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Hi all, I am just trying to guage how many of you out there have experienced a fault with the handbrake releaseing itself. My car has done this twice now and toyota say that they have not found a fault, however a lad I know who has the same model has had his in the garage with the car roling away from him while the hadbrake was applied. Thankfully he got back in and managed to stop it. Toyota cleaned and reset his handbrake. When speaking to Toyota re this they said it would come up with a fault code, now excuse my for being synical but there was £2500 worth of damage to my car from both knocks, would they just turn a blind eye and say that they have not found a fault??? I know it is easy for them to clear a code and say no fault found when in fact they could have just cleaned and reset the handbrake (funny I have not had an issue since they checked it). If you have had a problem could you please let me know, also if there was a fault code registered on the computer. Toyota told me this morning that this fault has arrisen but is not affecting all cars and a fault code would be logged. I am still not convinced that there was no fault with my car and am trying to get as much information together to try and get them to accept responsibility. It is going to be a tough nut to crack but am hoping there will be people out there who have had similar issues. Cheers for reading.

Woo! Give that man a gold star!

Well that was a labour of love! Anybody wanting to organise their USBs should have the necessary resources now - until Toyota change the technology! Pleased you got it sorted but looking at your screenshots - are you playing your whole collection in order? I was happy just to get my albums in order. I'm reminded of a mate who, back in the 70s, used to fetch 12 cassettes from his collection into his Hillman Hunter, play them in whatever order they happened to be in the box (I think he had them all alphabetically ordered), and when he'd got through them he'd take them back in the house, get another 12, and repeat. His reasoning was that it was all his music, he liked it all, so it didn't matter what order it was in. I can't relate to that, I like to choose what I'm in the mood to listen to. Now I think about it, he's much the same now, he loads the autochanger in his Merc up with CDs and just plays them. He had some dreadful cacophony on the other day (we take it in turns to drive to the footy),it sounded like a pack of angry dogs knocking over dustbins, nobody liked it, but he wouldn't put anything else on or even fast forward because he said the next track would be better. It was, but that's not the point. His music is organised into albums, though. I wish I'd had all this technology back in the 70s - it would have rendered the arcane art of making party tapes so much easier....

I did 17 miles in a mk1 Auris, then bottled out!

After a few weeks on the new inverter, my prius seems to have a new lease of life. The HV battery seems to 'hold its charge' a lot longer and the mpgs are noticably higher than they were before the inverter died. For example, my last mile home (daily commute) can be done without using any fuel if the HV SOC is high enough. Before the new inverter, the SOC after doing the last mile would be 2 or 3 bars and would often trigger the ICE into firing up. With the new inverter, the same trip leaves SOC with 4 or 5 bars. Also, the daily commute mpgs were in the top 50s before, and are now mid 60s. I know it is getting warmer but that didn't have the same kind of increase last year. Will be interesting to see the fuelly stats after a few tanks.

I had the unfortunate luck to have my rear bumper badly knocked today. I've had a few minor bumps in the past, but only small cosmetic problems. Today, the collision managed to shatter the brittle paint work on the bumper and also break one of the sensors, seemingly taking most of the impact. I have no idea how much something like this would cost to fix. It clearly needs a repaint to stop the lacquer from coming off in shards, but I've no idea what to expect in pricing. What would be reasonable? Is it something that I could undertake myself? I was looking at the fixings under the car and they appear to be plastic snapping connectors that look like they won't budge without breaking off. Am I right? Can I remove the bumper safely without damaging the fixings? As for the parking sensor, can new ones be purchased, or now that it has come away from the panel, does an entirely new bumper need to be bought? I've tried looking for a Hayne's manual, but there doesn't seem to be one to allow me to get my hands dirty with some knowledge. Any advice gratefully received.

"I don't like EPB, but with every manufacturer adding these systems to their cars, you cannot avoid them". Hadn't come across this thread until now. Very interesting, and has finally put me off buying an Avensis with EPB later this year. Perhaps one day the problem with EPBs will become so common that the press, perhaps Honest John, will get hold of it. Why should the public be fobbed off with devices on cars which are not fit for purpose - bit like dual mass flywheels. As the posts here have shown, the problem is not just with older cars. I expect a car to last 10+ years. I've had 3 cars which have reached or nearly reached 200k, Nedless to say, none were what might be described as "modern generation", and they were all blessed with not having much technology. Fortunately my Corolla is not fitted with much modern gadgetry either

I usually never travel more than 30 miles from 0 miles. You don't want to run out as the car basically dies and needs resetting by Toyota.

My Avensis is March 2009. I had an electronic handbrake actuator fail a few weeks ago, see post "Electronic Parking Brake - Why?" It went to the dealers to fit a new actuator, the car was out of warranty, 68k miles. I asked how much the repair would cost (the car is a leased vehicle) and was told about £1,000 (£675 for the actuator, 2.1/2 hours labour plus VAT. In my opinion, the electronic handbrake is an expensive solution to a problem that did not exist. All it means is that when somebody is the 2nd or 3rd owner of an Avensis that is a few years old, a failed parking brake actuator will lead to the car being scrapped due to the high cost of repair.