Body problems of the 2007 Toyota Sienna - part 1

The automatic closure on the rear sliding door does not close and lock the door in place. The sensor beeps but allows you to drive even though the door is not shut all the way and latched.

Rear power hatch begins to open, then immediately closes. Unable to open the hatch all the way manually without the power function taking over, and closing the hatch back down. Vehicle was on flat surface on the street. Occurred during daytime, and temperature at around 85 degrees.

I purchased this Toyota brand new in late 2007 and it was delivered in early 2008. It was modified by braunability to be wheelchair accessible. This means the original floor was cut out and a new sub-floor was welded in its place to accommodate the wheelchair. I noticed a lot of premature rust on the exterior modified sub-floor in 2016 I contacted braunability with my concerns only to be dismissed by them because they claimed the van was out of warranty. I was proactive and took the van to a local braunability dealer where the van was originally purchased to sandblast the exterior underside and repair extensive rust damage and undercoated the repairs. This was done at my expense and I paid approximately $7k dollars. Well recently I had to make a repair on the interior of the van only to discover the floor in the inside was also rotting away due to rust. This rust is only occurring on the metal that braunability used in their modifications. I contacted braunability again to raise my concerns only to be dismissed again. They stuck to their out of warranty argument. This van has been maintain in a near new condition and all the original Toyota parts are in near new appearance but the rust is only on braunability metal. I also know of 2 other customers who dealt with similar rust issue and had to total their vans due to damage beyond repair and their vans were still operational aside from rust damage. This rust was caught by me because I am very particular about maintenance of my van and know rust is cancer to cars. I never expected the rust to be in the interior as well on a 10 year old van with only 105k miles. This would not be an issue if braunability had taken responsibility for the inadequate metal work. I paid 40 thousand dollars for these modification to my 07 Toyota Sienna. They should not be rotting. This is a serious safety issue if left unchecked.

The dashboard has become gooey and very shiny, reflecting the sun and causing an unsafe condition where visibility is impaired.

2004-2010 Toyota Sienna power sliding door cable warranty extension zts cable on my 2007 model broke and renders the passenger rear sliding door inoperable and is not fully closed. The condition happened while loading my 6 children into the vehicle, luckily my wife was able to close the door, which isn't fully secure in the closed position . The only operational passenger door is on driver side (street side), my children have to enter/exit vehicle on busy nyc street. I called Toyota under the cable extension warranty however my vehicle is 9 months past the cutoff. I can not afford the repair bill that could exceed 2k. . Read more...

The cable for opening the passenger-side sliding door failed. This creates a dangerous situation in that the door may not be secure or may open while the car is in motion.

Passenger side power sliding door no longer works under power, must be operated manually, yet when closing the power system engages and helps with last few inches.

Side impact collision by chevy pickup on a city street. Vehicle was moving straight after stopping at a stop sign. Driver side completely damaged, but no airbag deployed, not even a single one.

Driving on the highway 70 mph, my side rear window blew out .

I learned of a recall for my car's dashboard. It is cracked. It is a 2007 that I bought from dick dyer Toyota in columbia, SC in 2011. They now tell me the recall has expired. But this means they sold me a car without fixing a known recall issue. It was not cracked in 2011 but has been cracked since around 2015 or 2016. I am taking it to the dealership tomorrow to fix three other recall issues. Also, a tire pressure sensor was broken when I bought the car but the dealership denied the problem. I have had it fixed on my own. Now another has malfunctioned so the tire pressure light is always on. I believe this is a safety issue. Also, the airbag light goes on and off all the time. I don't know to which airbag it pertains.

Rear lift gate fails after opening and closes on your head. No safety sensor and continues to crush you if you get stuck under it.

Power sliding door on driver side failed when I tried to open the door while the vehicle was parked. Dealer charged $1100 to repair. Toyota has issued a warrant extension to cover this repair; however, the extension has an arbitrarily imposed mileage limitation. This is a design or material defect that can effect the safety of passengers. There should be a safety recall.

Passenger power sliding door failing to close properly. Causing door to slide and scrape own exterior painy whilw in motion of closing anf opening door.

On 4/10/15, I took the vehicle to motor imports service center for prearranged warranty service work on the vehicle. Motor imports declined to perform the warranty work, alleging that the vehicle was "too dirty" to perform, even though at least two of the recalls would involve no area of the interior. With respect to the interior, the shift assembly was allegedly "blocked" by a newspaper on the console, as well as pens in the ashtray and cd's in the console, and for this, they claimed they could not preform the work. In addition to the above recalls, they were to inspect the dashboard for a fourth recall involving premature degradation of the assembly, which they declined to perform as well.

Tl- the contact owns a 2007 Toyota Sienna. The contact stated that she had noticed that the manufacturer had issued a customer support program regarding the sliding door connector being replaced because of he inoperative power function. The contact had notified the dealer of the documents found and they informed the contact that it was not a safety defect and until the cable was actually fractured,the cable could not be replaced free of charge. The contact was acceptable to the information,however,later,when attempted to open the sliding door,the cable had suddenly disconnected,snapped backward and caused the contacts child to sustain injuries to the face. The contact had then notified the dealer and they stated that they would repair the cable assembly free of charge,however,would not be able to repair the other door because it was not fractured yet. The manufacturer was notified of the failures and the approximate failure mileage was 100,000. Gb.

I was parallel parking, backing into a parking space on a long bridge in a downtown/busy area. When I tapped the accelerator lightly to back up, my van suddenly lurched back (in reverse), accelerating so quickly I felt like I was in a rocket ship being lifted into the air. My wheel was turned in preparation for backing into the space. At a breakneck speed, my van accelerated in reverse, lurching up a large concrete step (all 4 tires), squealing erratically. Then it continued across a wide sidewalk/pedestrian area, the bumper hitting the bridge, immediately knocking about 20 feet of a concrete railing from the bridge into the river below. Luckily, my wheels basically bounced off the bottom portion of the bridge, which was secured by a large concrete block at the base of the bridge. This all happened in about 1 second. . . It didn't take long. The first thing I tried when this happened was hit the brakes. They didn't move. It was like they were locked. As my van bounced forward after it bounced off the concrete block, I was able to get it into park. I am lucky there were no pedestrians on the bridge, as they would have been crushed immediately by the concrete, and thrown into the river below. I'm also incredibly fortunate my van didn't continue in reverse, plunging itself, and me, into the river. It was a harrowing experience and two weeks later, I am still not quite past it. I am a safe driver and this is my first "real" accident in 25+ years of driving. My van is totaled.

- the contact owns a 2007 Toyota Sienna. The contact received a notification for recall NHTSA campaign number: 14v273000 (structure). However, the parts needed to repair the recall were not available. After contacting the dealer and the manufacturer on multiple occasions, the contact was informed that the parts needed to repair the vehicle were still not available and no estimated time to receiving the parts could be provided. The contact had not experience the failure. The VIN was not available. Pam.

Rear manual sliding door lock failed. . . . Door will not stay closed.

The contact owns a 2007 Toyota Sienna. The contact stated that both rear sliding doors failed to open correctly. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where it was found that the electronic switch needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not contacted. The failure mileage and VIN was not available.

Failure of power sliding door on driver side. Unable to open or close door. Manual use only and hard to open/close. Had to replace door release motor and power slider door actuator at cost of $655.

The rear hatch opener is made of some rubber composition that has melted away and will at times not even open rear hatch. Numerous online incidents reflect similar description of melted rubber that leaves fingers coated in hazardous material when attempting to open rear hatch.

The rear sliding door latches fail. The door will not stay closed due to latch/locking mechanism failure. I had a dog in the back seat when door latch failed. . . Luckily the dog did not fall out. If a person had an unsecured child in a rear seat they could very easily fall out! this has happened numerous times but the dealer told me the lock was not lubricated which was an outright lie because Toyota has a service bulletin on it since October 2010. Toyota has refused to repair mine at their expense because my mileage is over 120,000 now. . . Their dealer lied to me regarding the problem at 56,000 which was when I first reported it.

Left sliding failed to close properly.

The contact owns a 2007 Toyota Sienna. The contact stated that the rear driver's side sliding door could not be opened electronically. The contact was able to open the door manually. The vehicle was taken to the dealer for diagnosis. The technician stated that the door motor or the cable would have to be replaced. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The VIN was not available. The approximate failure mileage was 60,000.

Rear door latch rubber assembly has melted and becomes hot to the touch. The circuit under the melted rubber has direct contact to my fingers while attempt to open the back door. And appears to be a fire issue. Since the back door is no longer operational, it may cause safety issues for passengers sitting in the back row of the van.

The contact owns a 2007 Toyota Sienna. The contact stated that the passenger side sliding door stopped opening automatically. The contact stated that the door either would not open or would open halfway. The vehicle had not been taken to the dealer for inspection or repairs. The VIN was not available. The failure mileage was 39,000 and the current mileage was 40,000.

The contact owns a 2007 Toyota Sienna. The contact stated he heard a clicking noise whenever he opened or closed the rear driver’s door. The contact examined the door and noticed that the door’s bracket was cracked. The vehicle was taken to the dealer. The dealer stated that they had to replace the doors. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified and stated that there was nothing they could do to provide assistance because the vehicle was not under recall. The failure mileage was 61,150.

Tl-the contact owns a 2007 Toyota Sienna. The contact stated that when she went to push on the rear door latch, she noticed that the handle melted. The contact was unable to open the door. The vehicle has not been inspected by a dealer or an independent mechanic. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure who filed a reopt but did not offer any further assistance. The vehicle has not been repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 64,000. The current mileage was approximately 70,000. Pmb.

Driver's side power sliding door failed, would not close (door continually re-opened itself instead of latching closed). After setting the doors to "manual," the same door would not open at all. With two infants, it became necessary to crawl over the infant seat installed in the passenger side rear captain's chair in order to reach the infant seat installed behind the driver's seat. The passenger side power sliding door is close to failure (the sheathing on the cable is frayed), which will mean neither of the rear doors will be functional. Very unsafe condition in case of accident or fire. Toyota will not address this issue, and quotes a price of $3400 to repair.

The contact owns a 2007 Toyota Sienna. The contact stated that the vehicle was parked and the rear hatch was opened when it abruptly began to close independently. The contact applied pressure to try and keep the hatch open but to no avail. The vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer where the contact was informed that the rear hatch hydraulic arms needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and the contact was awaiting a response. The failure mileage was 45,000.

Passanger power sliding door not working properly. Passanger side power sliding door opens on its own. Passanger power sliding door will not close on its own. Toyota dealer diagnost as power sliding door motor and cable failure. The cost was quoted at $1700. This is a safety concern because when the door is manually closed it will just automaticly open when driving down the road.

Cable from door snapped. Rear right sliding door became inoperable, had to open and close manually. Very hard to slide door in either direction. Toyota diagnosed as broken cable repaired. Door inoperable again in 2/2012. Toyota diagnosed as broken door release motor. Repaired. Incurred total of $1,405. 00 in repairs. Submitted receipts for reimbursement for the Sienna door latch and cable assy warranty enhancement 11/27/12. 12/26/12 received letter from Toyota stating that the repair does not meet the criteria for reimbursement. 1/4/2013 called 1-800-331-4331 to ask why it is not covered. After being on hold for 30 minutes, gentleman says the cable and motor are not covered for our VIN#. It would have been covered if the door latch had broken. I asked if he could send me anything in writing as to reason for not being covered and he said no. I do not think Toyota is treating its customers fairly. The left rear sliding door broke in 2010 and they did cover it as it was right at 3 years so still covered. The rear sliding doors are constructed poorly and I will never purchase another vehicle with sliding doors again.

Power rear hatch will open normally, but will release when it reaches the top of it's travel, allowing the unit to come crashing down onto the unsuspecting owner while they are trying to retrieve items from the back of the vehicle. The trapped owner may try to fight off the hatch, but the drive motor continues to close until considerable resistance (I. E. Shoulder) is used to fend it off.

Rubber coating on handle on rear door lift melted approximately 5 years ago. . . Was actually oozing down. Leaves fingers with black gunk on them that is very difficult to wash off whenever opening this hatch. Notified dealer but was left with "tough luck" (in my words). Fl vehicle (hot almost year round).

The rear hatch latch/opening mechanism is soft and gooey. The softening/melting began sometime last year and is getting worse. It makes it almost impossible to open by a child or weaker person. Difficult to open for the regular guy. If there was some type of emergency the latch may or may not work. The melted handle also leaves a black tar-like gunk on hands in warm conditions. The van is never parked in the sun - always in the garage. The Toyota dealership that services our van said they are seeing this and hearing complaints all the time. They want around $200 to replace.