Ever since picking up our Prius a couple of months ago, the brakes have squealed when backing out of the garage. They continue to do this while driving around town, but eventually it stops if driven long enough. Twice into the dealer about it and all they can say is "it's rust being scraped off." This is every day, no matter what the weather is. Can this be true? It started immediately and we have not driven in any dusty conditions as it's winter in Illinois! Quite embarrassing to be driving a brand new quiet hybrid car and making all this noise.
Every car will do this to some extent. Rust forms on the rotors from sitting, and this accumulation will cause some grinding, scraping or squealing. After a few good applications of the friction brakes it will stop. Nothing to worry about!
For the last month or so mine have been squealing loudly and consistently in reverse out of the garage. I now have 7,600 miles and the car is about 7months old. I don't think it is rust or dirt but couldn't tell you what it is either.
It is rust, our brakes get used less than most cars. And if you do a fast stop it will help keep them clean. Some people get up to a higher speed then shift their car into neutrel and stop using only the friction brakes to clean them up.
Welcome to the club... Here's a whole thread about it: http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-iii...-during-rolling-start-brake-noise-merged.html
Does yours do it in reverse, forwards or both or what? Mine only does it in reverse. This makes me think it is something else.
It could just be subtle differences in how fast you go and how hard you brake between forward and reverse. I've had the squealing since 500 miles, coincident with wet weather. I've tried the suggestion of periodically braking hard to clean them up with success. It seldom happens now, and when it does a couple of stiff stops fixes it. I have not tried braking in neutral yet. My experience is that this is one of those idiosyncrasies of the Prius, but one with a relatively trivial solution. Hard to complain when brake pads last so long on the Prius.
Mine does it when it goes forward as well these days. Yes very embrassing but don't get your hopes up because Toyota wont see that as a defect and the people at the dealers will tell you anything to shift the blame on something else but their cars.
I have not noticed the squeak nearly as bad since I have the brake update done. In fact I would say it is all but gone.
Clean your brakes. Braking in N will force the Prius to use friction braking, which will clean off the rust and dirt. To do this, find an open section of road, drive up to 40 mph or so, shift into N, and brake to slow down. Shift back to D and repeat this a few times. Your brakes should be a lot quieter after that. Tom
