general problems of the 2004 Toyota Sienna - part 2

Spare tire support rusted and spare tire fell into road.

Can not close rear sliding door or driver it has 2 latches the front one locks and the rear one does not because of the weld braking loose also the rear hatch door where the latch holds on the braket the weld came loose can not keep door closed I took it the dealer and they said that no recall has been on file.

The front doors on Siennas have a well known problem of welds failing in the door opening mechanism. Toyota recognized this and extended the warranty on the door hardware for 5 years 100k miles. I had both my front doors fixed under this extended warranty. It was known at the time (not to me) that this was another temporary fix as this is a design flaw that Toyota knew about but did not try to address with a permanent solution or an overall product recall. And, they apparently have gotten away with that due to the number of owners that have not gotten their doors fixed. The problem is that while there is just a "popping" sound due to the failure of the welds right now, it may lead to a situation where the doors will either not open or open without any control as they'd be held by the hinges only. Either situation presents the owners with inherent dangers- one from not being able to exit the vehicle in an emergency and the other where a door could open suddenly and injure anyone near the vehicle when being opened. I did register my complaint with the dealer and Toyota who both told me that any inspection or repair was solely the responsibility of me (the original) owner of the vehicle. My Toyota case number is 1406161930.

I had a flat tire. I was trying to use spare tire stored under the car. I was able to lower the spare tire and remove the spare using the hoist but after removing the tire, I tried to retract the cable back holding the spare tire then it got stuck, I was able to turn the lever but the cable would not retract. So I have about 2 feet of cable with 2 x 5 inches of metal, which holds the spare, dangling under the car. I was able to loop the cable and tie it on as piece of metal under the car, but I have to go under the car to this. This is the first and only time I use the spare tire for this car. The shop I brought car to said it was rusted and needs to be replaced.

The rear power window was rolled up and caused injury to ten year old female. My concern / question is why there is not a safety feature on the windows that would automatically go down if any resistance was applied to the window. If the vehicle had this type of safety feature it would have prevented injury.

Power sliding door is jammed. Received customer support letter from Toyota last year (2013) that stated they knew there was a problem but only an extension of warranty for 9 years past date of service for vehicle and/or 120,000 miles (which we are past). Over $1100 just on parts to fix one door! today the other door would not open, so I had 2 doors jammed and had to climb into back seat area climbing over center console to get two young children out of their car seats and out of the car back over center console and out front passenger door. When I went to drive the vehicle the alarm system started to sound constantly even though door was shut all the way. This created an unnecessary distraction to driving not to mention the obvious safety concerns of back doors that will not open.

Sliding doors freeze shut during cold weather, handle of sliding door pulled right off during cold weather. In a car accident the passengers in the back seats would not be able to be safely and quickly pulled out of the car. This is the 2nd time the door handle pulled off. We repaired the handle of the door earlier than 2014 and the handle pulled off again at the date stated on this report. The doors freeze shut in almost any winter cold weather since the car was purchased.

Right side power door cable frayed over a period of time and then broke rendering the right door useless. Cannot open and close it. This is a safety issue if someone needs to exit the vehicle in the event of an emergency.

Tried to open my driver side sliding door and the cable just snapped. Now I can't even open my door. I have a car seat on the side that works and my kids have to jump over the car seat or get out the front doors. It's not safe at all and it's too expensive for me to fix as a single mother with 3 children.

Passenger side power sliding door cable broke making the door inoperable. The van cannot be exited on the passenger side. Repair involves motor and cable replacement costing $1720. Toyota extended the warranty to 9 years from purchase and 120,000 miles thereby acknowledging their issue to a faulty part. They wouldn't replace it until it failed. The car was garaged its entire 9 years and therefore it took 127,550 miles to fail. Even though I am within the 9 years of purchase by 4 weeks, Toyota won't honor the warranty extension due to being beyond 120,000 miles. I will have to pay this high cost to replace a door motor out of my own pocket. I will never buy a Toyota again. This cable should never fail and is a faulty product which they have acknowledged.

Vehicle randomly self-locks while in park with car turned off, without any indication. This has happened with my keys inside the vehicle on the seat while putting groceries in the back at the store and at home. It happens all the time now, and its scary, because I have a young child who I strap into the car seat and then walk around to the drivers side, usually after putting my purse and keys down on seat up front. If car self locks, kids could be trapped inside. Research on line shows this is a problem with other Toyotas, possibly having something to do with a security system harness glitch or door lock actuator?.

While driving there was a very loud screech from the motor, on and off, then the power steering went out, very hard to turn steering wheel, luckily I was able to force it the few miles left home. Then I noticed the a/c was not cold, this was intermittent, now, no a/c at all. Just hot air. This stalled of failed while in traffic, I could have had serious problems like getting hit because I could not turn the vehicle readily, or easily.

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.

Toyota Sienna fractured defective left front door check pocket popping noise due to weld failures. . Read more...

The rear sliding door cable frayed and snapped. When I opened door it jammed and would not close. I had to drive with door half way open to get where I could get it fixed.

Upon pressing the open button on the remote for the passenger side sliding rear door, it makes noise but does not open. Upon further investigation we realized the cable had frayed and the door got jammed half way open. We took it to the dealership and were told to ask for an exception but because it was not completely broken they would not fix it! this poses a safety issue as the only exit for rear passengers is now the drivers side rear door until it breaks as well. Research suggests we are just barley over and only months beyond the extended warranty service for this defect @ 120k or 9yrs, leaving us to absorb the entire 1500-1800$ cost associated with repair.

The drivers and front passenger door makes a loud popping noise when opening and closing due to broken welds. Doors apparently cannot be welded but must be replaced. Toyota should be responsible for replacing doors at no cost to the consumer. Welds should not break . Incident date is approximate.

Once opened, the vehicle door would not close. I had to use excessive force to get it to close & the only way it did so was after the power sliding door cable had snapped. Had this happened while away from home, I may have had to drive home with the door open.

My tires were getting worn out at about 20000 miles, though I took to Toyota dealer ship they never identified that the problem was with the lower control arm. Recently it was identified that both the lower control arms bushings were damaged and it cost more than $1100 to replace it. I understand that lower control arms were on recall but my vehicle was not part of the recall / never received recall notice.

The cable for the power door on my 2004 Toyota Sienna has broken and I recently learned that Toyota was aware of the problem with this part and was offering a customer support program to replace the defective power door mechanism. Unfortunately we did not receive the notice of the program from Toyota and when I called to get information, I was told that even though my car only has 79,360 miles, I do not qualify for the program because my car is 10 years old. Specifically, my husband was told by the customer service supervisor that "Toyota doesn't make exceptions". I'm very concerned that Toyota has yet to issue a safety recall on this part as the door is jammed and no longer usable, putting passengers in the back seat at risk by not having a safe way to exit the vehicle on the passenger side. Toyota is aware of this safety issue and they are negligent by not issuing a replacement, regardless of the age of the car, especially on with such little mileage. Although I have yet to receive a copy of the secret service bulletin, despite requesting one from the customer service rep, I understand that the extension was issued 12 months or less from the date the 2004 would go out of the extended warranty.

The electric sliding door does not close. It constantly shuts and opens. If a person is stepping into the car the door will close on the person unless they physically manhandle the door. An adult had a difficult time stopping the door from closing on her. During the winter months the sliding doors will not open. Some how the handle release the door ajar beeping noise but the doors will not open from the inside or outside. People need to climb to the back from the front. We received a recall notice but when we took our car in to the dealership it was beyond the 9 year limit. The dealership said it would be over $1000 to repair. We have since had an accident related to the spare tire recall that we thought the Toyota dealership remedied. I now realize the problem and issues with manufacture errors and responsibility. I believe Toyota should be responsible to repair the sliding door issues before someone gets crushed in the electric slider. If ever we were in an accident in the winter, how would the people sitting in the middle rows exit the car. There needs to be a better system to inform consumers of faulty equipment before an accident happens. Manufacturers need to be responsible before an incident occurs. When I called Toyota, they said that I did not have a service history or brand loyalty. We have owned our Toyota for 8 years! we have taken our car to local mechanics except for issues of recall. Our friends bought a Toyota Sienna due to our recommendation and car history. 2 weeks ago we just purchased a Toyota prius for our daughter. That is customer loyalty.

Automatic sliding side door cable snapped door slide closed on a child entering. Van was parked on a slight hill door was already open child entering door of van when cable that opens and closes door snapped and released door and door slid close slamming the child up against the door pillar between front passenger door and sliding side door.

This is a recurring incident. On cold days, the sliding doors will freeze shut. This is a common problem from my understanding, and some folks on web forums have recommended filing a complaint to hopefully get Toyota to issue a recall and resolve the issue. The freezing door problem is exacerbated by the electrical door lock mechanism and open/close sensor on the slider. In many cases, the failed attempt to open the frozen door is enough to trigger the door "open" sensor and cause the interior lights to come on.

Sliding side door automatic opener cable broke, disabling the opener. Do not use that door anymore because it can stick in the open position now. This is covered by a customer support program (csp) that is good for 9 years or 125,000 miles, but my car is past that. Since this is a known problem, and since it can be expected to occur, but occur later than the warranty for doors that aren't used that often, I feel Toyota should fix this past their extended warranty.

Our local Toyota dealer replaced the lift gate struts due to a recall even though the original struts were fine. After the replacement, the new struts do not work properly during warm weather. The lift gate will partially go down and then the lift gate jerks back up and does not close. The dealer was contacted about this problem and the car was taken back in. Dealer said they "didn't know what to do" and would contact Toyota and call us back. They never did.

Passenger rear sliding automatic door's cable frayed. Called Toyota and they stated there was an extended warranty and it would be covered at no charge. I had not been able to leave the vehicle because it was needed and made our way around the issue. I would like to sell the van but now I am told it will be almost 2000 to fix because it is out of warranty?? makes no sense as when I initially called, they stated it would be no charge and never mentioned anything about time or mileage. I beg to differ on this issue as when I made the initial call it was covered. So shouldnt it still be?.

Cable failure on both power sliding doors of my 2004 Toyota Sienna. Doors now not operating properly if opening at all.

Noticed the left sliding door had 2 of 3 bolts missing. Went to local dealership when service personnel said it was a body shop issue and they would not be able to handle it. Therefore, no record of the incident in their system either. My mechanic was able to replace the 2 missing bolts and tighten them all, allowing the door to close without challenges until just the other day, the door was unable to fully close. (June 22, 2015). My mechanic & I discovered the door to be in worse shape than ever. The part which latches & keeps the door securely closed had completely broken off & in need of welding to be repaired. All 3 bolts had fallen out and were nowhere to be found. This obviously is very dangerous, especially when transporting precious cargo like children.

The automatic sliding passenger door on a 2004 Toyota Sienna le became stuck in the open position which did not allow the vehicle to be driven properly. It had to be forcibly closed by four adults so that we could drive the car home. The malfunction is a known defect in Toyota Sienna vehicles. The failure would occur anytime the door was opened and in fact the door would not open properly. This has created a severe safety hazard with people entering and exiting the vehicle. If there was an emergency and you had to open the door, the malfunctioning cable would prevent you from exiting the vehicle in a timely manner. The repair cost of this defect was $2,000. You have to repair this as its unsafe to drive any car with a non-functioning door. How can you drive a car with a door that will not close or one that requires several adults to close it? Toyota is well aware of this issue and has done nothing to recall this defect.

In early January 2011, the heater for the passenger car seat in my Toyota Sienna burned through the leather, through my 12 year old daughter's dress and superficially burned her leg. I believe the seat is defective as a fuse or other safety feature should have prevented such an injury/event.

We have had issues with our sliding doors on our 2004 Toyota Sienna le awd since we purchased it. Both doors stick whenever the temp drops below freezing. The only way to open them at times is to climb inside and throw my 6'0" 240lb body into it. Even then I've had them not open. Due to the continued stress placed on the outer handles the driver's side rear finally broke off. That was not due to me being overlly physical with it either. That one was pulled off by my wife, 5'0" 120lbs. Also, the passenger rear sliding door was equipped with an automatic door. The cable snapped on that a couple of months ago. That door won't even open now. I understand normal wear and tear but I believe this goes beyond that. Heaven forbid if we're in an accident because one door can't open and the other side will only open from the inside.

2004 Toyota Sienna,pwer door cable snapped. . . Dealer asking $1500 to fix this problem. . When this happened ,tha car was only 50k miles on this. . I found that this is a common problem with all the Sienna. . I would like to conside this as a recall & fix this ASAP.

While I was trying to open my 2004 Toyota Sienna passenger powered sliding door the cord ripped. It is too costly for us to repair this item and I can not use the door with children as it is to hard to open for a minor.

I have a 2004 Toyota Sienna van and I am very disturbed by the power door problems I have had since day 1 of owning this vehicle. The sliding doors freeze up all the time in the winter. After driving for approx. 30-45 minutes the door will unfreeze & come open! I have two children!!! this is a safety hazard as well as being a nuisance. Also the power door cable snapped in two. I called hickory Toyota & spoke with maintenance customer service, which informed me that this just does not happen. I said well, in my case it did! I want this fixed before one of my children get hurt & this becomes a law suit! this is my 2nd Sienna van & had the same problem with it. I've had three camrys and they were almost perfect. What is up Sienna??!! maybe I need to convert to Honda after all. :(.

A/c failure, the whole system is sub-standard, valves, lines, compressor. Have been in the shop for 2 years. Noticed a lot of complaints on-line for this model.