Problems with 2004 Toyota Sienna ELECTRICAL SYSTEM

Auto powered rear door; when powered opened will open all the way and a few seconds later suddenly close without warning. it has happened a few times, only in cold weather. this has happened after toyota fixed the hatch studdering problem. i was injured (bruised) in the head due the door hitting me as it automatically closed by itself (note it did not stop closing after it hit my head). *nm

Intermittently the back lift door on our 2004 toyota sienna xle minivan closes unexpectedly. so far, no one had been injured by the closing door, but we have had a couple of very close calls. this happens when only the door has been raised using the remote control and most often on cool wet days.. *nm

The owners manual of my 2004 toyota sienna indicates that there is a safety feature that turns off the lights after a period of time, if the door is left open. however, it doesn't work correctly, and my battery has been drained numerous times. *jb

Right sliding door cable snapped and stopped opening automatically. this happen right after warrranty ended and they would only repair it for 2000 +. *tr

The right rear automatic door closure mechanism exploded sending plastic shrapnel forwards hitting my wife in the face. she was sitting sideways with her feet out of the van she reached backwards and pressed the close button located on the pillar. there was a big noise that sounded like a rock hitting the van. we looked for damage to van then discovered the broken cable dangling and the door would not close. luckily my wife had sunglasses on. *nm

Dt*: the contact stated a loud rattling noise was heard coming from the engine compartment of the vehicle every time it was started. there were no indications of any additional problems. the vehicle was taken to a sales dealer three times, and the dealer was unable to duplicate the problem. update onh 06/05/2006. *ak

The rear deck lid on my 2004 sienna xle limited van has a remote automatic open & close feature. i used the auto open and while placing items in the rear storage area, the deck lid closed (under power) without command, striking me and my son. the auto-stop feature didn't engage until i pushed very hard against the lid. as soon as i let go, it came down again. there were no prior incidents or any unusual behavior to indicate a problem with the operation of the deck lid. the lid hasn't worked since and it won't stay open without someone holding it. a week after the incident i found a toyota technical service bulletin bo0003-04 that states "back door stays for 2004 model year sienna vehicles have been redesigned in order to provide improved resistance to seal damage and prevent leakage." i checked my back door stays (gas or hydraulic filled struts) and they were both leaking. i checked the internet user forum "siennaclub.org" and found several similar complaints from sienna owners in the u.s. and canada. in my opinion, the uncommanded closing of a rear deck lid in a mini-van constitutes a serious safety hazard. just a guess, most mini-van owners have or transport children. there is no way a child could have stopped and reversed the lid that closed on me and my son. this should be a recall issue, not a service bulletin that toyota is not required to disclose and in fact, can charge to repair. *nm

While driving on dry pavement, sometimes, but not always, after leaving snowy driveway, the 2004 awd toyota sienna's traction control light came on. this was accompanied by a very loud alarm. the traction control system then activated causing the engine to brake and the abs to continuously brake until the vehicle decelerated to appx. 9 miles per hour. the light and alarm would then go off. the whole scenario repeats when speed exceeds appx. 9 miles per hour. this puts the driver in a very dangerous situation. the vehicle is very difficult to steer when is it rapidly braking. this happened both at low speeds, start-up speeds, and on the highway when i was going 40-50 miles per hour, again, on dry pavement. the only safe option is to pull off to the side of the road. after driving for anywhere from 3 minutes to 15 minutes, the problem mysteriously disappears. the next time the vehicle starts, it may or may not malfunction in this way. the tires are in good condition and at appropriate inflation levels. there does not appear to be any snow or ice on or inside the wheels when this is happening. *nm

The electric door (passenger side) intermittently worked for years, sometimes it worked, sometimes it did not. finally it quit working. the rear fan goes on and off at will. there is an electrical short. my rear tail light on driver's side is always out, even after replacing it multiple times. the trunk door lost all its hydraulic lift and actually hit me in the head. it has no hydraulics left now and is very hard to lift. the lighted buttons by the front windshield where you operate the garage door, electric door - burnt out at probably 37,000 miles and were ridiculous to replace. the door locks are all screwed up. hard to unlock the driver's door manually with a key, have to unlock from passenger side. the door clicker does not work. batteries have been replaced multiple times and the clicker quit working shortly after, again an electrical short of some sort??? so no clicker, no electric door, no trunk lift, no dome lighting, no tail light, not to mention all the recalls that van had (extra tire, seatbelts, door issues). i had to replace my radiator?? cause it was leaking. van currently has 126,000 miles on it. it is by far the worst quality vehicle i have ever owned. i have owned an 80s toyota corolla which was fine, saturn, acura integra, ford explorer, also mazdas, 2001 chrysler 300m (horrible also), there is no doubt that after reading all the posts on the edmunds site about this 2004 sienna van, it should be recalled for electric door problems and all door problems. *tr

2004 toyota sienna developed problems with the brake equipment.***no answer required*** *mr on four occasions, the brakes had been inspected by mechanics and in some cases reinstalled. the consumer also experienced a grinding noise on two different trips. the consumer was informed that the grinding noise was coming from the rear brakes and did not constitute serious brake problems. the consumer tried to use the hitch mount/bike rack only to find that the hitch would bottom out while entering gas stations or exiting driveways. also, as an alternative to the hitch not operating properly, the consumer added rear air bags on the suspension system in order to give the vehicle additional clearance and they have failed and or blew out about three times. other problems: battery failure, rear bumper clip not holding the bumper in place, interior trim piece on seat detaching, grab handle trim piece breaking, and the consumer's daughter's hand had gotten stuck in the automatic door that was not supposed to close due to resistance in the path. *sc

Pages 155 and 156 of my 2004 toyota sienna states "to prevent the battery being discharged, the lights will automatically turn off when the key is removed and the door is left opened with the switch at "door" position for 20 minutes or more." however, when my side door or rear hatch is left opened, the feature does not work. i informed toyota's corporate office in california of the problem and was told that my complaint was the first time they heard about it. i told her that i found it hard to believe my complaint was the first since i read about the problem on various online message boards. she said information on message boards cannot be verified. i later discovered that my complaint was not the first because others have complained about the problem to toyota as well. it should be noted that the previous generation of toyota siennas had the battery saving feature on all doors. when i called the dealership (gateway toyota in nj), their showroom specialist (maryann) agreed with me that the interior lights should turn off after 20 minutes if the doors are left opened. when i demonstrated the problem to them, they called toyota's corporate office to report the problem. the person from gateway toyota said toyota's official response was that the battery saving feature only applies to the front doors. when i called toyota again, i was told that it was a misprint in the manual and they were working on it. when i asked for a definition of "working on it", i was told that toyota was working on revising the manual but not fixing the problem. i had learned that people who have purchased a 2004 toyota sienna after me had their manuals altered in such a way that the areas mentioning the battery saving feature had been covered up by a white piece of paper. i was also informed that toyota corrected the problem on their 2005 models. *nm

Item 1-- this is an awd model with run flats and no space for a spare tire. the low pressure warning for the tires is revolution based, and therefore doesn't activate due to the stiff wall run flat tires. i have had numerous occasions where the tires were very low with no warning, and two occasions where the tires had zero air and were ruined with no warning, and the first indication was a roar and sudden very bumpy ride. these 2 events happened at city speeds, but i fear this event at interstate speeds. the later models were equipped with pressure sensing devices (not revolution sensing). the vehicle has only 38k miles, perfect condition, and i just renewed my extended warranty for 6 more years, so would like a recall retrofit to pressure sensing for safety and peace of mind. i had thought toyota would develop a fix, but to no avail. i have this documented on toyota service invoices and the factory rep has reported there is nothing toyota can do. item 2--- when pulling out from behind a vehicle to pass and flooring the accelerator, there is a full second of hesitation before the down shifting/acceleration begins. this has caused two near misses. this is documented with toyota, but all i've been told is that it is caused by "drive-by-wire" (?), which i assume is an electrical signal as opposed to a mechanical throttle cable, but again, toyota says there is nothing they can do.

Battery saver feature discussed in owner's manual for 2004 sienna does not work. sliding door inadvertently left open for 3 hours while visiting country friends. battery drained to point engine would not turn over. had to connect battery charger in cold rain to crank. owners camping out with this vehicle may find themselves stranded and could possibly result in loss of life. *jb

I bought a 2004 toyota sienna ce in ottawa, ontario, canada, from a dealer, new, off the lot in august 2004. by the first winter, both back sliding doors would freeze shut, especially the passenger side, and would not open until the vehicle got really hot inside. the dealer had no solution, offered no solution. in addition, by the second year we had three radiators installed, and had both front doors repaired for rusting under a general recall. also, the rear fan has been going on and off, even with the switch in the "off" position. we have taken this issue to the dealer many times, but they do not have an answer, nor a strategy to figure out why it does this. finally, this vehicle has rattled inside from day one and is unpleasant to drive. i find the toyota dealers not interested in you once you buy the car, but after three years to the day the called me wanting to know if i'd buy a new one. i will not buy another toyota. *tr

Consumer is able to shift gears without the key in the ignition switch. dealership was notified, but did not resolve the problem. *ak *tc

The vehicle computer sensor did not work. the tire pressure warning system was defective. the vehicle had a flat tire and the warning system did not detect anything.*ak

Radiator ruptured and the engine overheated; hose replaced in steering column recall; rust protective tape recall; dvd screen replaced and the entire dvd player replaced(screen still not easily visible in middle row); passenger seat belt replaced; middle passenger seat belt failing; gasoline smell inside of car with ac on recirculation; driver's window fell inside door in snow storm and was not considered a safety issue to get a loaner vehicle even though the vehicle could not be locked; tires completely bald and leaking under 30,000 miles, dvd player must be at a high db volume and when returned to radio/cd will almost deafen you; interior lights have to be manually over ridden or will drain battery; car hesitates 1-2 seconds when trying to quickly accelerate and then lurches forward alarmingly; cruise control is not functioning; waiting to have fuel mixture sensor replaced. i was not informed of first 2 recalls until i my engine overheated. i did get the rust recall and a sticker on my sliding door informing user of danger of having middle windows open while opening the middle door could catch a head or other extremity. toyota dealer service manager says mine is the only 04 sienna experiencing any problems except for the recalls on the radiator; the steering hose; the rust tape; and the middle seat belt. not so according to all i have read here. most of the problems have occurred between 22,000 and 34,000 miles; the dvd screen always failed to lock into a good position for the middle row viewers. *nm

2004 toyota sienna ce -- when the air conditioning is on for a while, the intake button light is automatically on and the cool air from the air conditioning is getting warm . i think it starts the recirculation of interior air and the compressor is automatically off. the problem is that the air getting warmer and the compressor is still not on and i feel like no cool air conditioning at all. and th intake button cannot be manually off when it is on automatically. *mi. *ak

On 5/29/2004 i purchased my toyota sienna. i started having "mysterious" lights coming on at all different times. on 7/15/2004, i went out to my car and it wouldn't start. this was the beginning of a nightmare. since then my car has been in the shop at least 6 times for this problem. i have not had my car start at least once a month since i purchased it. i would usually just jump the battery but they could never tell me the reason why it kept on happening. there were times that i couldn't even leave my doors open for 5 minutes without it wearing the battery down. when the battery is checked it is always fine. when the battery is fully charged i have the interior lights turn on for no reason. they have put in a new battery and replaced the jbl audio switch because that had been shown to turn on intermittently and drain the battery/engine. neither of these solutions have worked. they finally told me that my car had too many "bells and whistles" (which all are factory installed) and that i need to connect to a car charger when i come home or to go on long drives at least once a week. *tr

Battery saver feature is only partially in my 2004 toyota sienna. the owners manual and the toyota service manual state that "if any door is left open, then the room lights should go out after 20 minutes". this feature is only partially operable as the ignition key cylinder lights and the two front personal lights do go off, but all other interior lights remain on with an open door. toyota has taken no action to correct problem. when a door is inadvertently left open, the battery will discharge, removing the ability to start the vehicle. there are numerous reports of this problem on the internet. *tr

Battery saver feature does not work as advertised. if rear hatch does not close completely interior lights remain on until battery is dead. toyota advertises that the battery-saver feature is supposed to turn interior lights off after 20 minutes to prevent battery drain. this is not only false advertisement but is unsafe since it can easily leave you stranded with a dead battery.*ak

Toyota has eliminated the brake lights on the tailgate of the sienna. the small brake lights that are on the corner of the rear end are not sufficient and will result in a higher number of siennas getting rearended. the driver rearending the sienna will take the blame when the sienna is partially at fault.

Dt*: the contact stated while driving out of a driveway at 5 mph, the vehicle stalled when acceleration was attempted. the engine warning signal illuminated. the problem had reoccured frequently at any speed. the dealership was not able to duplicate the defect in nine times the vehicle had been taken to correct the problem. the contact decided to obtain a second opinion from an independent certified mechanic who observed the coil ignition assistance burned out and the fifth cylinder was misfiring. the second opinion was ratified by another dealership. the contact expressed the dealership delayed the required repairs until the vehicle remaining warranty were exhausted. the dealership was now ready to make the repairs.

The rear hatch on my two-month old 2004 toyota sienna did not close all the way, therefore the interior light stayed on and drained the battery after one night. an owners town hall type web-page states that toyota noticed this "oversight" ( the interior lights not timing-out) and corrected the problem. from what i understand there was no recall and no fix for those of us who have this problem. i have small children and need a reliable vehicle, that's why we bought the '04 sienna. as a consumer what can i do?*ak

Battery saver on my '04 toyota sienna doesn't work. insdie lights were left on accidentally and they didn't turn off as advertised in the literature and owner's manual. battery went dead and had to be jump-started , *ak

2004 toyota sienna xle limited frequently stalls, causing loss of control of vehicle. stalls commenced within days of acquiring vehicle (prior to 100 miles), have occurred more than 10 times, and have occurred at 60 mph, 40 mph, 30 mph, and during turns in front of oncoming traffic. dealership replaced engine coils and problem continued. dealership found lose wire, tightened it, and frequency of stalls significantly reduced but did not go away altogether.*ak