2013 LEXUS CT Service Brakes Problems

I am submitting a formal complaint regarding Lexus’ refusal to correct a known safety-related defect under Customer Support Program (CSP) 21LE01. My vehicle meets all criteria outlined in the program, yet Lexus denied coverage. Details: 1.Program Coverage: CSP 21LE01 covers Brake Booster and Brake Booster Pump assemblies for internal malfunctions verified by Diagnostic Trouble Codes C1391, C1252, C1256, or C1253. Coverage extends 10 years or 150,000 miles, whichever comes first. 2.Vehicle Qualification: •Mileage: under 150,000 miles •Model year/production range: covered under CSP 21LE01 •Symptoms: brake-system warning lights, reduced braking performance, and internal malfunctions •DTCs: C1391, C1252, C1256, C1253 confirmed 3.Lack of Notification: Lexus indicates that owners were notified of this program starting May 2021. I never received any notice, despite my contact information being current with the DMV. 4.Denial of Repair: Despite the vehicle qualifying under all CSP 21LE01 criteria, Lexus informed me I am “not eligible” for the repair. This refusal directly contradicts the program’s published requirements. Safety Concern: This defect affects the brake system, a critical safety component. Denying the repair for a qualifying vehicle exposes the driver and others on the road to potential brake failure and increased risk of accident. If the brake booster/pump fails while driving, braking can become hard, delayed, or fail completely, greatly increasing the risk of accidents, collisions, injury, or death. Request: I am requesting that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration investigate Lexus’ denial of a safety-related repair and compel the manufacturer to honor the repair coverage under CSP 21LE01 for my vehicle.

My daughter was driving home at night and the vehicle brakes did not respond normally after coming to a gated entry, she was able to stop with limited braking power and luckily she did not get into an accident. The vehicle gave no warning prior to the incident, and started to show all 4 lights on the dash after the fact;BRAKE, CAUTION, ABS, Stability Control with a beeping sound. She had to stop the vehicle immediately because we felt if was unsafe to do so. The car was stored in the garage for a few days waiting for the codes to get scanned but after starting it the errors were gone, I was able to take a long drive without a problem. Then once again while driving (not when starting the vehicle) the codes reappeared and have been scanned and shows multiple errors; C1252, C1253, C1256, and C1391. This corresponds to the errors in the Brake Booster Pump. Now the car is beeping all the time and probably needs expensive repairs. The vehicle is available for inspection upon request.

Driving down the 99Freeway at speeds approx. Up to 72mph, my abs,traction, and brake lights illuminated at the same time on my dash. I pushed on my brake pedal in order to slow down and pull over, my brake pedal was extremely hard to push in and no matter how hard I pushed it didn't appear to be slowing the vehicle down. I pushed on the emergency brake slowly to help slow down safely and was able to get pulled over. I turned the car off and proceeded to call a friend for help. My friend suggested that I start the vehicle back up and see if I was comfortable enough to continuing to drive it to get myself off of the freeway, which I did. Then when I got off the freeway, I noticed all the lights had gone off and the car felt like it was driving normal again. I proceeded home. The following day my check engine light came on saying to check hybrid system. After being informed to clear the check engine to reset everything my car seemed fine. Then approximately 3 weeks later the abs, traction and brake light came back on and I had difficulty braking. This time and alarm started beeping inside my car as well, the check engine light saying traction battery is not charging and my vehicle does not want to stop. I've been researching different forums online and I'm seeing a numerous amount of other Toyota and Lexus owners with very similar complaints with their cars as well. I've replaced my brake pads, replaced my 12v battery and key fob battery as well. So far I still have no brakes and this is my only vehicle so I'm really hoping this turns out to be a recall or something cause I can't afford to do the repairs .

Hydraulic pump problem

The brake booster and pump are a known issue for all CT200 models 2011-2013. The brakes do not work as intended which is a safety issue. The attached file is acknowledgement by Lexus that this is an issue. Though they are not covering the problem

dash lit up like a xmas tree; braking became immediately unpredictable, spongy, and difficult to stop the car. error code c1391.

My Ct200h has now recently started to leak fluid from the brake system has started to malfunction due to this known problem by Lexus on their 2013 CT200h brake booster/master cylinder as well as the actuator system problem which they had previously put out a statement for. This is absolutely incomprehensible the scope of a dangerous situation this could have put my family in. Imagine if the brakes would have fully malfunctioned and I slammed into the back of a 18- wheeler, the whole top of this car is coming off including everyones heads in the car. I hope this reaches a competent individual who understands the scope of the malfunctioning in the brake system. This is supposed to slow a 2 ton car going from 65 mph to 0 at any instance, if the system malfunctions at the wrong time LIVES ARE PUT AT RISK. I have full service records through the dealer and constantly do routine maintenance with the dealer. I am highly disappointed in with this matter.

There is a noise I am hearing while breaking which is the actuator trying to build pressure, but the pressure is being leaked out of the accumulator in the brake master cylinder, all of the “Brake” and “ABS” lights come on and you will hear the actuator about every three seconds or so. This is a dangerous mechanism which has been known already on a multitude of these same models. Please fix this, as it could have been a dangerous situation this vehicle could have put my family in.

ABS BRAKE ACTUATOR IS FAILING AND MAKING A LOUD NOISE WHEN BRAKES ARE APPLIED. THIS SEEMS TO BE A COMMON ISSUE FOR LEXUS. CONTACTED LEXUS DEALER AND THEY TOLD ME THE CAR IS NOT COVERED UNDER ANY RECALLS OR WARRANTY EXTENSIONS.

TL* THE CONTACT OWNED A 2016 2013 LEXUS CT200. THE CONTACT STATED WHILE DRIVING AT 20 MPH, THE BRAKES LOCKED UP NOT ALLOWING THE BRAKE PEDAL TO BE DEPRESSED. AS A RESULT, THE VEHICLE RAN INTO A TELEPHONE POLE. THE AIR BAGS DEPLOYED. A POLICE REPORT WAS FILED. THE CONTACT SUFFERED A BROKEN COLLAR BONE, BROKEN LEFT HAND, AND A BROKEN FEMUR BONE. THE CONTACT DID RECEIVE MEDICAL ATTENTION. THE VEHICLE WAS NOT DRIVABLE AND WAS TOWED TO A JUNKYARD. THE CONTACT WAS RELATING THIS ISSUE TO THE REPAIRS TO THE LEFT CONTROL ARM PRIOR TO CRASHING THE VEHICLE. THE VEHICLE WAS NOT DIAGNOSED OR REPAIRED. A DEALER WAS NOT CONTACTED. THE MANUFACTURER HAD NOT BEEN INFORMED OF FAILURE. THE FAILURE MILEAGE WAS 60,000.

Mileage: 60,000

ON 9/13/2019 I EXPERIENCED A LOSS OF BRAKING POWER WHILE APPLYING BRAKES ON AN UNEVEN/POTHOLED CITY ROAD SURFACE WHILE APPROACHING A STOP WITH VEHICLES IN FRONT OF ME. THIS LOSS OF BRAKING POWER NEARLY RESULTED IN COLLISION. THE LOSS OF BRAKING POWER HAS HAPPENED NUMEROUS TIMES, BUT UNTIL NOW HAS NOT RESULTED IN A POTENTIALLY HAZARDOUS SITUATION. I DISCOVERED THAT DRIVERS OF BOTH THE CT200H AND PRIUS INDICATE LOSS OF BRAKING POWER WHEN APPLYING BRAKES ON UNEVEN SURFACES SUCH AS POTHOLES, SPEED BUMPS, OR MANHOLES THAT ARE NOT LEVEL WITH THE SURROUNDING ROAD SURFACE. THIS LOSS OF POWER IS OFTEN REPORTED AS ACCELERATION, THOUGH THE MORE LIKELY EXPLANATION (SEE ATTACHMENT) IS THAT DECELERATION IS INTERRUPTED DUE TO SLOW HANDOFF OF REGENERATIVE BRAKING TO FRICTION BRAKING. PREVIOUS REPORTS OF BRAKING ANOMALIES HAVE BEEN FILED WITH NTSB FOR THE LEXUS CT200H, WHICH USES THE SAME REGENERATIVE BRAKING SYSTEM AS THE TOYOTA PRIUS. A DRIVER WHO COLLECTED DATA REGARDING THIS ISSUE STATES: "THE SPEED SENSOR DATA FROM EACH WHEEL ALSO COMES AT ABOUT 60 HZ. ONE WOULD THINK WITH THIS KIND OF DATA RATE THE SYSTEM SHOULD BE ABLE TO ADD IN FRICTION BRAKING FAST ENOUGH (AFTER GOING OVER A BUMP WHILE BRAKING AND REDUCING REGEN BRAKING), SAY IN A SMALL FRACTION OF A SECOND, SO THAT THE DRIVER WON'T HAVE TO EXPERIENCE THE MANY SECONDS OF SENSATION OF LOSS OF BRAKING, IF TOYOTA BOTHERED TO REFINE THE ALGORITHM." A REVIEW OF BRAKING RELATED INCIDENT REPORTS FOR BOTH THE TOYOTA PRIUS AND LEXUS CT200H MAY PROVIDE ADDITIONAL INSIGHT INTO THE FREQUENCY AND SEVERITY OF THE LOSS OF ASSISTED/FRICTION BRAKING ON UNEVEN ROAD SURFACES. SEE ATTACHED ACCELEROMETER DATA.

Mileage: 80,000

THE BRAKES ON THIS CAR QUIT WORKING FOR A SECOND WHEN BRAKING OVER ROUGH SPOTS SUCH AS POT HOLES OR SPEED BUMPS. BUT, OF COURSE, NOT ALWAYS. IT FEELS AS IF THE CAR WANTS TO ACCELERATE WHEN THIS HAPPENS. I HAVE HAD THIS HAPPEN ON NUMEROUS OCCASIONS.

Mileage: 55,651

CAR SURGES WHEN BRAKING AND GOING OVER SPEED BUMP, TRAIN TRACKS, POT HOLES GOING BETWEEN 20 - 35 MILES. THIS HAS HAPPENED ABOUT 5-6 TIMES SINCE WITH 1/14 HAPPENING I HAVE HAD THE CAR. I HAVE ASKED FOR LEXUS OF PALM BEACH TO DO HEALTH CHECK, BRAKE CHECK AND ALL SYSTEMS ARE OK, BUT SOMETHING IS NOT RIGHT. JUST WORRIED THAT WHEN CAR SURGES, ME AND/OR MY FAMILY OR PASSENGERS GET INJURED

Mileage: 25,000

AS I WAS DRIVING INTO A TURN FROM A COMPLETE STOP IN THE TURN LANE ON A CITY STREET, MY CAR SURGED FORWARD AND THE BRAKES DIDN'T RESPOND. THE AIRBAG DID NOT DEPLOY.

Mileage: 7,200

TL* THE CONTACT OWNS A 2013 LEXUS CT. WHILE COASTING INTO AN ELEVATED DRIVEWAY, THE VEHICLE EXPERIENCED BRAKE FAILURE. THE CONTACT CONTINUED TO DEPRESS THE BRAKE PEDAL AND THE VEHICLE STOPPED RIGHT IN FRONT OF HIS RESIDENCE. THE VEHICLE WAS TAKEN TO THE DEALER WHO WAS UNABLE TO DIAGNOSE THE CAUSE OF THE FAILURE. THE MANUFACTURER WAS NOTIFIED. THE FAILURE MILEAGE WAS 2,847. THE VIN WAS NOT AVAILABLE. UPDATED 03/30/15*LJ UPDATED 6/24/2015*JS

Mileage: 2,847

TL* THE CONTACT OWNS A 2013 LEXUS CT HYBRID (N/A). THE CONTACT STATED THAT WHILE DRIVING APPROXIMATELY 40 MPH WITH THE BRAKE PEDAL DEPRESSED THE BRAKES DISENGAGED WHEN DRIVING OVER ANY UNEVEN SURFACE ON THE ROAD. THE VEHICLE WAS TAKEN TO THE DEALER FOR DIAGNOSIS. THE TECHNICIAN STATED THE VEHICLE WAS FUNCTIONING AS DESIGNED. THE MANUFACTURER WAS MADE AWARE OF THE FAILURE. THE VEHICLE WAS NOT REPAIRED. THE APPROXIMATE FAILURE MILEAGE WAS 5,000. *TR

Mileage: 5,000