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.
Drivers side passenger sliding door will not open. This occurred on April 27th 2010. I was trying to open the door to let my children out of the van, and it wouldn't budge. I checked to make sure that the doors were unlocked. They were but door still would not open.
The contact owns a 2004 Toyota Sienna. While the vehicle was parked with the passengers side sliding door open, the contact was unable to close the door. She attempted to utilize the keyless remote but to no avail. She then attempted to close the door manually but when doing so, broke a cable. The door was no longer being utilized due to the malfunction. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was 74,000 and the current mileage was 74,412. Updated 10/13/10 updated 10/19/10
The power side door cable on my 2004 Sienna is cracking. The cable hasn't snapped, yet, but if we keep using the door, it would, creating a very hazardous situation. The door is unusable now.
Sienna 2004 le attempting to open the passenger side rear power sliding door the mechanism made a clicking sound and the cable snapped. The motor still appears to be functioning but one of the 2 cables operating the door (braided metal cable) snapped and now the door only slides part way open in the 'manual' mode. I have only 83,000 kms on this 2004 Sienna le and was shocked to see this failure. However, I feel lucky that neither of my children were injured by the cable or mechanism failure. Now I am operating the door in manual mode but it is not opening correctly and I am worried that it may open incorrectly and cause a safety hazard.
I was shutting door when power sliding door stuck had to manual override to shut. Cable broke. Brought to dealer they cut the cable to allow door to open. Then other door had same thing happen 6 hours later. Both doors, different incidents, same day.
- North Mankato, MN, USA
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Sienna 2004 xle van. The rear side power door stopped working. The cable had broken and hence the power drive for opening and closing the door would not work. The door could be opened by sliding the door manually. I took the van into the dealership to have the part replaced. They were unable to get to the repair and we were leaving town. I asked them if the car was safe to drive as there was no way to disable the door from use and there would be children in the rear who would by habit reach to open the door. The service manager assured me it was fine - only difficult to open manually and even came to the vehicle to demonstrate. The next morning, my husband drove the van to on errands before loading up to take it on vacation. He unthinkingly opened the rear passenger door resulting in the far back side window shattering and the door falling off onto the ground. If there had been someone seated in the vehicle, they would have been covered in glass. If a child had opened the door, it would have fallen on him. We took the van to the dealership and called the Toyota corporate line - both refused to acknowledge that the issue was a safety problem we took the car to an independent repair shop who told us that the cable system was no longer available and had been replaced by a different system which may have been because of the potential safety and poor engineering design. I wrote letters to Toyota but received no response.
The cable to the automatic passenger side sliding door rusted and snapped. We pushed the button by the steering wheel to make it a manual door since it was going to cost between 1,400 and 1,600 dollars depending on the dealership we asked. However the only way to close the door once fully opened is to reach inside the door and pull the inside handle to unlock the holding mechanism to keep the door from sliding shut. My 10 year old son was getting out of the car and shutting the door by using the inside handle to unlatch the door when his fingers were smashed in the door.
I am writing you because of an apparent continuing issue with the automatic sliding door on my 2004 Toyota Sienna, passenger side. In 2009 the door quick functioning altogether. We took it to the dealer and were told that the motor needed replacing. The door would not open manually or automatically and because we have small children we needed that door to work properly. We had the motor replaced at cost of $761 on June 3, 2009. Now less than a year later the same door is not working again. Now the dealer is telling us that we yet another part within the door replaced for a cost of $1,100. After researching this subject on the internet there seems to be a consistent problem with these automatic doors on Toyota's. I am not trying to pile on Toyota while they are having quality issues. I actually own a Toyota truck too. However, I do want the automatic door to work as it should and not to have the motor replaced every 8 months. The safety mechanism on these doors does not function as they should either. I have notice that if the bottom to close the door is pushed and someone is in-between the door and the frame that there is a great deal of pressure applied before the door will reverse. If a child were trapped in-between then it could cause some serious injury. For a adult there is enough pressure to cause pain. There are some serious issues with these automatic doors that need to be addressed.
2004 Toyota Sienna rear sliding door guide wire snapped. Was told by Toyota it would cost me 1500 - 1800 to fix. I have to purchase entire door motor assembly with guide wire.
The sliding door on my Sienna broke. I looked online several years ago when this happened, and noticed this appears to be a common problem with the Sienna. Since it no longer automatically opens/closes, it needs to be closed manually. But, the door is very heavy and it is difficult to close it securely. In fact, my children are unable to close it because of its weight and therefore the door must always be checked. When the door broke, I was out with all 3 of my children and basically stranded because I certainly couldn't drive the car with a door that wouldn't close. We had to cut the cord to free the door and allow it to close in order to get home. Also -- related to sliding doors...the other sliding door on my Sienna does work. However, it doesn't not stop sliding when it comes into contact with a person. It continues to apply pressure to the person standing in the doorway until is squeezes you quite tight...then finally lets up. (I know this from personal experience.) so far, my kids haven't had their hands closed in the door, but I'm sure that if they do, it will be a very very unpleasant experience. I thought the sliders were supposed to stop sliding if they met any resistance at all. Overall, I'm pretty unhappy about the door situation.
Both of the sliding doors on my 2004 Sienna are not opening. The manual door is locked and will not open from both the inside and outside. The power door will open an inch or two and then locks up.
My 2004 Toyota Sienna le power door, passenger side, hinge is loose from its track and the dealer wants $500 to repair. My van has 128,000 miles but the reason we bought the Toyota and not the Honda was because of Toyota's reputation. I realize the van has over 100,000 miles but I thought this part should have lasted longer. The door now only works manually and is difficult to open thus it's a real hassle if you have kids in the back seat. It seems to have failed prematurely as I thought Toyota lasted longer. The dealer has ordered the part and this is a two week turnaround item but after reading the blogs I need to file a complaint as this type of problem looks to be quite common. My other vehicle is a Tacoma 2005 and it has a few cosmetic problems as well. Specifically, the sun visors are defective; I replaced the drivers side at a cost of $75 and the passenger is doing the same thing. My next vehicle will be a Honda.
Toyota Sienna '04 driver side door has a loud clunking sound when opening and closing doors. Toyota issued a letter to customers to get the door fixed but I never got a letter. Why did Toyota sent out letter to fix the problem and not call it a recall. Please help to get my door fix.
Passenger side power sliding door cable snapped. The cable is broken and hanging outside of the door. Toyota dealer says we need a new motor and cable costing $1600. There is a service bulletin out on this Toyota is aware of the problem but not fixing it or recalling it. We had to drive with the door open because we could not close it. It is still not working.
Events leading up to failure: Opening the driver's side sliding door via automatic open button on key fob failure: Cable in track of door snapped (it only happened once), causing the door to be rendered useless --- it no longer opens or closes, even when in 'manual' mode. What was done to correct failure? I took it to a repair shop, who informed me that it was going to cost around $1500 to fix. So, for now, nothing has been done to fix the problem. I will have to continue to load my 3 children (all under the age of 5) in and out of their car seats via the remaining, working door. In order to do so, I'm having to set my 3-month old down in the parking space next to wherever we park in order to strap the 2-year old in (or out), and help the 4 year old with her belt...all the while hoping that a careless driver doesn't barrel into the space and mow the infant over. Seems like a safety concern to me.
On our 2004 Toyota Sienna xle, the passenger side power sliding door cable snapped making the door inoperable. We have called the Toyota customer care toll free number numreous times, only to have been put on hold forever while they tend to their "other issues". we have contacted our local dealer only to be given a repair price and then was told that this was not a "major problem", meaning that this was not their responsibilty. While online investigating this issue, we have found that we are by no means the only ones with this problem and that this is a major problem. At least 50 or more of the same problems have been found on this and newer models. The sliding doors also have become frozen and some children have even been injured. Some vehicles have the door fall off completely when the cable snapped, injuring people. This is a real major problem and safety issue. We feel that Toyota should take this very seriously and stop giving people the runaround and admit to yet another flaw in their vehicles. The sliding door issues and the safety of customers and their family are nothing to put "on hold" or just throw off to the side as not a major problem. What is it going to take for Toyota to realize this" how many more inuries and potential inconveniences must the public endure" as of now the vehicle has not been repaired and the door cannot be used. We feel that this is the responsibilty of Toyota. In the meantime, we will get more estimates for the repair and consider the options.
The contact owns a 2004 Toyota Sienna. The contact stated that when the vehicle was parked on an incline, the rear sliding door would not hold in place. The cable for the door was also frayed. Also in freezing cold weather, the door on the passenger side would not open. The vehicle was taken to the dealership four times in regards to the failure, but the contact was not sure if the vehicle was ever repaired at the dealership. When the dealer opened the door, he noticed that it would not shut. The contact was informed that she would have to replace the door motor and cable at her expense. The failure mileage was approximately 60,000. The current mileage was approximately 103,000.
The contact owns a 2004 Toyota Sienna. The contact was driving approximately 40 mph, the automatic sliding door failed to operate in an open or close position during activation. The vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer on several separate occasions. The replacement of the sliding door service cost was $2,500. In addition, the sliding door handles required replacement. The failure mileage was 10,000. The current mileage was 129,000. The VIN was unavailable.
Upon arrival at a local bakery my husband was attempting to exit from the rear driver's side power door in our 2004 Toyota Sienna when there was a loud noise and the door stopped moving and only opened a third of the way. He managed to squeeze out and close the door. Upon looking at the door we came to find that there is a cable on the outside of the vehicle that operates the door and it was frayed and would not allow the door to open anymore than a third of the way. After seeing that we walked around to the other side of the vehicle and found that the cable for the passenger side door has the coating off of it and could end up doing the same thing. We have not yet gotten any quotes but from looking online it's going to be in the thousands. Thankfully at this time I have no children, but if I did, not being able to open the door and get my child out safely would be a major concern. I loved Toyota until this happened to my vehicle and come to find there are other's in my shoes. I know that because of the mileage on my car I would never see compensation, but I do want to voice my safety concern with this issue.
The contact owns a 2004 Toyota Sienna. The contact stated that the sliding door on the vehicle does not work properly. The door gets jammed and will not close. The dealer stated that the contact would have to get a new motor for the door. The dealer stated the problem is with the cable but the contact would have to get a new motor in order to replace the cable. The failure mileage was 130000 and the current mileage is 160000.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Columbia, MD, USA