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 car only had 120K miles and the break boostor and actuator breaks down while we were on the road. My wife drives the car with my 3-childrens. She was almost hit the other car on highway because the breaks system stops working at normal mode. The dash board shows all kinds of break, traction control, and ABS lights. This is a life threatning issue and toyot needs to replace this part with no charge becasue it has a manufacturing defects and thousands of Prius owner has the same issu.
The contact owns a 2011 Toyota Prius. While driving approximately 40-50 mph, the brake pedal was depressed and an abnormal noise was heard. The contact stated that the ABS warning indicator illuminated and the brake pedal was difficult to depress. The vehicle was not taken to be diagnosed or repaired. Marietta Toyota (750 cobb pkwy S, marietta, ga 30060, (770) 422-1490) was notified. The manufacturer was not contacted. The approximate failure mileage was 182,000.
The problem my car experienced happened while the vehicle was in motion on I-110 in pensacola, Florida and presented itself abruptly (through the car's warning indicators at least) on Friday, August 31st headed to pensacola beach for labor day weekend from our home in baton rouge, Louisiana. All the car's brake warning lights came on simultaneously and without warning, the master brake light, the ABS light, five different lights in all. I pulled off the interstate, went to an autozone store, checked the brake fluid level and brake pads (all looked nominal) and got the car's computer checked for warning codes (none came up). Seeing nothing catastrophic, but being unsure of whether our car was really safe to drive even though the brakes still felt functional (if a bit off), we got the car back to baton rouge and brought it to the local Toyota dealership's (all-star Toyota, on airline highway) service department. We had noticed for some weeks prior increasingly frequent buzzing sounds ' anyone with a Prius knows these, such as when you turn the car off ' made by (I'm told) the car's brake actuator pressurizing the brake fluid. This escalating frequency of the noise, and a certain constant 'pulsing' of the sound when the brake was slightly applied, but not pushed down to the floor ' I now understand to be symptomatic of a failing brake actuator. Following some research, I discovered in 2013 Toyota issued a recall for thousands of 2010 Prius and other Toyota automobiles for a problem with brake actuators; also, in 2016, a warranty extension and part replacement was offered to hundreds of thousands of 2004 through 2009 Toyota Prius vehicles for problems with brake actuators. In that more recent matter, owners were offered a warranty extension to 10 years after first use of the car or 150,000 miles, or unlimited mileage or age up to the end of 2017.
Takata recall my 2011 Prius has an issue where the brake becomes spongy at random while driving under normal conditions. The brake, ABS, and traction control lights all illuminate simultaneously. After resetting the computer, the issue comes back within 10-30 minutes of driving at random. Toyota told me it is a $3,000 fix and there is no recall for my year. My car has 110,393 miles.
Driving vehicle down highway, tapped brakes but brakes did not work, all the lights on my dash lit up. I lost traction in brakes causing vehicle to lose control.
- Oxford, GA, USA
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4 lights came on my dashboard: Brakes, ABS, etc. So I took the car to the dealership. They said I need a new brake accumulator but it isn't covered and is a $3500 repair. I see that the 2010 Prius was recalled for this same part but they won't cover mine.
Got in car one morning and all the brake / traction control system related lights are on. Turned car off, waited 10 minutes restarted car and lights are still on. Tested brake function in yard, reduced but still able to get car stopped. Took it to shop and read codes, came back as the actuator which is already recalled on previous year model pruis', obviously they did not fix the issue on the early gen 3 models (2010 & 2011). I have found multiple other people with gen-3's that have had the same issue os these should be included in the gen-2 recall because they are having the same issue. With it being a dealer only part at $4500-$5000 (parts and labor) to fix on a car that's only worth about $10,000 I wonder if it's really worth fixing. At this point the car is parked because with the diminished braking performance I don't feel safe driving it.
Brake actuator failure. ABS, traction control, and brake light all on dashboard. The car has no regenerative braking. Issue occured randomly while in motion.
Brake accentuator failed - no warning and traction control/brake light/ABS warning lights all illuminated. Hard breaking test @25 mph confirms ABS not working (I.e. tires skid) and breaking distance adversely impacted for normal braking. Hybrid system charging from braking is diminished.
While driving on the highway all the break lights came on and stayed on brake, ABS and skid lights on also noise under hood by brake master cylinder. Took it in to the dealership and they verified ABS / brake lights on). Told me I needed to replace brake actuator / brake booster pump / bleed / and re-flash system. Found out this also has been happening on the 2009 and the 2010 Toyota Prius hybrid and they have a recall out on this. I was told at the dealership that it was unsafe to drive the vehicle with this occurring
On uneven road surfaces (washboard road, many small potholes, gravel roads, rough road shoulders) brakes would give out if braking hard. If felt like once ABS kicked in the brakes would get almost completely released. The car would brake just fine on flat surfaces, wet or dry. I have multiple vehicles and know how ABS brakes work but thought the Prius brakes were just a bit more sensitive and I have to watch my distances more carefully and avoid hard stops. Then on April 23, 2018 the car started to make some strange noise but no dashboard lights came on. I continued driving and noticed the brakes were working only intermittently. After I almost crashed when attempting to break in traffic I limped back home and took the car to the dealership. The repairs to replace brake pump and cylinder assemblies cost $4,193.31 but the car was driveable again. However, I noticed that the repairs also corrected the ABS problem that was present since the car was new. I think anyone who drives a 2011+ Prius should get their brakes checked for emergency braking where brakes stop working thus allowing the car plow ahead even if the brake pedal is down to the floor.
The brakes temporarily disengaged sometimes when braking. At around 100,000 miles, the brake accumulator would constantly make noises while driving and after shutting the car off. Eventually the brake accumulator and brake booster failed completely at 117,000 miles, costing around $4,000 to repair.
The ABS/brake/skid/warning triangle on. My 2011 Prius III is 121K mile. This went on/off for a few days then it was on the whole time. The brake seems to loose the hydraulic power brake. I feel like the brakes feel weird whenever hit small bump, brake just failed for a second. I went to Toyota dealership they said it's the actuator that need to be replaced and it's expensive $2-3K. They said it need to be fix soon because brake might fail at any time. There seems to be a warranty enhancement for the 2010 and older but not 2011 and newer. Seems like Toyota still have the same issue with newer model, not fixed yet. Please bring this issue up for safety reason.
Unknown cause. The breaks temporarily disengage (for anywhere between 1-3 seconds) when the car encounters a small bump or pot-hole in the road, while breaking downhill. Usually happens when breaking hard on a declined freeway off-ramp. This has almost caused me to rear-end another vehicle on multiple occasions.
The brakes are pumping slow speeds and the vehicle makes much more noise. The car makes buzzing sound every 30 seconds or sooner. A repair person said it is the ABS actuator that is about to fail.
While driving on the highway, without warning, I lost power assisted breaking ability - accompanied by a number of dashboard warning lights. I was able to safely stop the vehicle using manual breaking. I had the code checked and have learned that the (code 1391) brake accumulator failure is a common issue in the Prius and has been subject to a recall/replacement for the years prior to my make (I believe 2008-2010). Clearly this is still an issue and the sudden/no-warning failure of the system causes an alarming and potentially dangerous loss of breaking control during high speed driving. Luckily, I was not using the breaks at the time of the failure and was able to determine that the manual break pads were serviceable but I needed to rapidly increase the pressure on my breaks to slow down sufficiently to avoid an accident.
My brakes consistently lock and the car lunges forward when I hit a pothole while braking. This caused a crash when the car was only a couple years old when the brakes failed to stop the vehicle and it lunged forward into the back of a car. This is extremely dangerous and I've seen this comment often with this vehicle. I don't understand why Toyota has not addressed this issue.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Boca Raton, FL, USA