VACUUM BRAKE BOOSTER FAILURE

What NHTSA is examining

On february 10, 2005, the office of defects investigation (odi) opened a preliminary evaluation to investigate alleged loss of brake power-assist in certain 2004 model year (my) lexus rx330 vehicles built through approximately june 30, 2004.the subject vehicles were manufactured at toyota motor manufacturing canada, inc.?s cambridge, ontario assembly plant and were equipped with vacuum brake booster assemblies sourced from aisin seiki co., ltd (aisin) subsidiary advics north america, inc. (advics-na).to date, odi is aware of 146 non-duplicative reports that allege loss of brake power-assist and 6 crashes allegedly caused by loss of brake power-assist (resulting in 1 minor injury) on the subject vehicles.the subject vehicles use a conventional brake booster assembly that contains a rubber diaphragm to separate the fore and aft pressure chambers.the outer edge of the rubber diaphragm is held in place via a retaining groove on the brake booster body.if the booster loses vacuum (e.g., operator depletes the vacuum by pressing the brake pedal several times while the engine is off), it may cause the diaphragm to deform in the area of the retaining groove to the point that insufficient seal exists between diaphragm and booster body, thus causing a momentary loss of brake power-assist.the advics-na supplied diaphragm has slightly different material properties compared to the diaphragm inside brake boosters supplied by advics japan, corp. (advics-j) and used on 2004my lexus rx330…

Vehicles under investigation