general problems of the 2002 Toyota Sienna

The contact owns a 2002 Toyota Sienna. While the vehicle was parked with the engine turned off and the emergency brake engaged, the vehicle suddenly rolled backwards down a small incline and crashed into a fence post. A small child was present inside the vehicle, but there were no injuries. A police report was not filed. The vehicle was taken to maita Toyota (2500 auburn blvd, sacramento, CA). The dealer indicated that the transmission experienced a mechanism failure, but the exact cause was not determined. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 136,200.

Our 2002 Toyota Sienna had the gear shift repaired at a major atlanta area Toyota dealer on may 5, 2014. The gear shift replacement required the entire steering column to be disassembled. About one week after that repair, the steering completely failed. The steering wheel turned with absolutely no control of the wheels. By sheer luck this steering failure occurred in a parking lot after just traveling on the interstate. Had this steering failure occurred at interstate speeds, this may have been fatal. The vehicle was returned to the same major atlanta area Toyota dealer and the cause of the steering failure was identified as "steering joint bolt backed off from connection". I was told that the steering failure was caused by one bolt coming loose. The steering failure was corrected by "re-tightened' bolt with lock tight". In summary, the repair of a gear shift by a certified Toyota dealer service center resulted in complete steering failure due to one bolt that "backed off from connection" or that was not properly tightened or secured. It is very concerning that Toyota?s steering column design has the potential to cause complete steering failure when one bolt comes loose. It is also a major issue that a certified Toyota dealer service center is unable to safely dissemble and reassemble the steering column and provide a safe and drivable vehicle. I would like to find out how often this type of steering failure has occurred on this and similarly designed Toyota vehicles. I would also like to know how many crashes, serious injuries or deaths have resulted from this issue. This certainly can?t be the only occurrence. I feel it is imperative to alert owners of this vehicle as well as authorized repair centers of the situation or issue a recall to ensure that the steering joint bolt is secure. . Read more...

The contact owns a 2002 Toyota Sienna. The contact stated that the gear shift failed to shift out of park and drive. The failure recurred sporadically. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic for diagnosis where it was stated that the steering column needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired and the manufacturer was not notified. The approximate failure mileage was 80,000.

The automatic door on our 2002 Toyota Sienna does not work. The cable broke while my daughter was getting in the car. Luckily, she was not injured.

My wife was backing out of a parking space on a slight incline. When she stopped and tried to put the car into drive, the gearshift broke. We had the van towed to the Toyota dealer and they determined that the metal parts into which the gear shaft inserts had broken clean in half. Neither the customer service rep nor the mechanic had ever seen that happen before they claimed. Nevertheless, Toyota did not deem this to be a defect and we had to pay close to $800 to have it fixed. Had this happened on a steeper hill or had my wife been pulling out into a busy street, an accident most definitely could have occurred. I have kept the parts which I believe were faulty/defective. The parts that were replaced were a tilt steering support, a steering tube sub-assembly, a shaft sub-assembly and a tilt steering bolt.

I hope you will be able to help me out. My Sienna has 61022 mileages on it and we baby this car to the 't'. On February 11, 2008, I had just started the vehicle and was about to change from 'p' to 'd' when the gear shift lever broke. No force was used and we always pull back the shifter and change gears with minimal force. I had the vehicle towed to the dealer and the technician showed me where the aluminum brackets broke in three places. I was in shock that the design and material was not made engineered to last. The technician said that the material is made of aluminum and he just replaced one a couple of days ago. I did some research on the internet and found out this is not a single case. There are a lot of people who had this same problem on their Sienna worldwide? normally, the part should last the life of the vehicle. I start to wonder if this is a defect because it is happening on lots of Siennas. Also this repair is extremely expensive. It cost me $834. 69. 00 us dollar. (parts $166. 16, labor $655. 65) please let me know if this is common and if Toyota should have take a full responsibility in this kind of matter and consider this as a defect. Thank you for your attention in this issue.