Toyota Hybrid Brake Life

[The Critic]

I had my friend's 06 Prius at the dealer this morning for a water pump repair. During this visit, I asked the service advisor to also perform a brake inspection.

After 85,000 miles, the front pads have 60% left and the rear shoes have 70% left. My friend has driven this car for 25,000 miles in hilly terrain with lots of brake usage. We do not know how the previous owner used this car, but accumulating 60,000 miles in three years means that it was probably a mix of city and highway. And yes, I verified through the Toyota system that this car has never had a brake job-- all of the previous owner's services were done at a dealer so I was actually able to track the brake measurements taken from each visit.

I am very impressed with the amount of brake lining remaining considering the type of service. Most normal cars will be on their second, if not third set of pads by now.

This example proves yet another benefit of the Toyota Hybrid system, one that many people are not aware of. I am quite impressed with how reliable this system has been, the fuel economy and the nationwide dealer support. The more I work on this Prius, the more impressed I am with it.

 

[zyxelenator]

My stepmother has 03 golf TDI, still factory brakes. Over 102k miles already, and dealer said there is about 20% left.

 

[The Critic]

Originally Posted By: zyxelenator
My stepmother has 03 golf TDI, still factory brakes. Over 102k miles already, and dealer said there is about 20% left.

If your stepmother lives in Louisville, the conditions there are much different than the Silicon Valley, CA, area. We have much more traffic and there is a lot more low-speed braking involved.

 

[zyxelenator]

but still it's pretty good for that milage.

 

[toyotapriusguy]

if You poke around on P.C. some of the prii's are hitting 150-180 before they need new shoes, and one guy with, IIRC, 60% left at 150k miles

One of the bonuses of our cars

 

[MarkM66]

Miles are brake life really have nothing to do with each other.

I just changed my factory pads/rotors on my Vibe at 160k miles. They probably could of went another 10-20k.

But I'd guess 80-90% of it's miles are on the highway.

 

[The_Jeff]

My saturn went 11 years and probably 100k miles before the pads fell apart from rust.

It and the prius probably both have economy minded drivers.

 

[Corvette Owner]

I guess what is going unsaid here is the fact that a Hybrid, with regenerative braking, SHOULD get more life out of the brakes.

Just like they should get more mpg.

Some foreign cars have extremely long brake pad life. My 2006 Nissan Murano has over 90,000 miles on the original brake pads and looks like it is at 40% life left! Other examples were previously given.

 

[SteveSRT8]

Some American ones too. Seems to have a lot to do with the driver.

76 Dodge van - 160k miles on original pads

 

[MarkM66]

Originally Posted By: SteveSRT8
Seems to have a lot to do with the driver.


Exactly. Some people love to race up to a red light.

 

[HTSS_TR]

The front pads and rotors of my E430 was replaced in 10k miles, the rear was a little longer at 15k miles. All 4 tires was replaced at 14k miles. It costs more than $1k in brakes and tires in a little more than 1 year of driving.

It depends on car and driver.

 

[rcy]

160 000 KM on my 2006 Lexus RX400h hybrid. Lots of meat left in the pads. Unfortunately, the mechanical parking brake (drum type in the hat of the rotor) needs some work - one of the drawbacks of living in a cold, snowy climate (but the snowboarding makes up for it).

As someone already mentioned, it's the regenerative braking that is making these pads/rotors last longer. The electric motors are slowing the vehicle a large percentage of the time, not the regular traditional caliper/rotor combo.

 

[kb01]

It seems like some vehicles are easier on their brakes than others. I have about 80,000 miles on the OEM brakes on my Jeep Compass. That's close to twice the distance I've ever gone on the same set of pads. I have the same exact commute as before and am not driving any differently.

 

[Hollow]

Depends on the conditions.

When my OB was used for 80/20 city/highway it was on its' 3rd set of front pads by 65k miles. Now that it is 80/20 highway/city, this last set will be about done at 50k miles.

 

[Jim 5]

Basically the same experience a cabbie in Vancouver told me about. He put about 800k km on his first prius and Toyota bought it back from him for his purchase price. He said he basically had no troubles with the car in that time. Just electronic issues related to the istallation of the taxi meter.

He also said the amount he saved every month in gas was enough to pay for the Prius.

 

[Hokiefyd]

Toyota bought his Prius back after almost 500,000 miles, because his taxi meter was creating electronic problems? Wow.

 

[Jim 5]

No, because at that time it was the highest mileage prius Toyota was aware of. They wanted to take it apart and study it or something.

 

[Vikas]

May be electronic issues related to the installation of the taxi meter was causing the mileage to be off by a digit? Then it would too easy to rack up 800K km instead of 80K km.

Just kidding!

- Vikas