I'm a new Prius III owner and have diligently been reading the manual. There is a note in there not to use the parking brake in winter because it might 'freeze up.' I am in the habit of always setting the parking brake for safety reasons.
View 12 RepliesThis is the first snowy winter that my car is going through. Often times, especially when parking alongside the street, my car gets stuck. So I usually try the reverse and forward motions couple times and most of the times I'm able to get out of the snow. But while doing so, sometimes the engine reaches high rpm because of no traction. And when i get stuck a lot i usually have to do this a few times to get unstuck.
Today for the first time, after a terrible 20 minutes of trying to leave my works parking lot, some errors came up on the screen for just a bit. The brake error system, airbag system, tire sensor flashing, steering wheel symbol, and i think one other error but just do not remember which. About a min or 2 after that i got out of the parking lot on a regular road with less snow and while parked at the light all the error symbols went away besides the airbag one, which eventually went out when i got home.
What might have caused it or if its a serious issue or not. And also, is getting the engine to high rpms when trying to get unstuck in snow piles bad or does it eventually mess it up? Just getting tired of this snow.
Had my car parked outside of work for about 12 hours yesterday, and in the NYC cold front, the parking break must have stuck on slightly. When I started to move, despite the fact I'd released the parking break, I received a warning in the MFI that said PARKING BREAK FAILURE TO RELEASE. I pulled the handle again and heard it pop just a little more off. Everything worked great after that. If I hadn't received the alert I probably would have driven off with it on. I'd probably have noticed the hesitation and checked the break again, but the alert was useful. Some of the warnings in the MFI can appear to be a pain at times, but it's amazing how thorough a job VW has done monitoring the cars systems and giving real time information if something doesn't work. You just have to make sure you don't get info overload from it all!!
View 4 Replies08 XLT 4x4 Had a rotor slid freeze up last fall and eat a rotor. 39000 miles. Took apart and cleaned up and lubed, new pads and rotors both fronts. Now have pulsating pedal at 48000. Do the rear might need attention now or still the front? I never use the E brake.
View 2 RepliesAlways? Never? Sometimes? Depends on circumstances like grade?
View 19 RepliesI've always found the handbrake parking brake in the Prius not to be very effective (there's always a huge lurch back whenever I take my foot off the brake and I'm parked on a hill).
Today I had to swap the two cars in my driveway around. I backed out from the carport and into the street, then drove back up into the driveway. The driveway's longish with a mild incline.
I had the parking brake applied throughout by accident. (The car's new to me and I'm still getting used to the starting and stopping procedure).
Given it seems to be a pretty weak brake already, is it likely I've done any damage to it? I know I wasn't driving with it on for a long time, but in other cars with better handbrakes I've loosened the brake doing that. Should I go and get it tightened, or what?
I have the weekend clear. My husband is gone -- so no second-guessing.
I WANT to adjust the parking brake. I ordered the Chilton manual nearly two weeks ago. As of tonight it is sitting in Hermiston, Oregon, about a three-hour drive away. I don't suppose it is getting delivered to my house tommorrow (Saturday).
I have checked out a few online spots that tout instructions. They are either pretty vague, or somewhat scary. I have adjusted the PB on my old Toyota Corolla....many times.
I've never used "foot parking brake" on any of my cars before. The one I have has a standard automatic transmission when I put in "park" the pin inside the transmission locks it.
Do I just press the "P" park button or press the "foot parking brake" first?
Today the parking brake light didn't turn off when I released the parking brake. Other than the light staying on, nothing else unusual occurred. I did not notice any indication that the brakes were dragging. The brake fluid level was near maximum.
After reading earlier Priuschat posts on this subject, I found the cause which apparently is explained in technical service bulletin TSB BR002-07 (Parking Brake Light Won't Go Out | PriusChat)
Here's what happened to me. For some reason, the entire switch body loosened from the firewall and moved away far enough away from the lever arm such that it couldn't contact the switch and close it when the pedal was released. I think it happened because I pressed the pedal too quickly and with too much force somehow. The switch is at the top of the pedal assembly and it's not too difficult to reach
So, I pushed the switch back against the lever arm and presto, the brake light turned off as it's supposed to. I tried the parking brake several times and it is fixed for now. Now I need to determine how to tighten the switch so it won't move again.
When I was at Luscious Garage earlier today for a transmission service, the technician told me that my parking brake is out of adjustment. Sure enough, I checked the factory service manual when I got home and found that the spec is 8-11 notches at 67.5lbf. My own test revealed that it was taking between 15-17 notches on mine!
View 7 RepliesHow to fix the low speed brake squeal on my GS. I have an o6 with about 80K on it. Have had it for four years and never winter driven. I am debating trading it off on an AWD GS or putting it into full time service as my year round driver.
I haven't driven a rear wheel drive car in the winter for 20 years. Everything else I have is AWD of 4x4. Here in Alberta we get some serious snow and ice. I have Nokian WR2 tires on it year round because you can get snow in the mountains even in July. I tried mine on the driveway after a good snow fall and even on Winter ESB and with good tires, it does not seem to have great traction.
Have any of you used your GS430s in regular winter driving, heavy snow and ice. How to get it to perform its best in deep snow or very slippery roads?
My 2008 Prius has been sitting for about 25 days while I've been out of town. I just tried to drive it, but it feels like the parking brake is engaged even though I've pushed it off (and the lights are showing it is off).
A bit more detail: Car has been parked on a relatively steep incline (maybe 35 degrees) for about 25 days (this is its normal parking spot). Parking brake was engaged during this time. Weather is mild to warm (it's Hawaii). When I try to back up it feels like there is something behind the one of the rear tires, and the car almost starts to lift up a bit. (But there's nothing there that I can see.) I might have been able to push the gas a bit more, but was afraid of damaging something. When I put the car in drive and take my foot off the brake it rolls slightly (and very slowly forward), but not nearly what it should (I'm afraid to push the gas at all because there is a wall very close to the front of my car).
Seems like maybe the brake is stuck or something of the sort...
About two weeks ago I noticed that my parking brake light was not illuminating when I enagaged the brake. Since then it sometimes comes on when I engage the brake but not always (most of the time it doesn't). I can't replicate the conditions and there doesn't appear to be a pattern of temp or time of day.It is an '04 with 146,000 miles.
View 1 RepliesI replaced brake pads on my 05 Prius Monday. The instructions I have say to pull 2 relays and pump and hold the brake pedal until I hear a buzz. This has worked fine the last time I did the brakes. This time I got the Brake, Parking brake,VSC and ABS lights when I powered up.
I did not open the hydraulic system, just push in the pistons. I test drove it then touched the brakes. The left front and right rear rotor/drums were hot but the others were not. Long story short, I want to reset the ABS system.
I made the mistake of lending my car to my sister who drove about 50 miles with the parking brake on.... And yes it beeped at her the whole way and she didn't think anything of it..... What kind of damage could have been done? Brakes seem to work fine although the parking brake barely works now.
View 19 RepliesI replaced my rear brake shoes this past weekend. Immediately after I replaced them, the ABS, VSC, ((!)), and Parking Brake lights came on. I had not read that I should've disconnected the 12V battery before changing the shoes, so I wonder if that's related to the issue. I've read through as many threads here that I could dig up, but I still have questions. Here is what I know so far:
Car Info: 2004, 210k miles, Original 12V battery
Relevant Info: While replacing the shoes, one of the seals(?) (rubber part that slid over the piston(?)) slid off. I put it back on, and have checked for any fluids leaking, and have found none. I may pull the rotors off and check this again, though. There were no DTCs logged prior to the shoe replacement. Battery has shown no signs of dying, although I am going to check the voltage on it after I post this.
I tried jumping the pins, and I get the following flash codes (I tried resetting, but they came back immediately):
ABS: 4-2
VSC: 4-5
((!)): 6-5
I tried finding information on these flash codes, but have found nothing...
My CHS Tank was damaged in an accident a few years ago. I just replaced the CHS tank and the Inverter Coolant Pump within the last 12 months. It is still running when I power the car on and off as it should. I also jumped the fuse with a paperclip to double check that it runs.
My brake fluid levels are fine right now.
Possibly unrelated to the lights, but applying the parking brake is very easy. I don't think I adjusted the star adjuster enough. This is my first time messing with drum brakes, so it's possible I didn't adjust that correctly. Are these self-adjusting, or do I need to go back and adjust them by hand?
The CEL went on in my wife's 2006 Prius last night so she "stole" my '09 to go to work today and left me to deal with the issue. The car is behaving normally, it had a 90K check a few weeks ago and I put in a new Yellow top battery a week before that (got 8 years on the original 12V). FWIW, the snow tires do not have pressure monitors in them and the TPMS light usually goes on immediately but didn't go on last night, really weird.
View 6 RepliesIt seems about once a week the rubber cover that goes over the food pedal for the parking brake comes off. I've been careful to replace it correctly but it still keeps happening? Btw it's a 2010 v with atp ...
View 9 RepliesI have a 2006 Prius that I've had since 2012. The parking brake light was intermittently having a hard time turning off every time I disengaged the brake and became more inconsistent until finally, now, for about 6 months the light has just remained on the entire time, regardless of whether or not the brake was engaged.
Just to clarify the brake is still fully functional and will prevent the car from rolling when engaged.
I recently failed my inspection because of the light. The mechanics of the brake are fine, but the light wont turn off. They quoted me around $1,000 to fix due to them having to rip out the whole dash to get to the parking brake assembly (8 hours of labor).
However, is there any way to access the pedal to do the repairs without having to take the interior of the car apart? I've also heard that it could mean my brake fluid is low? But they didn't mention that during the inspection.
Today I stopped at the post office to check my mail. I put the car in park and didn't shut off the engine - this is what I always do. When I returned a few moments later the car would not go into reverse (this was after releasing the parking brake) and the traction control symbol came on. The car would go into drive but that didn't work much as I was up against a hill (or almost against it). Shutting the car off and turning it on again solved the problem. The parking space was badly potholed; I'm assuming I had less than full contact on one wheel which caused the traction control to kick in which prevented reverse from engaging. And to be clear - it's not that it went into reverse but didn't go anywhere; reverse simply wouldn't engage (I did not try neutral),
View 13 RepliesToday I took my 2006 Toyota Prius with 167,000 miles out to drive my dog to the vet. I turned the car on and deactivated the parking break and noticed the light stayed on, then I noticed the VSC and ABS lights stayed on as well.
My car was parked backwards on a driveway incline for about 14 hours. My 12v battery is old, not sure what shape it is in. The hybrid battery was replaced 2 years ago. I have been reading up and i guess it could be a sensor, skid sensor, 12v battery, or some sort of pump. Also, my parking break has felt a little weak as of late.
The car still drives, not sure if it drives funny or psychologically I think it does.