Welp.... I think I am finally experiencing this problem. It started yesterday after a lady pulled out in front of me on I-95 during a severe thunderstorm and pouring down rain. I had to slam on the brakes to avoid running into her. I could not tell.... But, I am sure that the VSC system activated.

Before I would hear the system prime for about 5 seconds as I approached the car and would not notice it again until the next time I drove the car or the following day. NOW, I went out into the garage this morning and it primed for a good 10 seconds, then it did it in three 5 second bursts after that. Also, with the car on, every time I press and release the brakes, I can hear the pump run. Before, it was not doing this.

Is the dealer "the only place to buy this part"?


Edit: Ok, I found the new part online for under $1,000 and went ahead and ordered it. Looks like I will be R&R'ing it next week and going to the dealer for the bleed. I am also able to feel the pedal rise (never happened before).

 

Looking forward to your report after the part is replaced. I've been living with this issue for too long and if the part is now available for less than $1000 somewhere it may finally be time to get it fixed too! Thank you!

 

Absolutely! No problem... I followed this a while back and was so happy to not have these symptoms. I knew when I went out into the garage Sunday, I was in trouble! The stupid thing was priming non stop! Even with the key in the house.

I searched for this part months ago (just for fun) and had a hard time finding one. The cheapest ones I found were $2100 and $2200. Searching yesterday was a little different or I just got lucky. Frontier Toyota Parts CA had 2 of them left, new and in the box. It is the new part # and they were only $953 before shipping. The total was $1,012 shipped.

I plan to R&R myself and take it to the dealer for bleeding and have them replace my sunvisors and get that drivers door window switch greased.

I drove the car today without incident. But, I can feel the pedal rising and falling. It is never in the position you expect it to be.

 

One thing to consider is that the brake actuator assembly was redesigned at some point to improve the high failure rate of the original piece of equipment. Do you know if the replacement part you bought is a redesigned unit or of the original design? It may not make any difference if you are not planning to keep the car for another 50K or more miles -- or at this price point it may be worth taking the gamble -- but if it is an original design it will likely fail again eventually.

 

Yes... As mentioned above in post #23, it is the NEW part #.

 

Ok fellas... I got some more info. on this part for you. Mine came today and it is the real deal, brand new in the original box and packaging for $953. It was $1012 delivered from Frontier Toyota in Valencia CA. Why some dealers are "gouging" the public on the part cost and some are not is a mystery?

Anyway, the box is branded with the new part # and was previously opened. I questioned as to why it had been opened and they said; "it was for more packing material". Good enough.... Then I questioned as to why the part # "in" the box did not match the part # "on" the box and they said; "Individual component numbers on the part itself will not match what is on the box".

This all sounded fishy to me! So, I hopped in the car and rode down to my local "rip off" Toyota Dealer. I went to the parts counter and asked if they had the brake actuator with the new part # in stock. They did! So, I asked if I could have a look at it and asked for a price on the part. He pulled the part off the shelf. It was a sealed brand new un-opened box with the new correct part number on the box. We opened it together and found the same part # on this as the one that was mailed to me! I was very relieved to find that this was legit and I was in fact not "ripped off". This particular dealer wanted $2,566 for just the part. The parts manager took me to a service writer and quoted me a price of $589 to install the new part and bleed the system for a grand total of $3,155!!

Long story short is that nothing as it seems when it comes to this particular fiasco and having to deal with it.

Also, for future reference, the new part # you will need for all of this will be; part # 44050-30660 (this will be the part # on the box) Mine and the box that was opened at the local dealer had part # 44510-30290 (inside the box).

These new units have had whatever flaw corrected and will not fail in the same way according to both dealers.

I plan to install this thing sometime next week and take it to the dealer to have the system bled.

 

Hi LS - update us when you have new part in.