general problems of the 2005 Toyota Sienna - part 1

2005 Toyota Sienna. Consumer writes in regards to the spare tire cable recall issues. The dealer informed the consumer, the part was not available. For safety purposes, the dealer removed the tire and placed inside the vehicle. For the past six months, the consumer was informed the part was still not available.

My Toyota Sienna is garage-kept and frequently cleaned and waxed inside out. However all these hard work still could not prevent cracking being found on the dashboard on the front passenger side. I have a friend who has similar issue with the dashboard of his 2005 Toyota Sienna van (also garage-kept and well maintained). I am suspecting that this premature cracking is a manufacturing defect which should be handled as a service recall by Toyota. I jhave never experienced any cracking on my other three Toyotas I bought before.

The contact owns a 2005 Toyota Sienna. The contact stated that when opening the lift gate, the support strut failed and the door slammed shut. The vehicle was not taken to the dealer. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure who did not offer any assistance since the vehicle was out of warranty. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure and current mileage was 50,000.

The contact owns a 2005 Toyota Sienna. The contact stated that noises were heard from the dashboard. The noise had not caused any problems with the vehicle. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, but the dealer was unable to determine what caused the noise. The failure mileage was 112,000 and the current mileage was 136,420. Updated 4/2/12.

Several months ago, we noticed the driver's side sliding door on our 2005 Toyota Sienna le (we have manual doors, not power sliding doors) would not "click" or "catch" and lock when we opened the door. No matter what we tried, the door would not latch and stay open about 25% of the time. A few days ago, the same door started to not close all the way intermittently. While driving, the interior lights and the door open indicator lights will come on and go off at varying frequency. When the interior lights are on, they cause a distraction and make driving more difficult at night. The lights will go on and, sometimes, slowing down or taking a left turn will cause them to go off, but only for a short time. Anywhere from 5 seconds to a few minutes later, the light will be back on. They are on more then they are off. I'm sure our lights going on and off is also distracting to other drivers. I'm fearful the door will one day fly open while we are driving, putting my children in danger. I have not taken the vehicle to my dealer but I will this week. I've read countless accounts on the internet of problems with the doors on the Sienna and I hope when enough complaints come in, a recall will be initiated.

The paint/coating on my rims is bubbling and flaking off. It has been getting steadily worse since I purchased the vehicle used in 2009. I have not tried to contact a dealer about it as it is beyond the 36 month warranty period and any special adjustment from Toyota likely would be a huge up-hill battle and would probably just end up wasting my time.

The contact owns a 2005 Toyota Sienna. The contact stated that when taking his vehicle in for an inspection they informed him that the spare tire has corroded, could possibly detach from the vehicle and impact with another vehicle. The contact referenced NHTSA campaign id number: 10v160000 (structure). The contact also wanted to mention that the recall only involves 20 states and believed that it should be expanded. The vehicle had not been repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 58,000. Updated 02/03/11.

At about 107,000 miles, our 2005 Toyota Sienna driver's side door began making a loud popping. No incident led to the initiation of this noise. Investigation revealed broken welds at the door stop connection. Further investigation revealed a significant number of other complaints including a service bulletin (nv003-07). Toyota was contacted and after about 2 weeks of follow-up, it was determined that they would not assist us in any way citing a lack of "service history" with the dealership. We were over our extended warranty mileage by about 7000 miles and the time by about 3. 5 months. We are the second owners of the van, but the original owners were my wife's parents. Nothing has been done so far to repair the door. A proper fix would include installing a new door. We are a middle class family working on a budget though so that is out of the question. We will have to find an alternative. Options include 1)removing the door stop allowing the door to freely swing. . . Definite safety concern. 2)drilling out the spot welds and mig welding them back. . . Nobody is having any luck with this from what I am reading. 3) drilling out the spot welds and attaching with a bolt. . . Only temporary from what I am reading. . . Cracks form in the welded materials. The temptation is to temporarily fix the problem and then sell the vehicle. We are honest faithful people so I would not be able to stick another family with this issue. Some might argue that this is not a safety problem. Since the stop is still partially attached, my wife has been entering and exiting through the passenger side door to prevent any further damage. Complete failure would result in extreme difficulty fixing it and pose a serious threat to one of my three unsuspecting children when they open it up. I have already read of children being hurt by a free swinging Sienna door. This is a manufacturing problem. Welds aren't supposed to break. The materials between the weld should break first. It was a bad weld from day 1.

Automatic rear doors will not lock or unlock or open or shut with remote. Are extremely difficult to open manually. I was told they could be repaired at a cost of over $1200 per door. I also had a problem with the rear automatic hatch which was repaired under warranty. I see a pattern here.

The driver's side door is falling off of my 2005 Toyota Sienna minivan. Toyota issued a service bulletin recall for this defect in 2005. The problem 1st appeared in my car in March 2007. The folsom lake Toyota dealer repaired my vehicle by sending it out to a welding company to be repaired. I was provided with a rental car at no charge by Toyota. The description of the defect, as stated on the repair slip is as follows: ". . . Found door deformed and weld broken inside door , 23 replaced drivers door check, sublet to body shop for repair of door. " I have a copy of this original repair form. The 2nd time this defect re-appeared was on July 8, 2010. I immediately reported the problem to Toyota corporate, was assigned case # 1007081422 and was advised by the Toyota corporate representative that the Toyota of richmond, indiana dealer would be calling me within 3 days to make an appointment to bring my car in and receive a free rental until my car's deformities were fixed. The dealer failed to respond within 3 days, and I called corporate again on 7-14-10 and spoke with catherine. She sent another request to Toyota of richmond and said that I would hear from the dealer within 24 hrs. Again, Toyota of richmond failed to contact me. I called Toyota corporate moments ago (7-16-10), and jessie said they have no control over their dealers fixing Toyota defects and that I should try to contact them myself. Toyota has a legal and ethical responsibility to fix their known defective problems. After all of these failed attempts to get richmond Toyota to contact me to initiate the repair process, Toyota should be fined and/or Toyota should be prohibited from selling in the us marketplace. The driver side door is clearly falling off and will cause injuries when this happens.

I own a 2005 Toyota Sienna and my passenger side sliding door will not open electronically or manually. This is a safety issue as I carpool and have to let the children out on the street side. If there is a fire the door is not operable. I brought it to the dealership and they said that they do not know what the problem is, so they want to start changing parts until the problem is solved. This is an on going problem with the Siennas.

2005 - Toyota Sienna drivers side sliding door was stuck in the open position, approximately 7/8 of the way open. The issue occurred when my wife pressed the automatic close button when the door was in the full open position. It began to close but after a couple of inches it stopped. The vehicle was unsafe to drive. The local dealership offered no solutions via phone and requested that we drive the vehicle in. I was able to drive it a short distance, cautiously, to the local mechanic who was unable to repair the door. The aaa tow truck operator refused to tow it to Toyota due to liability with the door being 7/8 open and stuck. Toyota of dartmouth sent their contracted towing agent to tow the car to the dealership. Toyota of dartmouth diagnosed the problem, after several hours, as the door motor had the door cable wrapped around the gears. Based on the number of complaints I am unsure why it took Toyota of dartmouth so long to diagnose the problem and why they could not speak to it over the phone or at least instruct me to cut the cable in order to get the door closed and therefore be able to safely drive the vehicle. Two options were presented - $1700 for replacement or $195 to cut the cable and put the door back together. Unacceptable!! especially after 60k miles and we just began using that door two years ago when we had a second child.

2005 Sienna le. Drivers side door "door check" damaged - diagnosis by dealer. Damage due to wear and tear on poorly designed/manufactured component . Informed by dealer a "partial recall" exists on the problem. Can find no record of such recall. Informed that due to current mileage (110k), would not qualify for dealer provided repair. Body shop quoted $271 to fix and stated has been making these repairs for "several years. " symptoms: loud popping when opening and closing (approx 18 months), followed by door not opening fully and failure of window to roll down completely. Door lock sometimes does not work (about 1 week ago). Dealer claims fixing door check will correct lock and window problems. Body shop skeptical of this claim.

The bolt on my sliding door (not a power door) broke. The vehicle is a 2005 Toyota Sienna van. The front door has been replaced already do a defect with the hinges. I have read online that others are having the same problem with their Sienna van's sliding door. However, the dealer tells us "it's just wear and tear" and that we must pay $1500. To have it replaced. The door is closed now but is totally inoperable now because if you open it you cannot get it to close.

On Jan. 25,2010, my son opened the passenger side power sliding door of my 2005 Toyota Sienna as usual. However, when he went to press the button to close it. It would not close. Upon observation, I noticed the cables which operated the door were hanging out. When I tried to close the door using another door control, it did not work either. I also tried to manually close the door and this would not work either. It appeared that the back cable would not retract, so the door would not close. I contacted the Toyota service department and they couldn't provide me any directions until I brought the car in. After seeing the problem, I was given an estimated range of $1300-$2000. Upon doing an internet search, I have found this to be a problem as far back as 1999 and yet is still an ongoing problem today. The only difference is that when asking for assistance from Toyota to make a repair that will inevitably happen, they have reduced the amount of assistance from 50% to 15%. It is disappointing and expensive to have a failure occur, even when you follow proper operating procedure, I. E. Pressing the button to open the door.

The contact owns a 2005 Toyota Sienna. The contact stated that the driver and passenger side sliding door cables were defective. The cables froze and she was unable to open the doors. The dealer stated that the cables could be replaced but was unsure of the problem would be completely solved. The contact called the manufacturer who took a complaint but offered no assistance. The vehicle had not been repaired. The current and failure mileages were 80,000.

The drivers side door makes a crackling/scraping noise as if a hinge or metal component is broken. We had received a recall notice from Toyota to come in to have the problem repaired, if the problem existed. It did not exist when letter was received - letter said file this recall info if the problem did not exist. So we filed it. Then later the problem occurred and when we took the van in for repair the dealership said tough luck, they would not do anything to fix it. Because the vehicle was out of their warranty period - we then discussed the issue with the local dealership again and they said they would pay half the cost to repair it (about 1500 dollars if we would pay the other half, about 1500 dollars) since the recall notice did not say anything about the warranty issue, I think they should honor their recall notice. Since it seemed like it could be a safety issue, ie. , would door not close properly or fly open when we were on the road, we attempted a fix with a local welder, and the weld did not work. I think they should honor their recall notice and repair the door at Toyota's expense.

I own a 2005 Toyota Sienna xle. The plastic on the sliding door cable chipped away causing the cable to become exposed. It corroded and snapped, which made the door to stay wide open without being able to close it back manually. I found out that simillar incident happened to lots of owners putting us and our children's lives at risk. Toyota is not taking responsibility but only documenting the complaints.

2005 Sienna xle limited. In October of 2009 the cable to the drivers side power sliding door became tangled and snapped. Caused the door to be frozen in a half open position. Seems very early in the life of the car (50,400 miles) to have something so major go wrong.

The sliding door on my 2005 Toyota Sienna minivan stuck open and would not close. I have to drive home with the door open until I was able to force it close. Now it only work manully.

I own a 2005 Toyota Sienna as of 2009 both of my sliding passenger doors have stopped working. Behind the driver's side the cable has snapped and hangs out of the back of the door. The motor has completely failed and we sometimes cannot open the door at all. My 5 year old daughter sits on that side. On the other side the motor no longer works, but so far the cable is still attached. My van is used to transport my children to and from school and sports. The doors handles were rarely used, as I almost always opened them with the push buttons on the ceiling. I am concerned that we may be in an accident or in some other predicament and will not be able to open the doors to get my children out. I went to the dealership, and since I was 900 miles over my warranty when I reported, they were going to charge me $1080 for parts for each door plus labor. I called their main call center to report the defect and they said they would open a case and when enough people called in to report, they would send out a recall. Even if my car was 7 years old, these doors should not have failed. I need help.

I can't open my driver or passenger sliding doors on my 2005 Toyota Sienna van. It started about a year after I purchased. The driver side passenger would just open when it wanted to didn't do nothing to it. One day it would open, the next day it wouldn't did this for about 3 months now it won't open at all. The passenger rear power sliding door started making noise like something was stuck in it. Had it checked at dealer nothing stuck would stop on and off for a few months now it won't open at all. I have 3 children that has to climb through the front to get to the rear. Can't afford to pay the note and get it fixed.

The sliding doors on the van freeze shut when weather is cold and now one of them can not be opened even in warm weather. It appears that the lock on the sliding door will not disengage. The second door is starting to fail as well. I took it to the dealer and they said it has not been a problem with other Sienna vehicles but there are many complaint of it on the web. Toyota could not open it either and suggested I pay $875. 00 to have it repaired. This is a safety hazard because you can not remove children from the back of the car without them climbing to another door.

Passenger side automatic sliding door will no longer open or operate and is a safety issue.

2005 Toyota Sienna, driver side automatic sliding door jammed. The drive cable for door jammed so my wife was unable able to manually or electrically open the door to get my toddlers out of the van. She had to drive with the door open and children in their carseats with the van door open to a autorepair shop. At the shop the mechanic was able to get the door to lock in the open position, but was unable to get it closed. She had to drive the vehicle home with the door wide open, fortunately she wasn't more the 10 miles from home.

2005 Toyota Sienna has a passenger side power sliding door that has gone through the stages of sticking, rubbing against the body and rubber stripping around windows, and now, working at all through the power button option (or the remote) -- only way to get it open is via the door handle. This seems to be a recurrent problem in a number of Toyota Sienna but the manufacturer has not issued a recall so far. I deem this a safety issue because the door fails to close many many times and the driver has to get out of the vehicle to close the door in frustration and that can create unsafe situations.

Right side sliding door does not close and rubs against the body of the car.

I have a 2005 Sienna that I purchased about 3 years ago. For about two years it has had the problem of not closing. At first it would only close every now and then, and now it won't open or close at all. When the weather is cold, neither of the sliding door will open unless you climb in the front and kick it open. I've taken it into the sandy, utah dealership about 5 different times to have them check it out and they said nothing was wrong with it. I'm about to take it in again because now it won't work at all, so I did a little research to find out if there was a recall or if others had the same problem. To my surprise there are numerous people having the same problem with their 2004-2006 Sienna's. Why then is there no recall? why are people getting the run around from dealerships, poor service and being charged a mint to repair the door? why is this product and service such poor quality?.

Manual sliding door is stuck. It opens a couple of inches, but seems to be locked. Also, the driver's front door has a popping sound when opening. The power passenger's side sliding door gets stuck sometimes. It either fails to open or close. My young children have often to climb through the front seats to get to the back seats as often we cannot open the sliding doors.

2005 Toyota Sienna passenger side automatic sliding door has ceased to function. It can no longer be opened either manually or automatically. This poses a serious situation should someone need to exit the vehicle in an emergency. Additionally the driver's side sliding door is reluctant to open without very sharply pulling on the handle to disengage the lock. This has slowly been deteriorating over the last couple of years. If this were to fail then there would be no form of egress for rear passengers.

2005 Toyota Sienna side doors (sliding) constantly lock up in cold weather (less than 40 degrees) prohibiting me from using either door to get my children into my car. There is no way to correct this issue. Turning on your car and warming it up for even as long as one half hour has no effect. To compound matters, once someone has attempted to open either of the doors, the car alarm continues to beep (warning that a door is ajar). Also, I am unable to fully re-close the doors when this happens. Thus, I am forced to drive with my doors not fully closed (as they should be). This is more than an inconvenience. My safety and that of my children is being compromised, driving with the doors stuck in a slightly ajar position. Also, it is dangerous for my children to be climbing in and out of the car through the rear hatchback because the sliding doors will not open. I cannot solve nor prevent this problem. Placing the car in the garage has no effect. Same problem. I have complained numerous times to my car dealership to no avail. They simply tell me to graphite the door seals. This does not help. The door seals are inadequate.

The power sliding door motor broke, leaving frayed parts of the cables hanging from the car. Dealer estimates a cost of close to 2,000. I only have 30k miles on the car and have not mistreated the door in anyway.

Sliding door, driver side will not open, safety, for emergency purposes it should open. I asked that dealer repair and they did not.

Sliding passenger rear door in minivan periodically will not open - either electronically or manually. I was told replacement part could cost $1200 not including labor. As I have two children in the back of my van, I consider it a safety issue as well as a nuisance to not have both doors in working condition. I also fear that eventually both doors will experience this problem.

Our Sienna has worked perfectly until our driver side door started making a popping noise. This only occurs on the drivers side. I have never had this occur on any car I have owned. We thought it may be a lubricating issue but after completing some research, it appears to be a common and costly problem for all Sienna owners. Money is tight right now and I am scared to have it checked by the dealership since it appears that they have not issued a recall yet and it could require that the entire door be replaced for $3,000? I am very confused as to why this would not be covered since it is a structural problem. My car is 3 years old and I have 58,000. Please advise as to how I should proceed.