Daox's Grey 2004 Prius

[S Keith]

Failed ABS actuators are extremely common. There was an extended warranty campaign on it... ANY year, ANY mileage, free replacement through the end of 2017. Warranty extended to 10yr/150K miles after that.

You can get lucky by replacing with salvage unit, or suck it up and spend somewhere around $1700.

[Daox]

If its just the ABS actuator, do you even need to replace it? Does it effect normal use or does it just disable ABS?

[S Keith]

Originally Posted by Daox

If its just the ABS actuator, do you even need to replace it? Does it effect normal use or does it just disable ABS?

I've driven several with failed ABS actuators. Regenerative braking is usually completely disabled (if not completely, mostly), and the brake feel is horrifying. Minuscule changes in pedal pressure produce violent variations in binder grab.

I wouldn't wish it on an enemy. I routinely recommend to people asking this question that they not drive the car, and if they must, don't transport anyone that's important to them in it (family members, children, etc.).

One's ability to control the vehicle's braking with any precision is completely lost.

The actuator is where all the magic happens to make a vehicle have a brake feel indistinguishable from a non-hybrid even while it's balancing regenerative and real braking while also providing "simulated" pedal feel to the driver. When it fails, it all goes to sh!t. Yes, you still have brakes, and yes, you can learn to control the vehicle mostly safely, but your ability to control braking in an emergency/panic situation is dramatically compromised.

Anyone who knows what normal brakes feel like will not want to be a passenger.

[Xist]

At least one of the ads that I saw said that it needed to be towed because the ABS actuator was bad.