Hatchback/liftgate problems of the 2004 Toyota Sienna - part 1

The rear lift gate is not staying in place when lifted, it falls about 10 inches and then the automatic door close engages. If you turn off the automatic door, then it slams shut. The struts were already replaced once under the first recall.

2004 Toyota Sienna xle limited. Consumer writes in regards to problems with doors on vehicle. The consumer stated the rear lift gate was repaired several times. The consumer was informed there was a recall involving a particular part on the vehicle, and she has been having problems ever since. The consumer stated when she opened the liftgate, it would fly open too quickly and when she closed it, it would essentially crush someone until it finally re-opened. The consumer stated the safety mechanism was clearly faulty. Approximately two weeks ago, the left rear sliding door became difficult to open and close.

I tool my car last April to get my recall done on my lift gate and ever since that my lift gate is not working. . I have called them several times and have filed a complaint with Toyota as well but it seems no one is listening to me. Please help.

The rear power door hatch wont stay open in cold weather, it will open and then immediately start to close causing several heads to be hit. This happens everytime it is cold. Also now my remote and the interior button wont open the door at all, it has to be done manually.

Sienna rear lift gate opens up about 95%, sits there for a moment and then closes. This is no big deal if you are just watching it, but if you start to load or unload during the process the door will hit you in the head. This has happened to me several times in the last few weeks. I understand the lift gate struts were recalled on my vehicle, service records indicate they were replaced in December 2008 (I did not own the vehicle at the time. The safety issue is partly the week struts, seems to fail due to cold temperatures. The real safety issue is that there is no warning sound that the door is deciding to close itself.

My wife parked our 2004 Toyota Sienna minivan and opened the rear liftgate from the console above the rearview mirror. She exited the vehicle and walked to the rear of the vehicle. As she turned to the open rear area the liftgate descended and struck her, causing her to fall to the ground and opening a gash in her scalp that bled profusely and required three staples to close. Our vehicle had been recalled to address this issue in 2008, but we have experienced similar intermittent and unpredictable instances since. Although a 2008 recall notice calls for the replacement of the struts that support the liftgate, and although our records show that our vehicle was serviced under that notice, our local Toyota dealer declined to take any action, stating that their service department was unable to replicate the event and further stating that had they been able to replicate the event their next step would have been to try to determine the cause. These responses are inconsistent with the clear directions of the 2008 recall. Assuming that the servicing was carried out in 2008 under the 2008 notice, we do not know whether it was incorrectly performed, or whether the deterioration of the struts that led to the notice has continued with the replacement struts.

I have a 2004 Toyota Sienna xle. The rear lift gate sometime does not provide enough support and fall down and bump into people's head cause head injury. Toyota has issued a recall and did a replacement but the new part is sub-standard and failed just after a year. They need to issue another recall and provide a better/longer term solution.

Rear manual liftgate on 2004 Toyota Sienna unexpectedly closes. Toyota was supposed to have extended the warranty on liftgate to 6 years unlimited mileage but now refuse to correct problem. Contacted them before the 6 years had ended but they never returned calls until 6 year limit had passed. Liftgate has fallen on people 2-3 times and has to be manually held open to use rear compartment.

I have a 2004 Toyota Sienna with power liftgate. On number of occasions, starting on the Jan 29,2010, the lift gate would go up and rather than staying up, it start closing. When this initially happened, I was getting under the liftgate as it opened to grab a bag and quickly moved out of the way when I realized that the liftgate was starting close. On number of times, I had to manually push the gate up as it was closing to getting it to stay open. Today on Feb 4th, I took the Sienna to the dealer at morristown, NJ and they told me that there was nothing wrong. When I relayed to him that there was a recall regarding this incident, they looked it up tin their system and told me that my car was not the right model. I subsequently, checked my service record and indeed the struts for the liftgate were recalled and replaced by the same dealer in Dec. ,2008. Now, a little over a year and 15,000 miles of driving, this problem is happening as described per recall message. I am worried that this issue has not been resolved or the struts that they replaced may be defective.

I received a recall notice regarding my 2004 Toyota Sienna van to have the rear liftgate support struts replaced. I was advised that there had been reports of failure resulting in potential injuries. I visited the dealer 9/08 and had the struts replaced. Following the replacement a problem developed. My liftgate is power operated and when I opened the liftgate it immediately reversed and closed repeatedly. I returned to the dealer on 10/20/08 and they replaced the struts again. The problem remained and on 11/3/08 the dealer insisted the motor had probably worn out and I had it replaced. The solution seemed to work until 1/09 when again the liftgate would go up and immediately back down. Worse yet, the safety feature would not work (if the liftgate meets resistance; like someone in the way). If the liftgate meets resistance it is supposed to reverse. On 1/13/09 an employee of a retailer was almost injured while loading merchandise into the vehicle. The liftgate would not reverse and I had to pull him away. I went back to the dealer and they explained they have had many complaints. They went on to explain that apparently cold weather is to blame resulting in the struts not functioning properly. The dealer went on to explain that Toyota to date does not have a solution. I'm amazed, this is a potential hazard.

2004 Toyota Sienna. Approx. 60,000. Per recall, both rear gate struts were replaced on 8/26/08. Since then, rear gate automatically closes when it's remotely opened (I. E. , opened with the key fob or console button) and it reaches its point of highest travel, thereby presenting a danger to persons standing under the gate. I returned the vehicle once to the dealer which said a technician would replace the "bumpers" or "stops," but the problem continues.

The rear liftgate on my van will open then close suddenly. If a person were to get in the way they could be crushed and seriously injured.

Rear hatch struts on 2004 Toyota Sienna failed on approximately 01may08. Liftgate closed on my wife and six year old nephew. Had to use considerable force to reverse the action of door. Took the car with rear liftgate strut warranty enhancement to the dealer on 21may08 and the repair was made,but the liftgate still fails to stay up.

The rear automatic lift-gate of my 2004 Toyota Sienna is defective. Approximately 50% of the time the lift-gate opens and immediately starts to close on top of your head. It's gotten so bad that my family now pushes the button to open the rear lift-gate while we stand clear and then when it reverses, we keep pushing the button on the remote over and over until finally the rear lift-gate will stop reversing and stay up. Only then can we duck under the door to get what we need out of the back. In the early stages of the problem, family members were whacked over the head at least a dozen times. It didn't take long to learn that the rear lift-gate cannot be trusted. It began as an intermittent problem, but it happens every day now. The dealership said this morning that the problem is not under warranty.

2004 Sienna's trunk hydraulics failed, causing serious injury risk.

The contact owns a 2004 Toyota Sienna. While attempting to open the rear door with lift gage button the door opens a few inches and will not stay open, it closed with force and without warning. The struts have failed when attempting to manually hold the door in the upright position. The power cycles automatically engaged while attempting to manually lift the door. The dealer advised the contact to disconnect the battery then reconnect it to reset the computer; however, that did not correct the failure. The current and failure mileages were 29,000. Updated 01/17/08 the consumer stated the defect is still affecting the vehicle to date. Updated 01/17/08.

After opening the power rear hatch on my Sienna 2004 minivan the rear hatch closes automatically. When it starts to close you can not stop it from closing. Luckily no one has been injured.

Power rear hatch will not fully open and closes on its own. Vehicle has 36100 miles and its warranty expired in Aug 2007. Could cause potential injury and or death.

The car has a power liftgate. The gas struts that hold up the rear liftgate intermittently fail and the liftgate will not stay up. This will also cause the power liftgate to engage and it will attempt to shut the liftgate while you are standing under it. The door has closed on me several times and has caused injury.

Power lift gate on 2004 Toyota Sienna dropped down and struck driver on back of neck causing injury. As in past, there was no warning prior to liftgate coming down approx 1-2 feet. Vehicle was repaired two week prior by dealer, with new liftgate struts and brackets for same reported problem. Vehicle only had 31,000 miles and was 3 months past 36 month warranty period. Had to repair under extended warranty.

We have a Sienna 2004 limited. But recently the rear door closed it itself and hurt my daughter and son. The problem is a serious threat to safety of kid and please make a record of this problem. We hope you may help to find a solution to this problem. Btw, the card was not involved in any significant accidents.

Power lift gate unexpectedly closes upon opening and has closed on the person standing there. And has on occasion not repelled back after making strong contact with the person standing there. As a result, the individual had to quickly squeeze their way out while the lift gate continued to close completely.

Toyota Sienna 2004 liftgate slipped down and hit car owner in the head while unloading groceries from trunk. Now, it slips down every time we open it. This is dangerous. Called Toyota and they told us there was nothing they could do about it. Contacted our Toyota repair shop to schedule repair. Is this defect still under investigation? please inform. Thank you.

The car has a power liftgate. The gas struts that hold up the rear liftgate intermittently fail and the liftgate will not stay up. This will also cause the power liftgate to engage and it will attempt to shut the liftgate while you are standing under it. The door has closed on me several times, but I have not been injured.

The contact owns a 2004 Toyota Sienna. The contact stated that the power liftgate would not remain open. The dealer stated that the rear hatch pistons failed and should be replaced. As of October 4, 2007, the dealer had not repaired the vehicle. There is a defect investigation for the structure: body: hatchback/liftgate (NHTSA action number ea06020). The failure mileage was 25,000 and current mileage is 26,500. *updated 12/12/07.

(1) we were packing our car to return home from vacation. I used my key fob to remotely open the power hatch. We had no prior problems with the hatch. (2) the hatch rose to the top but did not catch. We attempted several times more using the key fob, depressing the inside power hatch button, and opening it manually, but the same thing happened each time. We obviously had to store things in the back so we held it open manually. Upon returning home, we tried to hold it open using a lacrosse stick, but that stick slipped and the door began closing. It did not stop when it approached my wife and worse continued to close after she pushed back on it. Luckily, we she was able to get out of the way. (3) we are taking it to a dealership this week. It does not open more than 1/2 way now.

Power liftgate starts closing immediately after opening. Does not stay open. When liftgate "power" is turn off, the gate slams down hard when released; if my child was standing behind door he would have been crushed.

Rear door struts failure.

The contact owns a 2004 Toyota Sienna. The tailgate had the same failure as noted in defect investigation # ea06020 concerning the liftgate. The only exception was that the tailgate was not power operated. When the tailgate was lifted it fell down immediately. The dealer stated that the struts failed. The current and failure mileages were 48,000. Updated 05/23/07.

The contact owns a 2004 Toyota Sienna. The contact stated that the liftgate failed and comes crashing down if you do not manually hold the tailgate. The current and failure mileage were 54,000. The consumer states that his wife had a personal experience where the liftgate hit her in the head while unloading the groceries. Update 4/30/tr.

Auto powered rear door; when powered opened will open all the way and a few seconds later suddenly close without warning. It has happened a few times, only in cold weather. This has happened after Toyota fixed the hatch studdering problem. I was injured (bruised) in the head due the door hitting me as it automatically closed by itself (note it did not stop closing after it hit my head).

2004 Toyota Sienna minivan power lift gate closes in an uncommanded manner. This has happened with several times with myself and my wife while loading items in the rear of the van. I fear that it is a real safety issue if my wife or child would happen to be under there and not move out of the way fast enough.

: the contact stated while the vehicle was parked in the driveway, the liftgate was opened but the door malfunctioned and closed hitting the contact on the head and the back of the shoulder. The impact of the liftgate knocked the contact halfway inside the vehicle. There were no warning signals prior to the incident. The vehicle was not taken to the service dealer for repairs. The manufacturer was alerted who provided a claim #.

After picking up our vehicle from naperville Toyota service on June 20th, 2006, where it was brought in for an oil change and check-up, it was discovered the rear hatch struts had failed overnight, simultaneously, and without warning. This failure caused the rear door to open as usual but subsequently slam down on the vehicle owner with full force onto their head. Although the injury sustained was minor, the rear door was unable to operated automatically and had to be physically held open to load or unload any cargo in the back. Both the dealership and the national Toyota consumer service hotline were informed of the safety issue. The repairs to the vehicle were quoted at $430. 00 because the warranty was over by only 431 miles. ( case # 200607080129). There was an offer of a 50 dollar labor discount upon complaint.

The rear deck lid on my 2004 Sienna xle limited van has a remote automatic open & close feature. I used the auto open and while placing items in the rear storage area, the deck lid closed (under power) without command, striking me and my son. The auto-stop feature didn't engage until I pushed very hard against the lid. As soon as I let go, it came down again. There were no prior incidents or any unusual behavior to indicate a problem with the operation of the deck lid. The lid hasn't worked since and it won't stay open without someone holding it. A week after the incident I found a Toyota technical service bulletin bo0003-04 that states "back door stays for 2004 model year Sienna vehicles have been redesigned in order to provide improved resistance to seal damage and prevent leakage. " I checked my back door stays (gas or hydraulic filled struts) and they were both leaking. I checked the internet user forum "siennaclub. Org" and found several similar complaints from Sienna owners in the u. S. And canada. In my opinion, the uncommanded closing of a rear deck lid in a Mini-van constitutes a serious safety hazard. Just a guess, most Mini-van owners have or transport children. There is no way a child could have stopped and reversed the lid that closed on me and my son. This should be a recall issue, not a service bulletin that Toyota is not required to disclose and in fact, can charge to repair.