2004 Toyota Prius: brake failure

Filed Nov 27, 2021 · Brakes · CA

Toyota has issued time-limited 'Warranty enhancement program ZG1' instead of working with the NHSTA to issue a comprehensive BRAKE ACTUATOR ASSEMBLY RECALL. ZG1 was explicitly in place only from April 2016 to Dec 2017, requiring dealer verification of an actual system failure prior to 31 Dec 2017. My failure occurred in 2021 and Toyota will not extend ZG1 for me (case 211015000390). Obviously the BRAKE ACTUATOR is a key safety component. Obviously this is a design flaw - brake systems MUST be designed to last the life of the vehicle. Obviously Toyota has had an excessive number of failures. Toyota is improperly using this 'warranty enhancement program ZG1' to avoid the NHSTA and to avoid responsibility for the poor BRAKE ACTUATOR ASSEMBLY design. Per their letter to owners, Toyota was NOT replacing the BRAKE ACTUATOR ASSEMBLY on a preventive basis prior to actual brake failure. Because of the importance and severity, Toyota should have replaced the BRAKE ACTUATORS via a recall. I would like Toyota to fix my faulty brakes at their expense.

Filed Aug 6, 2018 · Brakes · 147,000 miles · NJ

I was driving my 2004 toyota prius on the highway there were 5 passengers in the car including me. Suddenly there was a loud alarm in the car. It was a loud beep. The breaks completely failed. When I stepped on the breaks they did not react. I was going 65 miles an hour on the highway and thankfully we were not going down hill. I used the engine brake and pressed really hard on the breaks to bring the car to a stop on an off-ramp. Since I weight 300 pounds I could put all my weight into the brakes and finally brought it to a stop. If my wife was driving we would have crashed. The whole episode took like 3 minutes. It was agonizing because I thought we were going to crash against other cars because I had no way of informing them that I had no brakes. The idea of going in the ramp was trying to minimize the damage to other people. The alarm continues when I turned on the car. I took the the car to the dealership and they said that the actuator was the culprit. They told me it was a matter of time. I was sitting on a faulty part. They said it was on a warranty and not on a recall so they could have only fixed it if it failed and I was too late for the fix. The warranty expired on december 31, 2017. In other words, my 147,700 miles toyota is essentially totaled. The fix cost more than the value of the car. They told me to disable the ABS and I would be ok. A mavis brake mechanic tells me not risk it. I always took my toyota to service at toyota dealerships. They never mentioned the recall in spite of the fact that the brake light was on. When they performed the oil change the light would turn off for several weeks and then turn on. I could have killed myself in the car. I feel lucky that nothing happened. I am looking for a mechanic to fix the problem but it is hard to find independent hybrid mechanics. Toyota wants to charge $2800

Filed Mar 29, 2018 · Brakes, Driver assistance · 72,436 miles · CA

My prius suddenly had a 70 to80% loss of brake power. My parking brake light came on along with the ABS, vcs, the red triangle and a load buzzer. If this had happened at highway speed I could have rear-ended or killed someone. After turning my car off and letting it sit the lights stayed off. This concerns me because it could lead to a false sense there's nothing wrong. I took my car to the dealer and they seemed to know right away it was the ABS brake actuator code c1256. I did some digging and it seems this is a very common problem and yet it's not a recall issue. I want everybody to know this is a safety issue. My prius was bought new by my senior parents, they kept it garaged and only had 45000. Miles on it when I bought it from there estate. At the time the malfunction AC cured it still only has 72456. Miles on it. For a part to malfunction with such little miles to me indicates a very serious defect. In motion going straight driving at 25 MPH residential street.

Filed Jul 5, 2015 · Brakes · 268,000 miles · PA

As I was going down a hill the ABS vsc brake light came on and the brakes failed. The pedal became mush and I lost power braking. This caused me to almost hit the car in front of me. I swerved to the side of the road and pulled off the shoulder just missing the guard rail. I have found out that toyota knows about this faulty problem and now they dealership wants to charge 3,000 to fix it.

Filed Jul 2, 2010 · Brakes · 86,831 miles · ID

We own a 2004 toyota prius and have been very pleased with it until it recently experienced a sudden brake failure. After stopping at a rest stop and preparing to return to the interstate, my wife experienced a complete brake failure as she drove the vehicle in reverse from the parking area. She then drove the vehicle forward to get it out of the traffic lane and continued to not have brakes. The vehicle was towed to amarillo, tx where the toyota dealer repaired the vehicle by replacing the stroke sensor (scanned system code c1247).

Filed May 24, 2010 · Brakes · 104,000 miles · CA

While driving on city streets (low speed, under 30 MPH), I attempted to brake. At first there was no response from my brakes, then the ABS kicked in and stopped my vehicle. Road conditions were dry and there was no apparent reason that the ABS system should've kicked in. At that time both the ABS warning light and the brake light came on and remained on. While sitting at the stop light I attempted to shut off my vehicle and restart it. After doing this both warning lights were still on. I drove very slowly to a safe place to pull my car off the road. Each time I attempted to brake the ABS system engaged resulting in a jerking braking motion. At that point I looked at my car's manual and followed the instructions to have my car towed to the nearest dealership. The dealership hooked my car up to the diagnosis machine which rebooted my car's computer. Once off the diagnosis machine, they were unable to recreate the error and sent me home in my car. No further service was done and I was instructed to bring it back to the dealer if the brakes failed again.

Filed May 11, 2010 · Brakes · 113,000 miles · IL

I was driving my 2004 toyota prius with my wife and infant during the evening last summer, and out of the blue three red indicator lights came on as well as a buzzer, and my brakes stopped working. The pedal was able to be pushed all the way down to the floor. Pumping did nothing. Since it was late there were no other cars around, so we were able to coast to a stop using the emergency brake. I got out of the car and checked for any damage underneath the vehicle, and found nothing. Over the next hour while waiting for the tow truck, we tried restarting the vehicle several times, and the brakes were just gone. We finally got towed and got a loaner car. The next morning after the toyota dealer had a chance to look at the car, they notified me that they found nothing wrong with the car. They did a couple hours of diagnostics on my dime and reset the fault codes. There was no air in the brakes, fluid levels were just fine, and there was absolutely nothing wrong with anything. Apparently the brakes fixed themselves in the parking lot over night. This has made me fearful since that day that it could happen to me again at anytime, perhaps during rush hour next time. I've contacted toyota and the dealership since then, and the only solution they have to give me is to have my brake system checked regularly. This doesn't seem like a normal thing to happen at all, and I would feel guilty even selling this car to someone else at this point. I'm not sure what more I can do so I am now reporting to

Filed Feb 8, 2010 · Brakes · 5,000 miles · CA

When going over uneven pavement, or hitting debris or driving over a pothole, when pressing on the brakes, the pedal goes to the floor, with no braking power. This has happened ever since we got the car, many times. The dealer told us it was the anti-skidding system and that there was nothing to be done.

Filed Feb 4, 2010 · Brakes · 75,000 miles · CT

I have a 2004 prius which I bought used about a year ago and when I read the line that I cut and pasted right from your news release, I couldn't believe it because it describes exactly what has happened to me numerous times. "allegations of momentary loss of braking capability while traveling over an uneven road surface, pothole or bump," but this problem which has happened repeatedly (usually on the same pothole on the same street) has never caused me to loose control of the car for more than a split second. So until I read this passage I thought I might just be imagining this problem. If it happened for even more than a split second I could see how it would cause me to lose control and possibly get in an accident. But that hasn't happened yet.

Filed Dec 23, 2009 · Brakes · 104,200 miles · CA

I purchased a 2004 toyota prius new in june of 2004. In the last month I have had 3 incidents where the brakes failed while driving. Suddenly the brakes go to the floor, the car loses power and the warning lights go on. The last incident also included a high pitched tone which persisted until the car was shut off. The first incident happened on nov.19, 2009. I was driving at a low rate of speed and noticed a slight hiccup in the engine while turning a corner, then about 500 ft. Later, the warning lights went on and the brakes went to the floor. I shut off the engine, then turned it back on and drove slowly to the side of the road with the warning lights on and called my dealer, who told me to have it towed in. They had the car for 3 days, and replaced the ABS ecu with actuator, the actuator assembly and brake for a total repair bill of $3383.69. On december 22, 2009 the same sequence of events occurred in the morning. I was able to drive the car home at a low rate of speed with the warning lights on, then took it to the dealer, who could not find the problem and told me to bring the car back next week. Later that day, the car experienced the same brake failure while driving at a low rate of speed. I had the car towed to the dealer. They now tell me they cannot find the problem and the car is not displaying the warning lights at this time. They plan to keep the car for a week or so to see if they can duplicate the problem. I have a 50 mile round trip commute to work on the freeways of southern ca. If the car dies on the freeway in rush hour traffic an accident would likely ensue. The dealer has treated me very well through this, but I am concerned that they are unable to get information from toyota to diagnose this problem. You have one other complaint for my model year with this same problem. Surely there are others, as I have seen similar postings on the web. Toyota must know about this defect, which I will bet is a programming error.

Filed Aug 5, 2008 · Brakes · 90 miles · PR

Brake failure, this happened to me today 8/5/08. I purchased this 2004 prius 2 weeks ago(90,000 miles), and I've only had problems up till now. I was driving at about 25 MPH, when all of the sudden the ABS warning light went off, and the brake light turned on(and a buzzer was heard). I had to depress the break pedal hard in order to get the car to break. It felt just like when a conventional car looses its breaks. Thanks god I was only 1 mile from the toyota dealer. I had a scheduled evaporator replacement ($450)scheduled for tomorrow so I decided to leave the car at the dealer (this is what the manual says to do when both warnings go off).

Filed Apr 29, 2007 · Brakes · 83,668 miles · CA

Warning triangle, dash lights-brake, ABS, came on accompanied by a loud whining sound. The next time I needed to use the brakes I discovered that there was total brake failure - pedal down to the floor with no brakes. I was very fortunate that I was able to roll to a stop. I took the car to auburn toyota (in ca) and they said it was a skid control ecu failure. They replaced it at a total cost of $1868.74.