Sienna 2002 van...though we have complained to our local Toyota dealer everytime it has happened, they have not been able to re-create the problem that we have with our Sienna's brakes. Under very specific circumstances, the brakes fail to work properly. The circumstances seem to be that the vehicle must be parked outside, in sub-zero weather for at least a couple of hours. I back out of the driveway without any problem, put the car in drive, and the first time I stop (a stop sign a short distance away) I can anticipate not having any brakes. I have to push on the brake with all my weight and then slowly, reluctantly I get SOME brake power. The second time I use my brakes the problem seems to go away.

The first time this happened I thought it was "over"...as I rolled into a busy intersection where I could easily could have been in the path of anything coming down the road. If I had been hit and killed, people would have just assumed that I had just run a stop sign, and why wouldn't they?

The guy at the dealership didn't find anything wrong, and had me almost believing I was crazy...or that I had just hit some ice. The second time it happened, I knew I wasn't crazy. Now I just make sure I test my brakes whenever I have parked outside under these conditions. Since "there isn't anything wrong with the car" and I must be crazy, I'm stuck. What do I do? Sell it to some unsuspecting person? Or be honest, "Hey, sometimes the brakes don't work. Wanna buy it?"?

I've done some research on this problem and it has happened on other Toyota models as well at the Sienna...they have even issued a recall (in cold weather states only) for another model (http://www.autoblog.com/2009/08/27/toyota-recalls-95-700-corolla-matrix-and-scion-xd-models-over/) of Toyota. I think we can be sure that Toyota is aware of the problem with the Sienna, but it isn't worth the corporate cash to do the right thing and fix it. I won't ever buy another Toyota. I used to think a lot of them, but now, not so much.

While driving at 90km/hr, I applied my brakes but noticed that the pedal fully depressed without resistance and with no braking action at all. I looked at my dashboard and noticed the brake warning light on. It was then I noticed that the packing brake was halfway down. I released it, but the problem persisted, so I had to shift the gear to 2 and then L and pulled over to check. After allowing the car to rest for some time, We started testing the brakes on L and 2, until we started getting braking function, which we later found to work for the Drive gear. We then moved the van to a safe location.

I will send it for a check tomorrow.