Sadly, it is normal. It has been happening for years with Toyota hybrids. The traction control is hyperreactive to hitting the bumps and disengages the regenerative braking. Can you describe the grinding noise that you are hearing? If your brakes are grinding when you're hitting them, then it's probably pads or rotors.

 

The grinding only happens when the slip happens. I guess that's simultaneously comforting that I'm not crazy but sad that it's normal. So no fix right it's very scary when it happens

 

Our current 2018 Camry hybrid LE and previous 2010 Prius behave the same way when braking and running over something like a pothole or railroad track. Feels kinda like a skip/slip in the traction followed by a brief skid and then back to normal driving. I’ve never heard the grinding noise with this, however.

I’ve just accepted this as normal for Toyota hybrids and never felt it to be dangerous or a system malfunction. However, the grinding sound would concern me. Is it a grinding or a clicking sound? Do the brakes work ok outside of this scenario? How many miles on your unit?

 

That is just the ABS operating the way its' supposed to work. It will do that same thing every time you brake while bouncing over bumps, sliding on gravel or wet and slippery surfaces. Say Hurray for ABS.

 

Hybrid and ABS or not, brakes should always be applied only before, and not while "hitting" bumps.

 

I don't know about you, but in my area, you don't have much choice... You're going to hit bumps regardless. Like... even hitting a small manhole cover is enough to set it off.

 

I have a 2021 Camry Hybrid XLE and this phenomenon has been occurring since new. The lurching forward when braking and going over an uneven surface had me concerned at first, but I just got used to it. The only time I feel it would be dangerous is if I were coming to a stop behind a row of cars at a stop light and there happened to be a bump at the right/wrong distance from the car in front of me. This weird braking characteristic happens at low and moderate speeds. So, a slight fender bender is possible. I'm glad I'm not the only one experiencing the issue. Toyota really should address this.

 

Based on the posts on here and the Venza forum, this brake/slip with an uneven road surface seems to be a “normal” occurrence, meaning frequent thru the course of driving. I’ve gotten used to it as well, and being that it only happens at slow speeds doesn’t make me fearful. It’s just a reaction to road surface irregularities, dips, cracks or slight bumps in the road. I wonder if this could be resolved via a software update to the ABS system, I have this condition only while braking. I’m sure Toyota Corporate is acutely aware of this condition but is probably trying to avoid another recall campaign, their engineering and design teams have created quite a phenomenon across several hybrid lines of vehicles. Just remember there is rarely a perfect car made.

 

Can someone tell me how the brake pedal feels when this happens? Also most of these seem to be coming from XLE/LE, any SE/XSE here? Are you just engaging the regen braking or do you have the friction brakes engaged as well? Never experienced this on either Camry or her CT200h.

 

The brake pedal feels normal during this occurrence, but the car feels like it's floating for a split second.

 

i have had these issues since i got my 2910 TCH, got my brakes services by toyota, the problem still persists, its the normal functioning of the ABS.

 

You should slightly let up on the brakes before hitting bumps in any car. That's basic driving, and a way to reduce shock wear on the suspension.

 

The unevenness of the road surface can be almost visually imperceptible for this phenomenon to occur. So, easing up on the brakes won’t help. I was coming up to a stop sign the other day and did my normal smooth braking technique and slight pot hole caused my car to shudder before coming to a stop. I have a “Drive Safe and Save” beacon from State Farm on my rear view mirror. I was dinged for hard braking from that event.

 

Yes, it seems this chassis is easily unnerved by hitting any sort of bump while braking, especially with the rear wheels. It’s definitely a quirk of the car that I’ve noted on a couple of occasions now.

 

I believe this issue has to do with the regenerative braking system that Toyota has employed in the Camry Hybrid and little to do with basic driving skills. Our 2015 Accord hybrid has given us almost 8 years of issueless braking. I sincerely can not tell the difference between our Honda’s braking and any other car I’ve driven for the last 53 years. The first time I knew what regenerative braking felt like was in our Camry hybrid. On balance, the quirky possibly dangerous characteristics of the Camry’s brakes are greatly outweighed by the quiet, smooth, comfortable handling and acceleration the Camry gives us. I will endeavor to come to as smooth a stop as I can and never tail gate my fellow drivers.

 

Maybe I am just lucky, but I have owned a 2013 XLE-H and now a 2018 XLE-H, and have noticed no "quirkyness" in the brakes under normal driving... they are as smooth as any other car I have driven. The only time they have a tendency to grab is when using adaptive cruise control in stop-and-go situations when I use the accelerator to decrease the gap between me and the car ahead.

 

I’ve never owned a car that exhibited these braking characteristic. So, I labeled it quirky. My car could be unique, but I think not.

 

this has happened to me for a while now as well on a 2020 LE TCH; i notice that the slip indicator light momentarily flashes (at least I think its that its an orange light that blips for a sec or so) and then the grinding noise of the brakes and lurching of the car; feels terrible and scary and happens more often than normal wtf

 

is it not a grinding noise but the ABS operating? I experienced this on all toyota hybrids to varying degrees including my current 2018 Camry XLE Hybrid. I find it happens much less since I got Pirelli AS plus 3 tires. Also keeping air pressure in the lower 32 psi range helps a lot by preventing tire bounce.

 

I've never experienced any grinding noise or anything unusual on the rare occasions when the ABS has activated on my 2018 hybrid LE. It just seems to operate like any other car I've ever had with ABS.

I guess that makes my car abnormal if that's considered "normal."

 

I bought a 2023 Camary Hybrid about 6 months ago. And I also own a 2011 Prius, with over 200,000 miles on it. Love the prius, but it does lurch forward when you hit a bump while breaking. But this occurs very infrequently.

On the other hand, my breaks on the 2023 Camary Hybrid are very annoying. They are sticky and grab. They have a mind of their own. Sometimes I can come to a gradual stop and sometimes they cause me to stop abruptly even though I am hitting the breaks softly. I took it for service twice and they say the breaks are absolutely fine. It is very unfortunate, because I cannot drive the car even once without noticing the breaks. Every other car I drive, I don’t even remember hitting the brakes. Not with my new Camry.

All the money for a new car, you should get in and have fun driving for at least 3 years.

I am not one to complain. The last 4 cars I owned, I have kept for over 200,000 mile. But this car with only 8,000 miles, I don’t think I can bare to drive that long. Very sad.

Let me know if anyone else has experienced this issue.

 

I bought a 2023 Camary Hybrid about 6 months ago. And I also own a 2011 Prius, with over 200,000 miles on it. Love the prius, but it does lurch forward when you hit a bump while breaking. But this occurs very infrequently.

On the other hand, my breaks on the 2023 Camary Hybrid are very annoying. They are sticky and grab. They have a mind of their own. Sometimes I can come to a gradual stop and sometimes they cause me to stop abruptly even though I am hitting the breaks softly. I took it for service twice and they say the breaks are absolutely fine. It is very unfortunate, because I cannot drive the car even once without noticing the breaks. Every other car I drive, I don’t even remember hitting the brakes. Not with my new Camry.

All the money for a new car, you should get in and have fun driving for at least 3 years.

I am not one to complain. The last 4 cars I owned, I have kept for over 200,000 mile. But this car with only 8,000 miles, I don’t think I can bare to drive that long. Very sad.

Let me know if anyone else has experienced this issue.

I definitely noticed the “sometimes smooth, sometimes grabby” issue right at the end of braking as well. It’s either gotten better (I’m at 15K miles now) or I’ve learned to work around it subconsciously. All in, I love the powertrain in this car.

I had the same issue with the brakes on my 2018 Camry Hybrid early on as well. After scouring the forums for solutions, I found that due to the regenerative braking system on hybrids, occasional burnishing of the brakes may be necessary. So whenever my brakes get grabby at low speeds, I just make some fast stops (when safe) to "burnish" the brakes, and smooth low speed stopping is restored.

Many of us bought hybrids to save fuel, so we drive them pretty gently. If you seldom brake hard, the hydraulic front brakes seldom get used until the last 7 mph to 0 range when they take over from the regen braking which is applied from the electric motor in generator mode. The electric motor can't provide any braking at those low speeds because it's turning too slow. The prolonged lack of hydraulic brake use causes contaminates to build up on the pads and rotors which makes them "grabby." So when they activate at 7 mph or less they tend to "grab" and haul us to a rapid stop. The solution is to re-burnish them occasionally to restore smooth operation.

 

I definitely noticed the “sometimes smooth, sometimes grabby” issue right at the end of braking as well. It’s either gotten better (I’m at 15K miles now) or I’ve learned to work around it subconsciously. All in, I love the powertrain in this car.

 

One more thing. When they test drive it at the dealership repair center, it never happens. Of course its a very small sample. I need to figure out how to make it happen so I can show the dealership.

You can try to do that but I don't think there's anything they can do for it. Brakes that don't get used much just end up getting contaminates on them. It's just the nature of the beast. The only solution is to try to keep that from happening by doing an occasional more aggressive stop.

I've been doing that for years and it has worked very well for me. If my brakes start getting grabby I try to think about it when taking a freeway offramp. I just shorten my braking distance to allow for more actual braking where I'm sure I'm braking harder than the generator alone can slow the car. It doesn't have to be too aggressive. Just enough to overpower the generator's braking power. A little experience will help with this. The higher the speed you can start from the better so you can drag the mechanical brakes the longest. Like slowing from 60 mph in a purposeful semi aggressive stop. That will go a long way to help keep the pads and rotors contaminate free. It's also great exercise for the caliper pistons as well so they don't get sticky from lack of use. And it doesn't even have to be that fast. Just slowing somewhat aggressively from 40 mph can go a long way.

Knowing what the problem and solution is goes a long way towards preventative maintenance. I consider this to be preventative maintenance.

 

I'm kind of wondering if "grabby brakes" could be contributing to this "lurching forward after hitting a bump" syndrome that this thread was started over. Because the whole re-gen brake balancing system is controlled through the ABS/Stability Control computer. So when you're slowing and then hit bumps in the road, if the hydraulic brakes are applied at the time and then "grab" due to the uneven pedal pressure caused by the bumps in the road, the computer could be backing them off momentarily to compensate for the grab and thus causing a lurching forward effect. As I mentioned in a previous post in this thread, I don't recall ever experiencing such a lurching forward event myself. But then I keep my pads and rotors pretty contaminate free, so I seldom ever have grabby brakes. I just wonder, do those of you who are experiencing these lurching forward events also deal with grabby brakes as well? The whole solution may be in keeping your brakes contaminate free.

Just me thinking. 🤔🤷‍♂️

 

I have a 2022 Camry LE Hybrid, just reading and posting first time here now. Same problem. I’ve experienced this once every 1-2 weeks for 20k miles (ie, its happened 100 +/- times). It’s very disconcerting. In my case, there is no “bump in road” precondition….simply braking down to low speed, AT low speed, is when it happens. First times it happened, I was searching rear mirror to see if I had run over highway trash. No such. It sounds and feels like something heavy in the trunk is sliding forward momentarily, and yes, it feels like a temp surge forward, or loss in braking. I gained insight reading these comments, as the event occurs late in braking….eg, if decelerating gently from 60 mph to 0, it happens at about 10-15 mph….so it may be at that toggle point when friction braking takes over from regenerative. I often kid people and say “I drive like your grandpa’s grandpa”….very gently for fuel and mechanical efficiency….so it could easily be connected to the friction braking not cleaning itself due to very gentle use. I’ll try the occasional harsh braking event to try to clean the surfaces. I’ve asked the dealer several times to document my experience, to have a record of this in case we get beyond warranty and learn that this is more than a minor defect. BTW, great car in all other ways. Checked mileage every tank. 50-54 mpg except during MN winter when it drops to 40 +/-. Economical and comfortable!

 

Hi.

Sorry to sidetrack this thread from a Prius lucking forward to grabbing breaks on my Camry. I started a separate thread as well just for this issue.

Anyway, the update is – hard breaking does not seem to help the issue. One more observation is that it seems to happen more often when it’s hot out.

As mentioned by timbo, it’s very disconcerting.

My salesperson offered to let me test drive a new Camry off the lot to see if the breaks feel different, which I intend to do in the next few weeks. But it’s not that simple, because it does not happen 100% of the time.

I think I will also take timbo’s suggestion that I ask the dealer to document incase something is learned beyond the warranty.

Other than that, it seems to be a great car.

Thanks everyone.

 

Yep I have a 22 Camry as a taxi, so it's on the road all the time and the same issue as all you have described, I too have taken to the stealership more than once and explained and proven to them it does it and I was told it's documented. I have all the paperwork so when it goes sideways on an icy road in winter because of this and causes an accident my lawyer has a good starting point. They are fantastic when the sell you a car and that's where it ends, DO BETTER TOYOTA, DO BETTER!!!

 

Hey there. Thanks for sharing this. i bought my camry hybrid ascent sport 2021 and since then feeling exactly same especially when i am about to go through a roundabout and if there is a rough surface just near the roundabout and I slow down or at a stop or braking normally in wet roads multiple times. Its been happening particularly since the monsoon starts and felt more scary twice in an hour as I was at the stop on wet road. As i took off from the stop on green signal, the car felt like it went down into a big pat hole and made a big jerky noise and I felt like the whole car will fall down forward with whole engine. It was too scary especially because as a rideshare driver and being with passenger it doesn’t feel safe and scary when it happens. I address this issue with one of my friends with camry and he said he went to the mechanic and asked as he feels the same sometimes and the mechanic said its a general issue with camry hybrids as he had a similar issues with other customers. This means, I have to be careful and scared everytime I drive on wet surface, reducing speed over uneven surfaces or whatever just because of a fault of manufacturers. Except this, everything is smooth and nice but it Feels like spending this much money on car with one of a scary issue doesn’t make a good sense.

 

It's time for you to upgrade from your original tires... Also, make sure they're not overinflated.