general problems of the 2007 Toyota Sienna

Dash board cracking.

I was northbound on interstate 15 in utah and noticed smoke coming out from underneath my car. I pulled into a firestone service center where they diagnosed the issue to be a faulty oil cooler hose assembly on my 2007 Toyota Sienna Mini-van. I contacted Toyota dealer who said that the part had been upgraded from a rubber hose to a metal hose that would not burst like mine had. I was not informed of the option to upgrade prior to this incident and in fact had had my car into the dealer for an oil change the week before this incident. Firestone said I was down to two quarts of oil remaining in the oil pan. I feel lucky that I did not burn up my engine by stopping before the oil pan ran dry. Also, I am lucky that I was driving and not my wife with a car full of kids as there seemed to be a risk of a car fire based on the smoke. I am wondering now just how safe and reliable my car is and what other problems Toyota is aware of that they have not yet told me about on my year make and model. By the way it kind of ruined the family vacation we were just starting.

After a short trip, 5 miles, I was backing into my driveway when I noticed some fluids on the cement. I checked the liquid and was not sure if it was coolant or transmission fluids so I called my mechanic and he recommended that I should have it towed in . It turns out that the problem was that a connector at the bottom of the radiator cracked and was mixing the coolant with the transmission fluid ,it appears that a defective fitting was the problem. It cost me $977. 3 to replace the radiator and flush the transmission. My mechanic said if I would have continued driving with these 2 fluids mixing I would have damaged the transmission beyond repair for a bill of $3,000. More if this is a common problemon these cars people should at least be notified what to watch for or better yet repaired by the company.

Rack and pinion bellows on the passenger side torn due to coming into contact with the adjacent fuel/vapor line; (observed while changing the tire. ). Bellows rubs against the fuel/vapor line when vehicle turns left. Vehicle serviced regularly by the delivering dealer; defect not reported to me.