Toyota Brakes

Maintenance/Repairs
1

Guys and Gals,

I hope you can help me and many others who own Toyotas. My Mom has a 2007 Camry. The brakes have gotten so that one has to push pretty far before any stopping action happens. She took it to the dealer who told her all Toyotas of that vintage are like that and there’s nothing anyone can do about it. Now is that really true or just so much Toyotatalk?



Thanks so much,



Brakeless in New Orleans

2

Test drive a few and compare for yourself.

Did she buy it new? How many miles are on it? What type of driving?

3

Thanks. I plan on doing the test drive bit. It was new, but of course is now out of warranty.

4

how can a 2007 be out of warranty already???

5

The warranty could be out due to mileage, although that would have to be a lot of driving.

I would suggest that the brakes may be out of adjustment, although they shouldn’t just wander out of adjustment because they should self-adjust either when you apply the parking brake or when you brake while reversing. If your mom has some strange driving habits or never uses the parking brake, it could happen. You could try engaging the parking brake a few times and making a few brakes in reverse to see if that makes it any better. If it’s really bad, a mechanic will probably have to take the drums off the back brakes and manually adjust them.

6

I bought my new 98 Pathfinder in January of 98…Pathy had 1.2 miles on it when I bought it…By November I had 37k miles…thus out of warranty.

7

Toyota changed their brake system starting 2003 or 2004. I have a 2005 Camry LE & have the same problem. I told them it’s very dangerous & we might have an accident with the brake system. Toyota Motors sent their expert technician after 2 complaints to the dealer but they won’t do anything. They say it was normal for their cars since 2003 or 2004 when the brake system was change. My car was under warranty. I have to pay if I want anything done. I lost arbitration. Does anyone ever win an arbitration? They are biased. They think big car manufacturers know better than us lowly owner/driver. Several months later, my wife had an accident when the brake went all the way down almost to the floor yet the brake didn’t engage. The brake is supposed to engage HALFWAY down, not otherwise. I have reported the problem to NTSB but if there’s not enough complaints, they won’t take action. So if anyone reading this is experiencing the same problem, contact NTSB. Thanks.

8

lotsa miles…

9

Yes, they told us the same thing. I still don’t quite get it. She’s going to take the thing back to them Monday and insist they bleed all four brakes. Well see what happens.

10

well. the answer is??? how many miles ARE on it? this seems odd that the mileage is so high, so new. but as others have said some people do wrack up the miles.

if your car has say 36000 miles on it in one year, then it is about time for a brake job. also, if that many miles are being done in one year, then that does qualify for a “hard use, high mileage” maintenance program. what does the manual say for hard use maintenance?

11

Not lotsa miles…I started complaining at around 4,000 miles, car was under warranty. After the arbitration (around 12,000 miles), I gave up. I am not buying another Toyota. I just bought a Nissan for my eldest daughter. My other daughter will also get one but not Toyota. I am getting rid of all my TOyota (2 left).