Brake Problems?
 

I have had some reports of brakes in the new Ford SUV Hybrdi grabbing or Fadding to such an extent that Owners think it is a dangerous condition. I would appreciate comments. I have had no problems in my car but I urge owners that think they have a problem to first contact their Dealer. If they get no satisfaction they should contact the DOT Auto Safety Hotline at
1-888-DASH-2-DOT,
1-888-327-4236
or Online at:
http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/hotline

Mike

I just started having this problem.
 

In the rain the other day, I had the problem you described on my FEH.

The brakes would work smoothly...right up until I was almost stopped, then they would suddenly grab hard, causing me to come to an abrupt, jerky halt.

I thought it might be a wet wheel/dry brake pad thing. But an entire afternoon of driving didn't solve the problem.

In dry weather the brakes work fine.

I don't mean to beat up on American manufacturers, but why does it not surprise me? It seems like the Big 3 have all sorts of these "hiccups" that ultimately lead to recalls, etc. I would be extremely surprised if this were to happen to a Toyota or Honda.

Hi Jason:

___Are you not talking about your Prius II’s Fuel Gauge TSB or the Insight’s 3 ECU updates, parking brake, and lightning wiring harness recall over the last 5 years? How about the Prius I’s EPS rack recall? That hurt. Yes, our hybrids must be much better then the Ford with no recall’s to date. What comes of the Escape HEV’s brake problem is unknown but we shall see soon enough. Given the circumstances, it looks like the Japanese auto manufacturers companies have their own fair share of hiccup’s to contend with but you can dismiss them if you would like? You remember the Camry’s sludge issue, right? How about the Accord’s, TL’s, and MDX’s tranny’s? Meanwhile, my Ford Ranger, the Acura MDX, Honda Insight, and Toyota Corolla are merrily running down the road with none being any more reliable then the others to date … Well all but the CAT going out on the 03 Corolla LE at the 58,000 mile mark. Fortunately, the emissions HW is warranted to 60,000 or I would have been facing a $1,200 + bill.

___Good Luck

___Wayne R. Gerdes
___Hunt Club Farms Landscaping Ltd.
___Waynegerdes@earthlink.net

I was just making a general observation that it appears American manufacturers have bigger problems, larger recalls and are generally less reliable. I don't have an almanac of recalls, though. Wayne, you gotta curve those acrid rants!

Hi Jason:

___It was far more then just a general observation …

___By the way, have you heard of an Escape HEV having the following happen to it?

The pain of being an early adopter (long post)

___We will see over the coming year but Toyota is by no means perfect by any stretch of the imagination. Remember the CAT in my Corolla that fortunately died 2000 miles before the emissions warranty was up? Just 3 weeks later and I would have been out over $1,200 …

___I forgot about the Prius II’s rear stop light recall. Was there a few ECU flashes for the Prius II needed as well?

___Good Luck

___Wayne R. Gerdes

Either the problem is becoming less noticable with miles, or I'm getting used to it. Not seeing as much grabbing when slowing to a stop as before (we had a couple wet days this week, and I didn't notice any problems). It's possible this is a break-in issue, since front brakes wear so much slower on hybrids it might be taking longer for the pads to "bed in" than in a normal car.

And yes, I have a note in my glovebox extending the warranty on my Prius I steering rack, and Toyota already had to buy me an alignment and a new set of RE92s when old ones went bald on the shoulders at 25K miles. Also had the TSB for the battery seals. Nobody's perfect...

I've had my FEH since last October. It's gone through the late fall and winter driving conditions (lots of rain, cold, and snow; both wet & dry conditions -- only a small amount of warm weather). Yesterday was the first time I've ever experienced this braking condition. The brakes felt normal (I tend to use gentle breaking pressure and start breaking farther in advance of a typical driver. The FEH will rely more on regenerative braking and less on the disk brakes if the breaking is gentle. If you really need to stop in a hurry, it'll clamp down on the disks as any car would.

I figure by using gentle breaking, I'll get more electric regeneration and spare the pads.

Yesterday was a farily wet day. Braking seemed normal as usual... up until the point just before I came to a full stop. Just as the speed reduced to the last few mph (nearly stopped), the brakes seemed to grab hard. I learned to compensate by easing the pressure on the brake peddle just as the car comes to it's full stop. It did this all while it was raining (it's been in rain lots of times but has never done this before). Today (a dry day), the braking has resumed normal behavior.

I'd be interested in learning why this happens. I'm wondering if it has something to do with the computer blending the regenerative brakes with disk brakes to transition the car to a full stop and somehow being spoofed by having one of the brakes work less effectively because of the rain (and thus the pressure blending is a bit out of balance). This is purely a guess.

Yes! Exactly!
 

Yes, this is exactly what happens to me. Regardless of the cause, it's dangerous and Ford needs to be aware that it happens.