. I have not noticed any noise that accompanies this phenomenon. We can't replicate the problem for our dealer and Toyota Canada has been profoundly unhelpful.
I know this is an old thread, but has anyone else recently had this problem (I've seen several older threads)?
I have a question. Has anyone pumped the brakes when this occurred? Back in the old days when we built hot-rods, the brakes would somtimes work less than reliably and you'd have to pump them to get the car to stop. I'm wondering if, when the brake pedad went to the floor, or the car failed to stop, did anyone try pumping the brake pedal?
Groove-
Actually, the brakes are working as designed. You are experiencing the electronic modulation that goes with the ABS and/or vehicle stability control as the tires momentarily unbrake and then rebrake. This is to keep the car from spinning or fishtailing on a surface where the tires are not slowing down at the exact same speed (ABS) or you are in a turn and the tires are not in sync (VSC). This is being incorporated in all cars in the last few years so it is not just a Prius issue, it is a new car issue. However, since the Prius uses the front brakes much more so than a regular car (due to regenerative braking) the effect is more notable when the front wheels encounter sand, potholes or anything that causes one tire to slide while the other continues to slow down.
Now whether this is too much of a good thing, I can see the point of complaining. Your experience (brake failure) is what everyone states when this is first encountered.
damn shame.. faulty brakes are VERY dangerous. ;)
_______________
replace 'em faulty car parts to save fuel and the Earth, says the oyxgen sensor blog
I also have a 2006 Prius and it has a little over 25,000 miles on it and recently, (Sept. 14, 2007) had problems with the brakes and luckily it was in my driveway. I was going under 5 miles per hour and in the process of positioning my car to back it in to our driveway when I put my foot on the brake it did not stop and jolted forwards right through the neighbors fence, taking out a six foot panel and causing extensive damage to my car. I am now scared to drive this car. When it comes out out the body repair shop it is going straight back to the dealership where we purchased it.
I also have a 2006 Prius and it has a little over 25,000 miles on it and recently, (Sept. 14, 2007) had problems with the brakes and luckily it was in my driveway. I was going under 5 miles per hour and in the process of positioning my car to back it in to our driveway when I put my foot on the brake it did not stop and jolted forwards right through the neighbors fence, taking out a six foot panel and causing extensive damage to my car. I am now scared to drive this car. When it comes out out the body repair shop it is going straight back to the dealership where we purchased it.
My mom just had her breaks spontaneously fail to function on a 13 month old Camry Hybrid. Did any Camry Hybrid owners have similar problems?
What you may not know about hybrid vehicles whether they are Honda, Toyota, Ford or whatever, they do not use a hydraulic master cylinder like you are used to. They have a rubber bladder that gives you pedal feel but the braking is done by the abs/traction control hydraulics and if you are not using sufficent pedal pressure it will try to slow the vehicle with regen rather than applying the brakes. Hope this helps.
Jim.
Well add me to the list. I was driving a few weeks ago on the freeway in L.A. going about 5 mph in the rain and the SUV in front of me came to a stop. I easily had enough time to stop however I put on my brakes and nothing, not even a slow down, I pumped them, nothing, I literally slid into the big SUV in front of me trying to engage my e-brake with my right hand (I forgot it was with my left foot, it's hard to undo 23 years of muscle memory even after 2 years). I got out of the car and there was no skid mark, nothing, my car really never even slowed. It was extremely frustrating and frightening. Sadly, I glided right into the SUV and my hood crumpled. I've been found at fault by my insurance and the estimate is $5,000 to repair. The real problem is I'm very afraid to drive this car again with my baby in it and am having dreams about driving and not being able to stop.
My father is a mechanic and he told me that on electric cars traveling under 25 MPH the ABS does not kick in so you hit a wet slick and you are out of luck. For those of you who have taken in your car in after this happens, and they say there is nothing wrong, I find that offensive on the part of Toyota. Toyota should be warning all potential buyers and certainly all owners that this is a very real problem! I'm sure they are fully aware of it.
Once my car is fixed I will take it to the dealer to complain, but I can see chances are high they will tell me all is well and not mention the fact that the ABS doesn't work under 25 mph.
Two weeks ago, I had a possible brake failure in my Prius 2007. It was dark and wet conditions & happed rather fast so I am not sure how much was brakes vs hydroplaning. I was slowing down to an intersection at the bottom of small slope and once I noticed I wasn't stopping I reapplied the brakes... I went right through the intersection. Lucky that there was no cross traffic, however it as a tree that ended up stopping the car & so I am looking at $9000+ in damages. I am having the shop also look at the brakes.
From the above messages I think the ABS at lower speeds sounds like a probability (my airbags did not deploy).
I am planning on keeping my Prius, but I am wary of the brake issue and will be careful in how I brake.
I have repeatedly brought this up with my insurance and I will tell the dealer when I return for service.
All of this time we think it is a brake failure, actually, it is not. We know that Prius has two types of brakes. I do not know that exact terminologies for these brakes, but one is electric (the one that apply most of the time when we press on the brakes, which charges the Prius), and the regular car brakes with ABS.
A computer chip determines (with pressure from the brake peddle) which brake to apply at that present time. Most of our cases were when we are under regular circumstances. We are rolling about 20mpr before a complete stop at a reasonable distance. So, we apply the brake normally. At this time, I think, the electric brake will apply, but at some situations this is not enough to stop the car completely before bumping into another car. So, it seems like a brake failure. Even if, at this time, we apply the brake deeper the computer chip may or may not determine if we need that ABS. There was once I apply the brake to it’s deepest, and it still did not feel like it is stopping. Later, (after causing me an accident) I found that in this kind of situations letting go of the brake peddle, and immediately perform an emergency brake will stop the car. But, that is if we can respond fast enough.
Our true problem is how that computer chip determines which brake we need. I think it is a classic example of too much technology and too new, which back fires. Having said all that I still love my Prius, it is a good car. However, it still has a lot of room to improve. I hope Toyota can improve or develop a better braking system for us.
Toyota quality had really dropped. All there cars have serious problems now.
I owned many Toyota cars and was not impressed at all.
The Prius in my opinion is not safe it has very thin metal to be fuel efficient and now that the breaks are bad I would stay away from this car like the plague.
Its just like people buying Armstrong arm bands they buy a prius to be in style to be Green! When I see Prius people I think of Izod Alligator too all copy cats that cant really help the environment.
Its so funny most of the prius owners have huge homes that waste so much fuel. They might have spent the 28k on a nice solar system for there homes.
Kept there existing car so and in impact on the environment would have been much less.
At least my next car will be all electric, I will wait for the Chevy Volt to come out. Using no gas at all will possibly make it worth the cost.
Greg
I have 600 miles on my new 2008 prius. I was in stop and go traffic and the same thing happened to me. I kept rolling even though my foot was on the brake! I ended up rear ending the car in front because the brakes weren't working! Luckily it was real slow and i didn't cause too much damage. BUT i still have paint damage on the front! I shouldn't have to pay for the prius' mistake! Is anyone else hearing about this problem! Who's going to pay for this!
I work for a paratransit company...we drive 5 different types of vehicles..one of which is the toyota prius on friday march 14 of 2008 I went from a dead stop at a light to about 20-25 mph to the next light I saw the light turn yellow I hit my brakes to slow down and then stop only one problem the car didn't respond I saw the light turn red I hit the brakes a few more times and nothing. I coasted into the intersection and hit another vehicle. I may lose my job over this accident because now the brakes work...no serious injuries just some bruising...they say these vehicles are good and safe I fail to see how they are safe if they cant guarantee your gonna stop how many people are gonna be hurt or worse before this issue is taken care of
I have a 2005 prius with about 20,000 miles. I took it for a car inspection to get updated car tags and I almost failed the braking test. The test showed that the front tires were not stopping at the same rate. One tire was still moving while the other had stopped. I had not noticed any pull of the car while braking before the test, but I also keep both hands on the wheel when braking.
Has anyone had any brake alignment problems?
I'm taking it to the dealer to check.
PLEASE READ! This is an update of my story! This is what we do!
I wrote about my prius brake failure about 5 weeks ago. (look back a few stories and you'll see my story) Here's an update on what i did and how i was able to deal with the situation. If all of us keep checking up on this forum, eventually, if a big law suit was to surface this would be our source for a class action suit. All of us must report this on consumeraffairs.com (federal government)
1) I printed out this ENTIRE forum - all 20 pages worth.
2) Then I went online to consumeraffairs.com (which is the federal government) and submitted a complaint.
3) Then I printed out an article on consumeraffairs.com about "unintentional acceleration"
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2007/09/prius_accelerate.html
The government is aware of 50-100 cases a year of unintentional acceleration on the prius. (Unintentional Acceleration also includes similar problems with braking. People hitting the brakes after the car accelerates and it failing to respond.) Toyota corporate is aware of the problem, but has not stepped up or recalled as of yet. (frankly, the financial loss is greater then the spotty complaints, and no one has died, so it's not worth it for them)
4) Typically, the car works fine after the incident, so it's our word against the powers that be. That's why this forum and consumer affairs must be notified. The more numbers of complaints, the more seriuously it'll be taken.
5) Because toyota corporate is not stepping up, it's the consumer OR if you're lucky, the dealership that has to take the financial hit (ie, replacing the car and fixing) Most dealerships arent willing to take the financial burden when there's no true proof. Usually the consumer is the one burdened.
6) Armed with the 20 pages of this forum, and the article from consumer affairs I went to my dealership in Cerritos, California with the story. We went through the same michigas as everyone else. They do a bunch of diagnostics on the car and there is no evidence of disfunction. I told them I refused to get back in that car after what happened and showed the head of consumer relations at the dealership my printouts. They saw my sincerity and took me seriously. Because of my calmness, research presented, and understanding of the situation they responded and completely replaced the car with a brand new one. (I had only around 600 miles on this car when this happened)
**This is my story. Tell consumer affairs about yours. Printout this forum and consumer affairs article:
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2007/09/prius_accelerate.html
Keep your left foot ready for the Emergency Brake in the meantime!
When you consider how many thousands of prius's are sold a day, this is probably an overall, rare occurrence, but it when it happens to you it's completely scary and dangerous. Our voices must be heard.
WARNING: www. consumeraffairs.com is NOT a federal website.
It is a for-profit, blog website. Any "complaints" submitted to consumeraffairs.com might just as well be sumitted to Youtube, Myspace, or Facebook.com.
They are all just open, blog websites where anybody with an ax to grind gets to post anything they want to say.
Kind of like this message board?
Well, it's all we got now, because unfortunately, there is no way to replicate the scenerio. All we have are our stories. And it worked for me. I presented the dealership with all this paperwork from consume raffairs and this forum and they listened. I was able to get a whole brand new car from it. So even if it's just a simple forum or blog or whatev, it still was effective in getting the dealership to do something. In a lawsuit? I don't know how well that would hold up in court, but by the shear numbers of people reporting, it may help. Again, it's all we have without being able to re-create the malfunction!
I had the same problem yesterday going about 20 mph, what happened with yours.
Well, I was looking for Prius skeletons in the closet, and sounds like the braking is it! I have a Toyota Highlander Hybrid, but not a Prius (yet). My understanding is that Prius braking is "drive by wire" - meaning there is *NO* direct connection between the brake pedal and the brakes. You are relying on a computer and essentially two sensors - a brake pedal sensor and wheel motion sensors. Most all complaints seem to have happened when some type of moisture was present (rain, wet road, etc.). While its easy to dismiss this as a traction issue, the other possibility is that the water is interfering with the wheel speed sensors, and thus confusing the braking system. This would explain ABS triggering under light braking - if the braking system thought the car was already stopped, or was skidding, its possible the system would get confused. Its also possible the brake pedal sensor is having problems, but I'd expect that to show up much more frequently.
I'm curious if anyone has experienced the problem with 2005/2004 models (all seem to be 06 or later). My (limited) understanding is that 06+ was a "minor refresh" from 04-05, possibly the earlier models had a simpler (and safer?) system. Also curious if this ever happens "in the dry".
Disclaimer - I'm not a "real" mechanic, just trying to draw my own conclusions from this thread based on past experience.
Write the US DOT so we can get these cars recalled.
US DOT
Office of Defects Investigations
1200 New jersey Avenue S.E.
Washington, DC 20590
My altima hybrid has done similar things with the brakes but I've learned to live with it. Usually it's over bumps as someone above stated, but the brake pedal becomes very firm like it's all the way to the floor when it has barely moved at all. Usually I just let off of the brake apply it again and it works.
Luckily I've never had this happen in an emergency situation, but then again I make sure I don't follow the car in front of me too closely.
This may be related to the prius some as the NAH is basically a Camery Hybrid with a Nissan gas engine and a Nissan body.
I have a 07 Prius with about 26 thousand miles on it. In the last three months the car has started to have a problem, it wont start. The problem seems to be getting worse. I have brought it to the Toyota Dealer and they say the car checks out and there isn't a problem. The problem can't be repeated although about once every two weeks it leaves me stranded somewhere. Even worse, when the car boots up it will not fully start the car and then you cant get the car to turn off OR operate the doors to lock them!
The Toyota dealership (Toyota of North Hollywood California) said, "wow you should just sell the car "You cold get like 27 "G'S" for that!!! or just get a lawyer and go get your money back with the Lemon Law"
This is my third Toyota and from what it looks like my last. I don't have the time to deal with this crap and AAA is gong to dump me for abuse.. any ideas? besideabro
I also had a braking problem with my 2006 Toyota Highlander Hybrid, where I coasted into the car in front of me because I was travelling under 20 mph and the ABS brakes never "grabbed" during an emergency stop. I filed a complaint with the government agency the National Highway and Transportation Safety Administration at http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/. If enough people file complaints there, they will open an investigation for a possible recall. The Consumer Affairs website is useful for lawyers to find class action lawsuits, which would be nice to recover all of the money that people are spending on these rear-end accidents.
I have two Prius. My 2002 has 200,000 miles and my 2007 has just over 65,000 miles. For all who may run into this issue... 3 months ago, my 2007 had a headlight go out but then it would come back on again. Go out... back on, etc. I finally got it to the shop and they told me that it would be $350 plus labor to replace it, and it was not covered under my extended warrentee. I was not prepared to pay that much (thinking it would be a $50 job to replace a lightbulb) so told them to leave it and I would look around for a better price for a light bulb. That night after picking up the car at the shop, and their poking around in there to determine the original problem, both headlights started going on and off and that made things really dangerous as both would sometimes go out at the same time. (Turning the light switch off then back on would cause them to both reignite, but then quickly one or the other or both would blink out again).
It cost me $860 to have them both replaced. Now it has been a few months and I have found several other 2007 Prius onwers having the exact same problem. (So far 6 other owners that I know of personally)
I called the 800 number for Toyota's complaints and they immediately approved reimbursement of my full $860 dollars. I think they are attempting to avoid a recall on these faulty headlights, and at $350 each plus labor, anyone who has had this problem or are currently having this problem, now is the time to hit Toyota up for them to pay for it.
(FYI: No problems at all with my 2002)
Good luck!
I have a 2005 with over 96,000 miles on it and have had no braking issues. My massive 4 wheel disc brakes do a commendable job of bringing my enormous Hummer to a hault, quite a feat considering the mind-bending inertial forces involved in bringing 9,000 pounds travelling at 90+ MPH to a stop. Thankfully, my brakes work each and every time, allowing me to successfully dodge out of control hybrids. The only ones I can't dodge are the ones that rear-end me, however my bumper, made from solid, high grade, American made steel, by American workers, deflects run-away hybrids without so much as a scratch to my vehicle. Might I suggest to all Prius passengers to open the tiny doors and stick your feet out to stop?
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