Hi. I own a 2010 G37 Journey Sedan. I baby it. It has 15,000 miles on it.

Once every couple of months, when I depress the brake pedal in order to start the car, the pedal is very hard to move. I have to apply considerably (but not insanely) more pressure than normal to get the pedal to move the required amount to start the car.

Is this abnormal? If so, what could cause this? Is it something I should ask the dealer to fix under my warranty?

Thanks.

PS I've never had this issue while driving. My brakes function flawlessly while driving.

 

Its the ABS system, i dont know how exactly this works but its normal. if you step on the brake repeatedly its gonna start locking up and making it harder to press.

 

^^This is the case with any brake system, abs or not. Keep pumping the pedal with the car off and it will get hard. That's how we used to bleed the brakes in the old days. One guy would pump until pedal got hard, another would crack a bleeder open/close.

To the OP, is anyone else messing with the car prior to this happening? Kids stepping on pedals, etc..?

 

With the car off, any "easy" presses you have on the brakes are because of the vacuum still stored in the brake booster. Once that vacuum is used up (after a couple pedal presses) you are now essentially pressing on the pedal as if it were no longer power assisted.

If the car is under warranty I would mention it to the dealer. Without pressing the pedal, the vacuum shouldnt really bleed off....I can go out to my car after its been sitting for days without use, and the initial press on the pedal to start the car STILL has power assist, so unless someone (kids maybe, as mentioned before) is pressing the pedal with the car sitting there, Id have the dealer check to make sure you arent leaking down from somewhere.

 

Thanks everyone. There are no kids or anything pressing the brake in my absence.

 

In that case, if its under warranty, Id mention it to the dealer.

In fact since its brake related, I might mention it to them anyway.....the brakes work fine now, but its when they stop working that could be a problem!