general problems of the 2006 Toyota Prius - part 1

I was involved in an auto accident on 4/20/2026 @ 6:23 pm. I was driving a 2006 Prius and the vehicle in front of me stopped to make a left turn. I applied my brakes, which grabbed slightly and then released. I then had to hit the brakes hard and they did the same thing again. I ended up rear-ending the vehicle in front of me and had to go to the hospital. I’ve been out of work since the accident, and I feel this was not my fault due to faulty braking system on this vehicle. My vehicle was declared a total loss, by the insurance company after doing my own research I have found many accidents with this type of vehicle that has had rear end accidents with injuries and some fatalities. It also shows not only this 2nd generation with this problem however the 3rd generation Prius as well. I have been out of work since the accident. I'm asking for a complete and thorough investigation into this and a satisfactory resolution to this so that it doesn't happen to anyone else. There were no warning indicators of any kind prior to the accident plus I had paid over 2000 dollars' worth of work and a set of 4 new tires put on this vehicle prior to this incident. Please advise and thank you.

I am looking to receive a little bit more assistance regarding my daughter's first car that she worked very hard for. It is a 2006 Toyota Prius. It was garage-kept and owned by an older couple who only put 85,000 miles on it. It is really a gem of a car. Soon after we registered the car, my daughter was out driving with her father. While going through a 4-way stop, she found that the brakes had failed and she was unable to stop at the intersection. Luckily, she was with her father, and he was able to give her verbal instruction to guide the both of them to safety. Upon further investigation, we learned that there was a recall on the brake actuator assembly in 2016. Which is the part that has failed and almost caused my 16 year old daughter to crash the car she worked hard for. I contacted the Toyota brand engagement center. It was stated to me that the recall has expired, however, I feel that the fact that a recall was issued means that it was recognized by Toyota that the vehicle was sold with a faulty brake system. This, in and of itself, is a hazard and could be fatal. This should be addressed and the brake system should be replaced as it is no fault to any owner regardless of the recall expiry date. We look forward to your timely response on how we can remedy this very serious safety issue. My daughter was super excited as she worked very hard to save up for her first Toyota and get it registered only to find that the brake system fails.

The following describes a near total failure of the brake system that accompanies and is triggered by routine aging of the battery. I believe this applies to multiple model years and editions of the Prius, based on reports by other owners on owners' discussion groups. I believe this should have the highest severity level. Here is what happens: an alarm is sounded, several warning lights abs, vcs appear, and soon after that, the front brakes stop working. The rear brakes then prove ineffective and lock up. The happens with high frequency under any of the following conditions: (a) as the battery approaches 3yrs age, (b) it is excessively cold outside. (c) there is a higher than typical load on the 12v system from any of a variety of reasons. After installing a fresh new 12v battery, the above happens with much less frequency. There no warning on the dashboard to indicate that the condition of the 12v battery is not safe for operation of the vehicle. It seems clear that the route cause is that the brake control unit is configured within inadequate tolerance for the normal aging of the 12v battery, compounded by the absence of warning on the dash. This probably traces back to a poorly chosen ldo voltage regulator in the design of the brake control unit. Recommendation: review the electrical designs for the brake control unit, all model years, replace as needed and update the dash board computer to provide warning when the battery condition is not sufficient for safe operation of the vehicle. I further recommend that this be done with all due haste, as the condition is quite dangerous. Qualifications: phd chemical physics and electrical engineer.

The actuator failed. The car is no longer safe to drive. This is a known issue. The company refused to fix the issue or recall the car. The warning lights and a loud beep are present if the vehicle is started.

The abs sensor on the brakes failed while driving on the highway. This could have caused an accident. These modules should last the lifetime of the car.

My 2006 Prius has 170000 miles, recently has abs brake actuator making sounds everytime when turn off.

Brake actuator is not working properly and will eventually get us in an accident. We bought the car brand new. There is a recall for this issue, but we were never notified by Toyota. After contacting Toyota, they claim we are out of the recall dates and will do nothing. I have requested a copy of the letter they should have sent you notifying us of this issue. They cannot provide one. I would like to be able to fix this car; I cannot afford another car or such an expensive repair caused by a defective Toyota part. Please, help us. Thank you.

The abs actuator is bad. Cant stop nor use the rechargeable braking. Very dangerous.

The contact owns a 2006 Toyota Prius. The contact stated while getting into the vehicle, there was a loud buzzing sound coming from the brakes. The contact stated that the brake, anti-slip regulation, abs, and vehicle stability control warning lights were illuminated on the instrument panel. The contact stated that the brake was inoperable. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic and diagnosed with an accumulator failure. The part was replaced; however, the failure recurred consistently. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 243,000.

In June of 2018 my brake actuator failed on my 2006 Prius. At that time I had 169,689 miles on the vehicle. I had the part replaced at autonation, a Toyota dealership for $2626 . Recently I had noticed that while sitting at a stoplight I was hearing a tapping noise at the brakes along with what they refer to as a 'seal bark'. The same sounds the car was making just before the actuator failed three years before. A few days later I was driving south on highway 19 in saint petersburg during a light rainstorm. Traffic slowed quickly in front of me. I pressed on the brake pedal and the brakes locked up. The abs was not working. I was barely able to avoid a crash. On September 27th I took the car to the same Toyota dealership that had replaced the actuator three years earlier. I told them about the noises at the brakes and told them these were the same sounds the car was making when the actuator failed the first time. They checked it out and told me that everything was working fine and that the car was not issuing any error codes. They could hear the same noises that I could, but said that I would need to continue to drive the car until the actuator failed to the point that it lit up dash lights or issued error codes. I logged on to Priuschat to search for what other people were seeing. I am not alone in this. Many others have had the same experience with the dealerships saying 'drive it till it fails'. Drive it until you lose your brakes? if I'm in this situation, then how many other Prius owners are driving around with dangerous brakes. I have no choice but to wait until the failure gets worse. If you search results on Priuschat for 'actuator', I think you will see that this probably means that there are thousands of cars just like mine out there on the roads. I got 169,689 miles out of the first actuator and just 22,000 out of the second one. Based on what I've seen on Priuschat, the new part seems to be worse than the original part.

Vehicle, upon turning on ignition/starting and putting in either drive or reverse gear, on level surface with brakes still applied will roll forward or backward. This has happened several times but usually at first start up for the day no warning lights(brake or other) are displayed brake pedal is firm /no problems with pads/shoes ,brakes work fine any other time. I have called the local Toyota dealer and Toyota(company) and told them about this safety issue but was told I would have to pay to get it diagnosed . No one other than my wife child and I experienced this problem . Fortunately no one has gotten hurt. Was suprised to learn that this problem is not a part of a recall.

Discovered through failures repeated to dealers that certain items (brakes, dashboard, et. Al. ) were recalled by toyote. Never received recall notices. Contacted Toyota who demanded the vehicle be taken to dealer and now refuses to do anything. Have complete documentation to attach to this communication. Essentially: dashboard failed, brakes failed when auto in operation. Likely there are unknown additional recalls, etc. Of which we were not noticed.

Breaks, ibs and other lights came on during a road trip. Breaks siengsged and I had to press harder and �pump� in order to break. Took to mr. Tire to check -and replaced breaks and flush. Lights still on. Took to the dealer- ibs actuator assembly failure. Quoted repair over $2400. Apparently, some owners of this model received letter for warranty and extended warranty for actuator assembly. Dealer did not mention this option at all. Https://attachments. Priuschat. Com/attachment-files/2017/12/136422_prius_2nd_gen_-_brake_actuator_warranty_extension. Pdf.

I was driving on a highway 95 south, almost to delaware, at night in the rain, after 4 hours on the road, everything stopped working. I couldn't accelerate, I had no brakes, and eventually even my lights went out. The entire electrical system was out. I was in heavy traffic, and don't even know how I got off the highway, and to a gas station. The tow truck driver couldn't even jump the battery enough to get the car in neutral, and had a difficult time getting it up on the flatbed to tow it home. I couldn't even lock the doors. I had a new key made at the dealership on 10/17/19 and I was using that key for hours driving to CT and a couple of days later I was half way home when everything in the car stopped working. I was towed to my home in MD because I needed to be able to unpack my car and computer before taking it to the dealership. When the second tow came the next day, I handed him the key by the front door, which was my old key, and he was able to get the car in neutral right away, and at the dealership the car worked just fine. The only difference was the new key. The technician found that "the immobilizer ecu has an intermittent open circuit failure, causing the key to be seen as unauthorized and stall the engine. " from jim coleman Toyota. Apparently there is a part of the computer system that shuts off all systems if it detects an "unauthorized" key--I. E. If it believes the car is being stolen. It seems to me that this is a very dangerous program in this car. I had been using that new key for several days, and had no problem, but for it to decide in the middle of the highway after hours on the road that the key was a fake, I could have been killed or I could have killed someone else. I would much prefer that my car be stollen than that someone might get killed but shutting off everything while it was on the road.

While I was driving on the highway cruising at highway speed I suddenly received a loud continuous beep and my abs , brake , and (!) illuminated. I attempted to stop and I had no brakes except when the pedal was all the way to the floor it felt as is it was just pulling the rear drums. It took a while to stop and I side swiped the median barrier to avoid a collision with the vehicle in front of me as traffic was building. I assume it was the brake actuator that there was an extended warranty for almost a decade later but no recall. For something so dangerous I can't imagine how that isn't a recall.

On moving cat, I keep getting intermittent break alarm with push back of break pedel and inability to apply break. It's scary. I took it to Toyota of tampa bay on, and they didn't find any problem.

Brake actuator assembly failed.

The brake actuator and accumulator have failed! our understand is that this is the part that stores power for breaking when it's operating under battery power vs. The engine. Researching on the internet and taking it to the dealership both revealed that this is a very common problem. If you do an internet search you will find abundant complaints on this issue. Apparently, Toyota had a "silent recall" on the repair, but that ended 12/31/17. Now they no longer cover the $2700 cost of the repair. There are several internet reports of people getting into accidents due to the failure. The car drives fine, it just doesn't stop well at all, intermittently (when under battery operation vs. Powered by engine, and we would estimate the breaking function when under battery operation to currently be at 20% of normal. Https://priuschat. Com/threads/brake-actuator-warranty-extension-from-Toyota. 168243/.

Car has no brake when first start up. Put car in drive after start up and would have no brake. Almost hit parents and kids in the morning at school or even in grocery parking lot.

Luckily, I was waiting at a stop light when I heard a click/tsst sound. I felt my break pedal push upwards. I took my foot off of the pedal and realize that my braking power was very minimal. The car was only coasting to a stop regardless of the pressure applying and I had to fight to apply pressure to the brake pedal, at this time the car was stationary. I then creeped into the turn lane, giving my car about 7-10mph. When I applied my brakes, my car was not slowing down, I then slammed my breaks and my car speed up and slammed into a gas station.

I was driving normally and suddenly a continuos beep was there,I tried to stop a no brakes. I was able to steer my car to a safe place. Then used a toll service and took it to my Toyota dealer. In a short time they told me they told me the computerized brake system was defective and the job will cost me $2250. 00 I can not afford. I tolled the car back to my house . Later I found that there had been a recall from Toyota. I was never notified although I took my car there for regular checkups. Note: my car was in motion and previous to incident I had descended a steep hill. I consider myself lucky on that date,three minutes earlier I would have been in great distress trying to stop my Toyota Prius.

Abs actuator/ accumulator failing. Unsafe to drive the car. Afraid to drive the car.

The abs actuator runs continuously trying to keep the system running. My mechanic says its just a matter of time before it fails, the cost is $2900 to fix, Toyota,s warranty enhancement zg-1 expired Dec 2017 and will not replace the abs actuator.

While driving, the brakes just quit working properly. I had very little stopping power. A lot of lights on the dash came on vsc, abs, skid, etc. . . After researching, I see this was covered under an extended warranty period up until December 31, 2017. Toyota is not covering fix and told me to fix car for $3000 or park it, it is not safe to drive. This is a safety issue and I almost got into an accident. Please help. Never received a letter from Toyota even talking about the recall.

Prius making buzzing sound every 15-20 seconds dues to faulty abs actuator pump while driving and when the car turned off. That means it is leaking breaking system pressure. Now it's getting worse as abs pressure does not stay and car rolls when switching from park to reverse or drive mode. Have to keep applying breaks for car to stop. The rolling occurs good 3 to 4 seconds and that's enough to cover 3 feet or so. It's dangerous when reversing from park with slope surface.

Failure of abs actuator. I received notification of a " warranty enhancement " program that extended the warranty for my vehicle on the brake actuator assembly. The extension portion of the warranty for my vehicle expired on December 31, 2017. I purchased the car new in 2006 and have faithfully had it serviced by the Toyota dealership every 5000 miles. Toward the end of 2017 I noticed the car making some noises after I parked it in the garage. I attributed it to the noise that the car often made when first turned off. I had the car in for service at the Toyota dealer in oct and Nov 2017 and again in Jan 2018 and no problem was identified with the actuator. The noise continued and became more noticeable so when I took the car in for its routine service in March 2018 I asked them to check what was causing the noise. When I went to pickup the car they told me they did not hear the noise. When I got back into the car I immediately heard the noise and accompanied them back to the car to hear the noise. The mechanic took the car back to the shop and when he finished I was told it was the brake actuator assembly going bad and was quoted $2700 to have it replaced. I was advised that I would know know when it failed completely when several of the warning lights illuminated. Yesterday while driving 55mph on a 4 lane highway all of the related warning lights came on. Fortunately the brakes still worked and I was able to make it home safely. After exploring the internet I found this is a fairly common dangerous failure and thought it was interesting that Toyota has stopped providing replacement when this part fails especially as they are aware of the issue.

Takata recall - the complete failure of the brake actuator system. The vehicle is not safe to drive. During routing trip to nearby grocery store, the following warning lights came "on," brake, abs, vsc, check engine. While driving the vehicle home on a public street, the brakes malfunctioned and in order to stop the car, I ran it into the curb. The brake pedal pressure dropped and it seems the back brakes may still be functioning but front brakes are not working at all.

Tl the contact owns a 2006 Toyota Prius. When the brake pedal was depressed, an abnormal noise was heard. Autonation Toyota gulf freeway (12111 gulf freeway, b, houston, TX) diagnosed that the brake actuator was defective and needed to be replaced. The manufacturer was notified. The failure mileage was approximately 154,000.

Was going to church thurs evening and fast driver ahead of me in busy intersection. Stayed far away from her but when she slammed on her brakes, I hit mine as well knowing I had plenty of time to stop but the brakes did not work, even though I pumped them and then slammed them on again. (I have had other people tell me they have had the same problem with their o6 Prius'. I ended up hitting her car and my car was totaled even though we were not going fast (red light up ahead). I am going to see if my acceleration was fixed because truly I could not stop the car. In fact a man who helped at the scene told me to 'take foot off the brake, the car will not go anywhere' but I was so scared that if I did the car would move again.

My car (06 Toyota Prius) had hit a pothole while on my way to church on 11/16/17. There was a lot of traffic and though I was far behind the person in front of me, my brake did not stop and my car went under the car in front of me. The vehicle was going maybe 5-10 mph as we inched up to the light. Lots of traffic, I was double and triple checking to see my foot on the brake and it was but car would not stop, in fact it felt like it revved up. It was terrifying as I saw my car plow into another when there was nothing I could do. I know the 2010 models were recalled for this but it happened to me on my 2006 Prius. No recall but a warrant enhancement notification was sent to my relative who had a 2007 but I never received it. It is all about the brakes and the not stopping properly. Toyota also did a weird buy back thing and wanted my car. I think it is because they wanted to hide the problem instead of having a recall. I have never had a company try to buy back my car. Toyota is at fault and I want to make sure no one else is killed or hurt by this. It also shows up in the technical service bulletin but again, not a recall but it needs to be recalled! my car had about 65k on it.

Power braking goes out and ringing in car with brakes and abs light on. Have to press extra hard to brake car. Also anther time coming out of a parking lot in reverse and brakes just stopped car as if I had hit something but had not hit anything.

The contact owned a 2006 Toyota Prius. While driving approximately 30 mph, another vehicle suddenly stopped in front of the contact's vehicle. The contact depressed the brake pedal to the floorboard, but the vehicle failed to stop. The contact's vehicle crashed into a road sign. The air bags failed to deploy. The contact coasted to the side of the road and the engine failed. The contact was not injured and a police report was filed. The vehicle was towed to a dealer and an insurance lot. The vehicle was destroyed. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 196,000.

Travelling 30-35 mph. Tried to stop-brake pedal went to the floor and car accelerated. Hit a steel sign which totalled the car. Airbags failed to actvate even though the force of hitting the sign drove the engine back to the dashboard. City street.

Dry,clear day. Driving on a city street. Red lightwith bus in front of me and a car next to me. Speed limit was 45mph. I applied the brakes and nothing happened. . It felt as though the car accelerated slightly. I tried to apply the emergency brake and the one on the dash. Again to no effect. I managed to avoid the bus by driving on the median strip and missed a large palm tree. The motor stopped and I coasted about 150 feet. This is the second time I have had a problem with the brakes. The first time the brake pedal did not move at all and the engine accelerated. Managed to avoid all vehicles. Took the car to Toyota and was told that the Prius had a little glitch in all of them and my car is ok now. Did not want to check the computer or any part of my car. Obviously, there is a defect in the computer system hit a heavy information traffic sign on a steel pole.

When I driving on a decline and hit uneven ground or a pot hole, while braking, the car will lurch forward and the braking is suspended for a second. This is a recurring event and can be easily replicated with high probability. I have listed the most recent time this error has happened.