Brake Sensor problems of the 2010 Toyota Highlander

As I was driving traffic came to a sudden stop. I applied the brakes hard, however was not able to stop before hitting the vehicle in front of me. As part of the necessary vehicle repairs after the accident, to get the brakes to operate again properly, the brake load sensor - an electric sensor on the brake pedal that feeds back to the braking computer system how hard brakes are being applied was found to have failed, presumably at the time as a result of the impact. This malfunction trips a warning in the brake system, and affects operability of the brakes. Recently on June 18, 2012 while driving on a local street at 25 mph, a vehicle passed a stop sign crossing in front of me necessitating I brake hard to avoid an accident. While an accident was avoided, immediately following this a brake malfunction warning came on, and the brake system stopped operating normally. The dealer found that due to the hard braking, the brake pedal became misaligned, and the brake load sensor failed again. This pattern leads me to believe that in instances of hard braking, damage to the brake pedal and/or load sensor can occur, causing a loss of brake power possibly resulting in an accident.