near complete brake failure on my way home from Coachella

Not your fault.

The first troll has been trolling WAY before your post. It appears he's taking a break, unclear if it's voluntary or not...

The second is bizarre. If he'd look at my post history, he'd see that despite me liking the Prius, not all my posts are rosy defenses of Toyota or the Prius.

 

I've got a 2010 III with 22,000 miles and just had to detour home from my commute because of this. I noticed my car making a funny sound, kind of like when you turn it off and after a while it does the 'shut down' but it kept going and didn't stop. Not the same sound, but similar. The brakes, when applied (it was stop and go traffic) were jerky. Then while sitting there, the brake lights on the dash came on (ABS, skid control, etc.) and lost power to the brakes. The dash was beeping constantly too. Got to a spot I could pull over and turned the car off. Waited a few, and then started again. Lights didn't come on so I figured it reset. Drove a few hundred feet and they started coming on again. About to take it to the dealer.

 

Turns out it was a "fail safe mode" that caused it. Some random sequence of brake and gas pedal in stop and go traffic I did caused it to freak out. A *ton* of codes were thrown and when reset all is well again.

 

Did you get the list of codes from the dealer? I'm sure there's folks here that would be interested in know what was thrown and could find out what they all meant.

 

I hope for Toyota's sake ,this is a very isolated problem. If i was chevrolet i mean toyota i would fix this and get the failed part or parts to my best engineers fast. Oh and fix for free.

 

I can ask. He said it was 100 or so. The thing basically panicked from what he said. If there is a way to get the codes I'll try.

I just uploaded a brief YouTube video. This was on a mostly deserted stretch of road with nobody around.

 

Thanks to everyone who has weighed in on this topic. I've just experienced the exact same problem (without the highway brake failure, thankfully) and was quoted the $1700 for the brake booster part. My local Toyota dealer has to order the part and it won't be arriving until Thursday, but given what I've read I'm going to push for this to be covered under warranty. I've got a Certified Pre-Owned Prius so it might be a tougher fight, but everyone here has given me the ammunition to push back. So thanks!

 

If you feel whatever you encountered was a legitimate safety defect, you should file a safety complaint at Home | Safercar -- National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

See Motor Vehicle Defects and Safety Recalls: What Every Vehicle Owner Should Know | Safercar.gov | NHTSA for what does and doesn't constitute a safety-related defect.

 

So, you just had major brake work done on a 9 year old Prius, is it at all possible the mechanic screwed something up?

 

Last night something similar happened to me. Driving around 20mph in EV mode less than 1/4 mile from my house at the end of a 12 mile trip. Gliding downhill and all of a sudden the Traction Control light comes on (I'm 90% sure no other lights like ABS came on, and 100% sure there was no beeping). Didn't think much of it, but the brakes felt like wood blocks - exactly like the OP described. There was no power assist to the brakes, and despite being in "D" there was no regen braking either. Didn't have to apply "150 pounds" of force, but it required a good try to stop the car. If you've ever moved a car with the ignition on but the engine not running and tried to stop it with the brakes, that's how it felt.

Pulled over and shut the car down for 5 seconds. Upon re-starting everything was fine. Drive to work today went well too. Hopefully it was just a fluke.

 

The dealership probably got Toyota to agree to cover the cost of the parts, but not the labor. Therefore, the reduction to $800.

 

Nothing abnormal. Research the transition between regen and friction braking, how the systems work, and why regen is 100% disabled when the wheel speeds are different (i.e. traction control light blinks)...

 

Post after post about dash lights and weird driving issues and all anyone ever does is pull over...shut the car off and then re-start and drive away. Whatever happened to opening the hood and checking all the fluids. Take a second under there and smell around for anything burning or look top & under the car for any leaks. Its not a space ship. If you really never opened the hood on a car start now. Its not scary and is quite explanatory if you read the manual. Will save you money and may save your life someday.

Regarding the op I bet if he checked his brake fluid reservoir at the get I bet it was low. First and scary tip off.