Hatchback/liftgate Support Device problems of the 2005 Toyota Sienna - part 1

In my Toyota Sienna 2005 van, the liftgate would go up and then suddenly drop about a foot and then continue to close. This happens in the winter more than in the summer.

After Toyota dealership replaced liftgate struts due to recall number 08v244000, the new struts cause the liftgate to open rapidly when opened manually, that is not using the power mode. Liftgate opens so rapidly that injury is possible if you are not prepared to or are unable to move out of the way.

My 2005 Sienna Mini-van gas struts for the rear hatchback/liftgate failed to lift up the hatchback door on 5/9/2011. When I tried to lift up the hatchback door - it felt heavy and found that one of the gas strut had fluid leaked out onto the strut.

Struts will not properly hold up the liftgate causing head injury by banging on the side of forehead of the person lifting the liftgate.

The contact owns a 2005 Toyota Sienna. The contact stated that the power motor unexpectedly engaged, which forced the power lift gate to the fully closed position. A serious injury could occur if someone was struck by the lift gate when it fell down or closed. The vehicle was taken to a dealer and a technician concluded that his VIN was excluded from recall # 084244000, structure; body; hatchback/liftgate. Since he was ineligible for a free remedy, the vehicle was not repaired. The VIN was not available. The failure and current mileages were 87,000.

On 2005 Toyota Sienna there was a recall on power liftgate struts. Why only power liftgate,why not on manual liftgate,is it not the same struts? I am having a same problem with my liftgate,which is manuall liftgate. I called Toyota on 03/30/2010 to tell them about my problem,but they said it is on power liftgate only. . . . . . . . . . . I bought my 2005 Sienna brand new. My liftgate is having the same problem as power lift gates. . . . . . .

My 2005 Toyota Sienna's rear door liftgate strut was failed and it's not open the rear gate fully and door close unexpectedly. This cause some minor injuries for my family members including my 3yrs old son I went to dealer to report this problem but the dealer has no idea about any recall or TSB information for this. The dealer just suggested me over $500 to replace the strut.

2005 Toyota Sienna. Liftgate will not stay open or closed using the remote. Struts have been replaced (twice) by the dealer. The problem still exists. They did extend the warranty to deal with this kind of problem, but will only fix it if the strut was causing the problem. They "think" it may be the motor, but really don't know.

2005 xle Toyota Sienna - back lift gate goes up and should stay but comes back down. Comes down and pushes on what or whoever is standing there, goes up, and comes back down again and again.

Mechanism holding lift gate in open position failed. Lift gate no longer stays open without support.

Please reference existing NHTSA action number: ea06020 struts for the rear power liftgate failed suddenly. Initial behavior was rear liftgate opening more slowly than normal, and began to occur during colder weather temperatures. Then liftgate struts suddenly failed completely- after opening the liftgate, it fell down with full weight (almost zero resistance) onto driver who was under the liftgate.

The contact owns a 2005 Toyota Sienna. While placing packages in the rear of the vehicle, the liftgate fell on the contact's head without warning. The dealer replaced the struts. One month later, while holding her infant and retrieving packages form the rear, the liftgate automatically fell and struck the infant. The manufacturer stated that they were investigating the failure, but have not reached any conclusions. The failure and current mileages were 31,000.

Rear door will not stay in the open position. Door has to be held open or it will descend on head and/or shoulders, causing injury/pain. Appears that rear door stays have failed.

2005 Toyota Sienna liftgate cylinder failed and hatch did not stay open hitting me on the head.

We have had several door problems with our 2005 Sienna xle limited (less than 30,000 miles). Sliding doors routinely freeze shut. Have to climb through front doors. Sliders have also frozen open slightly--forcing us to drive with doors unlocked & ajar with our children in the car. Now the automatic passenger sliding door no longer functions. This is a common known issue--cable snaps. Cost is estimated at $1800. Our children now use the driver side sliding door which is typically street side & extremely unsafe. Or they climb in through front. Can't climb in through back because rear liftgate closes at will. Rear liftgate was replaced prior to recall & now needs repair again. Slams down without warning--usually hitting us in the head or back.

Failure of rear door hatch to stay open. Defective struts (stays per Toyota) in 2005 Sienna.

We have a 2005 Toyota Sienna xle limited awd minivan with a power lift-gate. Earlier this week, after opening the lift-gate via the power remote, the door immediately slammed down. My wife was retrieving items from the trunk and was hit by the falling door. This is a very heavy door, and my wife hurt herself trying to hold it open, while getting out from under it. The lift-gate opens under power, but now will not stay open, and slams shut every time. We have since shut off the power feature, and only use the lift-gate when together. Someone holds it open, while the other loads or unloads the trunk. It is too heavy to handle alone.

My 2005 Sienna power hatch door would not hold during cold weather. When it is around 40f, the power hatch door would not stay at the top and would come back down. The dealer replaced the rear hatch struts but the problem remains. The dealer told me it is like that when the weather is cold and there is not much they can do. Here in idaho, there are about 4 months in a year that the weather is that cold. That means I cannot used the power hatch rear door 4 months out of a year. I am just wondering why would a customer pays extra for something that they cannot use 4 months out of a year. One of the reason I purchased the limited version was because of the power hatch door. If Toyota takes the position that the power hatch door would not work when it is cold, Toyota should disclose this to all potential customers. So people can make an informed decision before they make the purchase.

The contact owns a 2005 Toyota Sienna xle. The current mileage and approximate failure mileage was 46,000 miles. There was liftgate strut failure. The automatic door on the vehicle was slow when opening, and occasionally it did not open. Without warning, the liftgate closed on its own and almost caused injury with the contact. There was an open investigation on the vehicle for that component, ea06020. The date of purchase was unknown. Updated 01/29/08.

The support device for the back liftgate failed to stay up. It looks like it leaked fluid where the piston meets the cylinder. It fails everytime the door is open.

My daughter was placing items in the back of our 2005 Toyota Sienna xle when the power rear liftgate suddenly came down with great force and struck her on the arm/shoulder. It was with great difficulty that my daughter was able to escape from under the door. The liftgate operated on its own. This is a serious safety risk. My daughter was able to force her way free, with bruises, but a smaller person could have been seriously injured. I will talk to Toyota customer care to report this incident, but in my opinion this is a dangerous vehicle. I checked the liftgate when I arrived home and it is still operating erratically. Until this is resolved, we have turned off the power to the rear liftgate and are operating it manually.

The contact owns a 2005 Toyota Sienna. The contact stated that the rear liftgate would not remain open. The dealer stated that the liftgate shocks should be replaced. As October 4, 2007, the dealer had not repaired the vehicle. There is a defect investigation open for the structure: body: hatchback/lift gate: support device (NHTSA action number ea06020). The VIN was invalid. The failure mileage was 31,000 and current mileage was 32,000.

I opened my rear liftgate using the power button and reached into the back of my Sienna and the door unexpectedly started closing on top of me. I was unable to push back hard enough on it and had to quickly drop to the ground to prevent being trapped and/or injured. Had my children been in their I don't know how serious it might have been.

Toyota Sienna 2005 hydraulic lift gate failure caused lift gate to close inexpediently on head.

Lift gate will not stay open any longer. When power lift is enabled, it will open the back hatch (slowly) and immediately begin closing -- in power mode! this has some pretty fierce force behind it and am glad that we do not allow our children anywhere near it until this is fixed. One or both of the gas lifters has obviously failed. It used to be that this was bad only in cold weather but now it happens regardless of temperature (70 degrees today).

Back door was opened using the remote key and then it suddenly closed by itself. Individual was hit by the door as it closed. Further inspection showed that the left side "strut" on the door was leaking. Called Toyota customer support at 800-331-4331 and was given a reference #. Toyota also referred to TSB bo001-07. Brought vehicle to dealer and dealer would charge to fix since vehicle has 51k miles, although less than 2 years old. Dealer refused to acknowledge back door stays were defective although numerous consumers have complained, and there is a current NHTSA investigation (action #ea06020).

Liftgate on 2005 Toyota Sienna xle limited with the power liftgate option. Gradually stopped lifting and upon several occasions, would lift up completely and as I was loading cargo into the rear it came down pinning me between it and the bumper. The shocks were not strong enough to hold the weight of the liftgate and it had started to go down and the power closing feature took over.

Complete failure of right rear hatch shock. The shock completely and suddenly lost all pressure causing the rear hatch to fall. Defective part was replaced. Toyota covered only half of the cost. Part was left at Toyota of greenville.

Rear liftgate stay on 2005 Toyota Sienna has leaked and failed. Result is now liftgate closes automatically on top of owner when loading and unloading. Only 25,000 miles at time of failure.

Using the automatic opener on the key fob I opened the trunk liftgate of the 2005 Toyota Sienna xle limited and was putting groceries in it when it came crashing down on my back. I brought it in to the Toyota dealership, and they confirmed there was an issue with the shocks ,and were ordering replacement parts. This was very dangerous. The force that the door came crashing down with was enough that it would' have crushed a child. Even as a strong adult, it is difficult to hold the door open. The trunk was not usable until this problem was fixed.

2005 Toyota Sienna lift gate strut fail, causing the lift gate to fall on users.

: the contact stated while the lift gate was opened, the left rear support hydraulic strut fractured and the lift gate fell down without warning. No injuries were sustained. The vehicle was inspected by a dealer who determined both rear lift gate hydraulic support struts needed to be replaced. The manufacturer was alerted.

Rear hatch fails when trying to open the hatch causing the hatch to fall and because of the weight could cause serious injury if someone is attempting to get items out of the back of the van.

Failure of rear liftgate strut causing liftgate to immediately close we have a 2005 Toyota Sienna with a power rear liftgate. When only one strut failed, as soon as the door was opened, it no longer had enough pressure to keep the door open. As the the door began to fall, the power closing mechanism began to pull it closed. In otherwords, as soon as the door was opened, it began to automatically close. Fortunately there were no injuries--it just gave us a scare. To correct this failure, the dealer is replacing the struts so that the door will remain up when opened.

Liftgate support cylinder is leaking, won't support the liftgate. Fell on my head the first time before I knew about the problem. Happened 1000 miles out of warranty and the dealership wouldn't help me out. The part is very expensive for what it is. $180. 00 from the dealership. I ordered mine on the internet for $125. 00. Still waiting for it to come.