I was driving to the store (on a back road, thank heavens), when I pushed down on the brake pedal, and my car barely slowed down. Thankfully, I had been driving slow and was entering a roundabout. So I ended up stopping along the road after the roundabout. The Toyota dealership happened to be just up the road, so after my heart stopped beating out of my chest I waited till there weren't any cars around and drove in a lower gear to get there. When I arrived it was obvious that the brake caliper on the rear driver side was dangling behind the tire! And there was brake fluid on the ground.

After they looked at it, they said a bolt must have broken. But they couldn't show it to me, because there was no bolt. Then, when I pointed out that their service department replaced my brakes less than 3 months ago, and I had been sick and had not driven the Venza very much since then, they wouldn't even look into the possibility that they had caused it. It was so maddening! They could have killed me and anyone else who happened to be in my way when the caliper fell off!

On Sunday (26 February 2012) I was traveling at speed and had to apply the brakes. They held for about 2 seconds and then the "fun" started. The car would not stop and slow rolled thru an intersection. I could hear the ABS system pulsating but that was all that was taking place. No warning lights came on and fortunately no accident happened. I called the dealer yesterday and they took a look and said that all systems were functioning as they should. The Venza is a great car, but I have seen a couple of blogs where others have experienced the same issue. But the real rub was the maintenance tech telling me that it was obvious that I didn't know how to drive an ABS car. Well, we have the car back and I hope that all is weel. Another road trip this weekend will give us ground truth. I invite others to share if you have experienced the same or similar problem.