Prius V-Brake Booster & Pump Assemblies Failures

There is a similar courtesy warranty for the 2012 thru 2015 (?) v. We received a mailing on it in 2019, IIRC.

 

Just take it to the dealer and don't clear the codes. You only have till the end of the year before the ten year unlimited miles option expires. The codes have to be there.

 

It is titled Customer Support Program, applicable to certain 2012-2014 v. As noted above, time is now of the essence.

 

Toyota had my car for 18 days for the repair.....

 

Yikes! Loaner?

 

I never received such a mailing for my 2013 Prius v. I have only received mailings about the Inverter recall.

Do I have until the end of 2022 to get this problem covered if the brake problem happens?

Also, I don't seem to notice the pump at all when I open the drivers door. Could I attach a light that would let me know when the pump is getting power?

CORRECTION: I went outside, and opened the door on the 2013, and I just barely heard a noise I never noticed before. I went to do the same on the 2017, and it makes no sound when I open the door.

 

A 2013 v is covered until the end of December 2021 if its over 150k miles. Otherwise its ten years from date of first use as long as it stays under 150k miles. A well sealed booster may not need to pump up every time.

 

Thanks for the clarification. I have 105K right now, and at ~25k per year, I probably have about two years to worry about coverage on the 2013.

 

"Customer Support Program" is the boring part of the title. The "20TE07" part is what tells you which customer support program it is.

Customer Support Program 20TE07

You can see in the middle of page 4 that any "direct marketing" of the support program by dealers is forbidden, and can get their reimbursements from Toyota cut off. Means the dealers are supposed to take care of you if you come in with the problem, but they are not supposed to go promoting the program to customers. Probably explains why some dealers seem to play dumb even when you ask them point blank about a brake CSP. They don't want to run afoul of the rule.

That's why it is handy to know your way around the NHTSA web site.

In those four tabs, "complaints", "recalls", "investigations", and "manufacturer communications", actual recalls are under the "recalls" tab, of course. Other kinds of support programs and warranty extensions and so on are under the "manufacturer communications" tab.

 

THIS INFORMATION IS EXTREMELY HELPFUL. I have saved a copy of the PDF to a safe place. I expect I would qualify for the secondary program for about two more years, which is when I expect to reach 150K. IIRC, my car was first put into use around October of 2014.

 

We got an actual mailing for our 2012 v Five, although at 49,000 miles it has yet to evidence any pump issues.

 

This support program, to be clear, covers certain internal leaks that develop in the brake booster assembly (the top thing, not the pump).

It's not unlikely that you notice it by hearing the pump run more often, but the pump is just doing its job, trying to keep up the pressure, when the issue is the leaky valve in the booster/actuator assembly bleeding it off.

 

Right, but if the pump isn’t overactive, the booster isn’t bleeding, unless you have no brakes at all.

 

Not trying to quibble, so much as to make it clear when other readers come to this thread that hearing the pump usually does not mean they have a "pump issue"; they most often have an actuator issue, and a properly-functioning pump doing its proper job in response.

It is also possible to have a pump issue, though less common, and because they are separate assemblies and they are both expensive (and the pump is even more of an ordeal to access and replace), it pays to seek clarity on which issue the given car has.

 

It's all one piece.
I know because I have changed one.

 

The two pieces are shown in this illustration.



In this video, at 3:35 you can see the upper piece (brake booster assembly) being unboxed, and at 3:56 you can see the lower piece (brake booster pump assembly/accumulator) being unboxed, from a different box.

In the video, the mechanic ended up solving the problem by replacing the upper piece (brake booster assembly), and ended up not replacing the lower one (which saved him a lot of aggravation).