The driver of the vehicle, my mother, went to leave work. She followed her usual routine and backed out of the garage towards our neighbor's unit across the driveway. She briefly puts the car into park as she shuts the garage door but when she put the car into drive to leave, the car went forward without taking her foot off the brake. The car covered the 10 ft under idle power until it hit the garage door. We think she put it into reverse as she panicked to stop as the car went back after damaging the garage door to hit our neighbor's wall. As the car moved back, she was pressing on the brake pedal to no avail. After hitting the wall, she got the vehicle into park and stopped.
I rushed outside to find her shaken up and led her from the car back inside to calm down before going back to inspect everything. After starting the car to move it, I carefully shifted from park to drive with the brake pressed but experienced no issues. I drove the car a couple more times without issue and dropped it off at the local Toyota service department to be inspected. After looking over the brakes and checking the computer, the only thing found was that the battery was extremely low and needed to be replaced.
A few things to add from the issue is that when pressing on the brake as she experienced the problem, she had no pressure from the pedal. There was also no revving of the engine to indicate the accelerator being pressed at the time of the incident and the speed experienced does not indicate it was either. The distance between the wall and garage door is just under 25 ft total so not a lot of space once the car length is factored in.
Damage to the car was minimal. Some minor scratches on the front bumper from the garage door and a scrape on the rear bumper from the rocks decorating the wall hit while going backwards.
Waiting in a crowded McDonald's drive thru lineup while in "Drive" with my foot on the brake to hold position for several minutes, when it came time to move forward, I took my foot off the brake and let my idle rpm move the car forward one car length. When I went to stop the car with the brake, there was no response (brake pedal went to the floor) and the car continued and stopped only when it ran into a bush at low speed as I had turned the wheel to avoid hitting the car in front of me. I then put the car in reverse thinking that somehow I had missed the brake pedal, but when I tried to stop, the brakes did not function once again and I ran into the bumper of the car behind me at low speed which stopped the car (I had no time to pull the emergency brake). After examining both cars for any damage which there was none, I got back in my car and proceeded through the drive thru where the brakes worked normally this time.
This just happened this morning and my next step is to call Toyota, especially after reading other complaints along these lines from other drivers.
Owner's 2015 Toyota Rav4 brakes failed to engage at stop sign, causing car to crash into the concrete median. Family member "inspected" (looked over) car and did not "see" a problem. The owner therefore (not understanding the process) did not bring the car in to be inspected. The second time (April 2016) the brakes failed to engage an accident ensued (see separate complaint). Owner reporting the problem to Service Manager at Toyota DarCars in Rockville MD.
This Toyota Rav4 LE AWD was purchased new at CarMax in Laurel, Maryland in 2015.
This is the second incidence of brake failure on this car. After the first instance, a family member checked the SUV and the owner was told that they did not see a problem and the owner did not report the issue to Toyota.
The second incidence occurred in April 2016. The driver was leaving a parking lot and descending down a sloped driveway between two buildings. The driver applied the break to slow the car and the brakes did not respond/engage. As the driver was attempting to utilize the emergency break the car careened over a comment curb, through a chain link fence into a gas main and apartment building wall. Luckily no one was in the path and the damage was limited to the car and other structures. After car was extracted from accident site, a police officer drove the car a short distance and said the brakes engaged. (Same thing that happened during the first incidence. This is an INTERMITTENT problem- which is what makes it so extremely dangerous).
The car is currently at Toyota DarCars in Rockville MD for repairs. The driver is terrified that once car is repaired (body damage, etc already totaling more than $12,000) that the same brake failure will manifest with even more grave consequences to occupants and/oror others. We are searching for clues as to whether this is a malfunction has affected other owners of Rav4's.
- d.g.g.,
Gaithersburg, MD, US
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A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
The driver of the vehicle, my mother, went to leave work. She followed her usual routine and backed out of the garage towards our neighbor's unit across the driveway. She briefly puts the car into park as she shuts the garage door but when she put the car into drive to leave, the car went forward without taking her foot off the brake. The car covered the 10 ft under idle power until it hit the garage door. We think she put it into reverse as she panicked to stop as the car went back after damaging the garage door to hit our neighbor's wall. As the car moved back, she was pressing on the brake pedal to no avail. After hitting the wall, she got the vehicle into park and stopped.
I rushed outside to find her shaken up and led her from the car back inside to calm down before going back to inspect everything. After starting the car to move it, I carefully shifted from park to drive with the brake pressed but experienced no issues. I drove the car a couple more times without issue and dropped it off at the local Toyota service department to be inspected. After looking over the brakes and checking the computer, the only thing found was that the battery was extremely low and needed to be replaced.
A few things to add from the issue is that when pressing on the brake as she experienced the problem, she had no pressure from the pedal. There was also no revving of the engine to indicate the accelerator being pressed at the time of the incident and the speed experienced does not indicate it was either. The distance between the wall and garage door is just under 25 ft total so not a lot of space once the car length is factored in.
Damage to the car was minimal. Some minor scratches on the front bumper from the garage door and a scrape on the rear bumper from the rocks decorating the wall hit while going backwards.
- Darrol M., Arcadia, US