Prius (Gen 3) :: Brakes Power Just Disappear When Coming Up To A Red Light
Mar 6, 2011
I drive a 2010 Prius which I bought in July 2010. After having had to hit the brakes full throttle to avoid a collision I now have the following issue. Every so often when coming up to a red light and starting to brake in a normal fashion, all of a sudden the brake power just disappears and the car no longer brakes as it should. I then release and hit the brake again and the car luckily comes to a stop before I hit the car in front of me. I have had this happen twice and two days now. Went to the dealer who told me he checked the computer and there is no error code. Somehow sounds like the issue that supposedly was fixed in the beginning of 2010 with a software update. My dealer says there is nothing wrong but then he hasn't driven the car and experienced this.
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My AC amazingly still works, but it does seem to have a small leak - I have to recharge it every few years. This time I put some stop leak in it. My problem is that it will sometimes randomly turn off. Apparently the compressor kicks off. Most of the time it works fine, just occasionally I will see the green light for the AC disappear, and then air stops getting cold. Sometimes the light will turn back on again on its own.
I did a pressure test and came up with some odd results. When I charged it I loaded it to around 25 psi, as the manual says, but I noticed that when the car is off, the reading is around 60 psi (the normal value should be about 50). Is that a problem? Also, do I need to add more AC oil, ever, unless the AC is disassembled? I was never fully sure about that from what the manual said.
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My wife has a 2007 Prius with approx. 110k miles. We installed a new 12V battery approx. 1 1/2 year ago at 81k miles. A few months ago (Mar/Apr), her dash would randomly display the warning lights shown in the 1st image: Brake System, ABS, and VSC (the TPMS light is always on due to faulty tire pressure sensors and appears unrelated).
The car seemed to be driving normally with no abnormal behavior. Whenever this happened, my wife would pull over, turn off the car, and restart - at which points all the warning lights would disappear.
Even though our 12V battery is relatively new, I did check the voltage of that battery using the MFD's on-board diagnostic screens as explained by other posts on this board. Voltage was within the normal range with the HID lights both on and off.
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The last few days I have noticed that after starting my car my master warning light appears for about 15 seconds and the disappears. Seems to stay illuminated longer than normal. Few questions....
Does the master warning light illuminate every time the car starts?
Does the warning light stay indicated for a while before going off or should it appear and disappear within a few seconds?
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I seem to recall this lighting up whenever I accelerated past the "eco" threshold. But now it just stays grayed out and doesn't light up. (See arrow indication in pic below) Maybe it never did but I can't remember for sure.
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Just bought a new 2012 Prius Plug-in on Friday. Still learning the ropes. I've selected EV mode, and the EV mode indicator light is lit up as it should be on he dashboard above my steering wheel. As would be expected, to the right, the Hybrid System Indicator bar features a little car sitting on top of it with the letters "EV."
However, after a few minutes of driving, the letters "EV" disappear from the little car in the Hybrid System Indicator. The indicator doesn't switch the to HV screen (where the main bar is divided into two halves), but remains in the EV screen (where the main bar is undivided, with a little nub on the left for "charge" and on the right for "power.") And the EV mode indicator light above my steering wheel remains lit.
A few minutes later, the "EV" letters appear in the little car once again. Then they disappear, then they come back again. All along, I've had plenty of mileage left to go in EV mode (more than 6 miles).
Is this normal behavior? Is this simply what happens when the ICE kicks in despite being in EV mode? (And the ICE definitely kicked in - I saw that on the Energy Monitor graphic. And I understand why - it's been very cold here [northern NJ].)
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I never used the headlight before. Last night, I turned on my headlight, All the indicators like MPG indicators, EV,HV modes , etc. disappeared. Of course, it doesn't matter for my driving this PIP.
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I've had this 2013 Prius v (lowercase v for the Prius v wagon) for about 6 months. During that time on at least three or four occasions I've lost all my radio presets. They just disappear and are replaced with stations I don't use. It seems to happen in between car usages, not while driving, but I am not sure about that. I am not noticing any other problems. It's a HD radio. I did not continue Sirius after the introduction period.
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Parked Prius making awful sound from brakes. Could it be Suspension? However, I am not sure how to describe this one.
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Am a recent owner of an '06 Prius and like the car so far. The only fault is something I have never run into before. The brakes are very sensitive when coming to a stop. I find it almost impossible to feather the pedal and make the stop comfortable.
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I have put on over 45000 miles already on my 07 SX4 and love this car. I am getting a brake light coming on at various times after releasing the brakes and accelerating. It goes out usually after I stop accelerating or hitting the brakes. It does not come back on after driving about 20 miles.
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My wife told me she was hearing a squeaking sound coming from the front end of our 2006 Prius (90,000 miles) along with a noise when she applied the brakes.
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I have owned a C for almost 8 months. Happy owner except for clanks that seem to come from front brakes when passing over bots dots or pavement imperfections. It has been that way since day 1.
I'm aware a TSB exists for Gen 3 Prius brakes but seems there is nothing for C nor any comment found in Priuschat from other C owners. I would wait the next scheduled maintenance unless it is a serious issue
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I have a 1997 F250LD 4WD. I was driving and came to a stop light. I hit the brakes and the pedal was rock hard with what seemed to be very little travel. I pushed hard to get to a stop and the abs activated and I came to a slow stop. This has happened about 3 times over the last 1000 miles of driving. I see no ABS or Engine lights. Most of the time the brakes are normal. Pads are fine, fluid is fine. Brake booster seems to work fine, pedal is not mushy or hard to press other than the 3 or so times this has happened. Once this happens I can let off the brake and everything is normal. I have not found any vacuum leaks.
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I currently own a 07 Toyota Camry Hybrid & the check "VSC" light came on and I lost power to my brakes. What does the light have to do with the power to brakes?
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I just wanted to share with you all a cautionary tale about belt tensioners and idler pulleys. I am now a firm believer in installing the aforementioned items when you replace your drive belt. 15000 miles ago I replaced the drive belt and didn't heed the warning of some here on the forum.
For the last month or two I have noticed what sounded like road noise which I dismissed because I had just had new tires installed that had a more aggressive tread pattern than my previous tires, I also noted that the ECT had been a bit higher than normal, like running in the high 190's to low 200's on average.
Well while driving today I get the alternator warning light and lose power steering and soon after the brakes got stiff, this was followed by ever increasing ECT which got to 242* before I could get it off the road and shut down. It is too early to tell if the noises and the ECT temp rise were the result of this tensioner going out...
For what its worth the only tools required were a 10MM end wrench and a bit of skin to get the job done.
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After putting my Ford Ranger in park and pressing down on the E-break to get the news-paper or mail. I've noticed that there is a consistent squeaking coming from the back drum brakes when the brake pedal is applied. But only for a certain period of time; then the squeaking stops.
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A while back I posted a thread trying to fix a clicking noise coming from the front end on my F-350 dually when applying the brakes at slow speeds (under 15 mph).
While returning from our camping trip last week the noise is back again. It does not occur after the truck sits overnight or for a few hours. But after driving for 30 minutes or longer the clicking will return when I apply the brakes at slow speeds. I tested the rotor temps with a heat gun and it seems to start when the rotor temps get above 120 degrees F. So I removed the brake pads & calipers, regreased the slide pins, cleaned up the pads and applied some lubricant on the back of the pads. I also bent the pad clips so they would fit snugger/tighter in the slots.
Whatever I did seemed to cure the clicking while driving around this weekend. I made sure I got the front brakes nice and warm - up to 180 degrees or so.
When I did this same procedure a few months ago the clicking went away - but eventually returned.
Should I get some better clips? Replace the sliding pins? Pads? The rotors & pads were replaced this winter & the shop said they and the labor are still under warranty. But if they use the same clips - I'm concerned I'll be back to square one in a month or so.
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My 2005 Prius (86 K mi.) has a warning light on - brakes. Put on the scanner and came up with code P1116 coolant temp. sensor circuit stack for coolant heat storage system. Also C1378 - capacitor communication circuit malfunction. I'm just a shade tree mechanic but can usually fix stuff if I know where to start.
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Just got a 2013 IS-F. Loving this car, but discovered an annoying issue. Grinding noise coming from front brakes when slowly coming to a stop below 5 mph. Is this normal?
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My wife said she had to slam on the brakes this morning to avoid someone pull out in front of her. She said the small yellow engine light came on right after.
Could it be low brake fluid? Not sure how that works.
It's a 2009.
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