Accordingly to Toyota vehicle Maintenance Schedule, the vacuum pump for the brake booster needs to be replaced as a regular maintenance or "wear" item every 120,000 miles. This is a very expensive maintenance item (>$600 in parts, ~$1000 including labor and shop materials), that needs to be performed by a Toyota certified technician. In addition to being very expensive, what will discourage many vehicle owners from performing this service, one may expect that many owners who perform their own vehicle maintenance or use independent mechanic shops will simply miss this service altogether. Being a safety critical item, the vacuum pump should be designed to last the entire lifespan of the vehicle (just like other brake system components: ABS pump, vacuum booster, master cylinder, etc.). The short lifespan of the vacuum pump and the requirement to replace it on a regular basis is indicative of a defective or deficient design. Making the replacement of the vacuum pump a scheduled maintenance item is a just way for Toyota to avoid liability due to premature failures of a substandard safety component, especially in light that other brake system components are designed to last for the entire life of the vehicle, and are not considered wear items in the maintenance schedule (except for brake pads, of course). Toyota should redesign the vacuum pump to increase its lifespan in-line with the rest of the brake system components, and perform the replacement under a safety recall or service campaign, at no cost to vehicle owners.
2018 Toyota Highlander brakes complaints
Page 3 of 3: complaints 41 to 58 of 58, newest first, as owners wrote them.
The vehicle was in my driveway both times that this has happened so far. I went out first thing in the morning to start it and the brake pedal was extremely hard when I went to press the pedal in order to put the engine start button and all of the electronics turned on but the vehicle refused to start and displayed a message stating "braking power low, stop in a safe place. I found a recall notice that was shared on the toyota forums for this exact reason; however, mine isn't included in the recall along with many other people that were also excluded and are having this same problem, according to the number of complaints on the toyota and lexus forums. I have attached a copy of the recall that was posted on the forum along with the message that was displayed when my highlander wouldn't start. I kept trying for 10 minutes and finally used the remote start to start it (which made the brake pedal soft enough to press down). I then turned off the remote start and was then able to start it like normal. Had I not had remote start, I would have had to have the vehicle towed.
An inspection found my left rear brake was severely worn at only 21000 miles. This is so unusual I want to register my complaint. All of the three brakes were only lightly worn.
Intermittently during normal driving conditions, there exists instances where brake hydraulic failure occurs. At times the "brake" indicator light will illuminate associated with increased brake pedal feel. Braking power is reduced. Also, driver display screen displays "braking power low" warning indication. After stop and placing in park, brake hydraulic power returns and operate as normal.
While driving, the vehicle was having issues braking as it would not want to come to a stop. The engine light would turn on indicating issue but would disappear from dashboard. There was at times that accident would almost occur due to not being able to properly stop. During the time of driving this occurred on a highway while in motion. Took vehicle to dealership and computer would not register the issue as the engine light was no longer activating. Employees took vehicle for test driver and determined something was wrong as he could also sense an issue with braking. Vehicle was left at the dealership for repairs.
Slammed on the breaks and the car kept going and crashed into another car infront of me. There was at least 300 feet distance from the time I slammed on the breaks till the crash. I was going on highway about 50 MPH.
Slowly (3-5mph) moving toward exit ramp from hospital parking lot. Tried to brake before turning right onto ramp, but service brake didn't respond -- felt like I was just pounding the floor. Vehicle continued to coast. I turned it onto exit ramp. During coast down ramp the multi-function display showed "low brake power" or "brake power low". Vehicle speed remained relatively constant. I shifted into r (reverse), think that no harm would come to transmission at that speed, but nothing happened; coast remained constant. Luckily no vehicles were in front of mine and none were coming on rt 25 brighton ave westbound in portland me, so I was able to steer the coasting vehicle to a slow stop along the road's edge (but still halfway into the travel lane). Then the multi-function display told me that the vehicle's engine had been turned off (not by me). A city bus came along about one minute later; if it had come by one minute before that there would have been a collision with my vehicle. After waiting to recover from the shock of that event, I started the vehicle and tested the brakes, and they seemed normal and there were no unusual lights on messages on the vehicle displays. I tried driving it carefully, and it seemed normal, so I drove it off brighton ave and ultimately got it home in buxton without any more adverse events. Today I looked at the brake fluid reservoir and it was normal (1/4 inch below max). I'm having it towed to the dealership where I bought it on march 1, 2018 and will not drive it again until they tell me it has been fixed.
When pulling into a parking place, slowly, with right foot on the brake, getting ready to stop before the curb, the car accelerated, jumped the curb going over the sidewalk and hit the building. My right foot was still on the brake when it stopped. This happened in a doctors office parking lot. Air bags did not inflate.
Our toyota highlander started showing symptoms of "soft brake pedal" in 4.2019 - nothing was found on diagnostic at dealership. Symptoms of "soft brake pedal continued to happen. Vehicle went into dealership again in 7.2019 and was diagnosed w/master cylinder brake fitting loose - fitting tightened and brake system flushed. Symptoms returned within 2 days and was brought back to dealership - case opened with toyota engineering and master cylinder replaced. Picked up vehicle following day but symptoms of "soft brake pedal" returned 2 days later. Replication of "soft brake pedal" unable.to be replicated/diagnosed at dealership. Vehicle still "unsafe and hazardous" to drive. Awaiting follow up with toyota.
While driving the brake assist vacuum pump fails to provide adequate vacuum for the power brake vacuum assist. Resulting is a loss of braking power. A brake light illuminates intermitantly on the dash panel and possibly an audio warning and error message. Plus no error codes are stored in memory for future diagnosis. This happens whether on a rural road, city street or highway. A previous recall was issued for the 2018 toyota highlander for this same issue but not for this specific highlander.
At times, the brakes seem to randomly lock up. Almost like the pressure in the brake line is at full.
The pre-collision system failed to assist in avoiding an accident when the car in front of me stopped suddenly in traffic on a highway. Since the repair, the brake warning indicator light on the speedometer side of the instrument cluster intermittently illuminates and the brake pedal pulses as if the ABS system is engaging. Once it stopped me suddenly while driving down a busy city street. Went from 35 to 0 very suddenly. I have taken this to 2 dealers and they say there is nothing wrong. The system does not indicate an error even though the light is on and they tested while it was on. I can recreate the issue by accelerating quickly while turning left. Sometimes it happens when going straight, but the only way to guarantee it will happen is to turn and accelerate quickly. Neither of the 2 dealers I have taken it to have found the issue and toyota customer care stopped calling me back.
Car vibration at 40mph and up and brake vibration too .
Low power braking power light comes on and vehicle will not start. Owned for just 6 months with just over 2000 miles . This happened while parked in my driveway.
Received notification of of safety recall for highlander 2018 the federal safety agency recall no 18v‑211 vacuum pump. Car was tested at dealer on jun 13th, and it was determined that the vehicle need the repair. Vacuum pump needs to be replaced. Replacement part was ordered but it has not been available, its been 10 weeks. The car presented failure for this problem 4 weeks ago. It is not longer safe to drive it. Toyota has not provided an estimate repair date, car is at the dealership since august 6th.
Tl* the contact owns a 2018 toyota highlander. The contact received notification of the federal safety agency campaign number: 18v211000 (service brakes, hydraulic); however, the part to do the repair was unavailable. The contact stated that the manufacturer exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. Price toyota (168 n dupont hwy, new castle, de 19720, (302) 322-8600) was contacted and confirmed that the parts were not available for the recall remedy. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The contact had not experienced a failure. Parts distribution disconnect.
Recently involved in an accident when going in reverse. The SRS alarm malfunctioned and the airbags did not deploy. The reverse braking system did not indicated that I was close to the object.
I was recently in a vehicle accident in my 2018 toyota highlander with the pre-collision system. The pre-collision system was working well through out our trip but unfortunately did not work when it was most needed. We were involved in a pile up on interstate I-5 going at least 45mph and noticed that the pre-collision system that is so much being advertised did not work at all. There was no warning what so ever and definitely did not break on it's own as advertised. At the time of the hit the airbags deployed a little to late at least the passenger one where I was sitting. I am aware that we should not rely on those items but I sure wish it would have worked the way it was intended to do so.
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