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Comments
cheers
chris
Plenty of punch; shocks some people. I am still on the fence about keeping it for my wife. Some of the problems that others have had are holding me up. I still need to get a feel about the reliability AFTER the recall repair. Have had no problems with the car.
Dave
this car is now over 100k.
we live in the mountains of california.
4 seasons, winter snow, down to 20's.
commute to work is short 10 miles up and down the hill.
all long drives we use this car, 3hr-5hr trips, and 4 times a year 9hours to bend oregon.
may make a difference if sitting in commute city traffic or long hauls consistently, don't know.
it is my wife's car and I haven't had to worry or don't.
cheers
chris
p.s. don't remember , you did replace the small battery inside the engine compartment. That was my only issue and scare with this car. I will replace before 5 year life span also. When it goes , the car shuts down.
"INVERTER VOLTAGE FLUCTUATING AT AMD WIREFROM DC/DC CONVERTER. ~|~120488 INVERTER VOLTAGE FLUCT UATING AT AMDWIRE FROM DC/DC CON VERTER. 150 INVERTERNEEDS REPLA CEMENT."
They gave me an expensive estimate to repair it. Back then I didn't like the fact to pay such money for a part that still working. I thought I will repair it whenever it dies.
It is more than a year and half and I put more than 15000 miles on my car and the inverter is still working as before.
Anybody has the same problem? Does anyone know if my car really needs an inverter or it might be something simpler than that?
I would appreciate any thought.
Thanks in advance for your replies...
I know this is the "electrical problems" thread, and what I'm about to describe deals with the brake system, but several of the symptoms come across as electrical/battery/computer system failures.
As HH owners are likely aware, when you open the driver door before starting the car, a motor buzzing sound comes from under the hood, and after you shut the car down the same buzzing sound occurs. This is a pump in the "brake actuator" (aka "ABS actuator") assembly. What it does is pressurize the brake system - I'm told that it does so with pressurized nitrogen, but I don't know that for sure.
Not too long ago, my HH started having the "barking seal" sound whenever the brake pedal was depressed. Research revealed that this is due to tiny bubbles forming in the brake fluid as it passes through a valve. The severity of the sound is related to atmospheric pressure - higher pressure reduces or eliminates the sound, lower pressure increases it. HH owners who have driven between coastal and mountain areas report that the sound increases in the mountains and decreases or goes away near the ocean, so this fits. I, on the other hand, haven't changed location at all, and over the past months the sound has gotten worse.
About the same time this started happening, I noticed that the brake actuator started running more than once after I shut off the car. Now, within the past few days, it is running nearly constantly; that is, it runs for a few seconds, stops, then restarts over and over. This results in the 12v battery being drained. Usually I have to jump-start the car, but sometimes if it hasn't been sitting for very long I can make a starting attempt, remove the key, wait a while and try again, and the car will sometimes get enough charge back to get a "READY" light. Once that happens it's good, but it doesn't happen all the time. Other times I get nothing at all; others I get "Check VSC" or "Shift to P", and occasionally I get all sorts of blinking lights on the dash, and today I saw the speedometer register 105MPH while in park with the engine still not running!
Since it is a known issue with the HH that sitting for any length of time could result in a dead 12v battery, I think this problem with the brake actuator could be a significant factor to the issue. There is no way to prevent the brake actuator from running even with the system off and the key out, short of pulling the fuse (which is difficult given where the fuse is). Plus, I believe this problem is much more prevalent in the HH that it may seem at first. Here's why:
Doing a little more research, I found that either the brake actuator itself or a brake line near it is prone to leaking in the HH (and Prius and Camry Hybrid and possibly others), due to design and/or manufacturing flaws. This results in a reduced pressure in the brake system, which in turn results in the brake actuator having to run more and more just to keep the pressure up. This problem with the reduced pressure may also explain why I'm now experiencing the "barking seal" problem even though nothing else has changed. The ultimate end to this problem is a complete loss of brake pressure and/or failure of the brake actuator, problems that are critical safety hazards. This problem has resulted in numerous documented reports with the NHTSA, including several crashes with serious injuries (no deaths yet that I'm aware of, thank goodness).
Toyota, though, has yet to issue a recall for this problem. They have issued a so-called "warranty enhancement" numbered ZG1 for the HH and Prius to cover replacement of a faulty brake actuator, which they are very careful to label as "NOT a recall." However, they will replace the brake actuator ONLY under very specific conditions, namely if an internal failure of the brake actuator results in the on-dash display of one or more of 5 indicator lights (Master error, Brake, ABS, Electronic Braking, and/or Skid). Unfortunately, they will not replace the actuator (a $2000 part and a $1200 labor charge) unless those lights come on as a result of the internal problem. Also unfortunately, they are careful to say that those lights can come on for other unrelated reasons, giving them an out to deny the replacement (and charge you for the diagnostic). The concern here is that since the brake actuator fails because of another problem with the brake system, delaying replacement until it fails increases the chances of a catastrophic failure while in use (meaning while someone is driving in traffic). This is a serious safety issue that Toyota doesn't seem to be taking seriously.
The NHTSA is already aware of the problem. I have written my congressman about it to see if he can jostle any of the right people in Washington to force a recall. But it would be telling to see how many other people here who are experiencing a 12v battery failure on the HH have noticed an increase in the operation of the brake actuator pump while the car is off. And of those, how many also have the "barking seal" problem with their brakes.
Incidentally, because of the pressurized system, replacing the brake actuator is not something the home mechanic can do, even if they could get the part. Even on eBay, the part is still very expensive new. I have seen used ones on eBay, but given the nature and likely prevalence of the problem, I would be very hesitant to put a used actuator in my car for fear of it already having the problem.
I just can't see the wisdom of waiting for complete brake failure in order to take advantage of the (possible) warranty coverage.