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File a complaint to NHSTA regarding VSC/ABS Skid control ECU failure

87K views 100 replies 66 participants last post by  fishon73 
#1 ·
hi, did somebody file a complaint to NHSTA regarding this skid failure failing and making your vehicle uncontrollable due to sudden cutting off or preventing you from accelerating, I suspect that this is also in conjunction with the quite a while TSB regarding upgrading your brake caliper and rotor, thus having this upgrade throws off the syncronisity of the old brake/caliper combo versus the newer brake upgrade, so for the skid ecu to see a newer upgrade the skid vsc ecu should be reflashed or reprogram or un upgrade of the skid ecu, this is just my opinion after reading all the complaints about this particular ecu which is prone to failure on the 01-02 sequoia or tundra in internet chatrooms or forums like tundra solutions and edmunds.com,
anybody thought about this,
 
#77 ·
Well, thanks to everyone who previously posted your problems and links to the NHSTA, I also filed a formal complaint today (ODI #10283605). Here is my story;

The dash VSC TRAC & ABS SKID CONTROL warning lights on my 2003 Toyota Sequoia 2WD have been on constantly for a period of time. They first appeared when I started my engine before I even placed the vehicle in drive. This is my SECOND such failure of this system. The first occurrence was just weeks after the factory warranty expired. The original estimate to repair was about $2100. After some complaining, the dealer split the cost with me.

Thanks....
 
#78 ·
Just bought 2005 and just saw brake light come on, Toyota gave me error codes of C1223 and C1247 and skid control replacement estimate of $2,500. Of course there is no warranty on this 2005 model, but after talking to Toyota service advisor and reading forums, this appears to be a very significant goof on Toyota that could be expensive to owners.

Has anyone got Toyota corporation (did not purchase through dealer) to pay for this skid control cumputer replacement due to this being a safety and poor desgin problem?

Also, anyone know any update on possible recall with NTHSA?

Thanks all.
 
#79 ·
I filed a formal complaint and received an email reply that asked if I had any issues such as [FONT=&quot]the brakes applying by themselves or a problem with a lack of accelerator response or a problem with the vehicle losing engine power? I have not experienced any of these issues and I have not revieved a reply to my response.
[/FONT]
 
#80 ·
My wife nearly was in an accident while turning left across traffic. Normally, she would have had plenty of time...this time the VSC and TRAC lights were on and she did not get a response at all from the accelerator for around 5 seconds. The oncoming car was luckily able to slow down enough that it did not hit my wife. I filed another complaint tonight with the NHSTA (ODI Number: 10362091). I honestly doubt that anything will become of it...I am just hoping that the 2011 Siennas are not plagued with the same issues (rented one a couple weeks ago...loved it). I plan on replacing the Sequoia soon I think.
 
#81 ·
so does this issue end with the 05's or are the 06 and 07's experiencing the same thing too? We have an 04 4Runner and the wife wants something bigger. Naturlly, being a "loyal" Toyota customer I turned to the Sequoia. Just trying to be educated about our next buying decision.
 
#82 ·
Toyota Recalls 2003 Sequoia

in the comments section:

"goaterguy says:

06:03 AM, 04/29/2010

That would be great if they could find a Sequoia that had a working VSC/ABS computer! My brother's 2006 started lighting up like a Christmas tree and after some searching, there is a lot of defective ones."

if he's telling the truth - never know.
 
#83 ·
:DI knw this thread is old, but I just couldnt resist helping out.

I run a small garage dedicated to all imports from toyota to mercedes. Toyota and nissan are my specialties. I have run into these problems very often. There are a few quaity fixes for these issues and they are PERMANENT fixes!!!:D

First off 99% of the time the culprit acctualy is the brake system. Toyota IS looking in the right area but can never seem to get the gist of the problem. ITs NOT THE ECU!!
On all mdels the yaw rate sensor and the brake booster are the true issues, and acctually rarely the yaw rate sensor.

If you look at your brake booster, just under the brake master cylinder, there is what loks like a sensor plugged into the booster. IT IS THE ISSUE most of the time on later models (03-xx). the prblem is, you cant just replace that sensor. However reilly autoparts can get the
ENTIRE booster with the sensor already installed for around $200-$250 according to your part of the country. And you do not need a mechanic to put it on. its very simple and just uses a few tools.




The other fix, which covers all models, ESPECIALLY 2001 2002 and a few later years, is to totaly upgrade the brakes! I have been replacing the calipers on my 2001 limited seqouia with caipers off of a 2004-05 Tundra! minor fab work. but they blt right in place. It costs more initially than the booster job, but i have NEVER had the VSC light issues again!! EVER!! FIN!! DONE!! I WON!! MUAHAHAHA:first:

I have used this method and many (at least 30 or more customers vehicles that I can remember) and EVERY SINGLE TIME IT HAS WoRKED PERMANENTLY.:beavbutt:
 
#84 ·
The other fix, which covers all models, ESPECIALLY 2001 2002 and a few later years, is to totaly upgrade the brakes! I have been replacing the calipers on my 2001 limited seqouia with caipers off of a 2004-05 Tundra! minor fab work. but they blt right in place. It costs more initially than the booster job, but i have NEVER had the VSC light issues again!! EVER!! FIN!! DONE!! I WON!! MUAHAHAHA
Is this different from the TSB brake upgrade...upgrade to 13WL calipers?

Thanks for the input!
 
#85 ·
If you look at your brake booster, just under the brake master cylinder, there is what loks like a sensor plugged into the booster. IT IS THE ISSUE most of the time on later models (03-xx). the prblem is, you cant just replace that sensor. However reilly autoparts can get the
ENTIRE booster with the sensor already installed for around $200-$250 according to your part of the country. And you do not need a mechanic to put it on. its very simple and just uses a few tools.
I assume you're referring to the power brake booster?
Advance Auto Parts: Power Brake Booster by Cardone - Part 53-3108

I assume the brakes would need to be bled to do this?

Thanks again!
 
#86 ·
:DI knw this thread is old, but I just couldnt resist helping out.

I run a small garage dedicated to all imports from toyota to mercedes. Toyota and nissan are my specialties. I have run into these problems very often. There are a few quaity fixes for these issues and they are PERMANENT fixes!!!:D

First off 99% of the time the culprit acctualy is the brake system. Toyota IS looking in the right area but can never seem to get the gist of the problem. ITs NOT THE ECU!!
On all mdels the yaw rate sensor and the brake booster are the true issues, and acctually rarely the yaw rate sensor.

If you look at your brake booster, just under the brake master cylinder, there is what loks like a sensor plugged into the booster. IT IS THE ISSUE most of the time on later models (03-xx). the prblem is, you cant just replace that sensor. However reilly autoparts can get the
ENTIRE booster with the sensor already installed for around $200-$250 according to your part of the country. And you do not need a mechanic to put it on. its very simple and just uses a few tools.




The other fix, which covers all models, ESPECIALLY 2001 2002 and a few later years, is to totaly upgrade the brakes! I have been replacing the calipers on my 2001 limited seqouia with caipers off of a 2004-05 Tundra! minor fab work. but they blt right in place. It costs more initially than the booster job, but i have NEVER had the VSC light issues again!! EVER!! FIN!! DONE!! I WON!! MUAHAHAHA:first:

I have used this method and many (at least 30 or more customers vehicles that I can remember) and EVERY SINGLE TIME IT HAS WoRKED PERMANENTLY.:beavbutt:

Can anyone else confirm this? I really need to fix this issue in the next 3 weeks so that I an pass emissions testing (wont pass with the lights on).
 
#87 ·
vsc's, abs, parking brake lights on

Been researching this here. My 2007 Sequoia locked/braked a wheel in an icy parking lot with all those lights on. couldn't move. just spin one tire. turned off car then restarted and lights went out.
Dealer scanned it and found 4 codes. 3 said bad wheel sensor and one bad battery. Changed battery. will report back if this fixes the problem.
Cost was 100 for scan.

Could have bought a carmd scanner for 120. oh well.
Monkey's uncle
 
#88 ·
I spoke with an owner of a 2001 Sequoia who works at Toyota and he said that the sensors on the wheels tend to be the culprit more than anything. They should be cleaned and there won't be as many lights coming on. Cleaning - whether that be through the car wash or what.
I'm just curious what's the reason why would new calipers remedy this (cf. post #83)?
 
#89 ·
We have a 2002 Sequoia with 185,000 miles. When we get cold weather in Texas, it would turn on the vsc + trac off lights. We would take battery cable off for a couple of minutes, and the problem was gone.

Within the current year (2011) for no reason while driving, the brakes would start functioning making noise from under the hood. The truck would try to veer to one side (usually right) for 3-5 seconds, then the noise would stop and the vsc + trac off lights would come on. Whenever we turned the truck off and on, the lights would remain off.

This week every time we drove the truck It would do the same.

After reading through some forum on the internet, I decide to remove and clean the wheel sensors. The front ones were clean. The rear ones had metal shavings stuck on the magnetic end. I cleaned the sensors. I topped off the brake fluid reservoir and hit the road.

Now, the vsc + trac off lights remain off, but when starting from a stop the skid light (yellow car with skid marks, below the vsc light) comes on, cuts power to the engine for 2 seconds and then the truck takes off. (and the ligth turns off).

Has anybody had this same chain of events?

Thanks
 
#101 ·
I am dealing with this right now. Have replaced the wheel sensors and now everything is fine but the 2 second death wait in the middle of an intersection...Did you ever figure out what the issue was? Brake booster or ECU?? Already replaced the yaw sensor as well.
Thanks
 
#90 ·
It's interesting that this thread seems to have run it's course. I'm just beginning to suffer the consequences. It's very interesting that an owner of a 2011 is having similiar problems! Our 2003 with 80k miles experienced the acceleration problem in about 2004. The dealer here in Fresno, Ca said something about cleaning the wheel sensors. We had a few light indications and a couple acel/braking incidents but the car has been good--Until 3 months ago. With the ABS, VSC and TRAC lites on I took it to Michael Toyota for the A0G recall notice figuring this would solve the problem of the lack of ABS, VSC and TRAC (I find these safety features truly do NOT work). The rep claimed they reflashed the skid control ECU per the recall but my lite indications are caused by something else they would need to diagnose.... for a price. Reading the NHTSA recall on the inet, it states if the ECU will not accept the reflash it will be replaced free. The dealer claims it accepted the flash but the problem is elsewhere. An independent I trust found codes 1223, 1203, 1244: Not the code for a bad ECU.

Like many of you, I have no trust at all in the dealer. This dealer also dropped the "You are not a loyal customer" line on me. As if they and Toyota might have helped me if I had paid for $150 oil changes and exposed myself to more of their greed. There are good reasons to avoid the dealers. Sometimes I feel sorry for the mechanics who are not allowed to make an honest living at their trade.

Do any of you have experience with this recall? I think the NHTSA # is 10V176000. One must wonder why the pink notice does not make any reference to a specific designation. jvm
 
#91 ·
Somewhere here at tundrasolutions or toyotanation one user commented about high resistance from bad grounds. He cleaned all the battery cable to body grounds and added some and his issue seems to be fixed. Many car companies have TSB's about voltage drop etc and different electrical issues. Maybe the "bad battery" issue being lack of power or system sees to much resistance. Dremel wire brush / grind wheel to clean corrosion and paint from ground points and some Kopr-shield CP8-TB Thomas & Betts Kopr-Shield Compound, 8-Oz to protect the cleaned area and increase conductivity. Maybe it won't fix it but definitely worth a shot.
 
#92 ·
So.... I have a 2003 Sequoia LTD with 1340,000 KMS and warranty has expired. Truck was running great until two days ago.
Dropping off wife in a parking lot and the truck stalled. When I restarted it the "check engine" light stayed on along with the
"VSC/TRAC" light..... I have NEVER had the truck stall before on me. As it's the holidays I'm going to take it in to sort out the
Issue. After reading all of these threads I'm a bit worried about what the diagnosis is going to be.. I'm worried its gonna be the
same issues relayed here over and over with the ECU failure. Wish me luck....
 
#93 ·
I will chime in as well. 05' Sequoia with the lights on. Adding insult to injury, the Brake light is now on as well. I topped off the reservoir for good measure with no results. I may try the brake booster replacement first.....of course this is after replacing two lock solenoids, etc......
 
#94 ·
Same here ... '04 Sequoia with roughly 143K miles. Intermittent VSC Off, VSC Trac and Brake lights for the last couple of weeks, now it's VSC Off, VSC Trac and Check Engine lights on constantly (with intermittent Brake light). So far it hasn't had any effect on the driving the vehicle (knock on wood). To begin with the dealership indicated that they didn't know what the problem was (when all of the lights were intermittent) ... I'll be taking it back for diagnostics early next week and will post codes here. And I'll be filing a complaint to NHSTA ...
 
#95 ·
Took it to a trusted mechanic (not Toyota). He said error codes showed VSC/TRAC issue as well as "max air flow" sensor. Changed the air flow sensor and all codes went off. Explained that the air flow tripping set off other codes and it was ONLY the air flow sensor that was the problem. Fixed now (hope it lasts).
 
#96 ·
Well, I guess I be included on the list. My 03 sequoia sr5 with trd supercharger started to have the same issue with the vsc and Trac light turning on. It happened when I was driving, I pressed on the brake, it felt like it was grinding. Good thing I always leave a good space between me and the car in front of me, which was a Rolls Royce Phantom that day. I tried to press on the brake again, but it felt like it was back to normal but I did notice the vsc and tsc lights including the emergency light turned on. I don't think I felt like the car getting out of control but then again, I was at a stop light and was barely moving forward. I then parked the car, turned off the engine, and turned it on again and so far knock on wood, it hasn't turned on. I drove around for hours and nothing. I went and talked to a friend that had a very expensive big scanner which cost around $1600 and receieved the following codes:

C1360 - VSC master pressure sensor failure

C1203 - Engine control system communication circuit malfunction

C1310 - Malfunction in HV system

I thought of taking out my amp since it has been having issues lately and so far, the battery seems to be fine and so far no lights. I am still going to talk to the Dealership about this on Monday to see if there are any recalls that can be taken care of for my sequoia.

The TRD supercharger was installed by the dealership. I bought the truck from a good friend of mine and gave me all the receipts with installing the supercharger.
 
#97 ·
just to add to the idea of cleaning all grounds and voltage issues. i was having same problem on 2002 sequoia intermitently losing power momentarely with vsc lights coming on for no reason. i tried a few ideas presented on here like cleaning all wheel sensors and unplugging connections in system, nothing worked. i changed my original battery in jan 2012, yes it lasted 10 years and was still fine when i changed it but was getting nervous because it was soo old. replaced it with another toyota battery and my problem went away. maybe the voltage idea or bad ground thing has some legs
 
#99 · (Edited)
So i have a similar issue, some sort of...


Changed out my steeringrack bushings, all good, drove much better again, only steering wheel was little off center so the day after i went out for alignment,
That was a 5 minute job, (turned steering wheel to the center, i double checked if it was, tightend it to the chair with a spring, did alignment thats it)
I checked if steering wheel was really straight out on the freeway, get off and get on the freeway returning home bam SKID symbol accurs when going about 30 mile thru corner while getting on the freeway again.


While that skid controle came up, loud vsc / abs unit and totally interfering wit braking when totally unnecessary, no sharp corner at al and dry road surface.


Read all about vsc off/ vsc trac lights on display all the time, that is clearly not the issue here...


Sounds like steering angle is off, car thinks car is going more straight ahead compared to the steering angle... OK, calibrate.. paperclip... dont help.... did the checking list of the sensors.. paperclip method, steering all left all right braking and all that, seems all good... problem remains.


Installed Techstream,,, live Data.. all good, exept 'Zero yaw rate sensor' stays on value 1 all the time, while the values of the 'Yaw rate sensor (left under) changes value sames as all abs, deceleration, and steering angle...


Does it mean it is broken?


I read problems with new calibration not being accepted by ECU, so if i go back to the alignment store,, and asked them to get it all back to Original, so steering wheel is off again, problem should be gone?


I tried searching for an ECU update but you have to have certain rights to get the download from Toyota Tis website, went to 2 Dealerships in my area,,, 'we cant help you'... called a 3rd dealership... 'we never heard of anyting like that before'... pfff.. so i emailed Toyota USA, they say they just wont help me because the car has never been delivered in my country..


Most Horrible Service I've Ever Experienced!!!


PS.


When driving with the laptop hooked up, i go true corners over 30 miles but vsc and abs are turned off when hooked on, so i'm unable to get the skid interfering and unable to look at the life data what might be going on :(
So when hooked up all seems good.
 

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#100 ·
02’ sequoia . Both VSC lights came on with brake light . Brake light randomly went away . Both VSC lights stayed on , as I pump brakes pressure builds and all 4 brake calipers get tighter and lock up . This all happened before I replaced the brake booster and master cylinder ... still having the same issue. Brought it to Toyota, took them 6 hours to diagnose to tell me I need a new skid control ecu / abs module for almost $3000.00

opinions please ?
 
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