| Issue ID | 1625029 |
| Internal NHTSA # | 11287801 |
| Manufacurer | Toyota Motor Corporation |
| Brand | TOYOTA |
| Model | 4RUNNER |
| Model Year | 2003 |
| File date | 06/12/19 |
| Component | SERVICE BRAKES |
| Product type code | VEHICLE |
| Description of the problem | My daughter returned from work two days ago and parked the vehicle, she did not notice anything wrong with its drivability. The next morning she started the vehicle and a loud warning tone was being emitted from the dash. She asked me to look at it and i noticed the brake and abs warning lights were on. I tried depressing the brake pedal and it went completely to the floor instantly. I tried backing up the vehicle to see if repeated braking in reverse would pump up the brakes as it does on some vehicles i have owned. That did nothing and also unlike other vehicles i have driven, the brake failure was total. There was little to no manual braking. Traveling in reverse at maybe 3 mph took four to five seconds to come to a stop. Had this occurred at 60 mph on the rural roads we live on, i don't think we would have been able to safely stop the vehicle. I can't understand why any car would be designed where some kind of electrical/computer failure would render the vehicle undrivable instantly. This could have been a fatal event had it occurred at highway speeds. In searching the internet and your 7 pages of brake related complaints on specifically 2003 4runners, there were overwhelming accounts of the brakes totally failing while driving, and many accidents reported due to this. This vehicle should be removed from the road immediately before further incident and toyota should make owners whole due to this serious design defect. |
| Vehicle Mileage at Failure | 220000 |
| Number of Occurences | |
| Source of the issue | NHTSA WEB SITE |
| City and State | MONTGOMERY, TX |
| VIN pattern | JTEZU17R030XXXXXX |
| Was vehicle invloved in a crash? | N |
| Was vehicle involved in a fire? | N |
| Was incedent reported to police? | N |
| Was medical attention required? | N |
| Was part original equipment? | |
| No. of injured persons | |
| No. of fatalities | |
| Date of purchase | 07/08/26 |
| Was original owner? | N |
| Anti-lock brakes | N |
| Cruise control | N |
| Number of cylinders | |
| Drive train type | |
| Transmission type | |
| Vehicle speed | 0 |
| DoT tire identifier | |
| Tire size | |
| Location of tire code | |
| Type of tire failure code | |
| Was defective tire repaired? | |
| Date of manufacture | |
| Type of child seat code | |
| Type of restraint | |
| Dealer's name | |
| Dealer's telephone number | |
| Dealer's city | |
| Dealer's state code | |
| Dealer's ZIP code |