general problems of the 2011 Toyota Sienna

I was pulling my 2011 Toyota siena into a parking space. My foot was on the brake and the car was going about 5 mph. The car made a slight sound, along with a perceptible yet small physical shift, and (while my foot was on the brake) independently accelerated with tremendous force. It was like it was ignited. The car hit a concrete pole and was totaled. The acceleration over-rode the brake. No one was hurt. The concrete pole averted what could have been a catastrophic accident, had we hit pedestrians, or had we rear ended a car or truck on the freeway. The brakes failed as the car jumped into independent acceleration. My safety and the safety of my passenger were both at risk. As I said, in a different situation, we might have hit pedestrians, or gone through the wall of the grocery store and hit customers. The concrete pole saved us and others. The mechanic at the service center where the car was towed said it was impossible to discern if there had been a failure in the system of the car - though clearly both my passenger and myself experienced that failure in the car's ability to override an independent, forceful acceleration not caused by the driver. There was no warning of any kind. On the edmunds site, there are many, many testimonials by other drivers of the Toyota siena of similar, frightening experiences of independent acceleration. It is terribly dangerous and should be investigated. If there is not a recall on this vehicle, there should be. This is a potentially catastrophic defect.

On a snowy Saturday morning, my husband was slowly (driving less than 5 mph) pulling into a parking spot while braking. As he shifted into park, the vehicle suddenly revved and accelerated over the five inch curb and hit a building a few feet in front of the car. His foot remained firmly on the brake during the incident. Although the vehicle had come to a complete stop once it hit the building and was put into park, the engine continued to make a loud revving sound. The revving did not stop until the vehicle was turned off.

I put my vehicle in park and then turned on the hazard lights, as I was parked at the entrance to a busy highway, and just wanted to grab my mail. I turned around from getting the mail; and my minivan was rolling across the highway with three of my children inside of it. It stopped when it hit a cement barrier on the other side of the highway. No air bag deployed. My children suffered from minor injuries. And, a-lot of anxiety. What happened to make my minivan switch out of park?.

The contact owns a 2011 Toyota Sienna. When the accelerator pedal was depressed, it became stuck. The brake pedal was depressed, but failed to operate. As a result, the vehicle crashed into a tree. The air bags did not deploy. A police report was not filed and there were no injuries. The vehicle was taken to the contact's residence. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 117,296.

The contact owned a 2011 Toyota Sienna. While driving 10 mph approaching the driveway, the vehicle accelerated without warning when the brake pedal was depressed. The vehicle crashed into a tree at 15 mph. The driver sustained fractures to the right ribs, foot, ankle, and leg that required medical attention. The passenger sustained fractures to the right hand, left hip, neck, hand, and back. Medical attention was required. A police report was not filed. The vehicle was destroyed. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was unknown.

I pulled into a relative's gravel driveway which has a very large parking area to the side. I pulled up to about two feet from their grassy area, got into position to back up into a parking space, stopped, and put my 2011 Sienna into reverse, and as soon as I gently touched the excelerator to begin backing up the van sped forward at a high rate of speed crashing into and over an 8 inch railroad tie that had a steelbeam on top that separated the driveway from their yard. I had to slam both feet onto the brake to get it to stop which it finally did. I thought I had not put it in reverse but I looked at the gearshift and it was indeed in reverse. I jiggled the gearshift to make sure it was secured in the slot and it was. I then put it in park and sat there for a minute or two trying to gain composure trying to figure out what just happened, I was in shock as nothing like this has ever happened to me before. After that minute or two I decided I couldn't let the vehicle sit there and needed to move it. Scared, but I put it in reverse again, ready to pounce on the brakes with both feet and barely touching the excelerator I started moving in reverse. It was working fine then. I then got out to check for damage and the bumper on the driver's side was damaged from the impact. The airbag did not deploy, I was not hurt however had any of my relatives been in that area at that moment it could've resulted in an injury or fatality. I reported what happened to the local dealership where I bought it and then to Toyota USA as instructed in the handbook. Now I'm reporting it here. Am awaiting contact supposedly within the next day or so to see what Toyota intends to do with the Sienna. I will not drive again it until the reason for this defect is found and fixed and damages repaired. The outcome will decide whether I will ever be a Toyota customer again.

I was stopped for a red light at a traffic light on highway 20 in niceville, FL. I had my right foot on the brake when I felt the vehicle attempt to surge forward and I could heard the engine rev. I looked at the tachometer and noticed the engine was at 2000 rpm instead of the normal idle of approx 800 rpm. When the light turned green, I drove away and the vehicle drove normally. I did not have another incident driving home even when I stopped at other traffic lights. This is the second occurrence of this un-commanded acceleration - the other took place last year.

Van was parked on a city street. I was trying to pull out of a parking space. I had my foot on the brake when the engine revved up and lunged forward. I had my foot on the brake, the mat was secured down. I took my van in to have the Toyota dealer check. They couldn't find anything wrong. This happened 3 different times.

I have loved my 2011 Toyota Sienna for 5-6 mos. Now. Upon backing up in my flat driveway area on 10/24/11, at a slow rate typical to backing up in a driveway, I found my van propelling very fast straight back/in reverse. This took the vehicle down over a slight hill of our yard into a large pine tree. The thick spruce tree has a huge hole/opening/damaged area and my entire back of the van is very damaged, entire rear window busted into hundreds of smaller pieces, items in the car projected onto the ground behind us. The liftgate, rear window and bumper are very caved in and damaged. I can only describe this as seconds of total confusion, speed, lack of control, shock. I'm feeling like the van is "possessed", and I will not drive it at all again. I did not witness any indicators of any accelerator issues in the 5-6 mos. I've owned it. I would be lying if I said I was positive I was still backing up or if I was in the process of preparing to brake and shift into drive to pull forward and out of my driveway. This happened so quickly for doing something at such a very slow reverse speed, that the details in that second it all changed and accelerated, I can not say for sure what specifics were being done at that very moment of drastic change in speed. I've always loved Toyotas. We've had a few now. This is the last one I will buy because I just can not explain why or what occurred to make it go from single digits in reverse to very quickly speeding in reverse. I'm talking 12 yards of space where it went from normal, slow backing up to incredibly fast, then impact. I can't say if the car even stalled when it stopped. I can't recall if I shut if off. I was far more concerned about getting out and checking on my 4 year old who was luckily unharmed in her 5 point harness high back car seat. I know it sounds odd-it was more odd than anyone can imagine!.

We recently purchased a brand new 2011 Toyota Sienna xle awd with an optional package that includes floor mats. After arriving home, I realized that the drivers floor mat was not secured to the vehicle, and no fasteners were present that would enable me to secure the floor mat. The floor mat itself and the underlying carpet both contain rivets with through holes, but that is not sufficient to attach the two. Some sort of screw / clip / bolt / etc is needed and is missing. The floor mat does have a warning tag saying that it is supposed to be secured. Given the attention to floor mat issues in Toyota vehicles, I am very surprised that the vehicle could leave the factory and the dealership like this.

Problems : lost acceleration when the car was free running (no gas pedal applied) down hill or declined roads at about 8-10 mph, while the engine speed was 1100rpm or above ( this mostly happened in winter while the engine was cold or not warm up, but it happened in hot engine too), if I stepped on the gas pedal to accelerate the car at this time, the car would not pick-up speed and accelerate; it acted like the car was being driven in neutral; the gas pedal felt lighter than normal; even if the engine was running up from 1000rpm to 1800rpm, I still couldn’t feel the accelerating; it acted like continuing its free running. Only when the engine ran up to1800-2000rpm then the car started pick-up some acceleration. In other words, three conditions must happen at the same time to see this problem: 1) free running (no gas pedal applied) down hill or declined roads, 2) free running at about 8-10 mph, 3) engine speed is at 1100rpm or above then step on gas pedal to accelerate. This problem would not happen on up-hill road, or accelerate slowly from speed below 10 mph. I took it to the Toyota dealer for inspection today. The mechanic was able to reproduce this problem on a road test with me on the car. He tested other Sienna later, while I was waiting. He said all the Sienna acted like this way. He reset the computer for transmission to learn my driving habit, hoping it will fix the problem. I believe this is a design in computer programming problem. Resetting computer would not fix the problem. That unable to accelerate my car when I need to is a dangerous, for I might not be able to avoid some dangerous situations on the road.