Yes I'm aware of those. It's actually one issue but the VIN range was expanded multiple times to encompass an increased number of cars...
This car has been serviced yearly by the main dealer before I bought it (it had to be to maintain its extended battery warranty) so as far as I know the recall work relating to braking will have been done. However, I will be asking them to look up their records to confirm this just to be sure when they get back to me about the Airbag part arriving.
The brake recall issue was with the electric vacuum pump failing to work properly, I believe it was something to do with the output pipe filter of the pump getting blocked with dirt under the car believe it or not, and they fitted a revised design pump with a different outlet.
There is a dashboard warning light and buzzer if vacuum pressure is insufficient - you can deliberately trigger this warning by pumping the brake pedal very rapidly to use up the vacuum faster than the pump can generate it, and this warning is working. When the braking seemed weak the warning did not come on so I have no reason to believe it's vacuum loss.
Another factor is that the car relies quite a bit on regenerative braking through the motor - all light to moderate braking is done by regeneration only and only a stronger press of the brake pedal even applies the friction brakes at all. However when the battery is 100% charged, for about the first 2 miles of driving - including outside my gate when the brakes seemed weak this morning, you get very limited regeneration, which means the brakes are in the normal course of operation significantly less sensitive for the first couple of miles of driving after a full charge, although hard/emergency braking still works normally.
This is a normal characteristic of the car however they were quite a bit less sensitive than normal this morning so I was caught a little by surprise.
As for the binding issue - the plot thickens...! When I went to leave work I noticed that when I released the handbrake the car didn't creep, so I accelerated slightly to get it to break free and it felt like it was one of the rear brakes sticking not the front.
So on a hunch I tried the handbrake (which works on the rear drums) and sure enough it's the left rear drum brake which is sticking and binding, not the front! (or in addition to the front)
With the car rolling forward slowly, pulling the hand brake on relatively gently was abruptly locking the rear left wheel and wasn't always full releasing when I let it go. GRRR. So it looks like I have to recondition the rear drums as well, which is not something I have much experience with.
It's certainly had it's fair share of brake problems this car... As the binding issue looks like it could actually be the rear drums, I'll pull them apart this weekend and have a look to see if there is anything obvious.
Does anyone have any pointers on servicing drum brakes that are trying to grab or stick on ?