Toyota Sienna owners have reported 1 problem related to manual transmission column shift (under the power train category). The most recently reported issues are listed below. Also please check out the statistics and reliability analysis of Toyota Sienna based on all problems reported for the Sienna.
On 8/18/05 morning the shifter lever behind the steering wheel was broken loose that I had no control of the gears. Then I brought my van to stevens creek Toyota (san jose, CA) where I bought the Sienna van for repair. After the Toyota technician opened up for inspection, I later went there to took some photos of the conditions, I found out that the main cause for the malfunction of the shifter was a big piece of cast iron (approx. 1/2" thick) that serves as a main frame or bracket for all other components in the assembly for support of their moving mechanism broke in half ( have photos to prove it) literally. Since it appears as a "defective part" of the shifter and not a "wear & tear" condition, I 've requested Toyota corp. (both local & headquartes) to replace it with free of charge. The request was declined due to warranty policy beyond 30,000 miles/ 3 year. Then Toyota corp. Issued me a case no. :2005-0818-0778 (filed 8/18/05). I also asked service representative, auto mechanics, and Toyota corp. Agent that have they seen or heard anything similar like my case, nobody could confirm it is a common problem of "wear & tear" beyond warranty period. The question is how a consumer like myself get projected from the "defective part"
that a driver defends heavily for maneuvering of the vehicle has no control over the gears? fortunately, the incident didn't happen while I was driving on the freeway with my wife and (3) young kids or get stuck in the middle of the railroad with running train approaching. I believe that "safety issue" shall be the first priority needed to be resolved by Toyota corp.
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all problems of the 2001 Toyota Sienna
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