Electronic Parking Brake Faulty

[snert01]

Does anybody know where i can pick up a Handbrake actuator for a 2009 Avensis T4 tourer for a reasonable prince. I've just been to my local dealership and had the car checked over for a fault when the park brake is applied.

Have been advised that the car needs a new actuator, at the cost of £1550 inc fitting.

just about had to pick me up from the floor of the dealership when they said that.

Part alone costs over £1100 from the dealership.

This is not what i would expect from a car that is only coming up for 5 years old. I bought the toyota thinking it would last me a while, this is after coming from a 2 and a half year old ford that was in the garage 9 time in 14 months. maybe should have kept the ford. at least the parts would have been a bit cheaper.

give me a proper handbrake now. least if a cable snaps its less than a £100 for a new pair of cables. looking on the web at the diagrams for the toyota actuator, if a cable fails, then your SOL as its a new actuator as the cables are attached and can't be replaced.

Rant over

[Whitewagon]

I assume then your model is pre June 2009 as I believe from that date on a 5 year warranty was in place. No consolation I know but had mine replaced under warranty last year as it had become noisy. It would seem to have been a well known problem with early T27 models and also with some other manufacturers too. Clearly this could be a problem bigger problem in the future when the cars are older a who will want to pay that when the cars value is much lower.

Hopefully someone will be able to give you some idea of where to find a cheaper option.

[snert01]

Yes the car was registered at the begining of january 2009. The car has only 70K in that time and the majority of the travel, i would say is 75 percent motorway\dual carriageway and the other 25percent would be A roads The dealership that done the checks is sending the info off to Toyota themselves to see if they will contribute to the repair. But if its a known problem why isnt a recall issued as this is clearly a safety issue, IE if the brake was to fail when parked and it rolled and hit someone, who's fault would that be. mine or toyota's?

The dealership did point out that one of the side lights was faulty and need fixed. I managed that myself and in doing so i think i found the cheapest part on the car to replace. It cost the grand sum of £0.71p for a bulb and 5 minutes of my time.

[Awebb180]

June 2010 was when the 5 year warranty came into force not 2009. At least the dealer is attempting to speak to CR to see if a good will payment can be made.

Alex

[tumshie]

Hi,

I feel your frustration.

I have the actuator replaced on my Sept 2009 Avensis and also now on my 2013 Avensis 1.8 CVT. On both occasions, the problems arose after about 3500 miles.

I reported this to VOSA in November 2013 and also the Toyota MD. Toyota GB replaced my ECU, which is part of the control for the handbrake Actuator, and they claimed that they could not find a fault with my car, but replaced it anyway.! I am currently awaiting VOSA' s findings in this matter.

Toyota customer services people acknowledged this was a problem on a few Avensis cars. I do not accept this, as I have experienced the same problem 4 years on. BBC Watchdog will have a field day with a problem like this until Toyota admit it is an ongoing problem, in the same way that VW and Skoda and i think Audi had the same problem, but they recalled their cars.

It is totally unacceptable, that in modern car production today, that 4 years later, since my last Avensis, Toyota are still having to replace such an important safety item.!

I will let you know VOSA's findings as soon as I hear from them.

[snert01]

Well the garage that i was at did get an error code of C13A7 from the ECU, and after a good bit of google searching i found (of all places) a link to a toyota intranet page in Peru. It has all the diagnotics on it for all cars, so was able to look up the code and the possible failure points from it.

Just waiting to hear back from the garage if customer relations are going to do anythng about it. If not i will be sending a letter off to the head of Toyota UK and also copy in Toyota Japan. As i know that if the corporate head office get word of upset customers they will investiagte. ( i know from working for Mitsubishi a few years ago and their Quality control was unbelievable. A unit could fail QC for one screw being missing).

It also suprises me that even the newest Toyota's such as the Auris hybrid is still fitted with a "standard" hand brake. Is it only the avensis that has the EPB. if so does that mean that Toyota know that their is issues with the EPB and have dropped it over safety concerns.

[Heidfirst]

" in the same way that VW and Skoda and i think Audi had the same problem, but they recalled their cars."

http://www.dft.gov.uk/vosa/apps/recalls/default.asp suggests no such thing. Probably just a dealer advisory?

[jonnyf]

toyota will cover this for you iv had approx 9 actuators fail and toyota GB have covered everyone once you have a reasonable service history this is a massive issue with the T27 but at least they will sort it out of warranty. if the dealer says no they havent tried with toyota and just go to another dealer.

[Seth1]

toyota will cover this for you iv had approx 9 actuators fail and toyota GB have covered everyone once you have a reasonable service history this is a massive issue with the T27 but at least they will sort it out of warranty. if the dealer says no they havent tried with toyota and just go to another dealer.

Useful information...and a lesson to keep with Toyota for servicing!

[snert01]

toyota will cover this for you iv had approx 9 actuators fail and toyota GB have covered everyone once you have a reasonable service history this is a massive issue with the T27 but at least they will sort it out of warranty. if the dealer says no they havent tried with toyota and just go to another dealer.

Well was on to toyota C/R myself and have managed to get the price dropped from the original quoted price of circa £1550 down to me just paying for the labour costs. so car was in the garage today getting the actuator replaced. Cost just under £400 so much better in my book, but still a bit miffed about it failing in the first place.

Car has always been serviced at a Toyota dealers, But this repair was done at another toyota dealership. As fell out big time with the original garage that i used to take it to for servicing. they said the car required new front shocks at a cost of £410 supplied\fitted. 2nd opinion (non toyota garage) confirmed nothing wrong with the shocks.

When the car was in for the diags on the handbrake, they did a complete health check on the car and gave the suspension a clean bill of health. Even washed and hoovered the car, which wasnt done by the original garage when the car was in for a service 3 weeks earlier.

so filled in the Toyota survey and told them exactly what i thought about the original garage. needless to say wont be going back to the original garage that used to service the car.

[snert01]

Well the car had the Acctuator replaced in december and the car has done 1407 miles since it was replaced, and now the fault has returned. So car is heading back to the garage tomorrow for more diagnostics.

Getting really hacked off with this car now. so much for toyota's legendary reliabilty. think that is now being called into question.

Oh well better start typing up the letter to toyota UK and Japan, maybe copy in VOSA\DFT and see what they have to see about it. If it is the acctuator that is faulty (again) then thier is definatley a quality issue with them, and I guess that could then lead on to a safety issue also.

[Roker]

I have heard stories of electronic handbrakes giving trouble in floods by locking on when wet and leaving the car stuck in the middle of the water. Why do the manufactures need to change a very well proven cable system?

[cavalrystu]

Hi - My sister-in-law had the same issue last night.

2009 Avensis, paid £1500+ for a new actuator last summer, went again last night. I helped out (did the 600 turns to release it) going to see what the dealer says today.

Not ideal, forking out £1500 on a 4 year old car, then 6 months later facing a bill again.

Should the dealer cover it?. Is there a fix / recall for this, it seems like a major issue!!

[Heidfirst]

iirc there should be a 1 year warranty on the part?

[skeddy]

Just had my avensis at toyota garage and been told it needs a new actuator, 2009 and done 62000 miles. Gonna cost about £1300 to get done. I have an AA warranty but it doesn't cover this. After reading these posts I am going to contact toyota to complain as it seems like a common problem. Can anyone help me with who to contact and what is the best way to try and get them to help with costs. Thanks.

[garytoy]

What aspect of them fails - the motor itself, or is there built-in controller electronics that chatters to the main ECU?

[Bod&Hammie]

In my experience Toyota UK have always been very helpful and even OK'd an engine change on my old Verso when it was 6 years old and 3 years out of warranty. It not been serviced at Toyota to the cost them over £4000.

You just have to keep pushing and pushing and tell the dealer that you have been it contact with Toyota UK and that there have been others that have had it replaced under 'Toyota good will warranty' and you want the same.

You can the move on to threats of Trading Standards, VOSA and Watchdog under the guise of 'unit not fit for purpose' later on if you get no joy.

I don't think you will need to go that far though as in my experience they will bend over backwards to be seen to be doing things right.

Just my tuppence worth.

James