Well, after 2 1/2 weeks of my car being at the dealer I have finally gotten my car back and let's just say, boy am I happy I had an extended warranty! It all started with a weird squawking type noise coming from the brake pedal from time to time whenever I'd touch/press it. This went on for about 3 months off and on but just figured I'd have it checked out during my next big service. Then things got weird. I would randomly lose my brake pedal to where it would go to the floor or at least near it. Brakes would still work and actually were quite touchy when it would happen. After the second day of dealing with it I took it to the dealer. They started off by saying of course they didn't experience anything I described and wanted to blame all of my aftermarket stuff for it and didn't want to cover it under warranty. Came down to a corporate field tech coming out from Toyota to look at my car and he didn't detect anything at first either but after talking to me on the phone knew there was definitely something going on and had nothing to do with anything I've done to the car. He drove it again later after our conversation and finally picked up what I was talking about. They ordered some parts that took a week to show up and still didn't fix it. Had to go down and go through the usual bit so the dealer could get Toyota to allow them to move forward and order more parts. Turns out the brake accumulator pump and the brake booster were the culprits. They replaced some other things but those were the biggies. Pray these parts don't go out on you after your warranty expires. Between the rental for that time, plus parts and labor it would have cost me over $5500!! Fortunately they covered every cent and the car is great again. Seriously don't know what i would have done otherwise.
Nice to know they got to the problem -- especially since it was the brakes. While I'm not a strong advocate of the extended warranties -- I know many people who don't feel comfortable owning a car once the original warrantee ends. They end up leasing or trading in a purchased car - both more expensive than adding an extended factory warranty. What we should do is understand this and advise those wanting to purchase one what is the best way to do it. The Prius does have systems that are set up differently that are unfamiliar to many mechanics -- so the dealer is your only option. This type of fix get expensive.
