The $3000 Brake Job

Man. That sucks. Pretty annoyed by the statement "the service advisor told me I needed to prove that I had taken good care of my Prius in order to have any chance of getting Toyota to help..." That shouldn't have anything to do w/the master cylinder failing.

Let's just hope that Toyota latter issues a recall, LSC or SSC so that you can get reimbursed for this.

 

They do not fail often (1st I have heard), and can be found for $200 to $300 easily.

Here is one for $295: 10 11 Toyota Prius Brake Master Cylinder with ABS Module Anti Lock VSC | eBay

And another for $250: 2010 Toyota Prius Brake Master Cylinder 36831 Miles | eBay

 

Ouch ! I have learned that our experiences define our Future. Perhaps the regional manager at Toyota won the battle but he lost the war. They may have lost part or all of the next 6-8 car purchases you will make in your lifetime. Now what is that worth Mr Toyota?

That is the conversation you need to have.

 

^^^
Agreed. It's not like the car was 10 years old or w/150K+ miles.

 

Wow that sucks, how does proving that you have done your regular oil maintenance have to do anything with the brake master cylinder dying out at 50,000 miles? that's what I don't understand.
I wouldn't agreed to pay 3,000$ on that part alone since the vehicle only has 50,000 miles on it and that there should be a warranty on defected parts.

Please let us know whats going to happen next, Toyota should warranty any defects on their powertrain before certain mileages. This is unacceptable, I am sorry to hear about your situation, no one should have to go through this ridiculous fee on their Prius, that's my opinion.

 

I couldn't agree more on this.

 

That's too bad.
I hope ultimately Toyota steps up.

It's ridiculous to put you through "proving" you've taken good care of your Prius. Especially when your brake master cylinder ABS unit is kind of a binary unit. It's either going to work or not work, doesn't have anything at all to do with how often you changed your oil.

My argument would be that at only 50K, you have the reasonable expectation that the master brake cylinder/ABS unit would not fail. How about Toyota "prove" the part originally put in your vehicle wasn't incredibly sub-standard?

Unless Toyota wants to say 50K is the "normal" life expectancy for that part, (which I don't think they do want to say) then I'd say you got a lemon of a brake cylinder.

I'm usually behind the manufacturer when people complain about not getting remedy after a warranty has expired, but in this case, at only 50K, I really hope Toyota steps up to the plate and does the right thing.

Good Luck.

 

File a report with the NHTSA and let Toyota know you did.

 

My local dealership told me there's 3 main warehouses for Toyota (I asked bc my car is getting $8k+ worth of work done from my car accident on Friday). I believe she said New York, Detroit, and California. It could just be that your part happened to be in the Detroit one. Sorry to hear about the highly expensive and unusual repair item.

 

To the OP, I think you did what you had to do to get your car back running and safe, I probably would have done the same. I am not surprised at Toyota's reaction, seems rather typical of how they sometimes treat their customers.

A few items that may be irrelevant to the OP at this point.

This parts site lists the master cylinder for $1727 and shows Toyota's list price as $2318 47050-47060 - OEM Toyota CYLINDER ASSY, BRAKE so the dealer may have overcharged $400 or so for the part. But they can no doubt "justify" the extra cost.

Apparently the reason for the exorbitant cost is that the master cylinder unit also contains part of the ABS unit and is not repairable. I also suspect this is not a DIY project because it probably requires Tech Stream for bleeding the system.

I realize it's apples and oranges but an OEM master cylinder for a 3 series BMW of the same year costs between $600 and $700 and can be installed by a back yard mechanic.

 

Let us know how this ends up.

I can say that for many people a $3,000 unexpected bill is a lot of money to repair a car. Chances are you probably charged it, and may take 2 1/2 years to pay that off. Or perhaps you took it from savings and are replacing it, maybe you just hosed up the Family vacation this summer, or perhaps the engagement ring plan got delayed a few months, or juniors college fund got skinnier this year, or many other scenarios.

I would continue to press on for some type of relief from Toyota corporate, and I'm sure that based on what happens you will think seriously about buying another Prius!

 

Touché on thinking of buying another Prius if the bill isn't covered.

 

The regularity of the engine oil change has nothing to do with the brake master cylinder but I think the question the dealer rep is going to ask is, was the brake fluid changed every 20k miles as in the service schedule.

 

Huh? It is?

Good idea, but I don't recall seeing any mention of brake fluid in US or Canada schedules. In UK?

 

What will they say, that we should have been replacing out brake fluid!?

 

I think it is more of a "how much is this customer worth to us" attitude. If you go to the Toyota dealership for everything, they hardly bat an eye at giving you 50% or more off of a repair because you are a loyal customer and pay for service. And while you are there getting your $80 cabin filter, you are potentially being wooed by new Toyotas. If you do everything yourself, then other than the purchase of the vehicle, where's the profit?

Toyota is not obligated to give you anything past warranty. If it fails 1/10 mile out of warranty or the following hour after warranty, they can give you nothing. Generally they do something, especially when the failure rates are low and the car is new just to keep word of mouth advertising positive for the brand. But they are more likely to give you more, if you are a "loyal" customer and come back all the time, they are more likely to give you more brownie points.

Just like loyalty points on airlines or sandwiches or anything else. The more you pay, and the more you play, the more valuable you are to the company.

 

^ Cynical, and unfortunately: very likely true.

There are companies that buck the trend. I've heard of stores refunding people that walked off the street with one of their products on the fritz, replacing it even though it was bought elsewhere. That really get's your attention, and loyalty.

Likely just as mercenary, but...

 

Apologies, it doesn't actually mention mileage, but in the UK schedule it says replace every two years. I'd got 20K miles in my head because the service schedule is every 12 months or 10K.

 

FWIW, Honda says 3 year (no matter the mileage), for Canada and probably the US I'd think. With the Prius and it's electronic this is one I'd ask the dealership to do, personally.