dbryan

My apologies if this has been covered elsewhere. I did try to search for it. I was in an accident yesterday due to brake failure of my beloved 2004 SC430. My poor baby was hurt but it should be repairable.

I was coming up to a light and was braking normally when suddenly I heard a click and suddenly my foot went to the floor. I hit the brakes again and it caught for a second at full brake and then went to the floor. This happened 2 more times with the last time the brakes locking up and then went to the floor again. Fortunately the impact had slowed enough that no airbags deployed. Baby is going to need a new bumper grill and hood and nobody was injured. The brakes started working again and I was able to slowly move it into a parking lot. I guess I'm lucky because had no one been in front of me I would have rolled out onto one of our busiest 6 lane roads.

I'm trying to figure out what happened. I started wondering if I kept missing the brake but lets face it there is no room to miss the brake To do so would have had my foot in the accelerator. Does anyone have any ideas on what could have caused this intermittent brake failure? Is it computer controlled or a possible electronic failure? I need to make sure whatever happened is corrected before I start driving it again.

Thanks for reading this. I truly appreciate this forums help. It has been a great source of information.

DshngDaryl

Glad to hear you are ok. This is the second time I heard a story like this in recent history.

Try googling "Clublexus SC430 brake booster" and you can find out what happened and how to fix it

GmanSC

You should have stopped and not driving the car at the first incident. Glad that you’re ok. Other members had experienced this failure, they were ok. I think this failure had something to do with the brake master cylinder. Here’s the link:

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sc4...xus-sc430.html

and this:

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sc4...-sc-430-a.html

dbryan

Unfortunately this was the first time. I had maybe 10 seconds before impact and cars on both sides of me. Until then it was perfect. After I got it in the parking lot I had it towed. I wasn't crazy enough to continue driving it. his is my seconds SC430. My first one other than my OCV valves never gave me a problem and I had it for 190,000 miles. I don't think there is anything more frightening than losing your brakes. I can deal with a loss of power steering, but total brake failure.... scary.

dbryan

Thank you. I found it. Sure sounds similar except no alarms went off.

sixonemale

Just curious, were you having brake fluid replaced every 30,000 miles according to the maintenance schedule? If so, maybe the technician doing the work would have detected the problem.

lugnuts

As others have posted similar events with our brake system - this is truly a "time bomb" that could happen at any time with family, loved one, etc. driving the SC.. Daylight is one thing, how about night, wet pavement, etc.
This is truly a "SAFETY" issue and one that must be reported to:

NHTSA | National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

Can our moderators with access to the data files report our issue??

dbryan

First thing I do is get everything checked out. I have just gotten to the 5,000 mile mark of ownership and everything had been done by the dealership I got it from.

dbryan

I'm considering myself very lucky that I didn't roll out onto the intersection. This could have been deadly. What scares me is how the brakes utterly failed. No manual brakes that would have been harder to use but they still would have been there. I'm literally fighting off anxiety when I get in my truck feeling like I'l have no brakes again. Lexus is doing a recall on airbags but not on brake failure? That's just wrong.

Bgw70

dbryan, so glad you are okay.
I probably missed it, but what year and how many miles are on your SC430?
have you checked the lexus website to see if you can find the past maintenance history?
https://drivers.lexus.com/lexusdrivers/
just curious if anyone ever bled the brakes.

dbryan

Thank you. I appreciate it. It's a 2004 and has just crossed 100,000 miles. It had the timing belt and radiator replaced at 60,000 miles. I did not purchase it from a lexus dealership but the BMW dealership said all maintenance was up to date.

Bgw70

create an account and enter the vin number to see all Lexus dealership maintenance...it’s free.

Wilson2000

It's brake failures like this that make me question the automotive industry's transition to automatic (electronic) parking/emergency brakes vs the mechanical emergency braking systems.

BTW...When I first got my SC I was used to driving a super-light, 1985 MR2, which stopped on a dime. I almost rear-ended a car that was stopped at a light because I misjudged the stopping distance of our extremely heavy SC's. I kept pressing the brake pedal harder and harder, and stopped within inches of the car's bumper in front of me. It was harrowing! I got used to the extended stopping distance, but would still like to explore upgraded pads/rotors to see if I can get better stopping power with aftermarket parts. Any recommendations of brands would be appreciated. I put EBC brand pads/rotors on my wife's ES and saw a huge improvement, but they are very dust-prone.

dbryan

Thank you. I'm not sure what difference it would have made since this seems to be an electronics failure.

DshngDaryl

Some people have put in dual piston calipers from the old supra.
Not an "Off the rack" solution, but not a hard solution either
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sc4...-on-sc430.html