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 has not been able to use the door locks in her vehicle for several months. The dealer was unable to diagnose the cause of the failure. Recently, while attempting to stop the vehicle, the rear passenger side door opened. In addition, the battery failed and was replaced twice by the dealer. The failure was not corrected and the dealer stated that they could not determine the cause of the failure. The contact replaced the battery herself with a heavy duty battery. She took the vehicle back to the dealer and they stated that the door motor failed, and that the door was an inch off the door track. The estimated cost of repair was $1,800. The failure mileage was 62,000 and current mileage was 64,000.
The contact owns a 2004 Toyota Sienna. The contact stated that the passenger side power sliding door failed. The dealer stated that the entire motor assembly for the door needed to be replaced at the cost of $1,000. There were no recalls for this component. The failure mileage was 60,000.
While attempting to open the power side door, the cable to open it snapped causing the door to not open. This renders the power door inoperable. Toyota has a service notice on this but the cost to fix it according to Toyota is $850.
The van was sitting in the garage. When the door was opened with the remote control device, the cable broke and jammed the door opened. It took 1 hour to get the door closed. It has been jammed shut every since. The cost to repair it is $1500.
Toyota Sienna 2004 electric sliding door passenger side broke - cable snapped. A metal skinny cable is now hanging from the outside of the car, next to the third row window. My car has 43,000 miles, so not covered by warranty anymore. The dealer tells me that the cost of repair is $1,500!!! the dealer claims that the motor and all cables have to be replaced.
- Teaneck, NJ, USA
Search CarComplaints.com for these popular complaint phrases...
I have Toyota Sienna 2004 and the automatic sliding door just broke down after a loud bang and a peace of hard plastic flew off and hit the garage floor. I was alone and did not get hurt. Although I have ecp, the dealership said it is not covered and charged me $95cad+tax and gave me an estimate of $1700cad+tax. So I am complaining about two things, one that it could have hurt my kids if they were with me at that time and secondly the ecp does not cover this defect.
The cable and motor assembly for our 2004 Toyota Sienna xle sliding door broke. My wife was unable to close the door and had to drive home with four children in car seats in the back. I was able to close the door, but now we don't open it for fear of it being stuck open. I received a quote to fix of over $1,800. I researched on the internet and this seems to be a very common problem. Toyota should issue a recall as this is obviously defective and it is a safety concern.
The automatic side door on my Toyota Sienna 2004 stopped working, have to open it manually. Have seen quite a few complaints of the same nature on mycarstats.com and it seems Toyota is aware but not doing anything about it.
The cable on the sliding side door of our 2004 Toyota Sienna snapped in December 2008. The cable (unknown metal) which was exposed & dangling appeared to be frayed, as well as rusted. There is no doubt in anyone's mind, including professionals, that this is, indeed, a danger created by a flaw in the vehicle's design. When the cable broke, I immediately took our Sienna to the local Toyota dealership who informed me it would be $1200 to repair it because it is out of warranty (more than 3 years old). When the Toyota service rep closed the door and tried to re-open it, the door was frozen in place and would not open. He said the other piece of the snapped cable must be caught in the mechanism which is jamming the door. In addition to the stress of not being able to open my door, this is a significant safety issue which could result in entrapment of passengers, particularly, our young grandchildren secured in their car seats. As I wait to come up with funds to have this door repaired, I consistently worry about the other sliding door, because from what I have heard, it, too, will likely snap within a short period of time. Though I have been dealing with this for a few months now, I just learned today that Toyota discovered the flaw 4 or 5 years ago, and made an adjustment on the newer models. However, they never bothered to provide notification--nor to recall--the vehicles which had already been produced. Isn't this illegal"? there are hundreds of 2004 Sienna sliding door complaints posted on the web, as well as many horrific and life-threatening stories about the dangers of the doors, including cables snapping causing injury, doors stuck in the closed position, doors not being able to be closed, and even doors opening while in transit. What can 2004 Sienna owners do about this safety-related issue and the refusal of Toyota to take responsibility for its design problem & correct it without exuberant consumer costs & to warn/notify all its consumers" thanks
Drivers side sliding door jammed and cable had to be cut by dealer. I have seen this is a common issue in Siennas. Seems to be a safety and quality issue. 1500 dollars for repair at dealer.
2004 Toyota Sienna passenger sliding door (automatic),stopped working, scrapes paint off of body when used manually, nearly impossible to open and shut.
Both sliding doors on 2004 Toyota Sienna le frequently freeze shut in winter. One door is power, one is manual, and both frequently freeze. Only solution so far is to wait for van to warm up. Major safety issue as it prevents easy exit for children in rear of van - they must crawl between the front seats to exit.
I own a 2004 Toyota Sienna xle. Starting about a month ago (right when it turned 100K miles) the rear driver's side power door started getting stuck closed and would not open. It made a clicking sound like it was trying to open but it was like it wouldn't unlock (even though the orange part of the level still moved inside to indicate it was unlocked). At first locking and unlocking the door a few times would solve the problem and then it would open fine. The problem has become increasingly frequent and now the door won't open at all. I took it to the dealer and they couldn't get it to open and the technician said that just about everyone with this model has this problem and quoted me $1600+ dollars to fix it - and that's if the door will open again. They also showed me how the replacement motor is a re-engineered part which is further indicative of the defectiveness of the original. There are hundreds if not thousands of instances of this very same failure happening to other Sienna owners of this vintage yet Toyota won't issue a recall. I called Toyota customer service and they just kept saying it has a hundred thousand miles and tough luck. Never mind it's a 4 year old car. They said I'd have to meet with the district manager who'd made this decision and that there was no possible way to ever escalate this matter above that individual. I don't buy that. They also refused to give me this individual's contact information. This is wholly unacceptable.. I have many more cars to purchase in my lifetime and they won't be Toyota's if this is how they're going to treat their customers. It seems as though they have no incentive to address this issue as the $3,000 it sounds like everyone is having to spend on their defective doors is a mighty lucrative income source for them. Help.
Sliding doors freeze shut on minivan every time that the temperature gets below freezing and there is moisture in the air. Door handle broke off on the driver side sliding door and had the handle replaced. The Toyota dealership put baby oil on the weather stripping to hopefully reconcile this from happening again, however 2 days later the temperature was 24 F and both of the sliding doors were again frozen shut. In order to open the doors you have to climb over the front seats to push against the doors from the inside. It does not matter if the car warms up for 20 minutes they still remain frozen and they have frozen shut after driving less than 10 miles after getting them open.
Van has less than 40,000 miles and so far all doors on van have failed. Sliding door cable snapped and pieces came flying out and hit me. Sliding doors freeze shut in cold weather making getting a child in or out of the in the case of an emergency impossible. Both seat heaters have failed. The van has required 3 brake jobs and 2 sets of tires in less than 40,000 miles.
My 2004 Toyota Sienna sliding door fell off the track. It has less than 40,000 miles on it. I have to drive it home with the door hanging by a cable. It was kind of dangerous, especially with my daughters in it.
The automatic sliding door does not open & close automatically like it should when the door open/close button is pressed. I have to get it started manually, and then open/close it like a manual door. Also both sliding doors (even the manual sliding door) freeze shut on a daily basis in the winter. This is a huge safety issue as I have children in the rear of the van.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Patterson , NY, USA