general problems of the 2005 Toyota Sienna - part 1

I have a Toyota Sienna 2005, mileage 178000, slip indicator turns on randomly and causing the car lost control. It is extremely dangerous when it happened out of zero warning. It's not only scare me but also my children in the car. It has been happened for over a year since sept. 2019. It usually happens when driving on dry curving roads at speeds 35-75 mph. When it happened, the antilock brakes engage, slip indicator light comes on, and alarm sounds, the car's brakes grab and pulls the car to the side. It happens randomly, goes away, and back to normal. I have sent the Mini van to a few mechanics for multiple times but they can't find out what's wrong with it. I have replaced 4 brand new tires, done the zero-point-calibration, mechanics couldn't find codes for the issues, they have tried everything to diagnose and fix the problems but it just never work. I love my Mini van but now I feel very unsafe to drive my family with this Mini van. It bothers me a lot when driving this Mini van. My anxiety level go up, especially, when driving on curving roads. I wish this safety complaint would catch the attention. Hopefully, Toyota would recall the vehicles and fix the issue for their loyal customers, and also the safety of the people and their families riding this Mini van.

I've only had the van for 5 months and this problem has occurred over a dozen times, beginning with the day I bought it. And every time this problem has occurred I've been driving on dry roads. It usually happens when driving around a corner, anywhere from 35-65 mph, far. All of a sudden the traction control light starts beeping, the brakes engage on their own, and then engine makes a loud noise (likely downshifting itself). It's as though the vehicle thinks it is slipping, even though it is not, I drive very cautiously so it's not me flying around a corner super fast, it also happens when my partner drives the van as well. I finally took the van to a mechanic and they told me it was the steering angle sensor that was faulty and needed to be replaced, so I spent $900 to have it replaced. I've had the van back for less then 2 weeks and just tried to take it on a road trip, got about an hour from our house and it did it again 3 times in less then 15 minutes, again driving on dry pavement and when driving on a windy highway. It's terrifying when this happens especially because it always happens when we're going around a corner, it's very dangerous and scary. It seems to be happening with a lot of other Sienna�s, even newer ones. This is an expensive problem that desperately needs to be addressed, someone is going to wreck and die from this if they haven't already.

I have been having problems with the traction control. The light will randomly turn on, which brakes the wheels. The system will start beeping and saying a false traction control problem. (when the road is clear) I looked online many Toyota Siennas have this issue. It is dangerous and should be recalled to be fixed!.

Slip indicator sensor turns on ,brakes while turning causes me too loose control while driving very unsafe.

Continuous issues with traction control system almost daily. Any time vehicle veers towrds the right anti-slip indicator light, alarm sounds and abs system activates. This happens almost daily, on dry roads, going downhill or on a curve, even while switching lanes now. This happens above 20 mph. Driving becomes stressful and worry-some when alarm begins to sound and dash light come on. Fear of losing control becomes great, fear for your passengers safety as well as other drivers safety becomes real. During the past 3 months there have been 5 separate incidents in which the vehicle has lost acceleration, pulls steering in one direction and sudden break lock occurs. 2 of which took place on the freeway on ramp at a speed of 35mph, 1 driving downhill, slightly towards the right, at a speed if 20mph and the last 2 while switching lanes, 35 mph. Vehicle began losing power and slowing instead of increasing speed. There are many complaints regarding this issue with many drivers in many areas. Why isn't this being investigated?.

A couple of years ago, my 2005 Sienna's vsc warning lights, alarms and braking would come on while going around turns. My car had new tires, wheels were balanced and aligned. It's scary and dangerous when the brakes engage. I'm not going around sharp turns at high rates of speed. Dozens of other people have exactly the same experience, and when the brakes engage, it yanks the car hard, and has almost caused accidents to me and others. This happens to me on a regular basis. The only way to avoid it is to slow down to less than 40mph on some turns, which is dangerous when the speed limit is 65. Here's a link to the many other people's experience with this exact same thing. This is a liability and Toyota really needs to take action here. . Read more...

The traction control system is activating improperly. The vehicle's anti-slip indicator warning light illuminates; an alarm sounds; the abs system activates; and the vehicle sometimes loses power. This happens on dry roads, most commonly either going downhill or else on a curve, even a mild one. This happens above 20 mph. When it happens, the combination of alerts and sensations are very startling to the driver, creating a dangerous situation. It has occurred while trying to accelerate to merge onto a highway. This was exceptionally dangerous as the vehicle began losing power and vehicles behind us almost hit us from behind as we were slowing instead of increasing speed. From my internet searches (including NHTSA complaints), this appears to be a recurring issue with this make/model/year range. This has been happening for the past 3 months. Our vehicle has approximately 135,000 miles on the odometer.

When driving at any speed above 25 mph, the traction control light on the dashboard will come on, it will beep and the brake will engage without the driver pressing the brake pedal (these all happen at the same time). This in turn locks the brakes at times and the car veers to the right. There is no reason that we can figure out that this happens. It has happened many times and three days ago, it happened twice in one day. We have taken our vehicle to hendrick Toyota in wilmington nc and provided them a video where two owners took videos each time it happened in their vehicle. I also provided them with email discussions from two different web sites where owners were discussing the issue. We believe this should be a recall for Toyotas.

I have a 2005 Toyota Sienna where the vsc system activated randomly and slowed our van down. When it first happened we thought that the van broke down because there was a beeping sound and it seemed like the brakes activated by itself. Kinda scared us because we were going around a turn at 60mph.

Tl the contact owns a 2005 Toyota Sienna. While driving approximately 20 mph, the vehicle started to lose power for a few seconds and the esc warning indicator flashed. The contact stated that the failure occurred every day when exiting the highway for approximately six months. The vehicle was taken to team Toyota of princeton (2871 us-1, lawrenceville, NJ, 08648) to be diagnosed, but they could not replicate the failure. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The approximate failure mileage was 161,388.

The problem occurs when going out a variation of speeds 35 on the street or 60 on the highway 45 on the freeway regardless of whether we're turning or going straight both my wife and I have can I have had this problem with her we did notice that it's happy and tends to happen more on a turn. The car will come to a route abrupt stopped and the slip indicator light will come on for a brief second making a noise and then simply disappear and this happen spontaneously or sporadically which is very dangerous.

Vsc system activates the abs while driving under normal conditions. Usually on interstate entrance/exit ramps, the vsc light comes on with loud beeping noise and activates the anti-lock brakes. The vehicle pulls either to the left or right and acceleration is affected. It's very scary! speed limit on ramp is 55mph and it happens when going 45-50mph. It's also happened while driving 35 mph. It happens at multiple locations. I've had the car checked by 3 different shops and nobody can figure out what's going on. It's a weekly occurrence.

Vsc keeps engaging / with lights and alarms, the car looses power and pulls to right. This occurs unnecessarily at different speeds below 20 mph and at 65 mph on a freeway straight away and on & off ramps of the freeway. This is happening with dry / good weather operation. I have owned this vehicle for 1 week and have had this happen at least a dozen time.

Airbag light for driver side blinks off and on during driving at speeds between 35-45 mph. This occurred at 209,560 +/- miles. This is occuring with other issues in the electrical modules including abs control malfunction, power supply voltage yaw/deceleration sensor and it loses communication with steering angle sensor module. This seems to not only be an issue with my vehicle but others as well from reading many forums on Toyota Sienna vans including ones just a few years old.

Check engine light, vsc and trac off. As I was driving after just purchasing this vehicle from a dealer after about 60 miles or so these lights all came on the same time. I was told after a scanner was placed on the vehicles computer system that it is due to either catalytic convertor/O2 sensor malfunctions. This is an important exhaust and emission component designed to burn up toxic exhaust fumes that sets off these lights. This is a major issue with not only this vehicle but other Toyotas. This needs to be addressed. We in the USA would like to breath clean air and it doesn't seem feasible to have to continue to "fix" these sensors designed to make consumers spend large amounts of money to fix their vehicles.

While driving approximately 10 - 15 mph under the speed limit on a gently curving overpass, the stability control engaged, sharply jerking the steering uncontrollably in the wrong direction and hindering my ability to steer the vehicle or brake. This has happened twice previously, both on curves, and on neither of those occasions was I exceeding the speed limit, nor was there any reason for the system to engage.

Two instances in oct 2017 of brakes activating without driver action. Braking accompanied by beeping - possibly electronic stability control (esc) activation signal. Braking reduced speed approximately 10-15mph. Both instances occurred on the same road, a curvy 45mph limit asphalt 2-lane. Conditions dry, ~50 deg f. Braking occurred on a straight section and did not pull the car to one side. Do not believe anti-lock engaged. Van has 137k miles. Toyota service (11/9/17) : "no problems found no codes stored no vehicle event log (vehicle does not have that capability) more obvious and likely cause could have been the fact that the front tires were at 20 psi and the rear at 35 psi, the disparity in wheel speed signals could have triggered a false event. " verbal report confirmed "no problems found" including steering rack bushings, steering angle sensor, and wheel speed sensors. The service representative, with 6 years experience as a mechanic, said he had encountered this problem before but it was rare. He also stated that an apparent difference of only 1mph in wheel speed could be enough to cause inadvertent esc activation. However, he was unsure why the problem, if it was caused by the fore/aft inflation difference, was so intermittent. The dealer waived the $98 diagnostic fee. A drive on the same road on 11/10/17 did not produce the unexpected braking, but it is unclear whether this means the equal tire inflation fixed the problem as, as stated, the problem was intermittent. Systems designed to improve safety should fail in ways that do not compromise driver control and owners should be made aware of critical maintenance procedures to avoid such failures. Failure of active safety systems such as esc, risks delaying acceptance of increasing levels of driver assistance including full autonomous control, an advance that promises dramatic reduction in road mortality.

While on the road, infrequently as we start hitting continuous curves, the beeping starts with slip control symbol coming on. The brakes engage on their own. It doesn't seem to matter how fast or slow we take the curves. I have no control over the vehicle at that point and it starts braking itself for few seconds. Very dangerous on the curves and especially if someone is behind you.

Takata inflators - when driving in city 30mph or freeway 50-60mph in curvy path, the unti-skid lock turns off even if the road was dry. When it happened frequently and a motorcycle almost slammed from behind, I brought my van to the dealer and it shows no record of the unti-skid lock being on. I insisted to take precautions and they did a zero calibration, changed new tires and realignment but problem persist. I brought it back with the same complaint but they claimed the they never had any other customer with the same problem. I reached online yet there were many others. I hope you can help me on this. The dealer can't figure out this problem and just washed their hands. This happened multiple times already and afraid to drive my van.

While driving on a normal day no rain or any slippery condition on the road going about 40 miles an hour my vehicle anti slip system ingaged and break momentary and vehicle slowed down this happens several time why is this system engaging when it's not raining or no slippery condition existing on the road.

Sienna was accelerating from 40-45 mph and a slight right turn on a city street, when the vsc lights turned on and applied brakes. City street was dry, weather was clear and sunny.

This report includes two separate safety issues. First issue: after backing out of my driveway onto my street, my car would not shift into drive gear from reverse. The engine would not restart after turning the key off since it was still in reverse, even though the lever was shifted back to park. Thankfully, I don't live on a busy street and there happened to be a few linemen doing work that were able to push the van back into my driveway. With two young children in the car and not being able to push the van on my own, this could've been a very dangerous situation in a busy location. After disassembling the dash, my husband discovered the mechanism in the gear shift had malfunctioned and was able to repair it himself instead of towing it to a Toyota dealer for pricey repairs and towing fees. Second issue: on multiple occasions (usually, but not always, while accelerating onto a highway on-ramp) the traction control light will illuminate, a repetitive beeping will sound, and the steering wheel vibrates and becomes difficult to control since it freezes up. This has happened on dry roads and smooth driving conditions only when no traction control is needed. Each time is happens it is a stressful experience since it could be lead to an accident due to lack of control. After calling a Toyota service center to inquire if there are any known issues of this, they deny it. Upon doing our own research, we were able to discover other people with the same issue. A very similar replication of our situation is shown in this video. The only difference is that ours doesn't happen as often in one drive. It usually will happen a one or two times and then not happen again for weeks or months. . Read more...

When driving through sweeping turns on dry, paved roads, the vehicle's vsc engages, causing vehicle to self brake, pulling to the left (toward oncoming traffic), and the vsc light on the dash to blink and beep. This puts the passengers of my car in danger, as well as those in vehicles around us who are not expecting a sudden application of brakes or swerving into neighboring lane. My vehicle has been inspected at an independent mechanic with no findings which would warrant the vehicle to engage in such activity.

While driving around curves with dry pavement on highways and exit/entrance ramps at highway rates of speed (55-65 miles per hour or less) the anti-lock brake system engage,s causing the van to pulse and slow down unexpectedly. It disengages once the wheel straightens. We first tried to trouble shoot with our local mechanic with no success, prompting us to have our local Toyota service department attempt to diagnosis. Initially they said they were not able to diagnosis the problem or replicate it on a local highway (as it does not occur on every curve encountered) and were ready to send us home without any remedy. This was unacceptable. With our persistence they hooked it up to a computer and determined(without guaranteeing) it was the steering angel sensor and replaced it. Now without returning the van to us, they want us to replace the rack and pinion system for even more cost, again, without guaranteeing this will alleviate the problem. Per our reading up on this problem, we have found that this appears to be problem for other 2005 Toyota Sienna minivans.

While driving at approximately 40 mph and entering a left turn curve, the abs and vsc lights activated and the vehcle lurched violently to the right then back to thge left. I was able to regain control after a few seconds, but during this time time I was not able to steer properly. The vehicle was taken to an independent service facility. The brakes and stability control were inspected. There were not any trouble codes stored. Examination of the wheel speed sensors revealed the right and left sensors were seized in their mounting brackets. We believe the sensors have rusted and have swollen. We had the abs and vsc systems disconnected. The problem has not occurred since this was done. We are planning on replacing these sensor in the near future. This is a very serious condition and needs to be investigated.

On several occasions the vehicle stability control (vsc) on my 2005 Toyota Sienna awd xle (127,000 miles) is activated suddenly and for no reason. This is intermittent and happens when on a curve at varying speeds on perfect road and weather conditions. A buzzer sounds, vsc light comes on, brakes slam on and vehicle pulls to the right. Mechanic could find not anything. Toyota dealership had not heard of this problem. A google search revealed many similar complaints. This is frightening, dangerous and creates unsafe conditions for passengers in my vehicle, as well as other drivers on the road as the car suddenly and drastically reduces speed and pulls to the right. Many others are experiencing the same problem and should be recalled. Any defective part that poses a safety risk should be recalled by law! it seems that most people experiencing this problem are outside of their warranty.

On several occasions the vehicle stability control on my 2005 Toyota Sienna xle is activated suddenly and for no reason. It has happened changing lanes on the freeway, on off ramps, and city streets. I was never going over the speed limit, turning sharply, and the road was not wet or slippery. The activation caused my car to rapidly decelerate from 50 mph to 20 mph in a matter of seconds and caused my wife, children, and I to lurch forward. Vsc also caused my vehicle to swerve sharply to the right. I had immediately lost control! this put me and my family in mortal danger along with the occupants of vehicles around us. They were completely unprepared for my sudden and unwarranted stop! I believe Toyota has sold a vehicle that has a hardware and/or software error in it that can result in fatal injuries to the driver, passengers and occupants of surrounding vehicles. This is why I believe the national highway transportation safety administration should require Toyota to issue a safety recall that permanently eliminates this problem for Toyota owners like me. Like others I believe this situation is far more serious than your recent recall of the Toyota shift lever assembly to prevent an accidental roll away. (NHTSA campaign number: 13v429000). In our case we are driving at highway speeds when without warning the car suddenly slams on the brakes and veers to the left. I have read others complaints that are almost identicle. Please do not wait for injuries and deaths to resolve this issue!.

On March 15, 2016, the vehicle stability control on my 2005 Toyota Sienna xle activated suddenly and for no reason. I was in a left turn merging lane from one major highway to a busy interstate. I was going about 50 mph when it activated. The activation caused my car to rapidly decelerate from 50 mph to 20 mph in a matter of 3 seconds and caused my wife and I to lurch forward. Vsc also caused my vehicle to swerve sharply to the right. I had immediately lost control! this put me and my family in mortal danger along with the occupants of vehicles around us. They were completely unprepared for my sudden and unwarranted stop! I believe Toyota has sold a vehicle that has a hardware and/or software error in it that can result in fatal injuries to the driver, passengers and occupants of surrounding vehicles. This is why I believe the national highway transportation safety administration should require Toyota to issue a safety recall that permanently eliminates this problem for Toyota owners like me. (as background, I did some internet research to see if others have experienced this. I've attached my findings of 23 identical incidents experienced by Sienna owners. I stopped at 23 - there were more. ) I believe this situation is far more serious than your recent recall of the Toyota shift lever assembly to prevent an accidental roll away. (NHTSA campaign number: 13v429000). In our case we are driving at highway speeds when without warning the car suddenly slams on the brakes and veers to the right. I believe this calls for your immediate action. Personally, I think this is just as serious as a car going down the highway that suddenly bursts into flames. I know you would issue a recall to that car company and I believe you should issue a similar recall to Toyota.

Very dangerous situation: Toyota Sienna 2005 vsc (anti skid system) kicks in unexpectedly for no reason. Numerous times I have been driving straight along dry roads only to have my abs (antilock braking system) suddenly come on, the van slow down, with the vsc alarm going off, and the vsc light blinking. It's very scary, especially on the highway, and it becomes hard to control the van. This has happened at high (~55 mph) as well as low (~25-30mph) speeds. I drive 90% on smooth, well-paved suburban roads, and about 10% on highways. The frequency of this defect is definitely increasing. One day it happened 4 times in one trip! all for no reason, and all under dry, normal driving conditions on smooth, suburban roads. My van has 113k miles on the odometer. This defect creates a very dangerous situation where the vehicle slows suddenly and unexpectedly, and swerves to one side without warning. I can't understand how there hasn't been a recall yet. A quick search online shows many people have had this exact same experience.

2005 Sienna xle limited. The traction control system activates randomly and unexpectedly in dry conditions - most often on downhill, angled turns, at speeds between 25 mph and 60 mph. A sudden dash-board alarm sounds with vehicle skid light. Simultaneously, there is a sudden, independent activation of front brakes, grinding noises, the steering wheel shutters wildly, and the vehicle attempts to pull towards oncoming lanes. It requires great effort to maintain control. The immediate result is a loss of vehicle control! this defect has occurred 8 times in 3 months. Serious fears about operating the vehicle with my family. A front-end alignment was done on the vehicle. Problem persists. Multiple reports have been filed that this is an ongoing problem with this model vehicle. This is clearly a safety defect and the vehicle should be recalled to prevent injury or fatalities! this is a major safety hazard that can lead to a serious highway accidents!.

On a straight clear, dry road the traction control system activated under constant speed several times. When activated, the indicator light flash, the buzzer sounded and the brakes were applied automatically.

Driving 45 to 50 mph on a road on a dry sunny day. Suddenly vsc light came on and warning beep and at the same time the brakes engaged causing a rapid slow down of the van. I almost swerved into the next lane due to the brakes engaging. This happened 3 times in one morning. This is extremely dangerous as it could cause a collision, especially at higher speeds.

At near highway speed on clear, dry pavement while traveling straight the electronic stability control (as evidenced by the dashboard light blinking) activated the brakes without warning causing the vehicle to suddenly lose speed. The his happened intermittently in the past.

Vehicle's traction control engages without cause when traveling more than 35 mph on a curve or bend. Road speed limit is somewhere between 55-60 mph. If vehicle is traveling more than 40 mph, car's traction control and brakes engage, slowing car down to 35 mph. Road conditions are normal. Vehicle has been seen by local Toyota dealership over 5 times in the last year. They are unable to diagnose issue or reproduce it. We have been almost been rear ended due to this faulty issue.

On my 2005 Toyota xle limited, the traction control system engaged on its own while driving about 50 mph on a flat road in dry conditions, as a result the brakes engaged on its own and the car shook profusely for a couple of seconds. I had to hold onto the steering wheel to maintain control and avoid going into the neighboring lane. My 2005 Toyota Sienna has 84,000 miles on it. There have been two other incidences when the traction control engaged but the brakes did not. I have only owned the car for 1 week and I am communicating with Toyota but I they have yet to organize a recall for this very dangerous problem. I plan to drive to canada in this car so I hope we can find a solution.