NHTSA Complaint #10465928 — 2005 TOYOTA SEQUOIA

3 INCIDENTS IN THE LAST 90DAYS, EACH ONE WHILE THE VEHICLE WAS IN MOTION BETWEEN 15-40MPH WITH 5 PASSENGERS AND IN TRAFFIC. ON EACH OCCASION, THE BRAKES SUDDENLY ENGAGED, CAUSING A LOUD BANG/THUNK SOUND FOLLOWED BY A SEVERE SHAKE IN THE VEHICLE. SPEED & CONTROL WAS DRASTICALLY REDUCED TO THE POINT OF BEING UNCONTROLLABLE. WITHIN SECONDS, THE VSC TRAC, VSC OFF, BRAKE AND MAINTENANCE LAMPS ILLUMINATED. VEHICLE WAS VERY DIFFICULT TO DRIVE, AS IF THE BRAKES WERE FULLY ENGAGED. AFTER PULLING OVER, WE SHUTDOWN THE VEHICLE AND LET IT SIT A SHORT PERIOD OF TIME, ON RESTARTING, ALL LAMPS WERE ON, THE VEHICLE WAS DRIVE-ABLE HOWEVER, THE BRAKES WE STILL BEING APPLIED BUT SLIGHTLY ALLOWING THE VEHICLE TO MOVE BUT ON RELEASE OF THE ACCELERATOR, THE VEHICLE SLOWED RAPIDLY. AFTER DROPPING OFF VEHICLE TO A LOCAL NON-DEALER SERVICE CENTER ON EACH OF THE FIRST 2 INCIDENTS, THE CODES WERE NO-LONGER ACTIVE AND THE SHOP INDICATED THAT NOTHING COULD BE DONE UNLESS THE CODES WERE ACTIVE AGAIN. RESEARCH INDICATES THE 2003-04 HAD SKID CONTROL COMPUTER RECALL, REFLASHING/REPROGRAMMING THE COMPUTER BUT ONLY A TSB WAS ISSUED ON THE 2005 MODEL YEAR. AFTER THE THIRD INCIDENT, THE MOST SEVERE, WE WENT TO A TOYOTA DEALER. THEY CONFIRMED THE RECALL & THE TSB. IN DISCUSSIONS WITH THE SERVICE ADVISOR'S AND TECHNICIANS, THEY BOTH REPORTED THAT THEY HAVE HAD NUMEROUS 2005 MODELS WITH THE SAME ISSUE. THE DEALER INFORMED US THAT THE SKID CONTROL COMPUTER WILL NEED TO BE REPLACED AT A TOTAL COST OF $1100. HOWEVER, NUMEROUS POSTS ON ONLINE BLOGS & FORUMS INDICATE THE PROBLEM PERSISTS EVEN AFTER THE SKID CONTROL COMPUTER WAS REPLACED. WE ARE LUCKY THAT THIS EVENT DID NOT RESULT IS AN ACCIDENT AS WE WERE IN TRAFFIC AND VEHICLES BEHIND US WOULD NOT EXPECT OUR VEHICLE TO SUDDENLY BRAKE CAUSING THEM CRASH INTO US AT FULL SPEED. THIS IS A SEVERE KNOWN SAFETY ISSUE AND TOYOTA SHOULD ISSUE A RECALL. *TR