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.
My brake booster is failing and has been confirmed with Certified Toyota Master Mechanics at Toyota Dealerships that it is failing. Toyota has a CSP Called ZJB to replace these once the brake booster fails. My car has been identified as one of the cars with a faulty brake booster and I-??m terrified to continue to drive it as it has to throw a code and break before they will change the faulty part. I want them to fix it before it fails and someone gets hurt. What do I do? There are a lot of other complaints about this but Toyota is not fixing them until they break. This is a huge safety issue.
1. Brake accumulator pump is running too often, indicating that there is a pressure leak in the braking system. 2. As designed the pump will run only on occasion to charge the booster fully. This pump runs a lot, whether the car is running, or not, whether the brakes are applied, or not, and regardless of braking rigorously or gently. 3. Occasionally, on start up, brake pedal goes to the floor as the accumulator has lost all charge. 3. No brake warning lights on dash, yet. 4. No service codes known, yet. Toyota had a customer support program to address this issue, extending warranty to 10 years or 150,000 miles. I am at 160,000, 8 years. The problem has been occurring for a while, but I was not aware as it was my wife's car and driven solely by her. I was told today by a Toyota resolution specialist that no help would be forthcoming, and to hope that NHTSA issues a recall wherein my problem with the braking system would then be addressed. This seems problematic for many reasons, not the least of which is that it is regarding BRAKES, an integral part of the safety equipment to ensure our highways are without danger or have no known issues that have not been resolved by a car manufacturer. My Toyota case number is 230426001055. This 'complaint' is to alert this agency that there is a problem with my vehicle, and others, known by Toyota, as evidenced by past Customer Support Program, and as substantiated today by service rep at Family Toyota of Burleson, and there is no recompense available for the $3,000 repair required to ensure my vehicle safely travels our nations highways. While I understand that a car cannot be warrantied indefinitely, an eight year old car that has been meticulously maintained with a serious safety time bomb should not fall upon the owner entirely, nor should it be the responsibility of your agency to force the hand of the automaker. Since that is there stance, I appeal to you to respond seriously and help me try to remedy.
I bought this car brand new and have had it serviced regularly at a Greensboro Nc Toyota dealership. It has 127,000 miles on it. I starting hearing a grinding whirring noice a lot lately and determined it is a brake actuator/brake booster. Took it to the dealership and they confirmed it to be a brake booster going bad. Engages at least 4 times a minute. There is a customer support program for this repair from Toyota ZJB and covers the part up to 10 years or 150,000 miles. I am in the covered period but it has to break first before they will cover it even though they confirmed it is going bad. It has to -??throw a code-?? before Toyota will pay. I reached out toToyota and they reached out to the dealership which is Greensboro Toyota in Greensboro, NC and their regional office won-??t fix it because it would come out of their pocket and Toyota won-??t fix until it breaks. My research confirms this could be a bad safety issue driving around waiting for this to break. There are no codes yet but the dealership has heard it and confirmed it-??s going bad and I have video of the part going bad. I always service everything with my car or home when it needs to be done and to be told to drive around until it breaks is negligent. Apparently it is a 2-3k fix. This is a serious safety issue that Toyota is aware of. Retha Fisher 16 Fawnwood Ct Greensboro, NC 27407 336-314-2000
The brake assist. Driving and suddenly no brakes. Happened 2x in this vehicle and had to get a tow each time, even after getting new brake pads the first time it happened at my mechanics. The dealer confirmed today that they would fix the problem at $2700. The lights for traction and abs went off with a warning sound. Pulled over both times and called aaa for tow-??..each a separate incident.
- Okeechobee , FL, USA
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The contact owns a 2015 Toyota Prius. The contact stated that as he approached a stop light at 25 MPH, the brake pedal was depressed and traveled to the floorboard as he attempted to stop the vehicle. The brakes failed to operate without warning as he hit the vehicle in front of him. The air bags did not deploy upon impact. A police report was filed and both the contact and the other driver were able to drive away from the scene. No injuries were reported. Prior to this failure, the contact stated that the same failure occurred months prior while traveling at 20 MPH in the rain. The contact stated that the brakes failed to operate without warning as he depressed the brake pedal to the floorboard; he hit an unknown object on the road due to the failure. The contact initially thought that the failure was related to slippery roadways; however, after the most recent failure, he related the prior incident with his most recent failure. The dealer nor the manufacturer had yet to be notified of the failure. The vehicle had yet to be serviced or diagnosed. The failure mileage was approximately 80,000.
My mom was involved in an accident in her 2015 Toyota Prius on April 19, 2022, which she advised lurched forward at a stop and when applying the brakes to stop the vehicle, she said was unresponsive, causing her to clip a vehicle and sending her vehicle into a ditch totaling her car and injuring her passenger and her. I would like to have this investigated and hold Toyota responsible. This could have been much worse and lives could have been lost. She is now without means of transportation, and she is now possibly responsible for damages to property and bodily injury because of this. Through my research I have discovered multiple class action lawsuits brought against Toyota for the same exact models. I asked the police officer to run a scan on the computer, but he advised it was only for serious accidents. There was no indication of the problem or messages.
My 2015 prius gen 3 has a 118,000 miles since we bought it brand new in 2015. We periodically have it maintained with our own mechanic even after the warranty expired with the dealer. However, we experienced that the lights of Brake system, ABS and VSC went out the same time. We have it checked but there was no error code. the car is operational but the brake system does not engaged fully when you presses the brake pedal. The vehicle does not stop immediately if you need to immediately stop the vehicle. The problem strongly indicates failure in ABS control modules which can costs us a big amount of money ranging from $3,500 minimum up to $6000 max. Majority of the prius owners that shared their experiences to us regarding the same problems are unanimous in their opinion that it is indeed the brake control module. That such defect can only be pointed to the manufacturers' misdeeds.
As stated from 5 months after we bought it, and the first prius, the car won't start. No matter if parked flat, keys in or out over night, or the temp, when the break is pushed it is squishy and makes draining noise and won't start. As a dr on call i have LOST patients because I could not leave my house. i carry and use the charger daily ever since. Taken in lots. they say, "you don't drive enough..or some other bogus excuse, like don't leave keys in car, which is how priuses start and run!. the car is driven in all ways a lot. also we buy headlights and headlamps on both about every 2 months. also it looses power and has shut off while driving. the worst is when it would start on its own in the locked garage. at that point my wife just quit driving all together. nothing but nightmares. She almsot crashed on fw when power went out.
While attempting to accelerate from a stop light, the Prius stalled. It would not accelerate although the engine revved. I restarted the car by powering completely off and back on. I tried to accelerate again multiple times until it slowly came up to speed the third attempt. The car was in drive and has never happened before. This is a safety concern for multiple reasons but the main being it can cause harm to those in the vehicle as well as other drivers on the road when the car stalls unexpectedly. There were no warning signals on the dash. Toyota dealer looked at it right away, ran diagnostics, and could not find an issue. Nothing was -??fixed-?? or updated.
Brakes failed to slow or stop vehicle at ?20 mph; driving on a side street. No warning lights were active that morning. Crash into telephone phone resulted in "totaled" car. There was broken branches on road and some mud; car may have skidded. My wife says the car seemed to speed up before the crash
I purchased the vehicle new in 2025 and I have been experiencing brake failure issues every time I attempted to brake over either a pothole, a slick surface like a metal sheet at road construction or wet roads the brake would fail. All the red warning signs would come on in the dashboard and the brakes would make that loud horrible noise. I love my Prius, I don't want to get rid of it. I was hoping Toyota motors would have a fixed for the braking system by now as this is very unsafe specially inexperienced drivers. My goal is to pass this car to my teenage daughter when she goes to college in 2021, but this may not be possible if Toyota doesn't to up with a solution to the problem.
The brakes on my 2015 Prius totally failed and I had to swerve to avoid crashing into the car stopped in front of me. I've been driving for more than 30 years and have never experienced anything like this. It was terrifying. To wit: I was driving about 20 M.P.H. on city streets in long beach, California, in April 2019. As I drove over a bridge, traffic was coming to a stop at a red light 200 yards in front of me. I drove over a narrow metal plate--there are several on the bridge--and hit the brakes, but my car didn't slow. A warning light flashed--a stability control light, I believe, due to the metal plate. I pressed the brakes to the floor as my car rolled downhill on pavement. My car did not slow at all. I looked in the driver side mirror and saw that the lane to my left was clear, so I swerved into it with my foot on the brakes. The car slowly came to a stop well beyond where I should have stopped had my brakes worked properly. The incident was so terrifying that I had to pull over to collect myself. My brakes worked properly after that. A few days later, I took my car to penske Toyota in downey, California, where I bought the car, and told a service agent what happened. I asked him to fix the problem. After service technicians inspected the brakes that day, I was told the brakes appeared to be fine and, barring a recall, nothing could be done. I've been driving the car since then, but I've worried that the brakes could fail again. Then I saw the Jan. 3, 2020 article below. As a result, I've rented a car and have stopped driving my Prius. This is a terrifying, life-threatening problem that needs to be addressed now. Https://www.dailynews.com/2020/01/03/A-southern-California-Toyota-dealer-wants-the-car-giant-to-fix-an-alleged-brake-defect-before-putting-lives-at-stake/ P.S. I'm not sure of the exact date this incident occurred. Date below is my best estimate.
The contact owns a 2015 Toyota Prius. While the contact's daughter was driving at an unknown speed, the brake warning indicator illuminated. The contact informed his daughter to check under the hood for possible low brake fluid. When everything checked out, the contact's daughter restarted the vehicle and the warning indicator turned off. The contact received a customer support program notification (zjb) regarding a defect with the brake booster or brake booster pump, which could cause the brake lamp warning indicator to illuminate. The contact notified frontier Toyota (23621 creekside rd, valencia, ca 91355, 661-255-7575) of the notification and was informed that a diagnostic test would need to be performed before they could make any repairs. The manufacturer was also notified of the notification and provided the same information as the dealer. The manufacturer provided case number: 1909041948. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was 35,000.
Violent shaking when applying brakes in forward and reverse. Vehicle does not slow and stop properly when braking. Vehicle intermittently skips with no slowing or stopping effect when braking.
Sent an alert on certain internal malfunction of internal assemblies of the brake booster from Toyota. Asking me to bring it in for examination. Brakes have been acting spongy and am losing a small amount of brake fluid monthly.
I entered my parked, stationary Prius, pressed my right foot on the brake pedal, disengaged the parking brake and pressed the on/off button to turn the car on. My foot remained on the brake pedal. The engine immediately raced and the car began to accelerate at high speed. I stomped on the brake pedal and the car kept moving. The sound of the engine was loud enough that people in nearby houses heard it. My car would not slow with my efforts to brake. I tried to shift into neutral and park but the car did not slow down. It raced across the street and plowed directly into a neighbor's stone wall. My car became wedged between the wall and a large tree. I had to exit the vehicle from the passenger side as the driver's door was pressed against the tree. After the collision, interior lights were non-functioning even when the door was propped open. The car would have crashed through the house if it had not been stopped by the wall and tree.
Toyota sent me a letter stating the brake booster may cause issues with my car and all my lights came on for this issue. Toyota told me to take car to dealer for repair under new warranty extension for brake booster issues. Dealer is now telling me it's not covered so I need to pay for repairs. I asked what I'm paying for and they stated new brake booster. What's going on here??
At 41,000 the vehicle per a Goodyear dealer advised that my front brakes were metal on metal. The caliber was also frozen and the brake line was leaking. The car was at the dealership on 3/7/19 with no mention of a need for repairs to the front brakes. Is there a general problem with bad brakes on Toyota vehicles?
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Santan Valley, AZ, USA