Have had three instances of brake failure - pedal goes to the floor. The first two times were months apart and happened only once. Driver thought it was her imagination. The third instance was no question....had no brakes but was not too far from a dealership, so limped gingerly there. Shortly before arriving at the dealership the brakes came back.
The dealership could not find anything wrong with the brakes and said they tried every test and could find nothing. “Could not duplicate concernâ€. The mechanic talked with us and was very informative but could offer no explanation, although he suggested it could be the master brake cylinder, the vacuum system, or possible something to do with the ABS system. He was not sure it could be the master cylinder because “I have never known one to self healâ€. He also was not sure it could be the vacuum system because there was no indication of a loss of pressure. He thought that maybe there could be a speck of stuff that prevented a rubber cup from sealing, but there was no way to be sure.
Oddly, no warning lights ever came on, and nothing was noted in the diagnostics indicating any brake problems, loss of pressure, or problems with the ABS system.
We took it to an independent mechanic for a second opinion and he came up with the same answers.
Both the dealership and the independent mechanic said the only way to guarantee a fix would be to replace all of the parts in question. That would be a rather expensive fix.
We decided to have the master brake cylinder replaced and will hope this is the fix we need. The only way to know if it worked is if they don’t fail again, which is not a comforting thought. Needless to say our sense of security in this vehicle is gone.
This is not a cheap vehicle - we bought it used in January this year to replace a vehicle that had stranded us three times. Our whole purpose in buying the Sequoia was because we have always had good luck with our Toyota cars and we wanted a vehicle we could trust not to strand us. The Sequoia was very highly rated for safety and reliability. So a very discouraging and disheartening experience. And will add stress to every drive with this vehicle. Sigh.
Update from Oct 18, 2018: Update. We took the vehicle to our local mechanic who also could not duplicate the problem, but agreed with the dealership that the only way to solve the problem was to replace all the associated parts. With no other options we decided to start replacing things in the order of most likely so first on the list was the master brake cylinder. It cost about $500. On the way home from the mechanic the brakes went out again, and did so each time I drove (very carefully) the next day... drove back to the mechanic and suggested they keep it and have one of their mechanics drive it until it happened to them...which it finally did! They said the most likely cause based on his experience was the ABS module. We had it replaced with a genuine Toyota Part. This cost another $1200. We asked them to keep it a few more days and drive it. They reported no problems so we picked it up last night. I’ll drive for a few weeks at least before I’ll feel that the problem is solved. I’ll update in a few weeks.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
Have had three instances of brake failure - pedal goes to the floor. The first two times were months apart and happened only once. Driver thought it was her imagination. The third instance was no question....had no brakes but was not too far from a dealership, so limped gingerly there. Shortly before arriving at the dealership the brakes came back.
The dealership could not find anything wrong with the brakes and said they tried every test and could find nothing. “Could not duplicate concernâ€. The mechanic talked with us and was very informative but could offer no explanation, although he suggested it could be the master brake cylinder, the vacuum system, or possible something to do with the ABS system. He was not sure it could be the master cylinder because “I have never known one to self healâ€. He also was not sure it could be the vacuum system because there was no indication of a loss of pressure. He thought that maybe there could be a speck of stuff that prevented a rubber cup from sealing, but there was no way to be sure. Oddly, no warning lights ever came on, and nothing was noted in the diagnostics indicating any brake problems, loss of pressure, or problems with the ABS system.
We took it to an independent mechanic for a second opinion and he came up with the same answers.
Both the dealership and the independent mechanic said the only way to guarantee a fix would be to replace all of the parts in question. That would be a rather expensive fix.
We decided to have the master brake cylinder replaced and will hope this is the fix we need. The only way to know if it worked is if they don’t fail again, which is not a comforting thought. Needless to say our sense of security in this vehicle is gone.
This is not a cheap vehicle - we bought it used in January this year to replace a vehicle that had stranded us three times. Our whole purpose in buying the Sequoia was because we have always had good luck with our Toyota cars and we wanted a vehicle we could trust not to strand us. The Sequoia was very highly rated for safety and reliability. So a very discouraging and disheartening experience. And will add stress to every drive with this vehicle. Sigh.
Update from Oct 18, 2018: Update. We took the vehicle to our local mechanic who also could not duplicate the problem, but agreed with the dealership that the only way to solve the problem was to replace all the associated parts. With no other options we decided to start replacing things in the order of most likely so first on the list was the master brake cylinder. It cost about $500. On the way home from the mechanic the brakes went out again, and did so each time I drove (very carefully) the next day... drove back to the mechanic and suggested they keep it and have one of their mechanics drive it until it happened to them...which it finally did! They said the most likely cause based on his experience was the ABS module. We had it replaced with a genuine Toyota Part. This cost another $1200. We asked them to keep it a few more days and drive it. They reported no problems so we picked it up last night. I’ll drive for a few weeks at least before I’ll feel that the problem is solved. I’ll update in a few weeks.
- Susan K., Mulberry Grove, Illinois, US