This data is from the NHTSA — the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints are spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem.
So how do you find out what problems are occurring? For this NHTSA complaint data, the only way is to read through the comments below. Any duplicates or errors? It's not us.
Brake actuator is not working properly and will eventually get us in an accident. We bought the car brand new. There is a recall for this issue, but we were never notified by Toyota. After contacting Toyota, they claim we are out of the recall dates and will do nothing. I have requested a copy of the letter they should have sent you notifying us of this issue. They cannot provide one. I would like to be able to fix this car; I cannot afford another car or such an expensive repair caused by a defective Toyota part. Please, help us. Thank you.
Power braking goes out and ringing in car with brakes and abs light on. Have to press extra hard to brake car. Also anther time coming out of a parking lot in reverse and brakes just stopped car as if I had hit something but had not hit anything.
When I brake and also go over a bump my 2006 Prius lurches forward. The traction control light illuminates. The faulty traction control system sent me into a 1-2 second lurch forward with zero brakes. Then the brake engage then I can stop. I told the dealer about it and they told me there is reprogram fix for the ECM but only 2008 to 2009 which a 2nd generation as my car since 2nd generation is 2005 to 2009 but they said we can do it for my car. I am not sure how they decide what year it can be applied to within the same generation which has the same exact parts. I am sure many prius owners have the same issue, you can see it from the bumpers detached at one side on the front and maybe both side becuase this how it was when i got my car who ever owned must have went through braking issue and i am sure he was shocked sinc i have driven so many csrs and non of them have this issue.
- Westfield, IN, USA
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In June of 2018 My brake actuator failed on my 2006 Prius. At that time I had 169,689 miles on the vehicle. I had the part replaced at Autonation, a Toyota dealership for $2626. Recently I had noticed that while sitting at a stoplight I was hearing a tapping noise at the brakes along with what they refer to as a 'seal bark'. The same sounds the car was making just before the actuator failed three years before. A few days later I was driving south on highway 19 in Saint Petersburg during a light rainstorm. Traffic slowed quickly in front of me. I pressed on the brake pedal and the brakes locked up. The ABS was not working. I was barely able to avoid a crash. On September 27th I took the car to the same Toyota dealership that had replaced the actuator three years earlier. I told them about the noises at the brakes and told them these were the same sounds the car was making when the actuator failed the first time. They checked it out and told me that everything was working fine and that the car was not issuing any error codes. They could hear the same noises that I could, but said that I would need to continue to drive the car until the actuator failed to the point that it lit up dash lights or issued error codes. I logged on to PriusChat to search for what other people were seeing. I am not alone in this. Many others have had the same experience with the dealerships saying 'drive it till it fails'. Drive it until you lose your brakes? If I'm in this situation, then how many other Prius owners are driving around with dangerous brakes. I have no choice but to wait until the failure gets worse. If you search results on PriusChat for 'actuator', I think you will see that this probably means that there are thousands of cars just like mine out there on the roads. I got 169,689 miles out of the first actuator and just 22,000 out of the second one. Based on what I've seen on PriusChat, the new part seems to be worse than the original part.
Discovered through failures repeated to dealers that certain items (Brakes, dashboard, et. al.) were recalled by Toyote. Never received recall notices. Contacted Toyota who demanded the vehicle be taken to dealer and now refuses to do anything. Have complete documentation to attach to this communication. Essentially: Dashboard failed, brakes failed when auto in operation. Likely there are UNKNOWN additional recalls, etc. of which we were not noticed
Vehicle, upon turning on ignition/starting and putting in either drive or reverse gear, on level surface with brakes still applied will roll forward or backward. This has happened several times but usually at first start up for the day No warning lights(brake or other) are displayed Brake pedal is firm /no problems with pads/shoes, brakes work fine any other time. I have called the local toyota dealer and toyota(company) and told them about this safety issue but was told i would have to pay to get it diagnosed. No one other than my wife child and i experienced this problem. Fortunately no one has gotten hurt. Was suprised to learn that this problem is not a part of a recall.
The brake booster is making lots of chirping noise when the brake pedal is depressed. While I am not getting any visual indicators of failure at this moment I believe (due to my own research) that when I do there is a high chance of me getting into a car accident. I have read on priuschat.com that several people had brake failure due to the faulty pump which caused a car wreck. This is a dangerous predicament to be in and Toyota should extend their warranty to cover the faulty equipment they have installed on these vehicles before someone gets seriously hurt or dies.
While vehicle was in motion on a city street, and also upon back roads, the brakes in my 2006 Toyota Prius seemed to grab. There was also a loud noise upon braking. This issue worsened and the dash lights lit up. I took to local Toyota dealership and it was determined that the brake actuator needs to be replaced due to safety issue of brakes going out in the future. (not if but when). I was told when the brakes go out, I am to push the emergency brake and the vehicle would coast to a stop. This is an unsafe condition and could happen while braking for a red light or braking to avoid hitting a deer. The cost to fix this brake actuator issue will be appx $3000. Upon further research, Toyota knew of the issue and offered an extended warranty that expired Dec 2017. There are several other complaints of this same issue with other '06 Prius owners of this happening before and after the warranty expired in Dec of 2017. This is a safety issue which could cause injury or death when the brakes do stop working and needs to be a recall, not an extended warranty through Toyota that expires.
Owner began noticing braking problem in November 2017. Brake pedal would go to floor with minimal braking. Problem continued to get worse. Owner took vehicle to Toyota dealership after holiday period on 02/09/18 for diagnostics. Toyota advised owner of failure of the brake actuator assembly, $2500 repair, and dangerous to drive vehicle without repair performed. Toyota was aware of this serious brake defect in their vehicles and issued a warranty enhancement program ZG1 to correct at no cost to owners. The enhancement program ended 31 December, 2017. My vehicle was diagnosed with exact brake failure problem 2 months later on 09 February, 2018. Toyota refuses to correct this catastrophic brake failure. Request NHTSA to issue new direction for Toyota to correct this catastrophic brake failure for Prius vehicles beyond the 31 December, 2017 date.
ABS warning light are now on. Feel car is losing break capability. No accident but do not feel confident with the brake capacity. Today I took the car to the dealer and they stated that the ABS actuator assembly (code C1391) need to be replace. Looking in the internet and it looks a very common defect for Prius. This is a Prius 2006 with 163.000 miles. Toyota know about this, extended warranty, but I am out out this extension. But this system should property work for the life of the car.
I was driving on a highway 95 South, almost to Delaware, at night in the rain, after 4 hours on the road, everything stopped working. I couldn't accelerate, I had no brakes, and eventually even my lights went out. The entire electrical system was out. I was in heavy traffic, and don't even know how I got off the highway, and to a gas station. The tow truck driver couldn't even jump the battery enough to get the car in neutral, and had a difficult time getting it up on the flatbed to tow it home. I couldn't even lock the doors. I had a new key made at the dealership on 10/17/19 and I was using that key for hours driving to ct and a couple of days later I was half way home when everything in the car stopped working. I was towed to my home in md because I needed to be able to unpack my car and computer before taking it to the dealership. When the second tow came the next day, I handed him the key by the front door, which was my old key, and he was able to get the car in neutral right away, and at the dealership the car worked just fine. The only difference was the new key. The technician found that "the immobilizer ECU has an intermittent open circuit failure, causing the key to be seen as unauthorized and stall the engine." From jim coleman Toyota. Apparently there is a part of the computer system that shuts off all systems if it detects an "unauthorized" key--I.e. if it believes the car is being stolen. It seems to me that this is a very dangerous program in this car. I had been using that new key for several days, and had no problem, but for it to decide in the middle of the highway after hours on the road that the key was a fake, I could have been killed or I could have killed someone else. I would much prefer that my car be stollen than that someone might get killed but shutting off everything while it was on the road.
Breaks, ibs and other lights came on during a road trip. Breaks siengsged and I had to press harder and 'pump' in order to break. Took to Mr. Tire to check -and replaced breaks and flush. Lights still on. Took to the dealer- ibs actuator assembly failure. Quoted repair over $2400. Apparently, some owners of this model received letter for warranty and extended warranty for actuator assembly. Dealer did not mention this option at all. Https://attachments.priuschat.com/attachment-files/2017/12/136422_prius_2nd_gen_-_brake_actuator_warranty_extension.pdf
While I was driving on the highway cruising at highway speed I suddenly received a loud continuous beep and my ABS, brake, and (!) illuminated. I attempted to stop and I had no brakes except when the pedal was all the way to the floor it felt as is it was just pulling the rear drums. It took a while to stop and I side swiped the median barrier to avoid a collision with the vehicle in front of me as traffic was building. I assume it was the brake actuator that there was an extended warranty for almost a decade later but no recall. For something so dangerous I can't imagine how that isn't a recall.
ABS actuator failure. There was a recall that was good until 2017 and 150K miles. My vehicle has 192K miles. I was backing out of my driveway and the three ABS ligths came on and my brakes failed. I scanned the computer using an obd and it indicated failure.
On moving cat, I keep getting intermittent break alarm with push back of break pedel and inability to apply break. It's scary. I took it to Toyota of tampa bay on, and they didn't find any problem.
When driving my 2006 Prius I am unable to stop properly. The brakes go all the way down but it hesitates to stop I get a loud peeping and the ABS lights are coming on. I almost hit another car while driving and the brakes are good. I was told that there was a warranty on this vehicle that deals with the ABS system. The warranty has expired and Toyota is price gauging to fix it, can someone look into this because it is a safety concern and Toyota knows about this issue but wont work with people to fix it?
ABS brake actuator. The ABS and brake light suddenly came on while driving, despite regular Toyota maintenance and a recent passed multipoint brake inspection by Toyota. When car was taken in to have a diagnostic, the Toyota mechanic reported the brake actuator went out and it would be almost $3000 to repair. This is a major safety concern, luckily my brakes did not go out while I was driving and cause an accident. The warranty extendention did not cover my vehicle anymore and does not resolve the fact that it is a safety issue. This part should be recalled before anyone ends up in a accident. It is a liability and is unacceptable.
We are going to be injured or die due to failure of the brake actuator assembly. This exact failure was covered under a warranty enhancement program ZG1 which has expired. We cannot afford this repair exceeding $2500. Toyota is non responsive. We are seniors with no hope of resolution. Please intervene. We do not want to die from this brake failure. Thank you and may god bless us all.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- El Monte, CA, USA