2006 with 8000 miles, Brakes failed!

E

e46fan

New member
I have had my 2006 Limited V6 since May and so far I was loving every minute of it. After a terrible week in which our other vehicle has been in and out of the shop, we loaded up the T4R to head up to Chicago and found out a couple blocks away from the house that the brakes weren't working any more. Luckily I recognized this early on and was able to stop it with the e-brake, but it provided us with quite a scare and has rattled my wife's faith in our new vehicle.

I had it towed (how embarassing!) to the dealer today and they gave me a loaner (a Scion XA, again - how embarassing!). They called me back this afternoon and explained the Brake Master Cylinder had failed. This is what my father-in-law had speculated, but from what I understand this is pretty rare, even moreso for a new vehicle.

Questions:

1) Does this sound "normal"?

2) Should I be concerned in the future? Should I even begin to consider it is a "lemon"?

3) How can I rationalize this to my wife and explain that she will be safe in the future.


*sigh*, I would expect this from our BMW but not our 4 Runner. I hope I never have to see it drive away on the back of a flatbed again. ..

Thanks in advance,
D
 
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Addendum:

Immediately after this happened I checked the brake fluid and it was full. Also there were no leaks, drips, stains where it was sitting. The symptoms were when you pressed the brake down it would slow but not fully stop the vehicle. You could keep pressing it down until it was all the way to the floor but it would never fully stop.
 
Unfortunately, these rare things do happen. It is not normal. You said that your 4runner was in the shop earlier in the week...why?? Could this failure be related and that your dealership is using this "brake cylinder failure" as an excuse??

As you can read on this forum, the 4runner is about as reliable as you can get. Tell your wife to read this forum. There will always be a rare few with issues, but that is unavoidable.

Lemon law usually applies after Toyota/dealership fails to fix a problem. The law is a bit different from state to state, but i do not think that you can invoke the Lemon Law after one failure.

I don't own a 4runner...so my view is not about brand loyalty (never has been). The 4runner is about as reliable as you can get in a SUV, bar none. I don't think that you will find a more reliable and competent vehicle on the face of this planet.

Give your 4runner another chance...and Good luck.:)

P.S.: i think that i know you from BMW forums....
 
Thai said:
Unfortunately, these rare things do happen. It is not normal. You said that your 4runner was in the shop earlier in the week...why?? Could this failure be related and that your dealership is using this "brake cylinder failure" as an excuse??
Click to expand...


Sorry wasn't quite clear - the BMW was in the shop earlier, not the 4Runner.

As you can read on this forum, the 4runner is about as reliable as you can get. Tell your wife to read this forum. There will always be a rare few with issues, but that is unavoidable.
Click to expand...

Oh yeah, I am a big T4R fan and have been for years. It is much harder to convince someone else of reliability, especially when problems occur. :)


Lemon law usually applies after Toyota/dealership fails to fix a problem. The law is a bit different from state to state, but i do not think that you can invoke the Lemon Law after one failure.

I don't own a 4runner...so my view is not about brand loyalty (never has been). The 4runner is about as reliable as you can get in a SUV, bar none. I don't think that you will find a more reliable and competent vehicle on the face of this planet.

Give your 4runner another chance...and Good luck.:)
Click to expand...

Yeah, the Lemon Law thing was premature. Sometimes you get caught up in the emotion of the moment but since I have cooled down. I will try to get her to check in here and check out the forums, hopefully that will give her some peace of mind.

P.S.: i think that i know you from BMW forums....
Click to expand...

I don't go by this alias on there, but you may. I'll PM to discuss. Thanks for your help!

-D
 
I'm not making light of your situation at all and I'm glad you and your family are safe.

People seem to think that with Toyotas quality reputation that nothing can ever fail or call it a lemon , nothing could be further from the truth. Although Toyota has an excellent reputation vehicles are a mechanical object and things can go wrong. Get it taken care of and don't worry about it , you will love the truck in all aspects. Please don't ake offence to my post , it's not intended for that.

I also know what you mean about the Scion , I had one last week and damn I felt like driving with a bag over my head. Mine also had HUGE,HUGE dealer stickers all over it , I mean these things took up the complete side of the box w/wheels as I call it.
 
First and foremost, glad to hear that no one was hurt. Second, every auto maker will have flaws in their vehicles. The more common that I have seen associated with the 4th gen 4runners are drive clunk and sulfar smell. You are the first post that I have seen that has had a full brake failure. There was one post of a member concerned about the brake pedal traveling to the floor, but only after he comes to a complete stop. Many other members brakes are working fine, so I think yours might be an isolated incident. The 4runner in general is a very well built rig with high standards of quality.
 
Wow! First time to hear a new Toyota has failure master cylinder. Also, odd enough to know that Toyota has more and more problems passed through their final inspection.
 
azskyrider said:
Are BMW 3-series reliability that bad?
Would you buy another? My wife was looking to buy one :(
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I've had zero problems with my 2001 330, (other than having to get a new battery after 5 years). I don't know how the new E90's are holding up though.
 
azskyrider said:
Are BMW 3-series reliability that bad?
Would you buy another? My wife was looking to buy one :(
Click to expand...

No, I guess I should have clarified, it was more due to the Dealer and not the car. I love that car and I honestly think it is one of the all-around best cars that you can buy. I really hope that we don't have to get rid of it. Somehow, the new e90 (2006) models are even better!

Check out great forums like e46fanatics and e90fanatics.

-Derek
 
Falls said:
I'm not making light of your situation at all and I'm glad you and your family are safe.

People seem to think that with Toyotas quality reputation that nothing can ever fail or call it a lemon , nothing could be further from the truth. Although Toyota has an excellent reputation vehicles are a mechanical object and things can go wrong. Get it taken care of and don't worry about it , you will love the truck in all aspects. Please don't ake offence to my post , it's not intended for that.

I also know what you mean about the Scion , I had one last week and damn I felt like driving with a bag over my head. Mine also had HUGE,HUGE dealer stickers all over it , I mean these things took up the complete side of the box w/wheels as I call it.
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No worries, as I explained earlier the "lemon" portion of my post was my emotions coming out. I still love the truck just as much now.

I would almost HOPE the Scion had dealer stickers all over it so noone would think I actually bought it! Don't get me wrong, the tC I think is a nice little car but the other two are butt-ugly.
 
e46fan said:


I would almost HOPE the Scion had dealer stickers all over it so noone would think I actually bought it! Don't get me wrong, the tC I think is a nice little car but the other two are butt-ugly.
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LOL...:D
 
Similar issue on 92 landcruiser

I had this type of problem with less than 10K on my Landcruiser.


Problem was the same as you descibe, but only really bad when on a dirt road.

Went around and around with the dealer, finally got them to driver it offroad and they agreed.

Fix was a replacement to the Master Cylinder. Still have the truck 225K miles and same replacement cylinder.

Paul C.
 
Resolution

Well, after a couple days in the shop and a replaced master cylinder all is well. They said it was quite out of the ordinary but now I can at least rest assured that it won't happen in the future. My Sales guy even threw in a thing of touch-up paint for the trouble so that was cool. They washed it up real nice and it is back in the game.

:)
 
Re: Resolution

e46fan said:
Well, after a couple days in the shop and a replaced master cylinder all is well. They said it was quite out of the ordinary but now I can at least rest assured that it won't happen in the future. My Sales guy even threw in a thing of touch-up paint for the trouble so that was cool. They washed it up real nice and it is back in the game.

:)
Click to expand...
Good to hear. It is very unusual for a master cylinder to fail so quickly. But now you're all fixed up and back on the road.
 
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