Problems with 2002 Toyota Sequoia STEERING

Frame of vehicle is rusted and very thin in areas. the suspension and rear axle housing is rusting also. frame is very close to developing holes and is de-laminating i believe it is unsafe to drive and toyota will not do anything about it. *tr

Normally happens at low speed while accelerating. the skidding car symbol flashes, a warning beeper beeps several times, there is a noticeable swerve to the right accompanied by a grinding noise. the, trac off and the vsc off, lights come on and i am able to continue merrily on my way unannoyed, there is no apparent reduction in braking ability or steering control. i just have the "idiot" lights on the dash until i turn off the ignition. when i next drive the vehicle i am very wary until it happens again, maybe immediately, or 10 to 20 miles. but it always happens. the dealer says a new yaw rate sensor and vsc ecu will fix it. about $1800.00 above the $105.00 already paid for the diagnostic fee. what really gets my "goat" is: there is a recall for the "early" 2003 models for this same problem.

Was driving on the interstate in the left hand lane. tried to merge into the right hand lane and noticed a car in my blind spot so i went back into the left lane. however, my vsc/abs lights went on, the car beeped, made a heavy grinding noise, and then, with much force, veered hard to the right. i tried to steer it back to the left hand lane, the other drivers saw me wrestling with my steering wheel and the car started to fishtail so fortunately they stayed well behind me. the car became impossible to control and steer and braking did not help. despite my best efforts to control the car, apply the brakes, steer out of the skidding and fishtailing, my car then went over into the right lane, over to the shoulder, and then the wheel sunk into the grass next to the shoulder where the vehicle rolled over several times. my son and i were airlifted to the trauma unit. i suffered 2 broken vertebrae in the c area of my neck and a compressed disc in the t region of my spine, concussion, cuts, bruises, glass embedded near my eye, as well as a splenic aneurysm. my son had a concussion, wound on the head that required stitches, cuts, bruises and a sprained ankle. my son and i were both unconscious at the accident scene.my two daughters had minor cuts, sprains, and bruises. we were fortunate to have come out of this alive and not to have hit anyone else. i am still in a neck brace and undergoing medical treatment. toyota needs to recall this model as soon as possible. we could have all been killed. unfortunately, my car was totaled and there was no black box in this model. i will never buy a car from toyota again. however, for the safety of others, i do hope they recall this model as i would hate for others to suffer what we had to suffer, or worse. *tr updated 10/19/12 *cn updated 10/23/2012 *js

Driving on ny thruway transmission went. towed to nearest service station where new transmission was installed after which we were told that the chassis was extremely rusty. two days later, the engine light came on - took car to sears to find out trans fluid leak and frame rotted and declined servicing vehicle. followed up at toyota dealer for leak and frame inspection. technician found power steering line leaking power steering fluid and excessive frame perforation / corrosion. they would not work on it. technician installed a new hook lock and cable assembly as hood would not lock.

The vsc/trac activation and system warning lights came on while the system intermittently activated, locking up/letting go of the right rear tire while on dry level pavement and driving forward. i took it to a shop, which found a problem in a steering sensor, "the computer" and possibly a wheel sensor. they suggested that the system be disabled until it could be troubleshoot in more detail. i had them disable it so that it could be driven without the danger of a wheel locking up on the highway. it is still disabled, with dash system warning lights on during operation. *tr

Tl* the contact owns a 2002 toyota sequoia. the contact stated that while traveling 75 mph, the brakes and steering wheel seized. the contact also mentioned that the traction control warning light illuminated. the failure was experienced multiple times. the vehicle was taken to a private mechanic who stated that the rotors and brakes needed to be replaced. the vehicle was repaired but the failure recurred. the manufacturer was not notified of the failure. the approximate failure mileage was 110,000. updated 09/18/14*lj the consumer stated the failure concerning the vehicle is identical to the failure described in the 2004-2005 model year vehicles. updated 2/3/2015 *js

I have a 2002 toyota sequoia and recently my vsc has been was feels like a lock up, i hear something grinding and the car begins to shake and swerve, it happened as i was entering the interstate. i have had issues with the vsc light going on and off and did mention to the service dept. at the dealership when it was under warranty, they said they could not find anything wrong. it has been a few years since the problem has occurred and now it is worse and a very scary and dangerous situation. i had my daughter and a her friend in the car and we were nowhere near a town. i am very scared to drive my car. it now happens almost everytime i go somewhere, and the dealership wants to charge me just to evaluate the problem when i had previously mentioned it before. i hope there is a recall very soon. *tr

My traction lights have been on and have remained on for several years now. my husband says my panel looks like a christmas tree. i have contacted the dealership to see if there was a recall but was advised there is not. i haven't had any issues,until this past weekend, other than not realizing i had engaged my emergency brake since the light constantly stays on. i nearly wrecked this weekend. it was dark and raining. i had to apply the brakes to miss another car, the brakes locked up and started sliding out of control. luckily i was able to get it stopped in time to avoid another accident. my traction control doesn't work either, i guess it went out when all the other control lights went out. i just wonder if the airbags work, hope i don't have to find out the hard way. i keep reading numerous complaints on the 2002 model but haven't seen a recall. appears there was a recall on the 2003 model for the same issues. my steering column is broken. i had it checked out several years ago. apparently the main metal component is broken and therefore my gears engagement doesn't light up when i am in drive. if someone else drives my car, they don't know what gear it's in. i ready many complaints about the same but no recall. my rear hatch handle has broken 2 times now within a year of the other which costs me $100 to repair each time. it appears to be cheaply made and plastic and it can't be repaired without a lot of labor to dismantle the rear door plate on the inside to install a new handle. my main concern is the electronic stability control system. *tr

Makes a grinding noise, brakes on one side and pulls to one side. skid indicator light, trac off light, and vsc light all come on and stay on. vehicle decelerates momentarily, then resumes normal driving. lights stay on until you turn off the vehicle. *tr

In feb. 2009, while driving to work, the brakes on my sequoia began to lock and the engine started making a loud grinding sound and sensor lights began to blink uncontrollably. i could not control the car steering and was lucky that i was able to pull over the side of the road. this problem continued and i took it to my toyota dealer who charged me $2700.00 and blamed the problem on rats. after picking up my car from the dealership the problem continued a few weeks later and the same dealership still insisted that it was rats and charged me an additional $2300.00. yet this problem persisted so i took it to a local mechanic who has no ties with toyota and he replaced a computer sensor. the problem went away for at least two years until recently during a recent rain storm it started to act up again. driving this car has been unpredictable and scary at best. i came into several close calls with other vehicles on the road while driving when my car would loose all ability to steer and my brakes would lock during several instances. the experience has been a mind game and has taken a toll in my confidence in driving because i believed my dealership when they told me it was not the car, but because of rats, which i now know after reading other customers complaints on line that it was the way the car was manufactured. i lost a lot of faith in my toyota dealership here in guam. i need your help to tell these people to recall my car to fix it even though it is 12 years old. i spent a lot of money when i invested in this car and i don't have the money to buy a new vehicle at this time. i am afraid an accident will occur to customers like me unless toyota admits they have a problem with their vehicles. *tr

I was driving from atlanta to charlotte on friday, 2/16/07 on interstate 85 when my 2002 toyota sequoia suddenly pulled to the right even though i did not turn the steering wheel, nor was it windy. this happened a total of four times on my 250 mile trip. this condition has also occurred before in the past with no warning of when it will happen. i purchased new tires and had it aligned in july 2006 and there was no apparent damage in the steering area of the vehicle. *jb

Steering loss and separation of the ball joints from socket causing a crash. at the time the two failures occurred, it caused the front passenger side wheel & tire to buckle under vehicle causing the vehicle to skid between 250 feet to 300 feet before stopping. this incident proved that the vehicle was completely uncontrollable due to the failure of manufactured parts on this vehicle. notice of such "recall from toyota" could of prevented this incident if a notice was received. further, i never received a notice of any kind with respect to the recall on the lower ball joints and steering loss. it wasn't discovered until vehicle had been towed to the toyota dealership and was inspected by the mechanic. this vehicle had been in a different toyota dealership prior to this incident (approx. 4-6 months ago) in which was still not brought to my attention by the service department. *jb

I am a police officer and purchased a new 2002 sequoia with high expectations. shortly after my purchase i noticed that something felt loose in the steering column whenever i shifted the gear handle. the dealer said that there was nothing wrong with it and don't worry about it. the dealer also failed to document my concerns into my vehicle's service record history. since that time, the vehicle has never received any mechanical damage or had any type of work other than routine maintenance done to it. now, here i am with a toyota vehicle with only 40,000 miles and a piece of metal has snapped inside of the steering column. the defective parts failure has caused the vehicle to be completely unsafe to operate and the slightest bump to shift the transmission to and from different gears while operating. i took it to the dealer to be repaired under the 5 year warranty and they said that they had never seen this problem before and it shouldn't have happened, but that they would do absolutely nothing to help me out with the problem. i informed the dealer to save the defective part, because it needed to be examined for manufacturers defect. at no time did the dealer ever mentioned, much less offer to have toyotas engineers examine the defective part. i should be receiving the defective part within the next few days. this problem was strictly due to a manufacturers defective part, yet toyota refuses to do the right thing and stand behind their product. i am very disappointed in toyota's lack of quality and especially in it's lack of service commitment. needless to say, i will never buy another toyota product and will definitely spread the word about toyota's refusal to warranty an obviously defective part. *jb updated *jb0 6/01/06

We pruchased this 2002 toyota sequioa in 8/2001 we had the truck for about 6 mths and then the transmission went out the dealer replace the transmission. in 4/05 the right rear axle seal was leaking cause us to replace the seal. now 12/05 the rear differential has locked up and the truck is no longer under warranty causing us to pay for repair out of pocket. we dealer has refused to cover the cost for any of the repairs. *nm

2002 toyota sequoia has been operating since @ 62,000 miles with a non-functioning vsc/abs system. see that this has not yet been officially recalled, but can find all kinds of info and complaints on the web about this issue. dashboard lit up with all relative warning lights & vehicle has no abs nor vsc functionality. how could this important safety features well documented, chronic failure not be recalled? it is not exclusive to the 2002 model year either. this is very inappropriate. how many people have to die or get injured before this well documented safety equipment failure is responsibly addressed with a recall. i hope my complaint helps the tally towards this recall. consumers of this vehicle have bought it with a critical safety system that fails. toyota must be made to rectify this product safety and quality issue! *tr

I have had an issue with my vsc/trac off light since we bought it. the light would come on at seemingly random times, stay on until i restarted the truck - we were told it was not something we needed to worry about by the dealerships in fort worth (fort worth toyota). recently (2/2014 & 3/2014), as i was coming down a hill in our neighborhood, approaching a stop sign, there was a grinding sound and the vehicle would seem to be stopping instead of accelerating - and the vsc lights came on again. i immediately pulled over and stopped; i couldn't see anything wrong under the hood or near the wheel wells, which is where it sounded like it was coming from. it did not continue and did not happen again for about a week. the next time it happened i was on the highway at about 70 mph. it grinded for about a second and slowed me down abruptly, then stopped grinding. pretty hairy situation, going 70 and having your brakes slow you down. i have not had the issue looked at by a technician yet and am not driving the truck. in researching it, i found hundreds of online complaints and a recall for the 2003 model year on your website. [nhtsa campaign number: 10v176000 ] obviously, the 2002 model year should have been included, as i am seeing the exact same problem. *tr

I have owned my sequoia for years and the approximate mileage is around 122,000 miles. i purchased it brand new and the first time i had an issue with the traction control was around 2005. i took it to the dealership and explained to them what happened. i was driving down the road and my speed was around 40 miles per hour. the weather was sunny and the roads were dry. i ran across a rough patch in the road and all of a sudden the wheels locked up, there was this awful screeching sound, and the steering became hard. it was like i had no control over the vehicle. next thing i knew, the skid traction control lights were on. after i turned the vehicle off and restarted it, it looks like it had reset itself. of course, the dealership could find nothing wrong. this has occurred again through the years and each time i take it in for service, i complain about the same problem. today i have it in for service again and mentioned it yet again. i asked if they could just disconnect the skid traction control because i have come close several times to losing control of the vehicle. the service manager explained to me they could not disconnect it. well, the way i figure it, toyota will wait until after someone is killed or badly injured and they are sued before they will do anything. i have contacted toyota america to no avail as well as the ntsb. *tr