NHTSA Complaint #10351106 — 2001 TOYOTA LAND CRUISER

ON 8/14/10 AT APPROXIMATELY 6 PM, I WAS TRAVELING WITH MY FAMILY SOUTHBOUND ON INTERSTATE 5-FREEWAY IN NORTH LOS ANGELES COUNTY (CITY OF VALENCIA) WHEN AN AUDIBLE DASH ALARM AND SEVERAL DASH PANEL LIGHTS LIT UP ON MY DASH PANEL. SHORTLY AFTER THIS OCCURRED, I LOST ALL POWER ASSIST IN MY BRAKING SYSTEM AND WAS FORCED TO USE BOTH EXTREME FOOT PRESSURE ON THE BRAKE PEDAL AND THE HAND BRAKE TO BRING MY CAR TO A STOP. I WOULD CLASSIFY THIS AS A CATASTROPHIC FAILURE OF THE BRAKING SYSTEM. THE CAR WAS TOWED TO A TOYOTA DEALERSHIP, WHERE THE PROBLEM WAS DIAGNOSED AS A FAILURE OF THE ABS ACTUATOR SYSTEM. COST TO REPAIR EXCEEDED $2700. TOYOTA CUSTOMER CARE WAS NOTIFIED - AN ATTEMPT TO OBTAIN GOOD-WILL REPAIR BASED ON THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE PROBLEM WAS DENIED BY TOYOTA. TOYOTA HAS NOT OFFERED ANY RESPONSE TO ME REGARDING THE SYSTEM FAILURE AND THE EXTREME DANGER THAT MY FAMILY AND MYSELF WERE EXPOSED TO. BASED ON INTERNET RESEARCH, THIS SAME PROBLEM HAS BEEN REPORTED BY OTHER TOYOTA LANDCRUISER OWNERS, AND TOYOTA HAS BEEN NOTIFIED IN EACH CASE AND CHOSEN TO DO NOTHING TO INVESTIGATE THE REPORTED FAILURE. THIS TYPE OF CATASTROPHIC FAILURE OF A BRAKING SYSTEM HAS THE POTENTIAL TO CAUSE FATAL ACCIDENTS AND SHOULD BE INVESTIGATED BY TOYOTA AND THE NHTSA. THE LACK OF ANY TYPE OF FAIL-SAFE SYSTEM THAT WOULD PROVIDE BRAKING BACK-UP REPRESENTS A SERIOUS DESIGN FLAW IN THIS MODEL LANDCRUISER. TOYOTA NEEDS TO DEVELOP A FIX FOR THIS PROBLEM AND A RECALL NOTICE SHOULD BE SENT OUT TO OWNERS FOR ALL LANDCRUISER MODELS FOR WHICH THIS DESIGN FLAW EXISTS. *TR