Cruise Control Problems of Toyota Sienna - part 1

Yesterday afternoon, I was driving on a semi busy road in tucson, arizona at about 40 mph and the van suddenly began to accelerate. I immediately thought I had hit the cruise control button but the dash showed no indication that this was case. I repeatedly pushed the cruise control button and jiggled the lever arm hoping to toggle something off but it had no effect. I began to push the breaks but they were not capable of slowing the car below about 25. I threw the van into neutral and the engine revved up to about 7000 rpm. That sound concerned me so I threw it back into gear and the van began to accelerate again. I pushed the emergency breaks, and with my pedal break fully compressed I could get the car to 5-10 mph but there was absolutely no way to stop the van. After narrowly missing a pedestrian, I turned right, found a place to pull off to the side of the road, threw the van into neutral and quickly turned the van off. With the engine turned off the breaks were as effective as the should have been so the the van came to a stop. After a brief period I turned the key, started the van and, again, the engine again revved to 7000 rpm. I turned it off again. I pumped the accelerator several times before starting it again and it started up fine. I had the van towed after this and I'm not likely to drive it again.

See all problems of the 2000 Toyota Sienna 🔎.

The contact owns a 2010 Toyota Sienna. When the cruise control was activated, it would deactivate independently. In addition, the bumper sensor detected objects that were not in front of the vehicle. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, but the failure was unable to be diagnosed. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was 100,000.

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On Saturday, June 6, 2015, my 2014 Toyota Sienna limited automatically braked with very significant force while the cruise control was engaged at approximately 45 mph. No vehicles or obstacles were ahead and I was driving on a straight and relatively level street that has a 45 mph speed limit. This problem also occurred many, many times in the first several months after purchasing this vehicle new in April 2014. I reported this problem to molle Toyota, kansas city, missouri when it first happened and at the 5,000 and 10,000 services and they could find no problems with the adaptive cruise control system. During the first few months of ownership I tried driving to the molle Toyota dealership when the problem occurred and the dealership was open but each time the problem stopped happening before I got to the dealership. The problem usually happens "out of the blue" after I have been driving for a while. Once the problem first occurs, it then happens over and over each time I reengage the cruise control. Stopping the vehicle and restarting the engine almost always stops the problem from reoccuring. And as I indicated above, sometimes the problem will stop on its own without restarting the engine. I am submitting this complaint at this time after seeing in the news that there have been similar complaints on jeeps. The June 6 incident was also much worse than previous incidents due to another car following very closely behind me when the Sienna brakes automatically slammed on. I was also concerned that the driver behind me might have thought that I had braked hard on purpose. I have been able to cope with this problem but my main concern is with allowing others to drive the Sienna and that they may not be able to quickly turn the cruise control off when the problem happens.

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On March 13, 2015 driving on I-95 south in a 2006 Toyota Sienna van the cruise control would not disengage when the brakes were applied approaching an exit ramp. The vehicle would not slowdown in spite of pressing the brake pedal as hard as possible. Moving the control lever forward to disengage the function was also not successful. The exit ramp was inclined so the cruise control accelerated the engine in an attempt to maintain our speed at 70 mph. The vehicle went thru a stop sign, bounced off the guard rail and came to a sudden stop with the engine not running. The impact destroyed the right side of the vehicle and the stopping was so abrupt that the cell phone (in my shirt pocket)flew out ripping the pocket off the shirt. Neither the front nor the side air bags were deployed. Skid marks made by the vehicle¿s right front tire (and possibly the rear right tire) prior to and after hitting the guard rail indicate the brakes were working on at least this side. Skid marks attributable to the left hand tires were not noticed.

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On August 1st at approximately 10:11pm [144298 miles on the vehicle] at the I-10east to I-75south interchange after merging onto I-75 south. Traveling on I-10 east from tallahassee to orlando using the cruise control which was set at 75mph according to the speedometer - in order to take the I-75 southbound (tampa-orlando) exit I applied the brake to slow down and release the cruise control. Upon merging onto I-75 from the ramp I was traveling at about 55 to 60 mph and went to select resume on the cruise control. I removed my foot from the accelerator as I always do and let the cruise do the work. The vehicle accelerated as expected to 75 mph - the set point and stayed there for about 2 seconds (long enough for me to notice the speedometer pause at 75mph and then the vehicle accelerated fast and hard again (like full throttle) and kept going in about 2 seconds I was now at 85 and still accelerating; I applied my brakes to release the cruise control and slow the vehicle - it released the cruise and I was able to slow down - I did not use the cruise control after that.

I attempted to merge onto the expressway and after pushing the gas pedal the van suddenly accelerated beyond my control. I eased off the pedal and the van continued to serge ahead with no way for me to stop or slow it down as the brakes would not work. I saw the rpm reach level 6 and speed increase to 70 in seconds but as it was the expressway, I was able to keep my distance from cars in front of me. I switched the lever to the neutral position and the van slowed down and then I went back to drive and it roared back up to 70 mph with the rpm again at 6 and I tried turning the cruise control on and then braking to see if it would shut down the gas but no luck. I went back and forth from d to n for about 2 minutes and then on one of the movements from n to d it shut down back to normal. I dropped the van off at my Toyota dealer the next day and am waiting to see what "headquarters " decides.

See all problems of the 2004 Toyota Sienna 🔎.

2005 Sienna was driven to a parking garage and parked for two hours. Upon returning to the Sienna and starting the engine, three lights came on; check engine, vsc, and trac off. Drove vehicle home (150 miles), the 3 lights remained on as well as loss of cruise control and an intermittent compass display. Took vehicle in for inspection at a local Toyota dealer and was told the skid control unit ecu needed to be replaced. I found out there are other complaints and a technical service bulletin on the 2005 Sienna vehicle stability control (also called electronic stability control) system that has caused injuries. Even more remarkable, my 2005 Sienna has only 62k miles and in that time there has been 2 other incidences with the same symptoms. Why has there not been a recall if there are already injuries in the database??.

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While driving on an expressway with steep grades, with the cruise control set, the speed on steep downgrades would increase by up to 5 mph above the speed set on the cruise control. In other vehicles I have driven in recent years, I do not recall the speed variation exceeding 3 mph from the cruise control setting.

See all problems of the 2012 Toyota Sienna 🔎.

General complaint about rear side visibility during reversing. With baby car seats, on the driver side of the Mini van, the driver side rear windows are obstructed and the visibility is restricted considerably during back up. Asked Toyota if I can buy rear cameras but was told that it comes only factory installed. I consider this a serious anomaly. The Mini van occasionally runs without slowing down while the gas pedal is not used. It retains speed giving a false hope that it is on cruise control mode. Informed Toyota about the same and was told it is a feature.

The contact owns 2011 Toyota Sienna. The contact stated that while driving a significant distance with his legs pressing on the floor board, the cruise control disengaged the brakes engaged slightly. The contact stated that it may have been caused by the wiring underneath the floor board. The vehicle had not been inspected at the time of the complaint. The failure mileage was 900 and the current mileage was 1184.

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I bought a 2011 Toyota Sienna le in March 2010 and have 1200 miles on it. I believe the Sienna as acceleration issues when in cruise control. I turned on the cruise control to keep the speed at 60 mph on the bridge. While going uphill, the Sienna was accelerating to maintain speed which was ok but when going downhill it just won't stop accelerating and the speed went upto 75-80 mph when I hit the breaks and turned off the cruise control. I tried the same in another uphill/downhill location on route 1 and the same thing happened. Please look into the issue and have Toyota take remedial action. The other issue I found was the untimely change in gear. This happened when I hit the brakes to go over a speed-reducer and then hit the acceleration pedal. Usually there is a gear shift around 20-40 mph, but in this case the gear just wasn't shifting and the rpm went on rising. I stopped the vehicle and started again and things seemed to be alright. This has happened to me with the Sienna a number of times. The third issue is that when I turn quickly the steering seems to become non-responsive for a few seconds and seems to get stuck. This doesn't happen when I an slowly turning though.

I was driving on a straight, level dry road with cruise control set at 58mph. Suddenly car began to downshift. Assuming transmission problem I disengaged cruise control and car almost came to a stop. I pushed gas pedal and drove in low gear to nearest pull-off. Discovered left front brake was smoking. After things cooled off I drove car in low gear about 6 miles to local service station. Mechanic found all brakes locked and removed all wheels. He inspected all rotors, calipers brake lines, etc and found no problems. (I had new brakes installed at dealership about 4 months earlier. ) when mechanic manipulated left front caliper all brakes disengaged. Mechanic found brake fluid level was normal. I've driven car about 500 miles since problem occurred with no problems. I don't use cruise control often - and haven't used it since problem occurred. I'm wondering if problem is with cruise control rather than brakes?? this could have been a disaster if it happened on a freeway at higher speeds!.

2005 Toyota Sienna had cruise control on. The vehicle began to 'shake' and the speedometer climbed to 80 mph then down to 60 mph. It didn't seem to actually be accelerating--it felt like the vehicle was fighting to not lose power. I deactivated the cruise control by touching the breaks. I pulled off the freeway, turned the motor off, waited and started again at a slower speed without the cruise control on. After a while the vehicle again began to 'buck and shake', the speedometer raced to 80 mph (though the car itself) did not seem to have rapid acceleration) then the speedometer dropped to 50 mph. Over the phone my husband advised I turn on the cruise control and turn it off again. I did and drove about 45 minutes home at speeds from 55-65 without another incident. I will take the car to a dealership tomorrow to check out. The vehicle has approx. 100,000 miles on it.

The contact owns a 2005 Toyota Sienna. The contact stated while utilizing the cruise control at 40 mph, the vehicle abnormally accelerated without driver intent. The vehicle was towed to an authorized dealer, but the failure could not be duplicated. There were no repairs made to the vehicle. The failure mileage was 90,000. Updated 05/26/10 the consumer stated the only way to stop the vehicle was by pulling the key out of the ignition. Updated 05/28/10. Updated 06/29/10. Updated 07/08/10.

Our 2005 Toyota Sienna took off on us in rush hour traffic. Moving my foot to the brake and my husband shifting into neutral was the first thing we tried, we also tried park and reverse, and turning off the cruise control, none of which worked. The Toyota Sienna death trap continued to accelerate rapidly even though my foot was jammed on the brake (I didn't remove my foot from the brake for another 2 1/2 hrs until the tow truck pulled in front of us. By the way, when your vehicle is suddenly traveling much, much faster than anyone else's vehicle on the road, it's all you can do to not hit someone. Believe me, I was suddenly swerving in and out of the lanes and cutting everyone off. The only thing that stopped our Toyota death trap was pulling the key from the ignition, certainly not ideal in rush hour traffic. While this was going on, our son was in the backseat calling 911, while our daughter cried. We don't have a lawyer and Toyota won't fix our van. What are we supposed to do with it?.

The contact owns a 2005 Toyota Sienna. The contact stated that while driving at approximately 45 mph with the cruise control activated, the vehicle suddenly accelerated to 55 mph. The vehicle was taken to an authorized dealership but the dealer could not duplicate the problem. The failure mileage was approximately 105,000. The current mileage was approximately 110,000.

My 2009 Toyota Sienna accelerated unexpectedly after the cruise control was set. This happened 2 different times while my wife was driving it. I was not in the car. My wife had to immediately press the brake pedal to release the auto cruise. After the brake was pressed the autocruise released the acceleration. Our car is not in the recall list I think. We never took our car for the recall repair at any time since we have had it.

We recently bought Toyota Sienna limited 2wd. The van started to accelerate on its own at a lower speed (from 10 to 35 mph). In addition, the van maintains its speed without using a cruise control. Furthermore, when the van is started, the ideal is very high like someone is pushing on the gas. We tried to contact the dealer in hickory, nc; however, nobody has contacted us back to make an appointment.

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I recently drove a rented 2010 Toyota Sienna van, from alamo rentals in san antonio texas. I found the cruise control system a bit quirky and a bit startling at first. Once the cruise control was set to 70 mile per hour, the system operated fine and maintained the set speed. However, once every 3 or 4 times the cruise control was disconnected using the brake pedal, then using the resume function of the cruise control, the vehicle would accelerate rapidly past 75 miles per hour. Once I disconnected the cruise control and reset the desired speed, the cruise control operated normally. This seemed to be a persistent but intermittent issue. Once I was aware of the potential for rapid acceleration and speed overshoot, I was able to anticipate and control the vehicle from running away. In light of all the issues concerning Toyota products, I though I would bring this to your attention. Driving conditions at the time of these incidents were dry concrete road, 7 passengers in the vehicle, highway speed of 70 miles per hour, outside temperatures were between 34 degrees f to 70 degrees f. Highway was straight and level.

After I read the article about apple inc. Co-founder steve "woz" wozniak's experience about his 2010 prius, I was relieved somewhat from my own doubt and confusion. I bought a used 2005 Sienna xle limited (with radar sensor) last November with 95000 mileage. It accelerated unintentionally several times when I was using cruise control with only single push of the acceleration handle. I once let the car went up to 90 mph before I braked it off from the cruise control mode. The acceleration was very powerful when it malfunctioned. All happened in several seconds. You could hear the engine revering loudly towards full speed. I had no problem to brake it off every time though. I also believe it is an electronic or software problem since none of my feet was on any pedal when this happened and there was no floor mat issue at all.

1. Cruise control device on my 1996 Toyota Sienna has been behaving erratically since about 2 months. It has over 45000 miles on the odometer and is thus out of warranty. 2. Mechanically there does not appear to be any defect. However the following anomalies are being observed during the past 2 months. A: 90% of the time in speeds in excess of 50 mph, when I try to set the cruising speed by pressing the ccl (cruise control lever) downwards, nothing happens. In more than 50% of these times, if I lift the ccl upwards (normally the method to re-set cruising speed after braking/slowing down) the cruising speed gets set. B. Under conditions as in 'a' above many of the operations of the ccl appears to happen in an inverted manner, like setting instead of re-setting, re-setting instead of setting, etc. 3. It appears there is something definitely wrong with the electronics of the cruise control system, and while this has not happened so far, may in fact, cause unwarranted DE-celeration/acceleration, and could cause accidents. 4. It is emphasized that these anomalies have *** not *** caused any accident yet. This vehicle is *** not *** included in any unexpected acceleration-related recalls. But this behavior of the cruise control may have something to do with unusual accelerations.

I accidentally hit the cruise control in my 2008 Toyota Sienna when the control lever was over the windshield wiper control in a slight left turn, resulting in the cruise control going unexpectedly into "resume". Because of inclement weather I had slowed down and was not expecting the instant acceleration. Took a couple seconds to realize what had happened when I had tried to operate the windshield wiper control. The Toyota cruise control lever mounted on the steering column where it turns with the wheel appears to be a less than desirable engineering decision from a safety standpoint. Trying to express this concern to my local Toyota dealer, (pine bluff, arkansas, where I bought the car) was unsuccessful. I had been trying to be helpful with Toyota's more generic problem of a complaint of uncontrollable acceleration, which Toyota has been trying to blame on improper floor mats being jammed into the accelerator pedal.

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The contact owns a 2004 Toyota Sienna. While the contact was driving 70 mph using the cruise control the vehicle suddenly accelerated without warning. The contact had to apply extreme pressure to the brakes and engage the emergency brake to stop the vehicle. The contact noticed prior the failure that the vehicle would surge without warning whenever traveling up an incline using the cruise control. The vehicle has not been diagnosed by the dealership. The current and failure mileages were 73099.

While driving from CA to va in may of 2009 I experienced an unintended acceleration while in cruise control. This occurred after I would slow down for traffic and then activate the resume control. This happened on several occasions during the trip east and on the return trip back to CA. The speeds with the unintended acceleration reached 95mph on the first occasion and stopped once I applied the brakes. After the first incident I was able to keep the acceleration from reaching more than 10 to 15 mph over the assigned cruise control speed.

When using cruise control our Toyota Sienna 2006 van will increase in speed without any changes. We have stop using cruise control to prevent any increase in speed.

On an early Saturday April 18, 2009 trip to the airport the cruise control stuck while accelerating and would not disengage by pressing the brake pedal or by pulling the cruise control lever (located on the steering column) towards the driver. I had just gone through an automatic tollgate in the far left lane and began accelerating (and probably hit the 'resume' feature of the cruise control lever) in order to get immediately over to the far right lane to exit. Within seconds I was up to an adequate speed and touched the brake. The car continued accelerating. I pressed the brake more firmly and pulled the cruise control lever towards me. Neither action disengaged the cruise control. I was able to avoid traffic and point the car towards the right shoulder. I then pushed the gear shift into neutral and the car engine slowed down, the car stopped accelerating, and the cruise control disengaged. On my return trip I tried to duplicate the actions which preceded the problem but was not successful. (I have driven the car about 5600 miles and this was the first time this problem has occurred. ) the same day I took the car to a large Toyota dealer. They drove the car several miles and did not have the problem occur. So they were not able to find a problem. They said they could only fix a problem if they could experience it. And, they suggested I take the car to the Toyota dealer that sold it to me. Later the same day I did return the car to the Toyota dealer that sold it to me. They were good listeners and kept the car for several days of driving, diagnostics, and phone calls to Toyota. But, in the end they too, could not locate a problem and returned the car to me unchanged. My confidence in this vehicle is greatly diminished. While I was successful in disengaging the accelerating cruise control by putting the car into neutral I do not want to have to depend on that especially in a heavy traffic situation.

Failure of the adaptive cruise control module on a 2004 Toyota Sienna xle limited. The adaptive cruise control module, located under the front bumper on the passenger side, fails completely and continuously resulting in complete failure of the cruise control system. The module is not sealed properly thereby allowing moisture inside resulting in corrosion and failure of the part. When actuated, the part is designed to automatically slow the vehicle while approaching slower traffic from behind. Failure of this part while driving could result in an accident if the module does not automatically slow the vehicle properly. The vehicle in question has only 85,000 miles on it. The vehicle has 88,000 miles on it know. The vehicle was taken to kelso Toyota in appleton, WI where I was told that the unit need to be replaced. I disassembled the unit and found the corrosion. I believe the deal would simply replace the unit with new and then discard the old unit not knowing why it failed. I believe the wrong oring material was used. I believe in cold weather the oring shrinks allowing water into the modules cabinet resulting in the failure.

I suspect the cruise control of my 2004 minivan Toyota Sienna ce has similar issue found in recent prius reports. 1. When cruise control is used on uphill road conditions 2. The speed can be accelerated to over 5 miles/hr more than the cruise control setting. For example, when I set the speed to 70 miles/hr, at a little longer uphill road, the speed will drop first (like 67miles/hr) and then accelerate in order to get back to 70miles/hr speed target. But the cruise control system continue accelerating after passing 70 miles/hr and could be as high as 75miles/hr. 3. Nothing had been done, just be cautious by myself. After reading similar complaints on prius of Toyota, I feel this may be the same issue.

2006 Toyota Sienna le with bz package (vsa) - safety issue (electronics): vehicle stability control system (vsa) is unsafe during road slippery conditions if cruise control is used. The slippery condition could be rainy day or snowing or icy road conditions. The incident occurred several time. The first time I noticed the issue is around September of 2008. It was heavy rain, I was driving on a highway with normal speed. The van was set to cruise at 65 mph. I ran over a small pot of water on the road. One of the tire probably slipped for a brief milli-second. The vsa control kicked in (I can see the vsa light flashes), the van was then running from side to side and the rpm suddenly jump up (violently). The van was difficult to control. I tap the brake to disengage the cruise control. Then the van went back to normal. 2nd incident, about December of 2008, I was driving on the highway with light snow. The van was cruising at 55 mph. The van passed a slippery spot. The vsa kicked in and caused violent left and right movement of the van as well as sudden acceleration. The incident almost caused an accident. Since then, I stopped using cruise control on the rainy or snowy days. But if anyone out there with Toyota minivan, I would like them to know it is a serious potential problem. I took my van to be checked out at the Toyota dealership. They said could not find the problem and it is normal as is.

The contact owns a 2008 Toyota Sienna. While driving 35 mpf with the cruise control engaged, the vehicle began to reduce speed when the senor recognized another vehicle approaching. The contact stated that whenever a vehicle in front of him changed lanes, the vehicle accelerated to the set speed. The contact is concerned about the safety risk involved. The contact took the vehicle to the dealer who was unable to diagnose the failure. The contact would like for the manufacturer to have the laser sensor removed. The failure mileage was 1,000. Updated 03/17/10.

2005 Toyota Sienna xle - cruise control will not hold when going downhill. Dealer checked it, contacted Toyota tech. Support. They were told this model is not designed for cruise control to hold going downhill! I contacted Toyota via e-mail and was told the same thing. I have owned many cars and never have had cruise control not hold on a downhill road. It will be set at 60 and continue going as high as 80 when brakes applied. This is a danger, defect, something is not right with such a design. I am putting in a recent date, but it has occurred since the vehicle was purchased. Number of failures is on-going.

I am assuming you have seen the article about steve wozniak complaining about his cruise control on his Toyota prius. It is an issue of using cruise control with the sonar activated to slow the car down to maintain a safe distance between the car in front of you. When the car in front moved out of your lane, your car takes off like a rocket to regain the programmed speed. I have a Toyota Sienna Mini van that does the same thing he described. When I complain to the dealer they tell me it works as designed. I ask them if they want to drive their kids around on the interstates using the cruise control with the sonar activated or pay my speeding ticket when I get pulled over when it does this. After accelerating at such a high speed the braking mechanism kicks in to slow the car down. So you know you have gone above the speed you set the cruise control. A car shouldn't take off like a rocket and cause you to speed when the car in front of you moves out of your lane. It also does this with the sonar off and hitting the "resume speed" switch on the cruise. I have not had an accident with this issue, but it sure is scary when it does this. As a result, I don't use my cruise control very often and if I do, usually kick it off by tapping the brake when the sonar slows the car down so it doesn't take off like a rocket. I am sure it is a programming issue but it sure isn't safe or comforting the way it currently works.

Toyota Sienna 2005. Intermittently the car accelerates on its own. Has been happening since I bought it. Never thought much about it, because it would slow down when I put on brakes. In light of the recent problems with other models, I think this is part of the problem. The car feels as if it was on cruise control, getting up to speed. However, I have never used cruise control as I don't like it. Is there a link between the cruise control and these problems?.

The consumer was made aware of the fact that his vehicle has a laser that sends a message to the cruise control to adjust to the vehicle in front of his. When the vehicle in front of the consumer's vehicle moves away the cruise control is supposed to gradually bring the vehicle back up to the original programmed speed. The consumer 's vehicle, however would jerk quickly back up to speed everytime this happened. The movement was hard enough to jerk the passengers backwards. The vehicle was taken to the dealer who indicated that would call Toyota to check if there was a recall. They called the consumer back and simply told him that the vehicle was designed to do that.

When driving on cruise control and lightly braking the car suddenly alarmingly accelerates. Dealer claims various issues that they tried but non resolved the problem. I am ready to sell and afraid that the buyer might not remember to follow my instruction to turn off the cruise control before braking. I have brought the car to the dealer several times over the years, most recently this year 2014.

See all problems of the 2002 Toyota Sienna 🔎.