Customer Support Program Notification ZJB (anyone else?)

My notice* is pretty vague, no mention of lights/codes, says (in part):

The Warranty Enhancement Program provides a Primary and Secondary coverage extension to the vehicle's "New Vehicle Limited Warranty" for repairs related to a malfunction of the Brake Booster Assembly. If the condition is related to an internal malfunction of the Brake Booster, it will be replaced with a new one at no charge. If the conditions is (sic) verified, the vehicle will be repaired under the terms of this Warranty Enhancement Program."

Yeah it'd be nice if they'd mention some symptoms; there's nada.

* From Toyota Canada: Warranty Enhancement Program, August 2018 SOLH-W31-1A.

 

See my notice states that you need to have all 4 lights on and the condition has to be varicose before any free repair will take place

It also states that it will be covered in full till 2021 and then limited after that till 150k.

I have no issue with this car having issues that will be covered but it sounds like the inverter, egr, and now brake booster/pump seem to be very expensive repairs in the tune of 4K for brakes and inverter. I know you can clean the egr and do that catch can thing.

I just think that at some point Toyota needs to recall this part before they get forced to by the government. It’s kind of makes me wonder if this Prius is worth upgrading to the gen 4 or going with something like the Camry/Rav 4 drive train

 

camry/rav4 won't be any better than gen4 prius. they either are or they aren't

 

So basically if I want to stay a hybrid owner I will have to deal with this brake booster/brake pump issue?

This is food for thought. If this is happening with all the hybrids then what is the expected life span of the part before it needs to be replaced?

As I said before, our 2006 Prius has never had this issue and has been in the family since new. No inverter issue, no brake issues, just the hybrid battery which we chose to replace.

 

It is possible for something to happen to a bunch of cars in the fleet, even a large enough fraction for Toyota or NHTSA to regard it as needing a remedy, without happening to all cars in the fleet, or even to most of them.

 

it's only certain brake systems. gen 4, rav4 are too new to know. hycam and others, you would have to explore those forums

 

So if that is the case then why would you include a 2015 in the mix if the part is not defective or soon will go defective?

Basically as I read this, it seems that Toyota is really skirting the issue by saying, we will replace the defective part free of charge if the condition takes place or after the condition takes place. Well I am sorry Toyota, but after the condition takes place means I could be in a ditch or in the back of someone else’s trunk or hatch, even though technically I will have front brakes.

The designers of the car wanted the car to stop with 4 wheels not just two. The gravity of this problem means that the car will not stop as fully designed. Not good and not safe. That is why we all bought a Prius in the first place right? Because it is a safe reliable and technological advanced transportation. If I wanted head gasket/egr issues, brake issues, and electric issues I would have bought a Chrysler.

Does the gen 4 or RAV4 have a different part number or a different design for the brake booster/brake pump?

I think the gen 2 was the one to have... this gen 3 not so much. That is why I was asking if the gen 4 was worthwhile. If not then the next one may not be a hybrid and I may go to an EV or a regular gas Car. The difference between a suv getting 30mpg and this Prius getting 47 is just not worth the headache

 

we won't know gen4/rav4 issues for years

 

Sorry to complain it’s just that I had such good luck with the gen 2 I guess I am spoiled.

Between the radio issues, dome light not working, and now this letter it frustrating.

This car is only 4 years old and it’s been driven less then the 13 year old car. It’s sad

 

i think most people believe the gen 2 was best. unfortunately, you can't find one less than ten years old

 

If brake systems worry you, really the Gen 2's is the scariest of all Prius generations, in the sense of going all-in on the brake by wire idea. Gen 1 had a simple hydraulic boost chamber behind the master cylinder piston, and Gen 3 brought it back, after Gen 2 went its own way with counting on all the electronics being kept alive by the box of capacitors in the trunk.

 

I think that this exaggerates the issue a bit.

If your car has the skid control ECU warning lights on, then immediately take it to your local Toyota dealer and let them do their work. The car's brakes will still work; the lights are warning you that the system needs attention. Your driving the car up to that point would be a reasonable and safe practice.

If you ignore the warning lights and continue to drive merrily around without regard for the brake system warning lights, eventually the system will deteriorate to the point where it is unsafe. At that point you will hear a very loud warning horn which is impossible to ignore unless you are deaf or totally clueless.

(Amazingly on the 2G forum some owners have allowed the brake system to get to that point and will then complain about the siren. It did not occur to them that they actually needed to have the brake system repaired.)

 

I don't remember the alarm in my Gen 1 being all that loud, really ... just a very high-pitched persistent beep.

It's easy to hear what it sounds like, just turn the car on and start pumping the brake rapidly, faster than the electric pump can keep up, and after a dozen or two strokes or so you'll start to hear the alarm, until you stop pumping the pedal and the pressure recovers.

And yes, there have been PriusChat posters looking for how to disconnect the alarm.

 

I was regening down a step incline toward a roundabout @ 25mph, 100 ft before entering the roundabout, I saw a minor long bump on the road which patched the entire width of my lane. I ran over it & immediately felt regen brake disengage, and with my foot still holding down the brake pedal, the traction light came & stayed on. I lost all regen braking and there was no stopping. Now 50 ft away entering the roundabout with cars in the roundable and there was no slowing down. I pulled my foot off the brake pedal quickly and pressed down again, traction light went away and pad brakes came on this time.

 

Weird. So many of the rest of us have experienced the same transition, except just continuing to push the pedal down has continued to stop the car.

 

I think the real question is will the fix in this customer service campaign fix the issue or just prolong the issue until the car is out of coverage which seems to be 10 years or 150k if it makes it that long.

The other question becomes if the gen 4 hybrid systems have the same issue or have they been updated and fixed.

 

I have also experienced the same issue grit has. Did the same thing and the car eventually stopped. I have always just shrugged it off as part of the hybrid experience.

 

It's important to remember that the issue Grit mentions in #34 is OT for this thread. The feeling of brake-force-reduction during a regen-to-friction transition in response to a road irregularity in light braking is common to all generations of Prius when they are operating normally. It is described in gazillions of threads on PriusChat, except that in gazillions of descriptions, you just keep holding the pedal down and the car continues slowing; sometimes you push a little harder, so you still end up stopping where you meant to. That's the way it happens for me, and it pretty much happens for me at least once a day, since I got my first Prius in 2008.

The way Grit described it, as if the braking cut out and did not resume until the pedal was released and reapplied, is very different from that normal behavior. It could be a problem with Grit's car, but it isn't the same problem as what the ZJB support program is for.

The ZJB program is just about replacing actuators that happen to develop small internal leaks during the covered period, as described in T-SB-0079-18.

That's not about whatever is going on with Grit's car, which might need to be looked into separately because it sounds so much like the normal regen-to-friction behavior, except the described "there was no stopping" is definitely not how that normal behavior goes.

 

Yep me too, today.
The other day I was pulling up to a light behind a line of cars hit a small shallow pothole, went into skid mode, brakes were slow to react, didnt hit car, but I am wondering if this is a symptom. Its happened the entire life of car, but seems to be getting worse. Anybody>?

 

yes I have had the same thing several times since I have owned the car. We no longer own the car as of yesterday for other reasons including main harness damage

i tried several things to mediate the issue including new premium tires. Still had the same issue when going over ripples or bumps in the road. Pot holes I can understand and well could have lived with but not ripples or slight bumps.

My gen 2 that is going to my son does not have this issue. Go figure.

In the short answer it is unfortunately a characteristic of the braking system of this car. It seems like the signs are duck like sounds when braking hard, and the buzzing taking longer.