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.
The contact owns a 2004 Toyota Sienna. The contact stated that there were several failures with the vehicle, including the tailgate. The tailgate has been repaired four times. The failure only occurs in 32 degree weather or below. When opened, the tailgate starts closing automatically and without warning. The contact has struck his head several times. During the most recent failure, his shoulder got stuck and popped due to the tailgate closing automatically. He stated that this was a safety issue because individuals could get closed in by the tailgate. The failure persists. The current and failure mileages were 62,000.
2004 Sienna power door cable breaking causing door to be inoperative. Creating unsafe conditions with children and baby seats in vehicle. Toyota states $1500 repair. After research problem seems widespread not vehicle specific. Vehicle has 58,000 miles.
Driver side passenger automatic door cable was rusted and broken on a 2004 Toyota Sienna xle. Need to replace entire assembly, est. Cost is $1800-2000.
2004 Toyota Sienna power sliding door design is defective. Center hinge bends causing motor and cable to fail. Door will not open which is a safety concern in the event on an emergency.
I own a 2004 Toyota Sienna xle and my concern lies in the sliding doors freezing up when there was any snow or rain followed by freezing temp's. once frozen, the doors can not be opened without bringing the vehicle into a warm garage. The dealer acknowledged other complaints like this but said it was not covered by any warranty or recall. I paid for new seals so as to avoid the potential of having my children trapped in the back of my van. I was also told the new seals have anew design and will prevent this from occurring again. We should know very shortly as it is winter. This began last winter but we were fortunate enough to always park in a warm garage at night.
- Bartlett, IL, USA
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I have 2004 Toyota Sienna with automatic sliding doors. This morning the passenger side sliding door began to make a grinding noise, and would make the same sound when I close it. - I looked the door and it seems to have parts of the cable coming off- the door at times will open half way and then close. - took the car to the dealer and told me that this is a know issue and problem with the doors. But Toyota has not done a recall on this - only has posted a tsb (technical service bulletin).
Returning home in heavy rain one weekend and washed off dirt before garaged the vehicle, occasionally required to open the passenger side automatic sliding door. A week later found out the sliding doesn't operated automatically.
Left sliding door on 2004 Sienna xle limited is failing to work properly and front seat heater driver side stopped working- had it "repaired" and it still doesn't work.
My 2004 Toyota Sienna xle had the power slider door cables snap within 3 weeks of one another, one at 39,000 miles, the other at 40,000 miles. This is an extremely unsafe van for my kids now. There are no handles to close these doors, and my kids have a lot of trouble with them. I have read that this has happened to numerous Sienna owners, yet Toyota does not recognize this as a recall item. I used to love my Toyota's, but after this, I will have to rethink my position. I think Toyota should make this a recall and protect their reputation.
Passenger side door has automatic open/close feature. The door broke within weeks of our purchase of Sienna from dealer. Something snapped. Others have complained of this exact failure.
Passenger sliding door on my '04 le, 36,000 mi. Minivan just failed. There is a snapped and broken cable/wire hanging out the back. I cannot get the door more than a few inches open by wrestling with it.
After opening and closing the fuel cap door on the 2004 Sienna causes the driver side sliding door to intermittently jam and not open. This has happened several times in the past 2 years. To fix, one must squeeze hand into door crack and push down the lever that is stopping the door from sliding. Sometimes this jam causes the door to not close.
2004 Toyota Sienna minivan - automatic door cable become jammed causing the door to not close (and as a result making the car undrivable - safety issue). In order to close the door the cable had to be cut. A simple search will find dozens of similar complaints about these cables snapping or becoming jammed resulting in repair bills of between $1500 and $2000. This defect needs to be addressed by the manufacturer.
Power side door does not shut properly. No crash or accidents have occurred on this car. The door will reopen after the door appears to be shutting properly, right before it shuts it will reopen. We have often found the car door open after returning to the car after entering the store or home, making battery go low due to the interrior lights remaining on, and the security of the car compromised including contents like our address, and other identity theft information.
Our 2004 Toyota Sienna van driver side sliding door failed to close one evening, just as it was beginning to rain. Our children had just gone into the house. We closed the door as much as we could and took it to a repair shop the next morning. On the way to the shop, the door nearly fell off the van! with our 3 children (ages 8 to 4 inside)! they were freaked, and so were we! now we have just paid nearly $2000 to replace the door motor, cable, and some other parts and labor. The body work is covered by insurance less deductible, but we still have rental car costs, some covered by insurance. We are hearing that this is a common problem for these vans. We believe this issue warrants a recall for safety reasons! we bought (and paid a premium for) a Toyota because they are supposed to be a model of safety and value. This is the first time this has happened to us, but our web research leads us to believe this is a manufacturing design or equipment defect. Our local Toyota dealer has not been willing to accept this as a warranty issue, nor to cover the cost of these repairs, nor to assure us this will not happen to this door again, or the other door! we believe there is a basic flaw in the design or materials for this van. We believe this warrants a safety recall. We would appreciate any advice you could provide as to how to be reimbursed for these expenses, and more importantly, how to be assured this will not happen again. We believe this is an important safety issue! thank you!
On my 2004 Toyota Sienna le, the automatic rear hatch door consistently fails to stay open after opening. There was no event that caused this to start happening. The door opens with no problem, using either the automatic open feature or by manually opening. What appears to happen is the hydraulic struts cannot hold the door in the fully open position. If the automatic door feature is engaged, the door starts to slowly close until the automatic close feature engages and closes the door with normal speed. If the automatic door is disengaged, the door slams shut with alarming force and speed. The potential consequences are frightening. If you have the automatic feature engaged and are unloading or loading packages, you cannot hear the door slowly closing and may not realize the door is closing on you, especially if you are bent over. It takes a significant amount of force to push back on the door enough to have the sensor engage and reverse the door closing. Of course, if you manage to get the door to reverse the close, once the door reaches the fully open position, the same process begins where it slowly closes and then the auto-close starts again. The danger for a weaker person or a child is huge if you do not have the automatic door feature engaged, the danger is far greater as the door slams shut with force and speed. Anyone caught in its path could be severely injured, especially a child. I have not attempted to seek repair of the door yet. But my research on the internet shows that there are many instances of this type of failure. I will be taking this up with the Toyota Consumer Affairs.
The right power sliding door cable on the 2004 Toyota Sienna le broke. The car was 5.1 years old, bought new in 2003, and had 69,000 ml. On the day of problem. No indications on a sliding mechanism were prior to the incident. As always the door was activated by the remote control. It did not open on several attempts. When I approached it and tried to open by the handle I saw the cable being rusty and broken. The dealer worked with Toyota on the issue and Toyota offered to pay 50% of parts and labor, but my fee is still above $800. Toyota refused to cover it entirely, although the problem is well known to them. Toyota.justanswer.com/uploads/snd27613/2008-07-05_074916_sienna_sliding_door_inop.pdf. no extended warranty on this part was offered by Toyota. I can not use this door in any way until is repaired, even if I set it to act manually, it won't open more than 1/2 ft. The only way my two children can get in/out the car is from the left side door. Where one's car seat is installed. Needless to say this is a serious safety issue as the left side is the one to the road and children jump out or run to the car in a blink of an eye.
The automatic sliding doors on my Toyota Sienna do not always close. I first noticed it in the summer of 2007 when occasionally the drivers side door would attempt to close but then would re-open. I took the vehicle to the dealer in December 2007 and it was determined that the rear hinge pin and bushing was worn out causing the rear of the door to sag and not allow it to be closed without manual intervention. If there is no manual intervention and you just try to close it by pushing the button the door attempts to close a second time but still does not close all the way and will not automatically re-open. Thus you think the door is closed but in reality it is still not. I contacted Toyota's customer care about the problem but they are not interested in even taking a further look since the vehicle is out of warranty. If the pins and bushings continue to wear they will eventually break door will fall off.
Headlight, hid, passenger side. Lens filled with water (condensation?) and would not dry. Water would actually stream down the inside of the lens. Soon my hid bulb stopped working. Dealer wanted $350 for a new bulb. I told the dealer I had switched the driver and passenger bulbs and they both worked on the driver side and neither worked on passenger side. Dealer then quoted $1,000 for new headlight assembly. Dealer told me the water in the passenger side lens was normal but had no explanation for why the driver side was dry. I did an internet search and also checked siennaclub.org and found very many complaints about wet passenger side lenses and passenger side failed hid bulbs. By the way, I bought a new sylvania hid bulb, new in the box on E-bay for $45 (dealer wanted $350 for the bulb!) Toyota care denied my request for no-charge replacement of the passenger side headlight lens assembly.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Middlesex, VT, USA