Automobile are become increasingly complicated and expensive, and there is a price to pay for it even if the issue is minor. But would you expect a simple repair to a 3 year old car to cost up to 10% of the purchase price? Read on to the continuing saga below of a unfortunate Prius owner and his struggle to get a simple brake repair resolved and think back to the last time a dealership tried to run you through the wringer. What would you do?
At the end of March, on a Saturday afternoon, my brake booster pump began making a terrible squealing sound when I tried to move my Prius. It had been perfectly fine earlier in the day. I had just passed 50,000 miles. The dashboard ABS and brake warning lights went on. The squealing noise continued after the vehicle was turned off for several minutes, then would stop. I popped the hood and felt what I suspected was the brake booster pump (driver side, toward the back and buried a bit) and it was vibrating in synch with the squealing noise. I tried adding some brake fluid, as the resevoir was down to about half-full, and miraculously the noise stopped. Only to start up about 10 minutes later, and didn't stop again.
I couldn't get it into my local Toyota dealer (Burien Toyota) until Tuesday, and I had to drive it on Monday. On top of the squealing noise, there was also a high pitched beeping sound to deal with while driving. The hydraulic brakes seemed to work fine, but regenerative braking was missing. I dropped off the vehicle at the dealership Monday night & got a loaner.
Tuesday afternoon, the dealership called to say that the brake master cylinder had to be replaced at a cost of $3000! After a bit of recovery from the shocking news, I told them to proceed with the fix but I wanted some consideration from Toyota for at least part of the repair cost - this is a ridiculously costly failure on a 50K vehicle, about 10% of what I paid for it! They said the part was in Portland and the vehicle could be fixed the next day once the part arrived.
That started a two-week wait for the vehicle to be fixed. Portland didn't have the part, and I didn't find that out until Friday of that week. The part then had to come from Detroit (??!) and wouldn't arrive until the following week. I went on a business trip the second week, and I had to call and remind the service department that I was coming back to town on Friday and I wanted my Prius back. They did get it back to me, along with a $3019 bill.
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