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Toyota Prius Brake Problems
I own a 06 Prius. After about the 2nd week I noticed that when you apply the brakes and right before the car comes to a complete stop, you hear a noise coming from the brakes. It seemd to be a clunk or something like that. It does not always make the noise. The dealership said it is no problem. I just wanted to see if anybody here has experienced the same sound.
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It's part of the Prius regen braking system. It likely will save wear and tear on your brakes in the long run.
BTW they stop great in emergencies.
I finally concluded it had to do with the regen braking, and/or the engine cycling, and decided not to worry about it. I worry even less now that I know my car is not the only one....
Actually, there are situations in which ABS is a disadvantage. Gravel comes to mind; a vehicle with ABS will stop slower in gravel than a vehicle without ABS.
Actually, there are situations in which ABS is a disadvantage. Gravel comes to mind; a vehicle with ABS will stop slower in gravel than a vehicle without ABS.
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The poster I was answering said his slid. If it is sliding then something is wrong with the anti-locking brakes. Personally I hate them as it seems when you need the brakes on any car the most they don't stop. Trucks are a real problem.
"It has nothing to do with brakes failing or tires...You were on wet pavement, the car is light and I am willing to bet when you tried to stop The car hydroplaned on the wet road. You may have been going a bit fast for the conditions. Remember the car weighs about 1,000 pounds lighter than a normal midsize car. "
I was driving well under the speed limit. I've had the car over a year and have driven before in the rain, it has hydroplaned before (much more than in any other car actually), but this is not what it was that day. The next time it rains, I will test it out and see if it does it again. And I'm use to light cars, I've always had a compact car. Thanks for your input.
Antilock brakes will not stop you from sliding, they will allow you to control the direction you slide, but only if you are travelling in the direction of the slide. They will stop you from locking up one or more wheels (depending on how many channels of antilock they were built with - four channel is best). They work poorly on gravel as posted above and poorly in snow - you can stop much quicker on both if you cause the medium to "pile up" in front of the tire and this means you have to stop the wheel from turning. If you are exceeding the traction limit of the tires on rain or ice antilock will allow you to steer and brake at the maximum limits allowed by the traction available. If one or more wheels are above the maximum traction at the braking level you want/need antilock -on any vehicle- will reduce the braking on that wheel(s) until the wheel(s) is turning at about 70-80% full rate (this is where maximum traction takes place). It feels like a brake failure.
I recommend better tires if you are experiencing this antilock braking reduction. I like the Nokian WR, but there are many others to choose from.
I called a service facility today and they told me not to worry unless when I took the parking brake off, and the light would stay on - but mine didn't...
Dean
The lesson to learn here is when applying the parking brake, put it on hard so you -can't- drive away with it on.
If you're still worried, it's a simple matter to pull the drums and inspect the brakes - parking brake is rear drums only.
Another question - what does the "B" do...the engine brake...is this somthing to use if I need to stop in a hurry in addition to using the regular brake? After I'm finished with the "B"....do you just go back into "D" again?
Thanks
Dean
Yes, you select "D" once you've slowed down (if you don't the car still works just fine, but your mileage will decrease a little).
If you let up on the accel. pedal and watch the MFD energy flow screen you can make the car coast for maximum fuel efficiency. This is the "glide" part of "pulse and glide", the method the "high milers" use to get the silly MPG numbers. If you let off all the way the car will start to use the MG (motor generator) to slow itself and add power to the "traction battery". If you select "B" this slowing is slightly greater - I say slightly because it isn't ever really powerful at slowing you down.
So now you know the "secret techniques" - I expect reports of 100 MPG soon!
Dean
I tried my parking brake out today and REMEMBERED to take it off...I must not have hurt it too much because it was still working (doulbe :-) :-) )
I took the car to the dealership, they could not replicate the problem, they said they could not find anything wrong & were going to return the car to me. I insisted something be done, so they sent a mechanic to observe as I test drove the car. I was not able to get the brakes to fail, but I was able to make the anti-skid light go on when it shouldn’t. The dealership then bled the brakes & returned the car to me.
That same day as I approached a stop light, the car did a strange, very slow anti-lock brake response. The brakes applied, then unapplied with about one to 1 ½ seconds between each application. On two occasions since then the brakes have not applied for 2 – 3 seconds after I stepped on them. The anti-skid light went on one of those times, the other time I was too busy looking at the road to notice. I was going over a rough road surface, but not a surface on which the car was skidding.
I have noticed the anti-skid light goes on sometimes when the car is not skidding but going over a rough surface.
I really liked the Prius before this happened, but I do not feel it is not a safe car to drive until this :lemon: is resolved.
2 additional links that talk about brake problems are
http://www.hybridcars.com/forums/brake-failure-2007-t1013.html and http://priuschat.com/index.php?showtopic=20093&hl=
Is this unique to the hybrids or the Prius? I have had antilock brakes on my last several cars and have never had this happen.
I wish there was some kind of a class action lawsuit or something. I need to get reimbursed for my $500 deductible I had to pay. This is dangerous. One day it could be worse.
I think we might want to organize a class action suit.
leora
I was a valet for about 4 years and know exactly how many models drive - but, did not know about this. I regret buying a Prius.
This morning I was attempting to stop in my 6 month old '09 Prius traveling at low speeds in dry conditions. My brakes did not engage until it was too late. So, now I decided to research this problem and think it should be taken up in a class action or recall. If not at least to require a better braking system to be built by toyota.
old. I have had several instances of it seeming to speed up. I took it back to Toyota and the service manager said he had noticed that, also - in other cars. After his mechanic looked at it, he said that if I needed any more adjustments to bring it in.
Whether they did anything or not, I do not know, but I thought the problem was gone. On the other hand, I was exceptionally cautious when I approached places ( parking spaces) where I had had trouble.
The other problem was 3 situations where there was a complete or partial failure of the brakes to work in low speeds and dry weather - there hasn't been any rain. The first case was in traffic where I would have hit the vehicle in front if the brakes had not suddenly grabbed. The other 2 case (occurring in the last week) were when I was driving slowly, but there was complete failure of the brakes.
I am going to call the National Highway Traffic Safety Admin. at 888-327-4236 and file a complaint. Also I will investigate the possibility of my car being considered a lemon.
I called a lawyer to see if I had a case, and was told no. I am still researching the issue becuase someone should be held accountable and future tragedies should be avoided.
If anyone has started a class action suit, please do let me know as I would like to join you.
Minerva
The first incident (a near accident) occurred when the car in front of me stopped. I was driving slowly but my car suddenly seemed to accelerate on its own and my brakes failed. How I stopped my car I will never know.
The second incident was when I was driving into my garage. Again the car seemed to accelerate and the brakes did not work. The garage wall was damaged on both sides.
After this I took the car into the Toyota dealer. They examined it and said if I had more trouble, bring it in again.
The third incident occurred in a parking lot. The self-accelerating seemed to have been fixed, but while driving slow and looking for a place to park, the brakes did not hold and the result was the car hit a parked car.
There was over $6000 damage to the Prius and some damage to the parked car. What is really scary is that by the next parked car (only a foot or so away) were a man and 2 children. If my car had hit that car there could have been some deaths - certainly serious injuries.
They don't know they are not stopping because of their "sliding".
The VSSs ( Vehicle Speed Sensors ) don't send a "wheel locked-up" signal because of the sliding of the wheels on the wet metal track. As someone else has already stated, the ABS can be fooled by loose sand/gravel, as well as snow/ice.
They do, however, work well on wet or dry PAVEMENT.
It should be noted that the purpose of ABS is NOT to stop the car sooner/shorter distance/quicker, but to give the driver the ability to steer the car and avoid an accident while maintaining control of his vehicle.
The offshoot of stopping a car w/o the wheels locking up while braking is to give a better stop. One that is a controlled stop. Without the skidding.
Many times drivers think they are depressing the brake pedal, but are actually pressing the accelerator in a panic, or by accident.
The Audi history has proven that. People sometimes just push on the wrong pedal.
As I said earlier, the proof of that lies in the Audi history with people SWEARING the car "accelled" by itself. But actually not.
That is why we now have "shift locks" on all our cars. We must now press the brake to shift out of Park.
I will check the NHTSA website to see about any reports of this malfunction.
I am seeing the exact same brake noise while coming to a stop: noise like metal parts are rubbing against each other. I can even feel a little bit of feedback on my foot while this happens.
I realized that this doesn't happen under wet conditions (if there had been snow/ rain) or after the car has been driven for a while. That was probably why it never happened whenever I took it to the dealer to get it checked.
If anyone did get it resolved by yourself/ outside mechanic/ a dealer, can you please reply?
Also, I have the some other issues as well:
1) sometimes the car speeding up when the brake is being applied.
2) a whistling noise inside the car when driving above 35mph (like there is a hole somewhere thro which air is leaking in)
3) the handrests and some other interior plastic is loose resulting in rattling sound when driving over rough roads/ playing bass-y music.
I am going to take the car to the dealer soon but if anyone has seen similar issues and have resolved it or know how to fix them, please reply..
Thanks in advance