The dash start cracking up for no apparent reason and the car is mostly park inside a garage day and night. I have called dealers and nothing has been done so far and I have been told that's a manufacturer defect and it should be corrected by dealer. The transmission some times does not change the gears and others stop to work and I could cause a rear end collision.

- Aguadilla, PR, USA

I have a 2006 Toyota Sienna le with automatic transmission that is currently at 76256 miles. I had bought it new. (delivery date 1-Jan-2007) on 20-Dec-2012, at 75800 miles, I noticed a whirring sound (like a turbo whine) when I lifted my foot off the gas (no load) around 45 mph. The grinding/whirring noise would be most apparent between 25 mph to 45 mph. I took it to my nearest Toyota dealership on 31-Dec-2012 for checkup ( 76257 miles at the time) and they diagnosed that the transmission was going bad and will need to be replaced. The exact diagnosis was that the "side carrier bearing inside of the differential is making the noise. Need new transmission - $5700". the estimated cost is $5700 this looks like a design flaw in the transmission, I am the original owner and have driven the van with lot of care. It is unacceptable that the Toyota transmission would start to fail at less that 76000 miles. I had bought a Toyota van assuming that their vehicles are reliable. I believe there are many 2006 Toyota Siennas on the road that will start having this problem. This can cause a hazardous situation if the transmission fails on a highway causing an accident. Toyota should provide extended warranty for the Sienna transmission just like they did for rav4 2001-2003 model when they extended that warranty to 10 years or 150,000 miles.

- Naples, FL, USA

I was driving approximate 25-30 mph on a dry, level street. A car stopped in front of me to make a left hand turn. I applied the brakes and nothing happened. I released and reapplied the brakes again and again no response. I was able to swerve to the right into an empty parking lot to avoid hitting the car or another collision. After swerving and reapplying the brakes a 3rd or 4th time I was able to come to a stop. My kids and I were severely shaken, but not injured. We decided this problem was due to the master cylinder. We replaced it and have had 3 more incidents since replacing the master cylinder. 1 was in reverse leaving my drive way. I wound up hitting and embankment across the street to stop me. This was a slight down hill roll in reverse. I went from parked to out of control. I never touched the accelerator and hit the brake multiple times and even tried shifting back into park (knowing that's bad for the transmission), nothing worked. After getting stopped and pulling forward everything seemed normal again. My husband was driving in traffic and we were approaching a turn and had to merge in to perpendicular traffic. Approx speed 25-35 mph. The brakes again completely failed and we had to swerve through a traffic light in to a free lane of traffic to avoid a rear end collision with the cars infront of us. We ordered another master cylinder and were preparing to install it. Today the brakes failed again at a stop sign (approx speed 5-10 mph) I had been stopped and started to ease in to the main road when I saw a car coming from the left.

- Arkadelphia, AR, USA

Driver upon shifting from neutral into drive, car accelerated at top speed, eventually colliding with an earthen embankment 80 yards beyond the exit from a car wash structure. Accelerator pedal was not pressed at anytime. Brakes were ineffective. No floor mats., experienced adult male driver with no history of accidents. No passengers. Car was totaled from collision. No injuries, driver avoided hitting a number of parked cars, by steering around them. Accident occurred at 10 am as driver emerged from a car wash structure. Driver not ticketed. Car was inspected by Toyota and deemed in perfect mechanical condition and that Toyota was not responsible. Driver's insurance company provided coverage.

- Cincinnati, OH, USA

Topic: Toyota acceleration problem: On July 4th at 10:00 am, as my 2006 Sienna Toyota was emerging from the dryer-end of well known carwash, the signal at the terminal point indicated that I was to move my car out of the structure. I shifted out of neutral into drive. At the instant I put the car into drive, my vehicle accelerated out of the car wash structure, missing about 12 vehicles and drivers in the parked area drying their cars. The police and witness said I reach 60 mph when I hit an embankment, directly across from the exit to the carwash property at the exit point, the embankment was across the busy street leading out of the carwash area. I turned slightly to the left, in a vain hope to slow my vehicle down; tearing off the front right side and wheel, the vehicle continued on, sliding down onto a busy road. In trying to avoid a busy intersection, I pulled up over the embankment at a lower grade on to a flat grassy area where I could take my right hand off the wheel and pull the gear shift into neutral and turn off ignition. Thank god no one was hurt. The vehicle was inspected by Toyota subcontractors and is being repaired to be returned to us. It will be impossible for me to allow my family or anyone for that matter to drive that car in the future, the car is worth more to us than to others. The tone of the inspectors and other contacts with the Toyota company was one of skepticism. I did not have floor mats in the car and I know the difference and location of my brake, contrary to their suggestions. I think it is interesting that the customer service and inspectors continue to treat their loyal car owners with such disdain and disbelief as if we are all liars. It is strange that the complaints are only coming from Toyota owners, but as one reporter noted Toyota drivers are an aging group and it has not happened to Scion drivers. I hope that this problem is taken seriously by Toyota.

- Cincinnati, OH, USA

I was driving on a straight, level dry road with cruise control set at 58mph. Suddenly car began to downshift. Assuming transmission problem I disengaged cruise control and car almost came to a stop. I pushed gas pedal and drove in low gear to nearest pull-off. Discovered left front brake was smoking. After things cooled off I drove car in low gear about 6 miles to local service station. Mechanic found all brakes locked and removed all wheels. He inspected all rotors, calipers brake lines, etc and found no problems. (I had new brakes installed at dealership about 4 months earlier.) when mechanic manipulated left front caliper all brakes disengaged. Mechanic found brake fluid level was normal. I've driven car about 500 miles since problem occurred with no problems. I don't use cruise control often - and haven't used it since problem occurred. I'm wondering if problem is with cruise control rather than brakes?? this could have been a disaster if it happened on a freeway at higher speeds!

- Dryden, NY, USA