TSB BR001-07 Brake actuator noise

I'm so thankful for priuschat. Only recently I started hearing this sound on my 2009 and it really got me worried. I'm happy to hear that its nothing functionally wrong with the car nor potentially dangerous. I'm still under my 3yr/36k (currently at 27k), so I'd definitely going to have it fixed.

Is there an updated TSB covering 2009 models?

What is a little annoying is that it sounds like many of you need to do a bit of coaxing to get the dealer to work on what is obviously a defect that should be covered by the warantee. I hope my dealings with the dealer go smoothly. Wish me luck.

Just to add, it happened just this week when temperatures dipped into the 20Fs, so I'm inclined to believe its cold weather related.

 

Thanks Dan, Keep us posted! I've already tried and failed on my '08. If anyone reads this and has gotten them to address this on cars not covered by the current TSB, (>2007) we'd love to know about it!

 

I have this "seal bark" sound when I brake hard on my 2010 Prius. I'm taking it in for the 15,000 mile service Saturday and have mentioned it. I'm assuming they will bleed the brakes. It happens only when braking hard and it is definitively a gassy bark sound.

 

Add me to the list of '08 owners who tried and were rejected on this issue. Toyota of Watertown insists that it is part of the car's "character." My service adviser also claims that 2008+ have "the new part that the TSB replaces." Even though the TSB replaces like for like part numbers in 07-.

 

ok that was in oct i last had the brake actuator and sensor replaced and its been doing the same barking noise lately. you get it when you push the brake hard but also if you have the brake pushed and change gears sometimes you get a bit of it. If you just leave it go it keeps getting worse. Well, the car's at 45,000km now.. Was getting an oil change today and mentioned how it was doing that noise again. They ordered another actuator and sensor. Gonna have to bring that in to get it replaced again. Isnt that like over a grand to get this done if it wasnt on warranty? 4 grand a year this stuff would cost me otherwise if i have to replace it twice a year.

Not too much long left on my warranty. Got the car in may 08 and its a 4 yr lease but their warranty was 3 years. I said well thats not good for the 4th year. They had this extended warranty for a grand so i got it. Now i'm kind of debating about should i buy the car once the lease is up or return it if there's going to be this 3rd time now i gotta get this actuator replaced. And this time was only a few months after the last one.. before that it was about a year. After buying winter tires i was thinking of keeping it but maybe i should cut my losses and suck it up and hand it back if things are going to be a worse nightmare when i have to pay out of my pocket to keep replacing the actuator. Sounds like the dealer just wants to make as much money as they can and do this whole replace thing instead of bleeding the brake lines. Got a bit over a year till the lease is up and another time with this actuator after this and i'll just have to do the autopac insurance to get that cracked windshield replaced and probably hand this thing back.

Got the car when gas prices were really high back then. But in winter with the heater on the engine runs the whole time. So you'd be better off buying a cheap GM car that's half price cause its like a straight 4 cylinder anyways. Cause it sounds like their solution to keep fixing this actuator is to just keep replacing it and seems like that'll be ongoing. Looking like i'm gonna have to ship this car out once the lease is up. Not going to be getting a toyota for the next car, the prices are too high. I see these new GM cars in advertisements and 15 grand for a brand new car instead of 30 for this one. Just doesnt make sense. Cause with these electronics and the hybrid and stuff i can see some big repair bills later.

 

printed up that pdf service bulletin at the start of the thread

http://priuschat.com/forums/attachm...sb-br001-07-brake-actuator-noise-br001t07.pdf

noticed this part

Repair​

Procedure

1. Confirm noise condition by pressing/releasing the brake pedal.
2. Bleed the brake system.
Refer to the Technical Information System (TIS):​

2004 or 2005 model year Prius Repair Manual, Brake – Brake System – “Brake

Fluid: Bleeding”.
​

​

​

​

2006 or 2007 model year Prius Repair Manual, Brake – System – “Brake: Brake

Fluid: Bleeding”.
If the noise is NO longer present when pressing/releasing the brake pedal,
the repair is complete.
If the noise is still present, go to step 3.
3. If the noise is still present, replace the Brake Actuator Assembly.
Refer to TIS:
​

​

​

​

2004 or 2005 model year Prius Repair Manual, Brake – Brake Control/Dynamic

Control System – “Brake Actuator ASSY: Replacement”.
​

​

​

​

2006 or 2007 model year Prius Repair Manual, Brake – Brake Control/Dynamic

Control System – “Brake Control: Brake Actuator: Replacement​

4. Road test for proper operation

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

whats going on at the dealer i bet these guys aren't checking if the noise goes away after bleeding it.

If the noise is NO longer present when pressing/releasing the brake pedal, the repair is complete.​

So i'm gonna hand them this paper and say did you guys try and check if it stops after just bleeding it instead of replacing it. But you know if i'd hand the guy at the counter this he'd think, oh we know what we're doing and he'd just put it in the garbage. Maybe they're doing it cause they wanna make more money, who knows. If this wasnt on warranty and i'd have to pay that meanwhile all you'd have to do is bleed it.. i'd be pretty ticked off. ​

 

What's the worst thing that has happened to people who have opted to not have this repair done? Also what's the worse thing that can happen?

If it doesn't affect brake performance, then what's my motivation if I don't want to spend $ (@41kmi)?

Thanks,

 

Maybe it's just me, but I think that having air in the system results in a slightly more "grabby" transition from regen to friction. When I brake in my friends 2004, it's much more smooth than my 2008. I think the air might be the cause of this, but it's not so annoying that I've bothered to figure out how to perform a bleed myself. As I wrote above, the Dealer refuses to acknowledge any problems. I think I'll try I different dealer before my warranty ends.

 

According to the TSB, there is no safety issue associated with this noise, so the worst thing that can happen is that you must become accustomed to living with the noise.

I personally would not spend four-digits to take care of an intermittent noise.

 

oh you just feel like you have to do something about it cause it keeps getting worse over time. ya gotta wonder if you're messing something up by ignoring it. Must be something bad about it going on.

 

Just as a FYI, I took my 08 prius in to get the chirping noise fixed and my dealer down here is going to replace it (brake acutator). ?the technicians indicated that it is not normal. It is under warranty so I am lucky. The last few times I took it in, i complained about the noise. that way i have it documented and if it ever was an issue in the future, i have something to show. The last three times I took it in, they gave me the standard excuses of it is normal noise, or i don't hear anything, or its the fly wheel (not!).

 

Hi all!

Just bought a pre-owned 2008 Prius with 46k miles from an individual who was like a car salesman. The car is very clean, but when I mentioned the seal bark, he said it was normal. I went to the Toyota service dept. and they also said it was normal. So I bought the car. Now I am reading this and am concerned. When digging through the paperwork after buying the car, there was a quote for getting the brake actuator replaced for $2,300 (I was not shown this document before purchasing, unfortunately).

I can handle the funny noise as long as it is not a safety or maintenence issue (will it cause problems down the road)? Here's some questions based on responses in this thread:

is an '08 Covered?

So no safety issue, correct? Is it a maintenance or something that will create problems in the long term?

I have escalated with Toyota customer service since the repair is expensive, hopefully they will cover it.

This is exactly what is happening to me, but I am not getting it more frequently. Sometimes happens when the Prius starts up or when I put it into reverse, or go forward slow and stop. Very strange. Unnerving.

Exactly how I feel

Any advice? Should I just ignore it if Toyota or the dealer won't cover it?

Thanks!

 

Try to bleed the front passenger brake. The dealer should be willing to do this at a reasonable price and in my case getting the air bubbles out eliminated the "bark" in my 2004 and that was several years ago.

JeffD

 

Thanks for bringing this to my attention. I also have this "seal bark" sound, but didn't know how to search on a noise, but when I saw that description, I knew what it was.

It only happens when pressing the brake hard, particularly on startup. I'm not sure if it's a cold-weather thing or not, it's been cold around here for so long I've forgotten what it does in warm weather. We should be heating up this week though (skipping the 70's, going right to the 80's), so I'll test it out again.

Sounds like it is not a safety issue, and since Toyota got raked over the coals about their braking last year, I would think if it was even remotely a problem, they would have issued a recall on it. I believe I've heard it occasionally in other cars, but it's pretty consistent here. Maybe so many Prii of this time period have the problem that it's considered "normal".

Since I only hear it when pressing fully on the brake (at least after startup), and I don't have to press that hard to keep the car in place, I don't need to hear the sound very often. Therefore I don't plan on spending large amounts of money to fix this minor annoyance.

 

Hi all,

I picked up my '06 today from the dealer after they had it overnight to perform the actuator replacement and do a NYS inspection. I have an extended warranty that will run out this summer(5 years, 75,000 miles - currently at 71,000), so I thought it best to have them address the issue now, even though I've been hearing it since the car was new to me. However, I'm somewhat regretting the decision now because as my wife was parking after the drive home, she got the red BRAKE light, ABS light, VSC light, and (!) light, accompanied by a high-pitched continuous beep. The car would drive, but power braking was lost. The problem was resolved by powering down and then on again, but the same thing happened again soon afterward.

To give more information about the service visit, the service adviser said that they had drained the 12V battery in the process of the replacing the actuator, and it would not hold a charge after that. This in turn erased some codes that they needed to perform the NYS inspection, which is why they kept the car overnight. They replaced the 12V battery free of charge ("Sweet!", I thought), and drove it some 25 miles in order to get the car to restore the code for the inspection, but were not able to obtain the needed code successfully. We needed the car back this evening, so picked it up and were instructed to bring it back to complete the inspection after driving about 100 miles.

On the bright side, the "bark" seems to be gone, and another noise - something like a pump running whenever the brake pedal was depressed - is more subdued.

One final curiosity - I did the "power-button-automatically-locks-the-doors" mod about 4 years ago, and after the service today the doors no longer lock automatically. Could this be connected, as one condition of that mod is the brake pedal needs to be depressed while the power button is pressed?

Any thoughts on how to proceed other than call the dealer and get them to fix the issue?

 

Ugh. Call your dealer. Most likely there is air in the system. Only someone with a factory level scan tool can bleed the air out. There is a possibility that your mod is connected in some way as well, but make them figure that out if it is the case.

 

I have a 2005 package5 and have the same problem since day 1. Bought the car at Albuquerque NM dealer in 2005 and they will not fix it. Same excuse "Normal for all car". Move to California few years ago and took the car back to the CA dealer before the warranty is expired. " Same excuse " Normal for this car". The dealer told me not recommended to fix it and I will have to pay out of my pocket if I want to replace it. UGGGG..

Now, I just want to find out if this problem exist in the 2011 Prius model? If yew, I will consider another car in the future. This noise is really annoying and Im not sure if this is a safety issue.

 

The power-button mod was probably lost when the battery was replaced. It lost the memory and reset to factory default, I'm guessing. Do the mod again and it should be fine.

Actually you don't need a code to be present for the inspection, but you need enough engine on/off cycles on there for it to ascertain there are no codes present. With a ScanGauge you can tell when this has occurred, but generally it's after a couple days of normal driving. This is so you don't clear the codes in the parking lot of the inspection area, and quickly get it inspected before codes are thrown again.

On the plus side - my seal bark brake sound apparently went away with the warmer weather.

 

Seems unlikely it's a safety issue given that TSB at the beginning of the thread says "Brake system performance is not affected by this noise."

 

The solution to my brake actuator noise was simply that the brake fluid was old and had broken down, thus losing much of it attributes. Once the mechanic flushed the brake system and replaced the fluid, the problem went away. It wasn't Toyota that found the problem. It was my independent mechanic who has happened to service many Priuses and learned what actually causes the problem and frankly told me that Toyota service techs don't have the smarts or the equipment to find this sort of problem...lol

I am not saying that the problems reported here aren't related to the actuators or the brake sensors. I am simply relating what the solution was to my "barking" actuator noise.

He says that you should be changing your brake fluid at regular intervals to maintain its ability to flow freely. If it gets dirty, it can impede the ability of the ABS to work properly.