Parking Brake

[Thersm]

Just driving along and then warning light triangle came on. Also initially had a parking brake warning in red to release the parking brake(which was already off. Having pulled in I released the parking brake lever, red light out. But then had a brake warning light in yellow and a note on the. Dash saying I needed to have my parking brake checked. Car has only 34k miles from new, now 4.5 years old. Can't find anything about the parking brake checks on servicing but car fully serviced. Car booked into toyota early next week. Internet gives some similar problems but also found out that as the parking brake box is a sealed unit it will probably cost in excess of £1000 to fix. Not a happy bunny.

[anchorman]

Take it to a local garage and get some pads fitted. There are no special tools and the parking brake unit is getting to the end of its travel.

[Whitewagon]

Not much help to you but my 2010 model started to get noisy just before it's second service. I mentioned this at service time and it was changed under warranty. I have extended my warranty to 2016 so will be looking to change before then, will consider another Avensis and hopefully by then Toyota will have seen the faults and complaints and returned to a conventional handbrake.

[Thersm]

Mike, you mentioned faults and complaints...have there been many about this problem, because there isn't much on the forum?

[Whitewagon]

Mike, you mentioned faults and complaints...have there been many about this problem, because there isn't much on the forum?

Harry, it was more of a generalisation rather than referring to specific Toyota faults.

From this and other forums I visit there is a very mixed bag of reactions to the electronic parking brake, personally I don't like it and many others have the same view. It wouldn't be quite so bad if it had an auto release but Toyota seem to have not deemed this acceptable on the CVT models.

There have also been many references to the reliability of the actuators and the cost of replacement over all manufacturers, this would seem to be between £1000 to £1500 on all makes. This is very expensive when compared to a conventional handbrake mechanism.

It is the only thing I don't like about the Avensis I have and when the time comes to change it may put me off buying another one if it is equipped with the electronic version.

[Heidfirst]

you may not have much of a choice by then. Vauxhall have an elecronic parking brake in the Insignia (although the button is better placed), Ford Mondeo currently has a mechanical but the car is due for replacement & I wouldn't be surprised if it goes electronic as the US Fusion that it's supposed to be based on is electronic. Think that the new Mazda 6 still has a mechanical.

It supposedly reduces weight so that the manufacturers can hit their fleet wide mpg targets (failure to hit those incurs very hefty fines).

[Whitewagon]

I agree. It's supposed to be progress but I don't see much in the way of progress if they only last a couple of years and cost probably as much as 6 times more to replace. There is bound to be a knock on effect with second hand values as any sensible purchaser would want to factor that cost into the value of the car which makes a £5000 car drop to around £3500 on so on. The same also applies to DMF's and DPF's. It seems that the value on today's models will dive when out of warranty if you have all these to factor in.

[RK123456]

My previous company car, 2009 avensis tourer complete with electronic parking brake had an actuator fail at between 60k and 70k miles, the car was less than 2 years old. My local toyota dealer fixed it (had to wait a week for an actuator because they weren't held in stock). I asked how much the repair had cost (it was a leased car so me or my employer didn't see any bills) and was told about £1,000 broken down by: Cost of Actuator £675, cost of labour to fit new actuator 2.1/2 hours and with VAT added works out about £1,000.

I think the electronic parking brake is great but I wouldn't buy a car with one.

It's a matter of perceived costs, for an independent to repair a handbrake (replace a handbrake cable) £100 seems about right, for a main dealer to repair an electronic parking brake (replace an actuator) £1,000. That's the size of repair bill that will lead to many a good car being scrapped whan they are a few years old.

[Thersm]

Update on problem. Following discussion with Toyota Customer services I was given a Reference number to give to the Toyota Dealer. The dealership informed me that it would cost £99 per hour plus vat to run the diagnostic. Car went in Wednesday afternoon. Early Thursday morning I had a phone call from the garage saying that Toyota had agreed to fund the whole replacement. When asked the dealership just stated that 'Toyota were aware of the problem and would extend the warranty to include this problem'. Picked the car up today and was not charged anything! The bill was just over £2000! When asked why it was so high it was explained that the part was £800, plus about 4 hours (estimated) labour, plus the hour for diagnostic. However as they apparently had to remove a crossmember to effect the replacement....the car also had to be sent to a body shop to have the overall tracking checked as Toyota dealership did not have this facility. I am obviously over the moon that I didn't need to pay. However had I known about this problem before purchase I may have had second thoughts. I feel that Toyota will resolve this issue as and when it comes up and I have no doubt they are also working on a fix for current and future models. The dealership was excellent.

[Valvematic]

Hopefully I won't experience this issue as I am reluctant to use the parking brake. I leave the car in gear as a workaround.

[Konrad C]

I was PMing another forum member, when the subject cropped up. I then Googled electronic parking brake and Honest John forum came up. A lot of stories and issues with the electronic parking brakes. The Vauxhall Insignia does not have this system on all of it's range. In fact today I walked past a couple and they had standard handbrakes! Someone in the HJ forum found an issue where the electronic handbrake could be realised with the car in neutral whilst pressing the accelerator and releasing the clutch pedal!

I have driven my brothers Renault Grand Scenic with the electronic handbrake, plus a neighbours. I got used to it quickly but am wary of the cost if they go wrong.

I was going to say "At least they cannot be used in the current UK driving test" but I would be wrong as they can! See the following link. https://www.gov.uk/practical-driving-test-for-cars/rules-for-cars-used-for-driving-tests

[Heidfirst]

"However had I known about this problem before purchase I may have had second thoughts. I feel that Toyota will resolve this issue as and when it comes up and I have no doubt they are also working on a fix for current and future models. "

tbh I think that they already have fixed it in later production (hope so).

& toyota do seem to be one of the best at standing behind their cars & warranties.

[Thermal]

I had mine replaced under warrenty after 2 years from new because it started making a horrible noise and sometimes refused to release on the simultaneous clutch/accelerator combination on steep hills.
The new brake unit is much quieter and works as it should.
I use it all the time when parking and was advised to keep doing that to keep the unit "in shape".
Furthermore I was informed that the electronic parking brake solution saves a lot of space in the interior of the car, compared to the mechanical version.
The downside is that it is also more complicated, in a sense that reparing/replacing it costs a lot of time and is more expensive.
It took my dealership a full day to replace it and update the car's firmware in order to get the new unit recognized and initialized by the computer.
However, it is the only "problem" I had sofar and I still think it's a great car.