Transmission Not Engage Problems of Toyota Sienna

The shifter lever made a sound and behaved as if plastic was breaking inside of it. This happened when shifting out of "park", and into gear when the car was stationary. After this, the shifting lever became loose and does not seem to have the tension to "spring" the lever into the appropriate position naturally. For example, normally the shift lever will have tension pushing toward the left so that the shift lever engages park without having to manually press it into place. Now it will float to the right and may not engage into "park" without the driver specifically concentrating on pressing it to the left. This vehicle is current with all of its recalls with the exception of the latest spare tire carrier cable inspection issued in 2014. The specific part that has broken is unknown, but I suspect there is probably a tension spring associated with the shift lever which helps keep it in the desired location which has broken. . Read more...

See all problems of the 2004 Toyota Sienna 🔎.

On mon 10/22/2012 at 11:15 am I experienced sudden uncontrolled acceleration driving my van. I was traveling on I-696e in detroit at a constant 70mph, then slowed to 45mph due to construction. As traffic cleared the construction, I pushed the accelerator pedal to pass a semi-truck. I felt the accelerator continue to depress, I completely pulled my foot off but the pedal did not come back nor did the vehicle slow down. Rather, it did just the opposite and continued to accelerate. I attempted to brake hard with no response--the vehicle did not slow down. Then I put the van in neutral to slow down the engine with no results, the van continued increasing 60+mph with no foot on accelerator. This is when I became extremely frightened. The vehicle was pulling from side to side. I looked down to see if there was any interference from the floor mat and none was seen. I tapped gas pedal - no response. Next I put van back in drive and braked --no response again. Then I downshifted to 4th, the engine did not slow, and further downshifted to 3rd gear. Finally, the engine responded and slowed. I used the gas pedal cautiously as I then shifted to 4th so that I could exit the freeway. I parked at my office & immediately called my husband first and explained what happened and I then immediately called the our Toyota suburban dealer. They told me to bring it in for inspection. I was still shaking when I brought the vehicle in and extremely upset. After two inspections, they stated sudden acceleration was caused by the floor mat. Although this seems reasonable, it does not explain why brakes failed to overcome the engine, and shifting to neutral failed to disengage the transmission. The vehicle scares me to death. I do not know what to do next. I consider myself a serious witness as a registered nurse (rn/bsn) with 20 yr manual driving. Ref Toyota case #[xxx] and #[xxx]. Information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u. S. C. 552(b)(6).

See all problems of the 2007 Toyota Sienna 🔎.

After years of dealing with this issue Toyota has yet to provide a reason or solution. When traveling at lower speeds the transmission disengages and when you need to accelerate there is a 1 to 2 second delay before the transmission re-engages. Toyota made me service the transmission. . . No help. . . . Then they claimed I needed a software update. . . Which they charged me $80 . . . To update their software design flaw. Still. . . The transmission has not improved. My only concern is that if I should ever need to accelerate to avoid an accident, my van may not respond in time.

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!.

See all problems of the 2006 Toyota Sienna 🔎.

2007 Toyota Sienna: transmission temporarily fails to engage the correct gear after decelerating then re-accelerating resulting in a pause or hesitation before control is again regained. This occurs most frequently when slowing for turns at intersections or behind slowing traffic or attempting a lane change. Three service calls have been made on the vehicle which were recorded as a "bad ecu program". Service technicians "reprogrammed the ecu" to "reset adaptive memory and shift points" however there was no change in performance. It was suggested that this was a design problem which had been corrected in later model years. The potential consequences of the transmission's failure to immediately engage in the correct gear are the loss in ability to quickly accelerate out of a pending collision or to avoid slowing in the middle of an intersection and causing others to have collisions.

At interstate speed I had a few second drag and then complete transmission disengagement. Managed to get it off the interstate by letting it set a few minutes and being able to drive a 1/4 mile or so at a time. I have always taken very good care of the van including fluid changes. It only has 77,000 miles but Toyota refuses to do anything about it even though they are aware of the defect( because there warranty extension is only for 8 years 100,000 and I am over the 8 years.

See all problems of the 1998 Toyota Sienna 🔎.

Complete and permanent transmission failure. Vehicle suddenly and permanently lost ability to accelerate/transmission disengaged while traveling on interstate at 65mph. Barely coasted to side of road while trying to avoid traffic bearing down on us (two adults and three small children). We have now discovered that this defect with Siennas, was known as early as June 2000. This defect usually causes complete transmission failure during sustained highway speeds. Toyota was negligent in not warning owners of this extremely hazardous defect. Our vehicle is now about 300 miles from our home, with no fix currently available from Toyota.

See all problems of the 2000 Toyota Sienna 🔎.