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loss of brakes after hitting bump in road 05 prius

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by jtuchol, Jan 2, 2014.

  1. jtuchol

    jtuchol Member

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    I had something happed the other day that I have never experienced in any of my Prius' before, I was driving along coming up to a stop lite and the lite changed I tried to make a quick stop and stomped on the brake pedal and pedal got real hard and no stopping! car did not even slow down, luckly no cars where sitting at lite and I went through it made a quick turn into a parking lot and cleaned my pants! I have never had anything like this before in all of my prius's I have owned. any idea's?
     
  2. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    dealer, and now. do not drive it, do not take your life, or anyone else's for granted. call a tow truck.
     
  3. FreydNot

    FreydNot Member

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    Did the yellow brake light on the dash start blinking? Were the roads wet? Did the tires start to slide?
     
  4. uart

    uart Senior Member

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    Sounds serious. Can you repeat the problem? (somewhere safe of course)
     
  5. jtuchol

    jtuchol Member

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    the bump was wet I did not even look at the dash lites my eyes where glued on the road and straight ahead.

    well, we got a bad snow storm that just hit I am going to wait until I can get it out of garage. I have a 4x4 truck that I am driving now.

    car is sitting right now until after snow storm.
     
  6. Air_Boss

    Air_Boss Senior Member

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    I've noticed a less than smooth transition between power, TC, braking and ABS triggered by bumps and slick spots. But it's not even close to a new underwear scenario.
     
  7. uart

    uart Senior Member

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    It sounds like you might have hit black ice then.
     
  8. jtuchol

    jtuchol Member

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    yea, that's a under statement!

    well you would of think abs would of kicked in but I have read that others have had the same issue. I am going to check and see if they have any service bulletins on this.

    no black ice was in the low 40's when this happen.
     
  9. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    i've driven in every type of environment in my '04, '08 and '12, and have never experienced anything like that. something is wrong with the car and should not be confused with abs/regen transition or software updates. please do not attempt to trivialize this.
     
  10. salguod

    salguod Member

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    In a panic braking situation it's very easy to miss a lot of details. It's possible some lights went on or something and you don't recall.

    You mention that you drove into a parking lot, how did you stop it there? You said it's now home in the garage, how did you get it home? Did you drive it? Did the brakes operate normally then?

    IF you were able to stop it normally in the parking lot after the incident and were able to drive it home normally after, I'd agree with uart above, take it to a large open parking lot and try a couple panic stops to see how it reacts. However, a lack of brakes is an extremely serious situation. I would want to know that everything seems normal before driving it. No warning lights on the dash, brake fluid reservoir full, good pedal feel (firm, not squishy or soft) and that they are operating fine in normal circumstances. If you have any concerns about normal brake operation, have it towed to a mechanic and have it checked out.

    If it drove home fine and you were able to stop it fine after, I'd lean toward something unique to that situation like black ice or something slick on the road. I'd want to test it someplace safe (ie - lots of run off room) to be sure.
     
  11. jtuchol

    jtuchol Member

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    just got car out after a double whammy with snow and cold it operates just fine trust me I treid every type of stop and worked good. I had this same sensation in another car with abs brakes there is a certain type of bounce aand wet roads and cand hear the brakes kinda kick in but dont work the best it's hard to explain.
     
  12. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    so your good with trying to stop and winding up in the middle of an intersection in the future?
     
  13. edthefox5

    edthefox5 Senior Member

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    This issue has been posted a thousand times on this site. Very common.