Toyota FJ Cruiser Brakes

ski15

My brakes are squeaking on a cold start, it stops about 15 minutes of driving. It has been doing this since I drove it off the lot. I had them look at it after my first maintenance then again a year later. They told me it was normal. Does any one else have this issue?

batman47

I had a Tucson V6 with the same problem. Usually the noise disappears after 15 minutes in the road. I did everything (changing the brake pads, greasing the caliper pins, changing the brake fluid, etc) to eliminate the noise without success. I guess this is some kind of structural metal stuff where the brake or calliper just flex a little bit until the heat fix it tight on the brake system.

mtndweller

I've had mine since July '07, bought it with 1700 miles on it. My brakes squeak occasionally when I am stepping on the brake when just starting it and changing from Park to Reverse. After that, it seems to stop. I've not been too worried about it and haven't had it checked out yet. I'd like to know if you find out anything more.

snaps38

I now have 30k on my FJ Cruiser, a lot of it pulling a pop-up camping trailer. I have had no problems and get 19-20 mpg on the road, as much as 26 mpg on Nevada back roads and 16 mpg pulling the 2500-pound camper. Rear visibility is a problem, solved with a $100 back up camera system from eBay. I discovered that the stability control requires a very different driving style on ice, otherwise the driver corrections can get out of phase with the electronic system leading to divergent skids. Also, the anti-lock brakes are not effective on ice (are any?).

I previously owned three FJ40 Land Cruisers and find the FJ Cruiser superior to all of them except in crash worthiness. The front end of the FJ is very fragile. A 5 mph collision with a Ford F250 resulted in $7500 of damage. The point of impact was not the bumper, but where the trailer hitch of the F250 impacted in the FJ grille. Air bags did not deploy and there were no injuries.

I have had no serious problems except as noted above. The windshield is very susceptible to rocks from vehicles in front and was cracked within the first 10k miles. The glass lists at $1100 from the dealer and after market replacements were not available when I checked. The FJ has almost no oil consumption, down about a pint in 3500 miles. The horsepower is adequate and the 5-speed auto transmission is just about perfect. It is better than my two Isuzu Troopers and a Porsche Cayenne S.

Suggestions to Toyota: Increase rear visibility with narrower side pillars and a larger rear window or make a backup camera standard. Add a front differential lock. Allow regular gasoline to be used. Make it possible to disable
ESC in 2WD high.