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.
Summary: Sensor in stability control failed and falsely reported crisis situation, causing computer to seize control to slow vehicle and change course. Long version: While driving straight on city street, suddenly vehicle slowed and pulled to side, stability control light and audio alarm activated, heard grinding noise that sounded like ABS. Condition persisted if driving over 5-10 mph. Crawled to nearby non-dealer repair shop. Diagnosis/solution: Steering angle sensor reporting wheels at 250 degrees when actually straight ahead, would not recalibrate, circuit integrity otherwise good, sensor was replaced. No residual problems noted so far since then (one day). I have the failed sensor. This sensor problem was cause of a production change and tsb BR008-04 in the first year. Obviously Toyota has known about this problem for years, but no recall. Other accounts exist on line of people who have had this happen. This is a major safety hazard. It's the mechanical equivalent of riding with a driver on lsd who is braking/swerving to avoid hallucinations. I was lucky to be going slowly on an uncrowded street, but at higher speed or crowded conditions this could be a disaster. Toyota has not been terribly helpful so far, but discussion will continue....
The contact owns a 2004 Toyota Sienna. The contact stated that while driving 35 mph, the vsc and the traction off light illuminated causing the brake to engage independently. The vehicle was not taken to the dealer for inspection. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 20,000.
Six times now driving at speeds between 30 and 60 mph my Toyota mini van's vehicle traction control has activated, brakes go on, pull me into another lane, all lights flashing, car beeping. It lasts anywhere from 3 seconds to 10 seconds. It is absolutely terrifying.
My car is a 2004 Toyota Sienna AWD xle limited. The vehicle will activate the vehicle skid control (vsc) without warning while driving on smooth dry roads. The effect is for the vehicle to apply brakes strongly to specific wheels pulling the car strongly to one side. This happens most frequently while driving winding roads and in corners. It has become more regular it it's occurrence and has happened on relatively straight sections of highway most recently. A similar situation occurred approx 2 years ago. At that time the retailer repaired it by adjusting the steering sensor used by the vsc and stated that this should be done periodically dependent on alignment work done on the vehicle. This solved the issue at that time. It is very dangerous both to the vehicle which requires great effort to maintain control and the vehicles following it which are at risk of rear ending the effected car. The Toyota retailer initially indicated that a catalyst failure was the cause (yes they said this). I was told that the cat failure could induce other brake and engine related failures. The cat was replaced and the vsc failure has resumed. At this time no failures of any kind are indicated. I have researched this topic and find about a dozen identical failures on 2014 Toyota Siennas documented in various user forums. As there are only a few documented on the NHTSA site I am concerned that the situation is under reported. Many of these user forums indicate that the symptoms were reported to the manufacturer. My most recent trouble report case number from Toyota is [xxx]. information redacted pursuant to the Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).
Traction control unexpectedly engaged while I was driving on the curvy hwy 17 from santa cruz to san jose, California on July 04, 2012. The traction control light came on with sound "bip, bip. Bip.... I lost control of the car in a very short moment and cars adjacent to me veered away to avoid me. I almost caused an accident. I had both Toyota dealership and qualified auto shop test my van, replaced a fault sensor (recemended by Toyota dealer) but the same problem remains. I had Toyota dealership and private qualied auto technician test the van again and they could not repeat the same problem, and determined that there was nothing wrong with it. During the past 12 months I experienced traction control problem around 10 times, the last 2 times were in July 2013. The problem happens only on curvy roads, at any speed, and in a very short moment, around 1-5 seconds before the traction control light and sound go off. This is a very serious safety problem.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Madison, WI, USA