Avensis electric hand break

[R Peacock]

So disappointed in my Avensis. The Toyota hand break unit has broken twice in under 2 years and with labour and parts this will be around £3k in 2 years (almost the current value of the 2010 vehicle). Ridiculous. :-0 I'm so very disappointed. I thought you were meant to be known for being reliable?

[FROSTYBALLS]

Not sure whether you were expecting Toyota to comment, but as the club has no association with at Toyota, no official comment will be forthcoming.

Moved to the Avensis club.

[sproutdreamer]

On 12/28/2019 at 8:08 PM, R Peacock said:

So disappointed in my Avensis. The Toyota hand break unit has broken twice in under 2 years and with labour and parts this will be around £3k in 2 years (almost the current value of the 2010 vehicle). Ridiculous. :-0 I'm so very disappointed. I thought you were meant to be known for being reliable?

The common handbrake problem is what puts me off getting a newer Avensis than my T25!

[picto27]

U mention the handbrake unit has broken, do u mean u have parking brake malfunction visible on the dash? Accompanied with a vsc light? 

Perhaps u could take the wheels off, and physically check the movement of all rear brake parts. I've had this multiple times. Usually the cause, as I see it, is poor servicing of the brakes, if need be remove everything, manually wind the brake pistons back into the caliper to ensure smooth movement. Remember to press the foot brake a couple of times to adjust the pads properly(after refitting/replacing) BEFORE ACTIVATING THE PARKING BRAKE (on and off a few times). The parking brake warning will still be on, simply disconnect the Battery for a few minutes then reconnect and if everything is all good the light will be off and all u need to do is reprogram ur radio stations and the date and time. Job done. No expense except for ur time and any parts that may be required. Usually removal and refitting accompanied with cleaning the parts is enough to get u by until u buy any new parts that are required. 

[Konrad C]

4 hours ago, picto27 said:

U mention the handbrake unit has broken, do u mean u have parking brake malfunction visible on the dash? Accompanied with a vsc light? 

Perhaps u could take the wheels off, and physically check the movement of all rear brake parts. I've had this multiple times. Usually the cause, as I see it, is poor servicing of the brakes, if need be remove everything, manually wind the brake pistons back into the caliper to ensure smooth movement. Remember to press the foot brake a couple of times to adjust the pads properly(after refitting/replacing) BEFORE ACTIVATING THE PARKING BRAKE (on and off a few times). The parking brake warning will still be on, simply disconnect the battery for a few minutes then reconnect and if everything is all good the light will be off and all u need to do is reprogram ur radio stations and the date and time. Job done. No expense except for ur time and any parts that may be required. Usually removal and refitting accompanied with cleaning the parts is enough to get u by until u buy any new parts that are required. 

Shaun, you are correct. I have one of the first Avensis T27 made, 2009 TR estate. I have had issues with the EPB, and the faults were external factors, not the EPB unit itself! I changed the brake pads a year ago, and made sure the pistons were wound back so the cut outs were horizontal. This allows the caliper to fit back onto the pads, which have a pin protruding on the back of the pads. I had to change the rear pads due to the pistons not in the right orientation, which caused the pistons to be skewed to one side, causing the inner pads to wear in a wedge shape! No damage to the discs so just pad replacement. The rear brake were previously changed exactly 4 year ago, when the EPB light flashed after the work was done. This time around last year, no flashing EPB and the brakes work fine. But then I messed with the wrong diagnostic tool and deleted the calibrations. I fixed that a few days later with Techstream.
Very few EPB units go wrong. I have read on this forum where a dealer has suggesting replacing the EPB unit, but the owner manage to find the cause was another component!
Before I bought my car, I was looking at buy a Mk2 T25 or a Honda Civic, as I was concerned about the EPB. But now I have a little more experience, I have less worries. 
 

[Buckley t]

On 1/2/2020 at 2:55 PM, Konrad C said:

Shaun, you are correct. I have one of the first Avensis T27 made, 2009 TR estate. I have had issues with the EPB, and the faults were external factors, not the EPB unit itself! I changed the brake pads a year ago, and made sure the pistons were wound back so the cut outs were horizontal. This allows the caliper to fit back onto the pads, which have a pin protruding on the back of the pads. I had to change the rear pads due to the pistons not in the right orientation, which caused the pistons to be skewed to one side, causing the inner pads to wear in a wedge shape! No damage to the discs so just pad replacement. The rear brake were previously changed exactly 4 year ago, when the EPB light flashed after the work was done. This time around last year, no flashing EPB and the brakes work fine. But then I messed with the wrong diagnostic tool and deleted the calibrations. I fixed that a few days later with Techstream.
Very few EPB units go wrong. I have read on this forum where a dealer has suggesting replacing the EPB unit, but the owner manage to find the cause was another component!
Before I bought my car, I was looking at buy a Mk2 T25 or a Honda Civic, as I was concerned about the EPB. But now I have a little more experience, I have less worries. 
 

Hi i have a t27 Avensis with check parking brake system warning  i cleaned the EGR valve my self i had it cleaned before and they would clear the warning light it would work away for a couple of months would to know how to  jump wire i would appreciate any help pleas  regards Tony 

[picto27]

How did the egr cleaning go with regards to the brakes?  Surely egr is in the engine and brakes are not!  Why would a smart computer thingy tell u the problem is with the brakes and which in turn affects the Vehicle Stability Control of the car if it actually meant to tell u the fault is with the engine and exhaust functions.  Think about!  It's not just a hat rack u know!  Some people on these forums are simply scare mongers that constantly repeat what they have read online instead of actually going outside and taking an actual look at where and what the fault might actuall be!

Good luck

[Konrad C]

18 minutes ago, picto27 said:

How did the egr cleaning go with regards to the brakes?  Surely egr is in the engine and brakes are not!  Why would a smart computer thingy tell u the problem is with the brakes and which in turn affects the Vehicle Stability Control of the car if it actually meant to tell u the fault is with the engine and exhaust functions.  Think about!  It's not just a hat rack u know!  Some people on these forums are simply scare mongers that constantly repeat what they have read online instead of actually going outside and taking an actual look at where and what the fault might actuall be!

Good luck

This is the problem with modern cars these days. They all tend to use a can-bus system and when something goes wrong and throws a fault, it affects other systems that you would not think are connected. Using my experience with my car 1.8 petrol, the EPB is connected to the gear position sensor, G-force sensor and throttle for the auto release. When I had my clutch replaced, the mechanic did not properly connect and secure the connection to the gear position sensor! This caused the EPB warning and the the parking brake had to be manually released via the switch. This has all been sorted. Just like the cruise control on some cars not working if the brake pedal switch is faulty or even a brake bulb is not working. Talking of EGR, some cars go into a limp home mode. I recently read somewhere, a car went into limp mode on the motorway, and a lorry hit it from behind! A comment was made why limp mode restricts a cars speed so severely? We know it's to limit damage. Also so called smart motorways don't help.
My car is one of the first built T27 (estate), so doing well so far.

[picto27]

On 6/1/2020 at 10:41 AM, Konrad C said:

This is the problem with modern cars these days. They all tend to use a can-bus system and when something goes wrong and throws a fault, it affects other systems that you would not think are connected. Using my experience with my car 1.8 petrol, the EPB is connected to the gear position sensor, G-force sensor and throttle for the auto release. When I had my clutch replaced, the mechanic did not properly connect and secure the connection to the gear position sensor! This caused the EPB warning and the the parking brake had to be manually released via the switch. This has all been sorted. Just like the cruise control on some cars not working if the brake pedal switch is faulty or even a brake bulb is not working. Talking of EGR, some cars go into a limp home mode. I recently read somewhere, a car went into limp mode on the motorway, and a lorry hit it from behind! A comment was made why limp mode restricts a cars speed so severely? We know it's to limit damage. Also so called smart motorways don't help.
My car is one of the first built T27 (estate), so doing well so far.

I once had abs, epb, vsc lights on at the same time. When I checked it the code indicated 2 faulty O2 sensors. I fixed the brakes and the fault codes cleared themselves, even the abs light (after disconnecting the Battery for a few minutes)