this really blew me away. took the car to the dealer today for an oil change. turns out I need new front brakes. hubby is getting a second opinion this does not seem right 2008 - showroom floor lease 16, 000 miles (20 daily) no problems - until now!!! anybody else have this issue at such low miles on a seamingly new car!?
At 120k, mine were about 50% worn, so yours probably still look brand new. My suggestion would be to never return to that dealer for service.
Please tell me the dealer's name so I know to avoid it. I'm moving back up to the Puget Sound area in a week.
I concur with the other posts, I don't know how you could need new brakes at 16K miles on a regular car let alone a Prius. At 94K miles, my front pads had 60% left, the rears 80%-90% left
We called a the dealer back and requested they do a check on the whole brake system. They agreed that 16k is too soon and could be a small part of a bigger problem. In reading other posts here it could be a few other issues that would be covered under warrenty. This car was right off the floor new. I have in the past noticed a foul oder coming from the car when it was driven for a longer distance. Like rotten cheese. Others coudl smell it too - so much they would step back from the car - 'good anti-theft' I could never get to the bottom of that. Maybe it's related. I have delt with this dealer for over 13 years and have never had issue with the dealer or the maint. dpt. I did however leave a dealer that was a block from my work to go back to this one. It's my thought that if the good dealer just found this and the bad dealer did not and had been changing my oil for a year now - who do we really get ticked at here!? I am good to my cars and take pride in their care and upkeep. I selected red because it's a great color but I also find the paint is not as sturdy as my other Toyotas I've had in the past (anothe post)......... I will keep you posted on the results.
Hopefully it wasn't because the brake pads were rubbing (although if they were, I'd imagine your discs would be warped from all the heat).
Even if true, it is not a high compliment to that dealership that the person who noticed the early wear did not realize this is unheard of for a Prius. I've subscribed to this thread. Should be interesting
On an older car, I had a caliper freeze and wear out a single pad prematurely. But that was on the second set of pads, at about ten years and 150,000 miles. Your car shouldn't have that much corrosion yet. An even older car received improper adjustment of a replacement power booster, causing excessive drag and overheating. A lesser severe version of this could cause your pads to wear prematurely. You shouldn't have either of these yet, unless there is an undiscovered manufacturing defect. But other kinds of brake system problems could cause similar symptoms. Have any of your passengers been car hounds, who would distinguish the smell of overheated brakes from 'rotten cheese'?
Maybe someone threw up in the car before you bought it and after a while you smell that barf. The dealer should detail the inside for you.
UPDATE - The smell was not part of the brake issue. I did not fight the brakes - should have but they made me second guess the driving habits of the household. Could have - might have - NO..... $600 later. Front brakes redone and now tomorrow we look at the back brakes. To be sure - this will not be on us. Esp with the recent news. I will be calling my local TV. I went into the dealer last weekend. They called the manager over fast to address my concens as I stood on the floor and talked loudly about my brakes. Who knew it would all hit the fan a week later. hmmmm - Like I said - like Toyota - but not right now. I am looking at an all EV for my commute. I drive only 21 miles a day roundtrip -- freeway not city.
There are taxi drivers that don't have their brakes done till close to 100k so I can not see how this could be possible. How was your mileage? I would think dragging against the brakes all the time would negatively impact your mileage.
Ditto that. There's no way that Prius brakes in proper working order would wear out the pads in less than 50,000 miles. Either this one dealer is cheating you or mis-diagnosing a serious problem, or somebody has really terrible driving habits. Assuming a dealer problem, take it elsewhere. Uhh, so what *was* the cause of the foul odor?
too unlikely I would want to see proof that a. the brakes were worn out and b. the dealer had checked to see how this could have happened and found nothing. The truly weird part here is that the brakes, according to this dealer, are just worn out with nothing else wrong. That makes no sense. No matter how much you trust this dealer, something isn't adding up or you're the unluckiest Prius owner on the planet. Even if someone drove the car with the brakes on all the time I would imagine you would notice your MPG taking a serious hit. Which brings me to that point, I should ask, what's your MPG? There's just no way I would accept this diagnosis without some reason. Good luck.
I took the Prius for the 70,000 mile service at the weekend and was told that I needed new brakes, that is both the pads and the discs, at £330. The discs had previously been replaced under warrenty at 32,000 miles and the pads were changed a little later the same year at my expense - suggesting that the discs had worn quicker than the pads. I questioned the life of the discs this time around and the garage said 35,000 miles was typical. This seems to be double the rate of wear that my last car, a Nissan Primera, had and just seems excessive. I have some hilly roads to drive but I do get 60mpg UK as a long term average and am certainly no jack rabbit. My tyres last about 27,000 miles on the front and 40,000 on the back.
I just took my 2004 in for some 60k mile work. Dealer said the front discs were rusted and pitted, and needed to be resurfaced. (This is probably because of all the road salt we use up here in Mich, plus not using the brakes very often). Brake pads were fine.
Thanks MJFrog, my garage did list corrosion on the check sheet so it may be salt damage rather than wear. I wonder if giving the brakes some use at the very end of a journey would clean them off and actually make them last a little longer.
