A new recall on the braking system

Mitsubishi i-MiEV Forum

Help Support Mitsubishi i-MiEV Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

jray3

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 6, 2011
Messages
1,871
Location
Tacoma area, WA
From Japanese press on Nov 7th, still nothing appearing on the Mitsubishimotors.com website or any other USA recall tracker...
That plus the number of affected vehicles (19,799) implies to me that it is a JDM-only recall at this point.
I'm curious how long it takes for this wave to cross the Pacific or reach any other i-MiEV market...

https://www.nippon.com/en/news/yjj2...Hs8s8OvFf2Y-EUcp2VK7c69ff25tKXs2oUQYZnITVip4A

Tokyo, Nov. 7 (Jiji Press)--Mitsubishi Motors Corp. <7211> said Thursday that it will recall 19,799 electric vehicles due to faulty brake systems that could result in longer braking distances.
Subject to the recall are two models, the i-MiEV and Minicab-MiEV, that were manufactured between July 2009 and July 2019, the Japanese automaker said.
The waterproof structure of the brake system is partly inappropriate, possibly allowing water to enter the system, Mitsubishi said. The defect may harden the brake pedal, possibly resulting in longer braking distances, it said.
There have been 14 reports of problems involving the affected models, the transport ministry said.
END
 
Reading the awkward translation makes me wonder if this is the vacuum pump recall that we dealt with years ago finally taking place in Japan? Our vacuum pumps were affected by road spray getting in through the exhaust ports....
 
I wish these recall notices would give a bit more technical detail that actually say what the fault is.... :roll:

"The waterproof structure of the brake system is partly inappropriate, possibly allowing water to enter the system, Mitsubishi said. The defect may harden the brake pedal, possibly resulting in longer braking distances,"

What the heck does that mean ? Where is the water getting in ?

The brakes in my Ion are pretty mediocre at best. It has supposedly had the original recalls done before I got the car (regarding the vacuum pump) however despite me giving it new front discs and pads, and giving the drums an overhaul at the rear, the brakes are still mediocre. (Although they pass the test OK)

In cold wet weather the rear drums (left in particular) get very grabby when stopped or moving slowly - last winter I got stuck at the traffic lights not once but twice because the rear left drum bound and wouldn't let me move forward until I reversed! :evil:

In anything other than warm dry weather the front discs have a permanent layer of surface rust that never wears off even if I go out of my way to use the friction brakes, so they always make an annoying grinding noise and lack the sensitivity you'd expect of a disc brake that bites well onto clean steel. And that was even a few weeks after fitting the new discs and pads let alone a year later!

Sometimes the brake sensitivity feels worse than it should and I have to press the pedal significantly harder - not sure if this is just the perpetually surface rusted front discs or whether my car is suffering from an as-yet un-announced flaw in the braking system. It does feel a bit like the servo assistance system is not working as well as it should be as the pedal feels a bit harder and I have to push harder, but the vacuum pump is working correctly and I'm assured that the recalls have been done...

The regenerative braking in the car is lovely but the friction brakes are the worst of any car I've owned to be honest. Very average. They're not a patch on the brakes in the Xantia which are sensitive and can put you through the window if you wanted.
 
DBMandrake said:
. . . . . however despite me giving it new front discs and pads, and giving the drums an overhaul at the rear, the brakes are still mediocre.
I would *think* the weakest link by far in the iMiEV's braking system would be the tiny front tires - Even a mediocre set of pads and rotors should be enough to overwhelm those itty bitty tires

I can't imagine when I'll need to do any brake work on either of our cars - I went 160,000 miles on the factory brakes on a Toyota Supra I used to own - Sold it with the factory pads and rotors still on it. I use the brakes on our EV's about 1/4th as much as I did on the Supra. In my experience, most folks who say their car has 'mediocre brakes' must use them much, much harder than I do - Factory pads and rotors have always seemed pretty efficient to me. If it was a race car, I'd make some changes, but race car brakes on a street car would only serve to get you rear ended

Don
 
Don said:
DBMandrake said:
. . . . . however despite me giving it new front discs and pads, and giving the drums an overhaul at the rear, the brakes are still mediocre.
I would *think* the weakest link by far in the iMiEV's braking system would be the tiny front tires - Even a mediocre set of pads and rotors should be enough to overwhelm those itty bitty tires
Skinny tyres are not the issue. If they were I'd be locking the front wheels. When the brakes are not working as well as they should be the wheels are not locking - instead I'm having to push the brake pedal very hard in an emergency stop to even approach locking the wheels. In fact I can't trigger the ABS in the dry, which any decent brakes should be able to do.

To me it feels like the servo assistance has a partial fault causing the pedal to be a lot harder and less sensitive than it should be - exactly as described in all the brake recalls. But it's not like this all the time either, it varies, and sometimes it is significantly better...

I can't imagine when I'll need to do any brake work on either of our cars - I went 160,000 miles on the factory brakes on a Toyota Supra I used to own - Sold it with the factory pads and rotors still on it. I use the brakes on our EV's about 1/4th as much as I did on the Supra.
I take it you don't live anywhere where corrosion due to road salt is a problem ? I replaced the original factory front discs on the Ion at around 40k miles - they were absolutely destroyed by rust and badly out of true (causing vibration under braking) due to exploding rust at the edges.

The new discs (admittedly a cheap brand which I now regret choosing - I might change them again for something better) have a permanent layer of surface rust in wet weather that dulls their sensitivity and never goes away with use.
In my experience, most folks who say their car has 'mediocre brakes' must use them much, much harder than I do - Factory pads and rotors have always seemed pretty efficient to me.
I've had good brakes on most of my previous cars and I know the difference between good and poor brakes. These are poor, for reasons unknown. I think it's probably a combination of poor bedding in of the discs and pads due to low quality discs rusting and staying rusty and some intermittent vacuum servo issue which will probably eventually be detailed in yet another recall!
 
Nope, no road salt anywhere near here . . . . but, if the car sits outside for 2 or 3 days without being driven, the first stop you can hear the pads cleaning the rust off the rotors, especially if it rained one of those days when the car was sitting - The OEM rotors must be pretty cheap steel. My 40 year old motorcycle had stainless rotors . . . . wonder why those aren't standard on cars by now. Many cars now have 100% stainless exhaust systems - Seems like stainless rotors would not be that big an expense

I do agree that if you can't trigger the ABS, you have a braking 'issue' of some sort - Cheap rotors or pads maybe? Not every bit of air bled from the system?? Even a tiny air bubble in there will greatly reduce the firmness of the pedal and I'd bet also increase your emergency stopping distances

Don
 
Back
Top