New GenIII brake recall affects 87,000 cars

Thanks for the heads up. Found that my car isn't part of the the recall.

Wrt to tire overinflation - I've dropped mine from 50/48 psi to 44/42 psi over the last two year because I couldn't achieve any significant FE improvement at the higher pressure setting. My personal experience has been that local wet and/or rough road surface conditions negated most of tire over inflation's fuel efficiency advantage (between 15 to 40 mph when rolling resistance does matter most for FE ) at the higher psi settings for my OE Yokohama Avid s33 tires .

 

About time, I had two total brake failures until both my master cylinder assembly and accumulator were replaced.

 

I'm sorry I missed this. Did you post a thread about it?

Bob Wilson

 

Can people with recent total brake failures confirm if their cars were built before October 2009, please?

 

My car is included in the recall, confirmed by Toyota from their very helpful "email us" page Toyota Email Us

Aussie PriusChatters can read the recall details here: Toyota—Toyota Prius ZVW30
Toyota—Toyota Prius ZVW30

PRA number: 2013/13622
Date published: 7th June 2013

Product information

Product description

Toyota Prius ZVW30 - Brake Booster Pump Assembly (Accumulator)
Identifying features

From VIN - JTDKN36U#
01000031 - 01092008
05000003 - 05076028
Production period from October 2008 through to October 2009

(Please refer to VIN table attachment)
...

 

Thanks for the links Braddles! confirms what my dealer told me.

 

Finally! Safercar.gov finally has the recall and some associated documents: 3, for now.

The NHTSA campaign # is 13V235000. Not much new info in the text outside of the PDFs other than

http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/acms/cs/jaxrs/download/doc/UCM439340/RCAK-13V235-4933.PDF
http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/acms/cs/jaxrs/download/doc/UCM439361/RCAK-13V235-8848.PDF
http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/acms/cs/jaxrs/download/doc/UCM439269/RCDNN-13V235-2333.pdf

 

I like the NHTSA remedy better than the one on the Toyota Owner's website. The Toyota website states the remedy is "for the dealer to inspect the brake booster pump assemby and replace if necessary". The NHTSA remedy drops the inspect and replace if necessary part and just says replace.

I hope this is correct.

 

I agree "replace" as metal fatigue on the bellows would be very difficult to trust in even a well equipped, service department.

Bob Wilson

 

The Australian one says replace if necessary too. I definitely will try to convince my dealer to replace no matter what.

 

It actually says "replace the affected brake booster pump assemblies". I think by affected they mean defective. Maybe they know what serial numbers are defective?

 

No one did, so I went ahead and PMed all 11 members that complained about total brake failure in 2010 Prius on this forum. Only 5 responded back, and while 1 didn't know when his prius was made, 4 other ones reported their prius made before october 09. I can't help but think that the recall is connected with the total master cylinder failure incidents. I think Toyota downplayed the extent of the problem in the public release.

 

Dumb me I told my wife about the recall, then she asked me how safe the car is to drive on a trip to MI we're planning. She's already afraid to drive the car (it's too complicated!) because I tried explaining how the system works, instead of just telling her it drives "normally." So far I've not noticed any problems with braking, although my Prius is part of the recall.

 

Here's what I saw when I logged into my toyota owners site today:

DESCRIPTION​

CUSTOMER MESSAGE​

CAMPAIGN NUMBER​

Safety Recall D0H (D1H) Preliminary Notice - Certain 2010 Model Year Prius Vehicles Brake Booster Pump Assembly (Accumulator)
At the present time, Toyota is currently preparing the remedy.
What is the Condition? The subject vehicles are equipped with brake pressure accumulators consisting of a metal plunger containing brake fluid encased in a metal housing. The plunger is designed with metal pleated bellows to allow for motion. Nitrogen gas is sealed between the plunger and housing. There is a possibility that a fatigue crack could develop in the bellows due to the vertical vibration of the plunger while driving. If this occurs, nitrogen gas could leak into the brake fluid and cause the brake pedal stroke to become longer, resulting in decreased braking force. Decreased braking force could result in increased stopping distance and increase the risk of a crash.
When will the Remedy be Available: The remedy procedures will be provided to each dealership in the near future. At which time, Toyota will notify owners of covered vehicles by first class mail. Additional information will be posted on this site once the remedy is available.

 

Would she prefer to drive a Jeep?

 

This is what I read from the Toyota Owner's website about the Safety Recall and the FAQ section:

Q3: What is Toyota going to do?

A3: Toyota is currently preparing the remedy for this condition. Once preparations are complete, Toyota will send an owner notification letter by first class mail to owners of vehicles covered by this Safety Recall.

When available, the remedy will entail an inspection and, if necessary, replacement of the Brake Booster Pump Assembly at No Charge
.

 

Yes, I have the same message at the owner's site. I see this as a good thing, I am glad Toyota is trying to fix this before someone is injured or worse. I will schedule my car as soon as I get the notification.

 

Edit: My post makes no sense now, Did we merged some threads here?

 

My 2010 Prius bought July 09 is one being recalled. A check of the Toyota owners site told me my car was one of the ones needing the updated part. I seem to remimber they said the Prius built from Early 09 through about October had the old part, about 87,000 US models.

 

No I didn't Bob, I had enough problems trying to get three different dealers to fix the brakes. All-in-all my Prius was in some dealer shop for a total of over a month. And come to think of it, it was 3 total brake failures. B-mode is your friend.