Body problems of the 2008 Toyota Sienna - part 1

Lift-gate frame cracking around left hinge. Safety hazard as the lift-gate could become unsecured while driving, or during operation, resulting in injury or crash.

My vehicle has 138,000 miles and when I inquired about fixing the sliding door, I was told that the recall was over in 2016; however, I know of a person that was able to have his vehicle fixed by Toyota. In fact, Toyota replace both the door sliding components / latches. For my vehicle I tried getting Toyota to fix this last year and tried again today but Toyota will not cover these repairs. I want it documented that this VIN has not been fixed regarding the sliding door and should a serious safety issue arise in the future due to these doors, this will server as documentation. The issue began about 1 year ago when the driver side sliding door would not open. This year I had to take it on myself to try and fix the issue due to Toyota not willing to cover the costs. The cable for the sliding door had frayed and when the door was manually opened, it would only open some but not fully. The roller latch for this door also appears to be bent and now the door is close to hitting the side panel when opened; I had to remove the cable components myself to allow the door to open. I believe the estimated repair costs for having both doors mechanisms replaced is $4,000 and I cannot afford that costs. In 2016 I do not recollect being informed by Toyota regarding the sliding door issues and now my vehicle cannot be repaired for that service program has expired.

When I open the lift gate from the console or key fob and the outside temperature is about 32 degrees or less the lift gate goes up then comes right back down. If I repeat the opening process several times it finally stays up. I have been hit several time by the lift gate when I thought it was open, it takes a lot of strength to stop it enough to get out of the way. What would it do to a child? this happens when the vehicle is stopped and in park or if the engine is not running at all. In my garage, parking lots, etc, wherever the vehicle is parked. This started happening about 2011 and continues getting worse each year.

My Sienna side door cannot open. My son would not be able to escape the vehicle if a problem in an accident. Dealer said there is no recall but the door cannot even be opened manually. This would be a $1500-2000 repair which as a single mom is not an option for me. I do not feel something as significant as ability to escape a vehicle should fall on the consumer.

My wife and I have five lovely small children. We own a 2008 Toyota Sienna xle. Some years ago, the "power" aspect of the sliding doors stopped working. Since then, we have been using the van by sliding the doors open and shut manually. Recently, while my wife was driving, the passenger sliding door unexpectedly came open while the vehicle was moving at a high rate of speed. This was traumatic for her and for my 5 children. Also recently, the driver side passenger door became completely non-functional. The local dealership, mark miller Toyota, has been working diligently and expertly to try to repair both sliding doors. They appear to have been able to repair the passenger sliding door, at substantial expense to me. However, mark miller Toyota is presently unable to repair the drivers sliding door, and the vehicle has been non-operational for weeks now.

Both automatic side doors broke at 120,000 miles. Doors are unsafe and opened on their own while driving down the highway at 60 mph with grandson in backseat. Now that the automatic door function is broke on both doors they both won't close completely anymore and don't latch completely. They are unsafe.

The automatic rear lift-gate/door when opened either via remote or driver overhead back-door opener, opens all the way up and closes immediately. The door not stay open. This appears to be a recall issue in older Sienna model (2006) but dealer could not fix my model (2008) as a recall issue as this is not listed under my model for recall. The problem symptoms are exactly similar to the recall issue. I would like to fix it as a recall issue for my vehicle from Toyota. Please help. Thanks.

Sliding door cable snapped. This left us with a heavy door to manually open/close which creates a safety concern (trapped) for children and elderly passengers.

Rear sliding doors fail to close fully resulting in the door opening while driving.

Vehicle was parked and turned off parked in parking lot. Opened side door with automatic key fob and the door opened halfway then started making a weird noise. It would not close or open manually no matter what I did. I had to drive myself and 5 kids across town with the door open, car beeping because door was open. My husband finally got the door to close after I got home but there was a severed cable that now hangs under the rear window. The door will not open manually or automatically now. So I can't use the door at all. If you even try to touch or open the door then the system thinks the door is open and beeps the whole time you are driving and you can't lock the door. I'm worried it will open while driving. From research it appears to be an all too common issue with Toyota vans and should be a recall or covered for the life of the vehicle in my opinion. The auto opening door was the only reason we purchased a van and not a SUV.

Passenger side power sliding door cable snapped. Cable hanging out side of vehicle. Very difficult to open door since cable always gets tangled. Concerned for my children.

The drivers side sliding rear door will not latch closed. While driving,the door will slide open when accelerating. I called Toyota about this and they said there's nothing they can do unless I pay for repairs. They have extended the factory warranty specifically for the sliding doors to 9 years/ 120k mi. My vehicle is 11 days past the 9 years but under the 120k mi. I cannot get the door to latch closed, a Toyota supervisor informed me there was a recall to keep the door latched closed but my vehicle wasn't covered under that recall. This problem happened 4/12/2017 while parked at my kids soccer practice. After reading how many complaints have been filed against Toyota for their sliding door problems, I'm not sure why this wouldn't be classified as a recall. Driving with a door that won't stay shut is not very safe.

Slide door cable snapped leaving door non functional.

This car is experiencing sua. It happened in a parking lot an resulted in a crash into a cement wall. It also happened on a winding mountain road.

Passenger side sliding door has snapped cable. Van was parked and button was used to open door. Heard pop/crunch sound. Was able to force door shut. Door is unable to be opened and remains closed; even when power sliding door option is turned off. No damage seen inside or outside of vehicle.

Powered passenger doors on both sides of the van malfunctioned and then cable system broke and locked the doors in the closed position. This happened one after the other in about a three-week period. The cable is clearly rusted and shredded on the one side. I cannot tell why the cable pulled out and stopped working on the other side. As I transport 3 or more children at a time, it is a huge safety issue that the only way out of the car in case of emergency is through one of the front doors or the back trunk hatch. I have owned this vehicle since it was new and I am told this is out of warranty/isn't covered and will cost at least $6,000 to fix. I cannot drive the vehicle like this and I can't afford to fix it. I am apparently not the only one who's had this problem with the van, yet Toyota is doing nothing about it for their customers.

Power sliding door cable broke. Door was very difficult to open manually until I cut the cables. Vehicle was stationary.

The sliding door cables have broken just like in the 2007 models that a recall has already been done. Toyota has refused to fix this on my 2008 model because the NHTSA has not requested it and because they supposedly have not had enough reports of failures. Now our door does not completely seal shut and going done the road, the door alarm goes off indicating a door is open that has nearly caused my wife to jump out of her skin thinking that our autistic son is opening the door while she is driving down the road. It doesn't make sense that this defect has been recalled in 2007 but not in the 2008 which is the same problem. Cables are dangling out the side of the van whipping in the wind.

Our left rear sliding door won't function or open any more. The cable broke. Then 2 days later the right rear sliding door won't function or open anymore. Same problem. Cable was severed or snapped. Looks like it was rusted on both cables, both sides, and severed in the same position or length. So, both rear sliding doors do not function. They only open to about 1 foot, and no further. Extremely difficult to close or open doors at all. The minivan was stationary both times while opening doors for my kids to get in. I was parked on a street. The left side broke on July 1, 2016, and the right side broke 2 days later on July 3, 2016.

Toyota cable frayed on automatic sliding door (it was fine one open then had a terrible sound the next and we could visually see the frayed cable from the outside), however the 2008 is not in the designated years (2004-2007) to have it fixed under extended warranty. Originally 3 calls to Toyota customer service provided me that it was covered but I had to speak to a supervisor after reading the paperwork online to explain that although I was part of the extended warranty for cable and latch mechanisms, that the latch mechanism is the only part that applies to the 2008. It's so confusing, the customer service agents can't figure it out. Taking it to the dealership to have them tell the 2008 cable isn't covered would have cost me $110. The repair is $1500-2000 on a car only work 8k or so. Being that this has been an issue in the past is upsetting. And the fact that the warranty enhancement bulletin is so confusing their own employees don't understand it is also ridiculous. From reading online it seems others are still having this issue.

Power sliding doors have a common problem of the cable breaking and the power sliding feature stops working. The door can still be used in manual operation, which is just an inconvenience. The power rear latch is a safety issue as the door can suddenly open while driving, or other times remain locked so as the door cannot be opened. This problem is compounded when both doors are affected, and I have had multiple repairs done to both doors to a point where I cannot keep up with the frequency of how often the doors fail. To summarize, power sliding function granted is a luxury though an expensive one when Toyota does not warrantee the repair. The latching problem is most certainly a safey issue as the doors either do not stay closed, or are stuck shut forcing the rear passengers to climb over the front seat to exit the vehicle. Imagine what would happen in an emergency.

Automatic sliding door cable snapped when children were exiting the van. A known issue that was covered by csp for years 2004-2007, but not 2008. Same exact problem.

The contact owns a 2008 Toyota Sienna. The contact stated that the trunk failed to stop when the contact depressed the trunk release button. The contact stated that the trunk hit her in the head. The vehicle was taken to a dealer where it was diagnosed that the hatch strut failed and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 92,000.

Sliding door on our 2008 Sienna stopped opening or closing. We can not get in our get out off the car on driver side. We are glad it happened on parked position. It is not working electrical or manual mode. Toyota is asking about $1600-3000 for repair. We are trying to use the van with one sliding door and it is nor practical or safe.

Rear power sliding door issues. Hard to open and close Toyota has csp that only completely covers the issues to year 2007 but 2008-2010 the cable assembly is excluded. These models and years are having the same problem I don't understand why it's only partially covered.

The door check on the driver side breaks prematurely. Each time I open the door, it clacks. Instead of holding the door in position which is designed to do, it moves and sometimes it can be dangerous.

The passenger side of the powered sliding door stuck open during a cold winter night and we were lucky we were at the parking lot not on highway for an emergency stop (which is possible with two little ones on board sometimes). We did a little research and found out that this is due to an known faulty sliding cable assembly and Toyota already had a a customer support program which extends the warranty of the cable assembly for model years of 2004 to 2007. Unfortunately, our car is 2008 and the local dealer asked for $2000 to change the cable assembly. Since this issue is the same as the previous model years for the second generation Sienna, this should have been covered by the same program. Due to the potential risk of door stuck open on highway during emergency stop, Toyota should have included this as a recall campaign.

The power sliding door fails. It has to be opened and closed manually. This is a common problem for this model.

The door latch assembly is a defected part admitted by Toyota. This defected part caused the sliding door cable to break. Toyota has sent out an extended warrenty to fix the door latch but not the sliding door cable. I can now open up the door but without the cable the door will not stay open if on a grade. This is a major saferty hazard as the door could shut on a person including my four children. I have contacted Toyota about the issue and it is noted. I feel that if they have admitted to a defective part and that part caused another issue, it should be replaced.

Driver side rear sliding door cable broke. Toyota said it is not covered! door will not even open manually. I feel this to be a huge safety factor being that children are in the back and in case of emergency it would be hard to get them out!. The problem occurred wile my wife was picking the kids up from school!.

The power sliding doors mechanism broke and I was available to open the door, was parked.

When opening driver side door, 2 loud clicking/popping noises occur. From what I have gathered, it is a faulty door check.

The cable for the passenger side power sliding door broke when the door was closing.

I was getting things out of back with power lift gate up. While leaning in vehicle the power lift gate came down without warning and caught me. It did not continue to crush me but it did not reverse so I had to use a pretty good force to push it up (my wife probably would not have been able to do it). It did it a second time a week or so later. When I took it to Toyota they said the struts were bad and replaced them. When I asked why there was no warning they just shrugged their shoulders and said do not know and insinuated they would not know what to do so it would not happen again without warning. How was I to know the struts were bad since it is a power lift gate had been working just fine? it seems to me if this is not something Toyota can fix so it cannot come down without warning they at least need to install warning labels in an obvious place that the lift gate can close without warning. I really think my wife would not been able to push it up as I did. She would have needed assistance.

Power sliding door cable got rusted and snapped. Jammed the door. Toyota covers the door latch but not the cable.