Need advice for notorious Brake Booster issue Toyota refuses to cover

I traded my gen 3 for just those reasons.
They weren’t selling well because of low gas prices, so they tried gen 4, and that didn’t work.
Now they’re in to gen 5, but they might be grasping at straws

 

Lots of non-hybrid mechanics think this brake by wire system is just another abs system. Nope, you can suddenly get very hard braking and much longer stopping distances. Better to deal with it when the first code hits.

I think the new Corolla Cross hybrid is much better and a similar size. Has the gen5 Prius 2.0L engine at a reasonable cost even in this market.

 

Really???? WHY would anyone believe this?
And then you are going to trust this person replace the parts????
The "warning" lights are there for a reason. To warn you of a problem and
to repair it.
----Problem Prius has gone from bad to worse. So when this ABS problem first developed a Toyota certified mechanic told me there was no serious danger if I continued to drive the vehicle as long as I didn't mind not having ABS, regen braking, traction control, and stability control.---

Ignoring a problem doesn't make it go away. And it won't fix itself.
Why should any manufacturer be forced to repair anyting on a vehicle with over 100,000 miles on it?
They give a warranty, after that, the owner is responsible for the repairs.
It's certainly cheaper than a new $30,000 vehicle, then will eventually hae parts wear out.

Just turned 322,000 miles on my 2010 Prius tonight! 21,400 miles on the new head gasket....

 

good research and arguments for fixing things beyond the 10-year period! 100k miles is somewhat arbitrary, just as was 60k miles or 30k miles many years ago. it's kind of just what consumers demand and company's think they can fulfill, or what hurts them enough. in the case of Prius, it's a pretty well-running car, so we are seeing flaws that would normally have been masked by the junkyard smelter.

In my case, I'd feel comfortable pitching in some $ for the brake fix. I just would prefer Toyota to help a bit. It's also a bit frustrating to see or feel a problem develop slowly, knowing it's going to possibly happen, but then the vendor skirts away, just out of touch due to some arbitrary cutoff. And with the brake problem, it seems like the reported failures can be somewhat catastrophic, which is obviously unpredictable and bad. so being proactive should be in order.

Another interesting dilemma, which I haven't verified: Car companies I believe are required by law to maintain parts for a model year only until the 10-year age threshold. after that, you may be on your own. a 10-year-old Prius is still very drivable and worthy but might be a bit rough. getting rid of it would be a shame/waste. Imagine if the 10-year rule was set to some crazy low limit like 3 or 6 months, to the point where you would essentially have to throw away a 1-year-old car and buy a new one. Bad for the environment, wallet, and probably several other reasons.

 

ya, good luck with that.....
There's a difference between defect and parts wearing out.

 

Toyota is hoping these cars age out which they are, albeit slowly. I saw one on the road yesterday after driving around town for more than two hours.

The “problem” is the car ages very well in terms of body, interior, ride, mpg and electronics. There are flippers hiding head gasket problems and it takes several minutes of pump runtime to trip the brake booster alarm. Which usually happens weeks or months before the reduced.braking failsafe mode.

Some who really get upset think they can’t afford the brake repairs at the only place in town they know can fix it, eg the dealer. Most of that is the dealer and not Toyota. Double and triple parts cost at most and thousands in labor for a brake booster. Gouging. Plus Techstream special calibration and bleeding.

95% of neighborhood shops say no and all franchise shops agree. No aftermarket rebuilt parts are available at a discount from Napa or Autozone unlike almost all conventional cars. Ecus builtin to the booster make used parts even more of a crap shoot due to different firmware based on tire size, year and Prius model.

However Toyota Corporate has reduced the brake booster parts prices dramatically. Just a few years ago, no dealer had a brake booster part for less than $2k. Now some sell it online for $700. You have to shop and perhaps get lucky with online sale pricing. And wait. Same thing has happened with OEM hybrid batteries. Sometimes $1600 parts or $2300 installed.

Hybridpit in SoCal now has a rebuild your booster deal for $550 plus shipping for diy’ers who can wait and have the necessary skills and tools. I have not seen reviews yet on this option.

The sad part is when a smart shopper asks Priuschat if they should buy a gen3, too many say yes, “I have no problems or repairs are expected”. Obviously most used buyers only seek Priuschat after a problem has occurred.

Meanwhile the delivery driver or single mom finances a 175k mile Prius for years at high interest rates. No wonder he or she can’t afford a dealer repair.

 

i can remember when car warranties were 1 year 12,000 miles.

and you got a hard no if something broke at 1 year and one day.

 

whaatteevvveerrrrrr....

 

agreed. i'm quite happy with the current 1/12, 3/36, 5/60 and 10/150 warranties.

and that's coming from someone who left toyota in the dust after the engine on his 2012 prius fell apart at 30,000 miles.

 

I'm curious, what car did you buy to replace the Prius?


iPhone ? Pro

 

Chevy Bolt. Pip was a great experiment on the road to pure ev.
21k after tax credits, nicely equipped.

 

Toyota has not recalled the brake booster. They issued a “Customer Support Program” instead. A recall is done on every car impacted. This program only applies when a brake booster fails. Words and their legal meaning matter.

An example from my v

As stated above, Hybrid Pit rebuilds your brake booster after you ship it to them.

. The hg blew at 30k miles? I thought it was 87k.

 

car had 87k, only about 30k on the engine. the rest was ev plug in.

idk if the hg was blown, i just had the misfiring sensation at light throttle, engine shaking like crazy.

nothing at warm up/idle, or hard throttle.

 

Were the intake manifold EGR passages ever cleaned? How 'bout the EGR cooler?

 

No, and I couldn’t find anyone willing to dive in, so I gave up