Funny this article was posted right at the time I experienced a complete brake failure on my 05 Nissan Altima 3.5.
It seems the vacuum tube (a valve inside it) freezes in extreme temperatures (-25 C) which prevents the brakes from working... the brake pedal itself was stiff and could not be depressed. I nearly went through a stop sign but did manage to stop using the parking brake. I sat for a few minutes and the pedal finally loosened up and I was good to go.
I checked a popular Nissan forum and it appears to be common with extreme cold.... the newer OEM replacement part takes care of this issue though.
