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

One of the two support cylinders for the rear hatch on our 2004 Toyota Sienna failed in fall 2019, so the rear hatch would not stay up. The liftgate support cylinders had previously been replaced by Toyota under recall. We purchased two new support cylinders, Toyota part #68905-ae022�support cylinder� from camelback Toyota in phoenix, az, d/b/a Toyota parts factory, by mail, shipped 11/19/19. I installed both of the new support cylinders within a couple of weeks. Note that both of the old support cylinders were replaced with new Toyota parts, not just the one which had failed. However, with the new support cylinders, when the weather gets cool (below 50 f) and the liftgate is opened using the electric opener, the liftgate gets part way up and reverses, coming down unexpectedly. This represents a safety hazard, as the door can hit someone standing below it. This is exactly the behavior for which Toyota issued the recall on the support cylinders. The unexpected reversing happens on level ground with normal use of the liftgate. It started happening shortly after the new support cylinders were installed. Toyota customer service today told me that they would not warranty the support cylinders, even though this is a safety issue. As the problem started occurring when the 2019 support cylinders were essentially new, there is no assurance that replacing them again would solve the problem. It appears that Toyota is selling replacement support cylinders which do not meet the liftgate's support requirements.

My van was in a parking lot. It was a clear humid 95 degree day. Hadn't rained in days. The van hadn't been washed recently. I opened the rear liftgate manually, got in the van but it wouldn't close with the interior button in several attempts. It took 4 attempts to close it manually. This is the second time this happened. I didn't make note of the number of beeps emitted. The first time it happened, I didn't take note of the weather conditions, but the liftgate would only close after repeated manual attempts.

The contact owns a 2004 Toyota Sienna. The contact stated that the sliding doors and liftgate became inoperable. The failure occurred randomly and the doors locked independently. The vehicle was taken to local dealer (Toyota of colchester) where it was diagnosed that the cable and door motor failed and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was informed of the failure and informed the contact that the vehicle exceeded the mileage allowed to remedy the vehicle per an in-house recall. The VIN was invalid. The failure mileage was approximately 230,000.

We tried to close the automatic sliding door, but it remained stuck open. We had to drive the vehicle with the door open to a service station and get the cable cut in order to be able to shut the door. Researched the issue on the internet and found it is a common problem. Service bulletin number : sb-0280-10 date of bulletin : oct 04, 2010 NHTSA item number : 10036906 component : structure:body:hatchback/liftgate Toyota: some vehicles may exhibit a condition where one or both sliding doors do not open or close smoothly. Inspect the sliding door lock assemblies and replace the affected components as needed, according to the listed instructions.

Toyoto Sienna 2004, rear liftgate struts are giving our again. We have had this auto since the factory sent it to the dealership. Once replacing the struts due to recall. Now whenever you lift the gate via manually pressing the button on the back of the van, the lift gate only opens halfway. This leaves the operator with the only option of pressing further up on the lift gate. I expect that this issue will now get worse and not stay open at all.

The contact owns a 2004 Toyota Sienna. The contact stated when he opening the rear door hatch manually, the door would abruptly swing upward. The door has struck the contact under the chin as well as other passengers in the chest area. The dealer replaced the rear hatch struts but to no avail. The dealer advised that the failure was normal. The failure and current mileages were approximately 54,000.

Contact owns a 2004 Toyota Sienna le with manual liftgate. The liftgate used to work properly - suddenly on a cold winter day it stops working anymore, contact can hear a hiss and the door falls down. Contact can see visible oil leak around the gas strut. After that, it's heavy to open the door.

The contact owns a 2004 Toyota Sienna. The contact stated that the rear liftgate strut failed in the vehicle. He attempted to open the gate, but it would not open. In order to lift the gate, he had to trip the handle. The liftgate would not remain open and had to be held open manually. If the rear door was released, it would slam down hard enough to possibly cause an injury. The VIN and mileages were unavailable.

I own a 2004 Toyota Sienna xle 7 passenger limited van. My rear liftgate will not stay open it will raise to fully open and immediately begin rapidly closing. I barely got out of the opening before it closed. No sensors reacted to stop the automatic powered door from closing. This occurs either from using the remote button on the keyholder or from the button inside the van near the sun roof switch. This defect can and will hurt, injure or could kill a child or adult using this vehicle.

2004 Toyota Sienna ce(manual hatch):the hatch is hard to lift open and does not stay up--just slams down shut. Very dangerous!! need 1 person to hold hatch open when accessing interior.

Rear hatch lift gate came down on my daughters back. . . . Not sure what happened, but it took a lot of force to free her. Later the same day the lift gate opened all the way and then came down about a foot and hit my wife on the head. . . . Knocked her to the ground and caused a pretty bad headache for a day. After the gate hit her, it continued to close. Right now the lift gate opens half way and then slams shut.

Toyota Sienna 2004 rear power lift gate - gas struts failed causing the lift gate to fall below normal opening.

The lift gate on the van suddenly failed and struck me in the head.

I have a Toyota Sienna 2004 xle with power assist lift gate. The rear lift pate opened then immediately closed. It has hit me on the head several times. And my 18 month old daughter once.

The lift gate struts on my 2004 Toyota Sienna without the power function failed unexpectedly and smacked my wife in the head. Fortunately, she only had a little knob on her head and nothing more serious. Thanks goodness one of my kids wasn't loading something at the time. They might have been crushed. I was looking for replacement parts online and saw that there's quite a few people having this same issue and thought I'd register a complaint. I'm 38 and have never had any sort of lift strut failure on any of my vehicles. This is particularly troubling given the weight of the gate and immediate failure of the part.

Since I bought it, my 2004 Sienna back door won't lift up easily. I need to lift it up. I need to pull hard to get it down and close. Right after 3 years of struggle, one of the air strut failed. It won't go in and the rod was bent.

While removing items from the rear section of the vehicle the lift gate dropped down and begin closing on me. As thought the locking device failed holding it up and open, it did not stop once gently touching me and I had to use force to stop it from closing further until I could get out from under it. The only thing I have noticed prior to this incident is that the gate seems to open/close slower than previously. Now I do not use the rear storage unless absolutely necessary and even then, I do not allow anyone to work underneath it without a second person being there for support.

Power rear gate did not stay open and closed after the gate reached opened position. Because it did not stay open, rear cargo space was useless. In order to store some things, it needed to be held by another person.

Power liftgate failed and door came down on my back as I was retrieving items. Had to have the leaking liftgate struts replaced at Toyota. They charged an outrageous $450. 00 to replace an obvious potentially dangerous part defect.

I have a Toyota Sienna 2004 ce. When I try to open the lifegate, it failed to keep open the morning of Sep 8 2007. And it hasn't worked since then. When I called the dealer, I was informed it will cost me about $640 to fix it since the van is out of warranty. I found out that the struts that raise the liftgate has a defect from internet.

I was unloading my 2004 Toyota Sienna when the struts holding up the rear hatch failed. I was pinned between the bumper/stuff I was unloading and the door. Luckily I was able to push myself up with the door on top of me and only had bruising on my left arm. Had the door fallen on my pregnant wife more serious injuries could have occurred. Also I am pretty sure she would not have had the strength to push her self up with the weight of the door and the angle that I was in. I have the extended warranty so the struts will be replaced along but I have a $50 deductible. If I did not have the extended warranty I would be looking at $350. 00 plus labor. Update 12/12/2007 updated 12/12/07.

Power liftgate not supported by the gas struts. Power liftgate opens and then begins to power close, knocking the person loading/unloading the car on the head or squeezing them between the liftgate and the rear bumper. Has bumped me, squeezed my wife multiple times. I fear this could seriously injure the kids if they ever find themselves in the mouth of this hungry minivan!.

The struts on the manual liftgate of my 2004 Toyota Sienna failed at around 65,000 miles. The replacement cost at the local Toyota dealer where the vehicle was purchased, was $391. 07. This appears to be a frequent complaint among Sienna owners. It would seem that Toyota should issue a recall for this problem.

Toyota Sienna 2004 power rear door closed inexpectedly and quickly hiting my wife's head. Problem can be reproduced every time that the door is powered open. Door "drops" several inches as soon as it reaches the fully-open position.

Toyota Sienna le, rear hatch lift gate struts failed - struts do not support lift gate anymore, must be held or propped open to prevent closing on person.

The contact owns a 2004 Toyota Sienna. The contact stated that the rear hatch support struts failed and nearly caused severe injury to a passenger. The dealer has not inspected the vehicle. The contact noticed that the vehicle had not been operating correctly for a period of time prior to the failure. The purchase date was unknown. The current mileage was 62,000 and failure mileage was approximately 60,000.

The rear liftgate struts on our 2004 Toyota Sienna failed to hold up the back tailgate. It collapsed on my wife and bruised her neck. Should this have happened to a small child I think with the weight of this door could severely injury. We have not replaced these shocks yet as they are very expensive. We do not use tailgate without someone to hold it up. Toyota never mentioned that there was a problem with these liftgates or have even upgraded the replacements so this will not happen again.

1) rear liftgate operated normally - no indication of potential issues. 2) rear liftgate struts failed, causing the door to close unexpectedly, hitting my wife while she was underneath the liftgate. Liftgate will no longer stay in the open position. Using the power assisted feature to open the liftgate works, but it will close immediately after the opening mechanism disengages. 3) no resolution from Toyota America customer assistance since the vehicle is past 36,000 mile warranty (currently @ 42,000 miles).

The rear power rear liftgate did not stay open. It slammed close every time it was opened. This has twice caused unsuspecting vehicle operators to be struck, once in the head and once in the back.

On 6/29/07 I opened the back door of my 2004 Toyota Sienna to put the stroller in. While I put the stroller in, the back door suddenly come down and hit my head. I try to open it again but it won't stay open and keep falling back down. I call Toyota dealer and ask them about the problem. They told me that I may need to replace the back door shock. I asked them if it is still under warranty and they told me that it is not because my vehicle is 38,000 miles and more than 3 years. I believe this is a safety issue and it can cause serious injury. I believe Toyota should recall and fix this problem free of charge. They told me it will cost me $270 to fix them and I make appointment with them for repair next week.

The contact owns a 2004 Toyota Sienna. While attempting to open the rear liftgate, the contact noticed that the struts had failed. As a result of the failure, the liftgate became very heavy and difficult to open. The contact took the vehicle to the dealer and was told that he had to replace both door struts. The current and failure mileages were 72,000.

Failure of gas struts on liftgate of 2004 Toyota Sienna resulted in liftgate not fully opening and proceeding to close , motor-driven), immediately upon reaching the end of travel of the powered opening. First occurrence approximately 3 weeks ago, now occurs continuously. Liftgate must be held or propped open. No injuries to-date. However, several near-misses , bumping head/shoulder into gate as it is automatically closing, have occurred. So far, no repair has been made. Awaiting resolution by dealer. Defective struts were still installed.

During this winter (2006-2007) we noticed that the rear tailgate on our 2004 Toyota Sienna (purchased in Aug 2004) wouldn't open up all the way. We thought this to be the cold temperatures. However, this week, the rear liftgate failed all together. The struts that keep the gate up have ceased to operate. My wife was able to lift the gate, but it came down and slammed shut to her surprise. Pretty scary since we have a 3 year old who's seat is the back and likes to enter through the tailgate. The right strut (looking at the tailgate) seems to have leaked and has left a film on some of the plastic molding for the rear taillight. My wife contacted our local Toyota dealer, whom we have worked with before, and was given an estimate to have the struts replaced (about $411-$435). She was told that the have seen this problem on other Siennas of the same year. I have called Toyota and was basically told that they would open a case with the dealer to what can be done to help me out. I am currently waiting for the call from the dealer.

Power lift gate gas strut failed. Gate hit spouse from behind. Lift gate dropped unexpectedly. It currently does not work at all passenger side gas strut is leaking fluid.

The contact owns a 2004 Toyota Sienna. The contact stated that the rear hatch would close unexpectedly when it was opened all the way. The dealer stated that the struts needed to be replaced. There was an open investigation action # ea06020. The powertrain was unknown. The current mileage is 18,791 and failure mileage was 18,500. Updated 02/01/08.