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3.0

hardly worth mentioning
Crashes / Fires:
0 / 0
Injuries / Deaths:
0 / 0
Average Mileage:
47,695 miles

About These NHTSA Complaints:

This data is from the NHTSA — the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints are spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem.

So how do you find out what problems are occurring? For this NHTSA complaint data, the only way is to read through the comments below. Any duplicates or errors? It's not us.

2004 Toyota Sienna accessories - interior problems

accessories - interior problem

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2004 Toyota Sienna Owner Comments

problem #16

Jun 292009

Sienna 6-cyl

  • 101,000 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

I have a 2004 Toyota Sienna van and I am very disturbed by the power door problems I have had since day 1 of owning this vehicle. The sliding doors freeze up all the time in the winter. After driving for approx. 30-45 minutes the door will unfreeze & come open! I have two children!!! this is a safety hazard as well as being a nuisance. Also the power door cable snapped in two. I called hickory Toyota & spoke with maintenance customer service, which informed me that this just does not happen. I said well, in my case it did! I want this fixed before one of my children get hurt & this becomes a law suit! this is my 2nd Sienna van & had the same problem with it. I've had three Camry and they were almost perfect. What is up Sienna??!! maybe I need to convert to Honda after all. :(

- Lenoir, NC, USA

problem #15

Jun 152010

Sienna

  • 50,000 miles
My 2004 Toyota Sienna xle limited power sliding door cable snapped and door wouldn't close, this is a serious safety issue and Toyota should take responsibility of fixing this on going issue with these Sienna vans. There countless number of people have the same issue. Deal cost to fix this is over $2000. This is totally unfair for consumers to pay such high cost repair for what Toyota is responsible for in first place.

- Gaithersburg, MD, USA

problem #14

Feb 242010

Sienna

  • 74,000 miles
While I was trying to open my 2004 Toyota Sienna passenger powered sliding door the cord ripped. It is too costly for us to repair this item and I can not use the door with children as it is to hard to open for a minor.

- Virginia Beach, VA, USA

problem #13

Jan 212010

Sienna

  • 148,650 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

I was accelerating away from a traffic light, making a left turn from 1300 East onto ft. Union blvd, and the vehicle continued to accelerate rapidly even after I removed my foot from the accelerator. I promptly placed the transmission in neutral, braked rapidly, and narrowly avoided rear-ending the car in front of me. I could not tell if the gas pedal was stuck on the floor mats, but rearranged them quickly and the engine rpms quickly dropped to an idle speed. This was the only time this has occurred. Several days later, I took the car to the local Toyota dealer, larry miller of murray, ut. I spoke with the manager about the problem, he examined my car, informed me that it was not part of the recall, asserted that there had been no reports of issues with the 2004 Sienna, and that the pedal on my car was not of the type implicated in the recalls. He had me take the car to their service department for further inspection and testing. They did not find any failure codes present and no check lights were on. They test drove the car 10 miles, but were unable to replicate the problem. No parts were repaired nor replaced. No further action was taken by them.

- Burke, VA, USA

problem #12

Jul 302009

Sienna

  • 64,500 miles
I have a 2004 Toyota Sienna that has manual sliding rear doors. I have replaced the handles on both doors within the last 6 months. The latest one I replaced was the rear passenger side door. The apparent reason for these breaking off is the fact that the doors are jamming and it is extremely difficult to open the door. Even though I have replaced the rear passenger handle, it still will not open from the inside or outside...it does open on "occasion" but it is finicky.. I have gone on line and noticed thousands of other Toyota Sienna owners are experiencing identical problems which leads me to feel strongly that this should be a "recall" issue that should be covered by Toyota!! I have 2 small children that travel in this vehicle and this could be a life threatening issue, god forbid!

- Ashland, MA, USA

problem #11

Sep 212008

Sienna

  • 80,000 miles
A/C failure, the whole system is sub-standard, valves, lines, compressor. Have been in the shop for 2 years. Noticed a lot of complaints on-line for this model.

- Verona, WI, USA

problem #10

Sep 052008

Sienna

  • 60,000 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

The cable of the right side passenger sliding door broke. The dealer crystal Toyota at green brook, NJ said they can't just replace the cable. Instead, they have to replace the motor and cable unit altogether. The cost will be $2600. I checked online and found that many people are experiencing the same problem. Also, a lot of people said the other side will have the same problem within weeks. That is, it will cost $5200 just to fix the 2 pieces of cable. Since this defect is related to the doors which is basic safety issue, I think Toyota should definitely issue recall on it and not ripping off people's money.

- Wayne, NJ, USA

problem #9

Jul 112005

Sienna

  • miles
Sienna 2004 xle with installed hitch, the height left from ground to the lower part of the hitch is not enough to safely load any cargo above 150-175 pounds on your rear without hitting the pavement everytime a bump is on the road, all is original equipment built to be used on a Toyota Sienna, appears that the only solution is to remove it or install a safe leveling air system rear shocks, is it available? well... more money on an already expensive vehicle... no thanks.

- Laredo, TX, USA

problem #8

Jan 282007

Sienna 6-cyl

  • Automatic transmission
  • 89,000 miles
In December, 2006, my tailgate closed on its own, injuring my wife. Toyota replaced the rear stays (struts) under warranty, including the addition of some brackets. At first everything was fine. But when the weather turned colder (below 20F), the rear hatch would not open on its own unless opening under power. And then a couple of days ago (still very cold), the hatch closed on its own under power again. This time, my daughter and I were both in its path, but fortunately, so was a shopping cart. There were fortunately no injuries this time. I am frustrated that just 45 days after the problem was "repaired" it is already happening again.

- Pewee Valley, KY, USA

problem #7

Dec 012006

Sienna

  • Automatic transmission
  • miles
I think my 2004 Toyota Sienna le has a problem, I can not control the temperature. It's either too too hot or too too cold. It does it by itself. In the morning when I start the car I usually set the temperature for both front and rear all the way to hot position. After 15 or 20 minutes when I start driving the hot air starts coming for front and in the back it stay too cold. Then after I reach my distance and shut down the engine then after a couple of hour start the van heading home ( temperature controller still in the hot position) it starts to blow hot air by itself. Even if I tried to put the temperature controller in the cold position it stay there blowing hot air until I park the car and shut down the car and leave it for a while. I went to the dealer and he told me everything looks okay and there is no problem. He did not even test anything) he just told me watch it and come back again. I check on line there a couple of people have the same problem. Thanks.

- Brentwood, NY, USA

problem #6

Feb 132006

Sienna 6-cyl

  • Automatic transmission
  • 41,300 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

While driving on dry pavement, sometimes, but not always, after leaving snowy driveway, the 2004 AWD Toyota Sienna's traction control light came on. This was accompanied by a very loud alarm. The traction control system then activated causing the engine to brake and the ABS to continuously brake until the vehicle decelerated to appx. 9 miles per hour. The light and alarm would then go off. The whole scenario repeats when speed exceeds appx. 9 miles per hour. This puts the driver in a very dangerous situation. The vehicle is very difficult to steer when is it rapidly braking. This happened both at low speeds, start-up speeds, and on the highway when I was going 40-50 miles per hour, again, on dry pavement. The only safe option is to pull off to the side of the road. After driving for anywhere from 3 minutes to 15 minutes, the problem mysteriously disappears. The next time the vehicle starts, it may or may not malfunction in this way. The tires are in good condition and at appropriate inflation levels. There does not appear to be any snow or ice on or inside the wheels when this is happening.

- Newport, VA, USA

problem #5

Aug 112004

Sienna 6-cyl

  • Automatic transmission
  • 22,000 miles
Radiator ruptured and the engine overheated; hose replaced in steering column recall; rust protective tape recall; dvd screen replaced and the entire dvd player replaced(screen still not easily visible in middle row); passenger seat belt replaced; middle passenger seat belt failing; gasoline smell inside of car with ac on recirculation; driver's window fell inside door in snow storm and was not considered a safety issue to get a loaner vehicle even though the vehicle could not be locked; tires completely bald and leaking under 30,000 miles, dvd player must be at a high db volume and when returned to radio/cd will almost deafen you; interior lights have to be manually over ridden or will drain battery; car hesitates 1-2 seconds when trying to quickly accelerate and then lurches forward alarmingly; cruise control is not functioning; waiting to have fuel mixture sensor replaced. I was not informed of first 2 recalls until I my engine overheated. I did get the rust recall and a sticker on my sliding door informing user of danger of having middle windows open while opening the middle door could catch a head or other extremity. Toyota dealer service manager says mine is the only 04 Sienna experiencing any problems except for the recalls on the radiator; the steering hose; the rust tape; and the middle seat belt. Not so according to all I have read here. Most of the problems have occurred between 22,000 and 34,000 miles; the dvd screen always failed to lock into a good position for the middle row viewers.

- Golden, CO, USA

problem #4

Apr 092005

Sienna 6-cyl

  • Automatic transmission
  • 29,675 miles
I own a 2004 Toyota Sienna xle that includes a towing package. The trailer hitch for this vehicle is a safety hazard because it hits the ground going over any small bump when there is no trailer attached, and it is only inches off the ground when a trailer is attached, constantly scraping and causing sparks. This can be especially hazardous at gas stations where there are any flammable substances if it is necessary to go over any small bumps and there are sparks.

- Charlottesville, VA, USA

problem #3

Jul 162004

Sienna 6-cyl

  • Automatic transmission
  • 3,000 miles
After 5 months of purchasing a 2004 Toyota Sienna the transmission went out and was replaced. The vehicle continues to lag and lurch.

- Chalmette, LA, USA

problem #2

Jul 172004

Sienna 6-cyl

  • Automatic transmission
  • 0 miles
The dvd player in the rear has been advertised to be for all passengers in the rear seats. It also clearly has two positions to the screen and appears to have both positions so that when children of legal size and age are sitting in the middle area they can see the screen vs it look like a negative (photo film). The dvd screen in our new Sienna does not want to stay in the rear-most position. The screen can not be viewed from these middle seats unless a person is as tall as the head rests w/out the screen being in this rear-most position. Hence I drive and constantly remove my hand from the wheel, change my stature and Focus of driving to reposition the screen because with every bump or expansion joint my child requests, "put it back please." "put it back please." "put it back please". Toyota totes quality but this is poor design and it will get worse as the car loosens from wear. I don't believe that this is what was intended for the design. The dealer states that it's operating normally. I asked for a technical bulletin describe the design of the entertainment system. This has not been provided to date.

- Uniontown, OH, USA

problem #1

Sep 012003

Sienna

  • miles
The design of the 2004 Toyota Sienna doesn't permit adequate ground clearance when a trailer hitch is installed. This is a safety hazard as connecting any trailer to the hitch will result in lost of proper suspension clearance and potential lost of steering control. Toyota says this is not a problem and they have no solution to increase ground clearance when there is a load on the trailer hitch.

- San Clemente, CA, USA

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