New Nightshade Trim and Yellow Colour for 2025.

Hmm, think about that for a second. An electric parking brake makes your vehicle safer multiple times per day. But that's not worth it because it makes changing the rear brake pads harder? Something you're probably going to do no more than half a dozen times over the car's LIFETIME? Does that seem rational to you? It doesn't to me.


It reminds me of the Technology Connections video on LED traffic lights. Where some people said cities shouldn't switch to LED traffic lights because they sometimes don't generate enough internal heat to melt snow off the lenses. But that's a false argument because it looks at one specific scenario where incandescent bulbs are better than LED, but ignores all the other more common scenarios where LEDs are better than incandescents.

 

How often are brake pads changed on a Prius? my son had his 2005 10 years without changing them. He did not change them on his Prius V either before trading it in.

 

I think a good estimate is never. Prius brakes are for lifetime (one million miles or more) unless you drive the car hard, in which case you shouldn’t be driving a hybrid anyway.

 

I think two or three times is realistic over a full lifetime(300k-400k miles), but I played it safe and said half a dozen just in case.

However, a tip is to at least pull the pins every couple years and scrub them with a scotchbrite pad just to clean off any oxidation build up. Maybe even pull the pads every 50k to give them a cleaning and reapply brake grease. It can make the difference between just replacing pads and (maybe) rotors down the road, or having to replace everything because the pins and pads have seized into the calipers from a decade or more of oxidation.

 

Toyota USA recommends an in-depth brake inspection every 30k miles or tri-yearly, whichever comes first. Very subtly, but it’s there, in the Warranty a Maintenance Booklet.

 

It is actually every six months/5,000 miles, which is part of the regular tire rotation at the dealer.

 

Take a look at 30k, 60k and so on. The “visual inspection” note is gone, and in its place a very low- key mention of checking other brake stuff.

 

Not in my Gen 4 PHEV maintenance manual. It is the 5,000-mile pad and disk (and related hardware) inspection and 15,000-mile hose and line inspection.

 

Now I remember why I put you on ignore.

 

In the US 2021 Prius warranty & maintenance manual, the 5000 mile interval brake item is "Visually inspect brake linings/drums and brake pads/discs". At 30k mile, brake items are moved to the "Inspect the following" section, and includes "Brake lines and hoses". The dropping of 'visually' can be read as doing a more thorough inspection. There is also a footnote to "Inspect thickness measurement and disc runout".
https://assets.sia.toyota.com/publications/en/omms-s/T-MMS-21Prius/pdf/T-MMS-21Prius.pdf

As @Mendel Leisk mentioned, it is a subtle change in wording, but it being included among other items that are more involved to inspect points to Toyota calling for more than a look at the brakes while rotating the tires.