Abs brake actuator assembly has failed. I'm getting the red brake light with the loud constant beeping tone in car. The rear brakes are only being activated and I can barely stop.
2004 Toyota Prius brakes complaints
Page 2 of 4: complaints 11 to 40 of 76, newest first, as owners wrote them.
Bought car a few weeks ago and lights came on and brakes did t work. Very scary. Toyota dealer said I missed a warranty extension last year. Brake actuator problems they said. Very dangerous. Why is there no recall?
The brake actuator in my car, which is a known problem in these cars gave out as confirmed by both toyota and an independent mechanic shop. This is a very dangerous safety issue that could get easily cause an accident. It is unacceptable.
Takata recall. My car's break lights went on, as well as the ABS and vsc warning lights. Strange noises are coming from inside the hood of the car due to that. I also feel like my car does not break properly.
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.
Tl* the contact owns a 2004 toyota pruis. The contact stated that the brake warning light on the instrument panel intermittently illuminated. This was a recurring failure. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic for diagnostic testing. The technician was unable to determine the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified. The approximate failure mileage was 106,000.
Tl* the contact owned a 2004 toyota prius. While driving approximately 15 MPH and while attempting to stop the vehicle by depressing the brake pedal, the brakes malfunctioned and the vehicle crashed into the rear of an SUV. The contact sustained multiple toe injuries on the right foot, including one fractured toe. Medical attention was required. A police report was filed. The vehicle was destroyed. The cause of the failure was not determined. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 205,000.
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.
Brake light and ABS light still on after release the brake pedal .
2004 & 2010 toyota prius. Consumer writes in regards to rear view visibility and braking issues in both vehicles.
I was traveling on i95 when all the brake warning lights came on (ABS, brake, etc.). I tried to slow down the car, but the brakes didn't seem to work. Finally, the regen system kicked in, and slowed the car. When I jammed my foot hard on the brake pedal, the car stopped with a jerk. This is not the first time this has happened. The first time it happened (when all the lights came on), I brought the car to the dealer (kendall toyota), they reset and recalibrated the computers in the car, and everything seemed ok. About 9 months later, the same thing happened. This time, the ABS computer had a hard failure. They replaced it with a low mileage used part, and everything seemed fine for about 3 months. Then it happened again last thursday. Brought it into kendall toyota on thursday evening, and on friday they told me the I needed a new ABS computer. Turns out toyota knows about this problem and has redesigned the ABS computer, but never sent out any notice to their customers. This is why the used part didn't last long. This a very dangerous situation and I could have easily been in a serious accident if I had not experienced faulty braking in the past (see below). A new ABS computer plus installation from toyota cost approximately $3000. The symptoms I was having when I reported complaint # 10292409 were identical to those above, except that no indicator lights came on. They car did not want to stop (and even seemed to "run away") until I jammed my foot on the brake. Searching the internet, this seems to be a common problem with prius.
Tl* the contact owns a 2004 toyota prius. The contact stated that while driving 20 MPH, he depressed the brakes to slow the vehicle but the vehicle took an extended amount of time to slow down. The vehicle was not taken to a dealer or mechanic for inspection. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 100,000. The VIN was unavailable.
My 24 yr. Old child was driving out of a driveway at 5 MPH when the car stopped and all warning lights including brakes and engine and triangle went on. It would not restart. It would not take a battery jump. Had it towed to toyota service and they discovered code p0335 present and verified a faulty crankshaft position sensor, replaced it, and cleaned throttle body. The car works now. Cost for diagnosis and service was $367.07. This faulty part was a part of a recall dated in 2006 for 2001 and 2002 priuses. We wish to advise the agency that we believe the year 2004 and perhaps other years ought to be considered for the same recall as the 2001 and 2002 prius models with respect to a faulty crankshaft position sensor. We believe our car had a faulty sensor and that we should be a part of the earlier recall, and also obtain a full reimbursement for charges. This sudden stopping by the vehicle poses a very dangerous situation for any driver. Our child would have been on a major highway just a few minutes later and could have been the victim of a horrendous accident. We urge your agency to be proactive in investigating this matter. Thank you.
Tl* the contact owns a 2004 toyota prius. The contact stated that the brakes malfunctioned and the contact crashed into another vehicle. No one was injured during the crash and the air bags did not deploy. The manufacturer was contacted to have the vehicle inspected for the faulty brakes. The manufacturer did not inspect the vehicle and no repairs were performed. The failure mileage was 90,000.
Tl* the contact owns a 2004 toyota prius. The contact started the vehicle and the ABS warning light began to illuminate. The brake pedal traveled to the floor upon application. The contact proceeded to drive, although the vehicle would not stop unless the brake pedal was applied repeatedly. The vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer where they replaced the ABS actuator. Two weeks after the repair was performed, the failure recurred. The vehicle was taken back to the dealer who stated the defect could possibly be related to the skid control unit. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the problem and recommended the vehicle be taken back to the dealer for inspection. The approximate failure mileage was 94,000. The VIN was unavailable.
While drivimg under cruise control at approximately 70 MPH, a continuous loud beep occurred, accompanied with the following warnings on the dashboard: red "brake" warning and yellow "((!))", "ABS" (antilock brake system), and "vsc" (vehicle stability control) warnings. Attempting to pull over and stop, the brakes had no power assistance but, fortunately, could be operated under heavy foot pressure. After pulling over and stopping and restarting the engine, all the warnings and the beep were still there while the car was driven to a safer location at a gas station. Braking was still entirely under foot pressure only. As this was in canada, driver turned off the engine while trying to decide the next course of action. After a few minutes, the engine was again started in order to move the car slightly in the parking lot (to get away from a puddle) and all systems, including brake power assistance, were now operating normally with all the warnings off. The problem has not recurred. The car was taken to the dealer about two weeks later and the diagnostic report states, "could not duplicate customer's complaint". Thus, no repair was done nor further action was taken by the dealer.
Tl*the contact owns a 2004 toyota prius. While driving approximately 55 MPH the vehicle accelerated on its own. The vehicle crashed into a concrete divider on the highway. The contact stated that the air bags did not deploy. The contact was able to drive the vehicle after the crash. The driver and the passengers sustained injuries to their back and neck and were under going therapy for their injuries. There was no police report filed. The contact stated that the crash caused damage to the front bumper and the front passenger side door which would not open. The manufacturer stated that an inspector would inspect the vehicle. The inspector stated that there was a problem with the ABS brakes. The contact received the report from the manufacturer and they did not indicate that there was a safety failure and were unable to provide further assistance. The body damage was repaired. The contact stated that she did not feel safe driving the vehicle after the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 120,000.
I was coming off of an onramp and intending to turn right at the light. I needed to get into the left lane as I was turning left at the next block. I applied the brakes to slow down and make the turn and nothing happened when I pressed on the brakes. I ended up going up over the curb and the plants stopped the car. The engine was off when I came to a stop, though I didn't turn it off. If there hadn't been a meridian in between the cross traffic, I would have gone into the lanes ahead of me. Very scary. I had my car towed to toyota to check it out first, but there looks to be thousands of dollars of damage to my prius. The whole lower front is smashed and crunched, the two left side tires are flat and the rim is partially torn off on the front tire.
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).
Tl* the contact owns a 2004 toyota prius. While attempting to stop the vehicle, the brakes would not engage and the contact crashed into a vehicle ahead of her. The vehicle sustained extensive front end damage but she was able to drive the vehicle to her residence. The vehicle was not diagnosed and she had not contacted the dealer or manufacturer for repairs. The failure and current mileages were 32,000.
My 2004 toyota prius has left me stranded for 15 minute periods of time while parked on my street. All the dashboard lights come on as well as the following red warning "caution - transmission "p" lock mechanism is abnormal. Park in a flat place and apply brake." I was parked on a mild incline and I always use my parking brake. This however makes me suspicious of whether the parking brake is hardy enough to work when parked on the crown of a street parking space. I applied and re-applied my parking brake without success. I open and closed the hood without success. I open and closed my door without success. I placed all my passenger seat items on the floor without success. I held the ignition button without success. I placed my key fob into the ignition without success. And when trying to remove my key fob so I could go call a tow truck, the entire dashboard housing for the ignition key came loose and dis-articulated in my hand. I just carefully pushed the plastic housing back into the dashboard.... However, that was depressing to see. Finally, after all the tinkering for 15 minutes, my car finally turned off. I was then able to turn it back on and drive away without a problem. In retrospect, this has happened on at least 4 occasions since december 24, 2009 and I just assumed that during the bout with my injured leg that I was not adequately placing enough force on the parking brake..... But should this happen so easily?? I have seen many other similar complaints online. I would like to know if this is part of the whole safety issues with cars not being able to stop while running. Thanks.
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.
I have a 2004 toyota prius. I have noticed that when going over a bumpy patch of road, if I brake, sometimes the brake appears to not catch for a brief time (1 second or so). At first I thought it was my imagination, but over the years it has happened often enough that I am convinced the sensation is real. I have recently read about others describing the same experience. I cannot give an approximate date or mileage; this has happened repeatedly over the 6 years I've owned the car. Consequently, the date and mileage I am entering is the most recent time when I noticed it.
My 2004 prius feels like the brakes lose control when I'm going over a bump. I apply the brake, it catches, then releases momentarily, then grabs. The time of the release feels too long to be safe, and I am never really sure that it will grab eventually. This problem has continued since I bought it, and toyota assures me it's not a problem.
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
Recently, I performed a routine flush of the brake fluid on my toyota prius. When I started the prius after completing the brake fluid flush, there were warning lights showing on the dashboard for the brakes, the traction control system, and the anti-lock brake system. This didn't surprise me that the car detected an abnormality during the brake bleeding operation. What did surprise me is that the prius computer instructed the front brakes to become non-operational the trouble code in the prius computer automatically disabled the front brakes because the computer was confused by the varying pressures present in the brake lines during a routine brake fluid flush. I drove to a repair shop with only the rear brakes operational. At the repair shop, a technician cleared the trouble codes for the brake system stored in the electronic control module of the prius. The brakes were then completely operational. I find it unconscionable that the car could decide on it's own to disable the brakes, even when the brakes were otherwise fully functional. Please require toyota to program their control modules to allow the brakes to function when trouble codes are activated.
I was turning my 2004 prius into a parking garage at between 2-5 miles an hour, applied the brakes as I was going in over a small lip/bump in the pavement, and the car accelerated on it's own. I was lucky enough to swerve and reapply the brakes in time to avoid hitting an oncoming exiting car. It was very scary and I almost hit the other driver. I have never had this happen before. There has been a couple similar incidences where I was braking while coming up to a stop, hit a bump or pothole in the road and the brakes felt like they stopped working for a split second and then seemed to have resumed. It is a strange sensation when you are expecting a stop. The car has always been serviced at a toyota dealership every 5,000 miles since it was new and will be due again in about 2 weeks.
Tl*the contact owns a 2004 toyota prius. The contact was driving approximately 25 MPH on a gravel road. Pressure was applied to the brake pedal and there was no power response. The vehicle failed to slow down and crashed into another vehicle. The opposing vehicles driver, and passengers sustained moderate injuries. The police was called to the scene. The brake system failure occurred intermittently prior to the crash. The vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer for an estimate of the body damages. Currently, the vehicle was being repaired at an auto body shop. The cause of failure has not been determined at this time. The failure mileage was 186,000.
Tl*the contact owns a 2004 toyota prius hybrid. While driving approximately 60 MPH, the check engine warning light, and an unknown warning light illuminated on the instrument panel. The dealer was notified and advised the vehicle was safe to drive; unless the temperature, brake or oil warning lights illuminated. The vehicle began to lose power and the anti-lock brake system warning light illuminated. The vehicle was maneuvered to the side of the highway. The vehicle was towed to the dealer. The failures were related to the inverter water pump and the skid control electronic control unit (ecu). The inverter water pump was replaced. The failure occurred a second time. The vehicle was repaired for the malfunction. The failure and current mileages were 61,000.
2004 prius on several occasions, while braking, there was no initial response to the application of the brake. I thought it was because I had not pressed the pedal firmly enough, but given the publicity about braking hesitation, I wonder if these were vehicle problems.
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