Brakes Failed problems of the 2009 Toyota Yaris

I was driving my 2009 Toyota Yaris (CA. 30k miles) home from work under normal road conditions. As I approached a red light, I was alarmed to find that the brakes were compromised and the braking power was reduced. I had to swerve onto the shoulder to avoid hitting the back end of the car in front of me. At this point, I was only 2 miles from home and decided to proceed carefully. As I was turning off a main road and into my neighborhood, the brakes completely failed, and I was not able to complete the turn. The car careened off the road, over the curb, up a small embankment, and smashed head-on into a stone wall. The airbag deployed, and the front end sustained considerable damage. The car will most likely be totaled. Thankfully, I was not injured, but I shudder to think at what the outcome could have been under different circumstances. The car had no known mechanical problems or accidents prior to this event, was serviced regularly, and driven responsibly. I consider this to be a serious problem that needs to be resolved.

Fortunately I have not had an accident. My concern is with the brakes of my 2009 Toyota Yaris. They disengage while braking. This has happened a few times since I purchased my car July 30, 2009. At first I was concerned that the brakes my fail while driving on the highway to work. However it appears that items on the road (snow, leaves) get in the brakes and they stop working for a moment. I will be braking and feel the brakes disengage. (I live in an area with a lot of trees and there may be decaying leaves on the road at an intersection. ) when I went into the service center, the service representative shared an incident of a mechanic who found a small pebble in the brakes of a vehicle which was experiencing the brake failure problem. I don't have 8,000 miles on my car yet and this has occurred at least 5 times. I have been driving for over 30 years and brought my first car (a Ford) when I was 20. I have never experienced a brake failure problem like this that seems to be part of the brakes design.