Problems with 2004 Toyota Sienna STRUCTURE

This is for a 2004 toyota sienna. the driver side door is not closing completely. it appears the welding for the door check is the culprit. the door does not feel secure when closed. i brought the door to the toyota dealership and they said it was out of warranty. you are sol. i called toyota customer service and they told me to call the dealership.

1. a defective weld on the driver side door check attachment caused loud popping noise every time the door was used. problem progressed into a full failure of strap/check mechanism. 2. passenger side slider door motor failed, door would not open automatically. cable on door was repaired under warranty, but since complete door motor failure happened after warranty expired, dealer would not consider it related problem. we got the same $1700 repair quote noted by many others online. after much haggling, toyota reluctantly agreed to repair it for labor costs only and supply the part. door has chipped the tinted coating off rear quarter window and still sounds balky at times, especially when it's cold out. looking at other similar reports, this is clearly a design defect. please make toyota recall these vans and make good on this issue! *tr

Left rear manual sliding door on 2004 toyota sienna minivan will not open from inside or out. 1st occurrence was approximately august 2007. was repaired and broke again approximately may 2008. *tr

The fuel pipe from the tank to the engine on my 2004 toyota sienna le disconnected. i was driving with my kids and stopped at the light, our car being the first in the rightmost lane at a busy intersection. when the light turned green i pressed the accelerator but the car didn't move. i made several more attempts but it was in vain. the message on the screen panel appeared as a discharged battery, which at that moment puzzled me very much. i started looking around, making signs to the vehicles behind mine to try and get into the other lane as i can't start my car (there were few angry drivers). one stopped by me when the light turned red again and then said he smells gas. at the same time a woman and her older teenage daughter were running from across the street waiving and shouting 'get out of the car!'. she helped me and my kids get out and told us that while driving from the other side she saw when the gas gushed from under my car. well the rest is known - 911, police, fire truck and my family scared and blessed to have escaped a horror. the car was towed to the dealer who told me that the pipe disconnected, they put it back and that they've never encountered this problem. when i asked about a warranty on this or a future sign to look for, the answer was 'it shouldn't happen, it can't'. but it just did, right? i want to mention that the car has never been involved in any accidents and it's very well cared for. i had to pay for the repair over $100 which i'm guessing toyota will never refund. i will forever be thankful to that woman and her daughter who quite possible saved out lives. *tr

Failure of the liftgate struts on my 2004 toyota sienna. for about two weeks, the liftgate failed to open fully. then one morning, my son attempted to open the liftgate and it failed completely, nearly crushing him. he was able to move and let the door close without injury. *jb

Failure of the liftgate struts on my 2004 toyota sienna. today i was opening my rear door to remove an item, i continued to fully open the rear door and released the door when it suddenly began to close rapidly at full force. i pushed my two children, 1 and 4, out of the way of the falling door to prevent it from falling on their heads. no one was injured and there was no warning. i will contact toyota to fix the problem if not i will have to pay for it myself. it is something that i use daily and it must be fixed. *tr

I have owned toyotas all my life, so when i bought my 2004 toyota sienna xle, i thought i was getting a quality mini van. beginning in july 2007, the automatic doors on both sides began not working. sometimes they would close, sometimes i would manually have to shut them. i brought the van to toyota and was told that it would be $1500 plus to fix it. not in my budget, i decided to deal with the problem. a year later, my van was in for it's 60,000 mile check up and i was told that the hinges on the doors needed replacing and it would cost $500. i reported this discrepancy to the service manager and was given the run around as to what the problem with the doors really is. i still have the problem and i hope that this is not the beginning of a series in costly repairs that i will have to make. maybe it's time to trade in my mini van. *tr

I purchased a 2004 toyota sienna in july of 2007 immediately had problems with the back hatch hydraulics. toyota fixed the hatch because it was under warranty. the sliding passenger doors would be delayed but would work. i discussed it with service but the door was working so it was not documented in my file. toyota then sent a notice about the spare tire rack. i had that replaced. the sliding door cable snapped. toyota issued an extended warranty for siennas with less than 120,000 miles or 9 years. i met the nine year criteria but had too many miles on the car. toyota knows miles on the care have nothing to do with the cable malfunction. it is a material and design problem but they refuse to own up to the problem. i want to toyota to repair the doors on the van. the door will just come open. then the battery dies because the light will drain the car. we are left stranded in the cold of winter. the cost for toyota to repair the door is $2,300.00. this is absurd!! the problem is materials and design. toyota should not be allow to make its customers pay for their errors nor should they be allowed to endanger the safety and lives of its customers. *tr

Power sliding door on right side (driver side) of vehicle failed. cable broke and door would not close. attempted to manually close the door but cable had jammed the door in the open position. wife drove the car home this way. i cut the broken cable and removed the ends so door functions manually. $1200 dollars to repair door. i elected not to spend $1200 to repair a cable. cable is part of an assembly that includes the motor. i inspected the reason for the premature failure and determined the reason the cable broke was because of a door rear hinge failure. pin had worn out slightly causing the rear of the door to sag and therefore catching the cable and breaking it. i replaced the hinge myself costing $100 and the door functions manually. this car was maintained regularly by toyota and door hinges greased. a hinge should never have failed at 4 years of life. what kind of steel is toyota using? *tr

The van was sitting in the garage. when the door was opened with the remote control device, the cable broke and jammed the door opened. it took 1 hour to get the door closed. it has been jammed shut every since. the cost to repair it is $1500. *tr

Driver's side passenger door internal mechanism is broken. auto body shop states they have seen this failure on multiple toyota sienna vans of this model era 2004 and later. will cost $1,500 to repair including welding of failed metal part in internal door mechanism. updated 11/1/07 *tr

*****2004 sienna power sliding door fell off********i purchased a 2004 toyota sienna minivan brand new in march 2003. i loved the van until the summer of 2007. we had the optional power rear passenger sliding door. at the beginning of summer, the power cable snapped so we changed the door setting to manual until we could have it repaired. this manual setting was working fine and we took a 2 hour road trip to attend a lacrosse tournament for our son about a week later.***** our daughter who was 4 at the time always sat in the passenger seat furthest to the back. after we arrived at the tournament, my husband went back to the van to retrieve a chair. he unlocked the van, opened the side, rear passenger door and the door went rolling down the track, disengaged, slid off the track, all the way back and smashed in the small rear side window next to where my daughter normally sat covering the entire back interior with glass.****** it took 90 minutes to get the door back onto the track and engaged so that we could drive home. i contacted toyota immediately the next day to find out what could be done to have the car fixed and was told that i needed to file a claim, which i did. after the claim was filed i was told that this was not a problem which had been reported and that there was no recall in effect, so toyota would not cover payment to repair the damage. they suggested i call the dealership where i had purchased the van to see if they were willing to help. i contacted my dealer?s service department and got the same response that nothing could be done except for us to pay out of pocket for the repair.********** since we cannot afford the extensive body/mechanical repairs, the door must stay closed now because if opened, it falls off. *tr

Have an 04 toyota sienna with power sliding doors. both sliding door cable snapped or jammed and stopped working. one cable was hanging on the outside. it was frayed and rusty. the door now is not functional by manual or electric. when i took the vehicle to the toyota dealership, i was told that the repair cost was $3,000.00 and that the motor, mounting brackets and other various parts would need to be replaced. i have a hard time swallowing the thought of this cost considering the cable is rusted and broke in half with no fault of my own. although i am out of warranty period, i would think this problem should be considered a defect and a recall issued because this is a very common complaint with sienna?s. neither the dealer nor toyota was accommodating, toyota never ever responded to my letter. i have owned toyotas for many years, so when i paid a premium price for my toyota sienna, i thought i was getting a quality mini van. i will never buy another toyota! this problem should be classified as a recall. *tr

I am the original owner of a 2004 toyota sienna. the dashboard is full of hairline cracks. they started on the sides near the a/c vents, traveling towards the center of the dash. first appeared in 2007. now the dashboard is covered with cracks. took it to the dealer and complained that it was a defect. service dept didn't seem to want to deal with it. finally they took pictures then said they would have to send the pictures off and they would get back to me, which they never did. called the service dept and they dismissed me saying it was not covered. i don't think they ever sent the pictures in. the cracks get worse every week - longer, and new ones appear. this is clearly a defect. there were no events that took place to cause this, no crash, no fire. the automobile is well maintained. this is a manufacturer's defect. *tr

Purchased this vehicle certified used in 2007 with approx. 6 months left on the 3 year warranty... this vehicle has fog lights, daytime running lights, and xenon headlights/high beams. of these eight settings (left and right) only one does not work -- the right side regular beam headlight. the r/s high beam works fine. r/s headlight was intermittent from date of purchase. appeared to be a simple electrical connection failure as headlight would come back on after a slight strike of the headlight unit. also noticed unit would accumulate condensation after rains. eventually light started going out more often and staying on for less time. by december the light would not come on at all. scheduled a service visit with oil change but could not stay long enough to fully solve the problem. came back in january for full evaluation. after an entire day of troubleshooting, the technician brought me back to show me that the headlight bulb worked in the left side unit fine. also, the right side unit worked on the left side while the left side unit showed malfunction on the right side -- indicating both the units worked fine, but problem was another section (the ballast?). toyota suggested replacing the whole unit (despite the fact that they proved to me that it worked) at a price of $1000 plus labor (since it was no longer under warranty). i declined the obviously ridiculous suggestion and took it home to try my own troubleshooting. i discovered i could get the light to come on by pulling tight the wire dedicated to the r/s xenon bulb straight back from the unit. this caused the light to come on and stay on often, though not always, similar to the time it was purchased. however, after the very first heavy rain, the headlight unit had extensive condensation inside the plexiglass and the light never worked again. *tr

The automatic sliding doors on my toyota sienna do not always close. i first noticed it in the summer of 2007 when occasionally the drivers side door would attempt to close but then would re-open. i took the vehicle to the dealer in december 2007 and it was determined that the rear hinge pin and bushing was worn out causing the rear of the door to sag and not allow it to be closed without manual intervention. if there is no manual intervention and you just try to close it by pushing the button the door attempts to close a second time but still does not close all the way and will not automatically re-open. thus you think the door is closed but in reality it is still not. i contacted toyota's customer care about the problem but they are not interested in even taking a further look since the vehicle is out of warranty. if the pins and bushings continue to wear they will eventually break door will fall off. *tr

The rear power rear liftgate did not stay open. it slammed close every time it was opened. this has twice caused unsuspecting vehicle operators to be struck, once in the head and once in the back. *ak

On 6/29/07 i opened the back door of my 2004 toyota sienna to put the stroller in. while i put the stroller in, the back door suddenly come down and hit my head. i try to open it again but it won't stay open and keep falling back down. i call toyota dealer and ask them about the problem. they told me that i may need to replace the back door shock. i asked them if it is still under warranty and they told me that it is not because my vehicle is 38,000 miles and more than 3 years. i believe this is a safety issue and it can cause serious injury. i believe toyota should recall and fix this problem free of charge. they told me it will cost me $270 to fix them and i make appointment with them for repair next week. *tr

Tl*the contact owns a 2004 toyota sienna. while attempting to open the rear liftgate, the contact noticed that the struts had failed. as a result of the failure, the liftgate became very heavy and difficult to open. the contact took the vehicle to the dealer and was told that he had to replace both door struts. the current and failure mileages were 72,000.

The rear liftgate on the toyota sienna does not hold and will not stay up. this creates a serius hazard, especially when children are nearby. *ak

Power liftgate starts closing immediately after opening. does not stay open. when liftgate "power" is turn off, the gate slams down hard when released; if my child was standing behind door he would have been crushed. *tr

Failure of gas struts on liftgate of 2004 toyota sienna resulted in liftgate not fully opening and proceeding to close , motor-driven), immediately upon reaching the end of travel of the powered opening. first occurrence approximately 3 weeks ago, now occurs continuously. liftgate must be held or propped open. no injuries to-date. however, several near-misses , bumping head/shoulder into gate as it is automatically closing, have occurred. so far, no repair has been made. awaiting resolution by dealer. defective struts were still installed. *ak

Rear door struts failure.

Driver's door detent weld failure. i have an '04 toyota sienna that on the driver's side door uses a detent strap to hold the door open at certain points. where the strap is held at, on the door, there are two spot welds that attach the bracket to the door. the strap is bolted to the bracket. the problem seems to be that two spot welds are not strong enough to hold this bracket. after i found out there was a problem with the door, i contacted my local toyota dealer, and the service person was ware of this condition . they said it would have to be sent out to a body shop to be repaired. after discussing it with this person and the service manager the dealerships position was that it was out of warranty and that there were no recalls on it at this time. i checked a website for toyota sienna vans and found that this problem was bigger than the dealer wanted to admit, and thousands of these door welds failed. one person posted that a local body shop was replacing 7 doors a week on average. i called the dealer that i bought the van from and without even seeing it they knew of the problem and said that they will take care of it under warranty. they claimed that toyota was working with them to take care off the problem. so, i want to know what it takes to make this or anything a"recall. is it up to the manufacturer to decide or just number of complaints. i urge anyone who has a problem like this, even if it was taken care of under warranty, to call toyota consumer affairs and let them know about it. the phone number is 800-331-4331. *ak

2004 sienna xle limited -- electric sliding/rear door on driver side closes by itself when parked facing down incline. dealer diagnosed faulty 'door check' but refused to repair under warranty. there is a tsb for front door 'door check' but not rear sliding door. this issue is a safety concern, as passengers could be pinned if door were to close unexpectedly. *tr

Tl*the contact owns a 2004 toyota sienna. the vehicle was taken to the dealer at 26,000 miles because the driver side door was making a loud popping, squeaking, and clunking sound when driving over a slight incline or bump. at that time, the vehicle was still under warranty and was repaired by the dealer. at 41,898 miles, the vehicle began making noise again, but only much louder. when the vehicle was taken to the dealer, they informed her that the well mechanism inside the door failed. the cost to replace the door was $3,000. the vehicle is currently out of warranty. the purchase date and speed were unknown. the current mileage was 41,898 and failure mileage was 40,000.

During this winter (2006-2007) we noticed that the rear tailgate on our 2004 toyota sienna (purchased in aug 2004) wouldn't open up all the way. we thought this to be the cold temperatures. however, this week, the rear liftgate failed all together. the struts that keep the gate up have ceased to operate. my wife was able to lift the gate, but it came down and slammed shut to her surprise. pretty scary since we have a 3 year old who's seat is the back and likes to enter through the tailgate. the right strut (looking at the tailgate) seems to have leaked and has left a film on some of the plastic molding for the rear taillight. my wife contacted our local toyota dealer, whom we have worked with before, and was given an estimate to have the struts replaced (about $411-$435). she was told that the have seen this problem on other siennas of the same year. i have called toyota and was basically told that they would open a case with the dealer to what can be done to help me out. i am currently waiting for the call from the dealer. *tr

The first incident is that the passenger side sliding door started to rub the paint off the body, so we disabled it since the dealer said it was out of warranty and would cost us $1800. a couple years later the driver side sliding door seized and wouldn't close. i had to drive to where my wife and kids were stranded and cut the door's cables, so she could drive home. a couple years after that i receive an extended warranty letter from toyota for their sliding doors, however, since there is a 120,000 mile stipulation and ours had more miles than that they said sorry we are out of luck. toyota extended the warranty because they knew there was a problem with their sliding doors, but set stipulations, like mileages, so many people could not take advantage!!! i also had a problem with the driver's door hinge weld breaking, the dealer once again told me there was no recall and it would cost me a few hundred dollars to weld it back together. after looking at the hinge's weld i could tell it was an assembly misstake. since i know how to weld i removed the door myself and re-welded the hinge. several months after fixing it myself i found out there was a recall. *tr

Power lift gate gas strut failed. gate hit spouse from behind. lift gate dropped unexpectedly. it currently does not work at all passenger side gas strut is leaking fluid. *tr

The drivers side sliding door failed in the open position due to a corroded/parted wire in the door motor assembly. the door wouldn't close and van had to be transported to the dealer for repair. the passenger side door experienced a similar failure in mid 2011. this is an unsafe, but all too common problem with toyota siennas. *tr

Tl*the contact owns a 2004 toyota sienna. the contact stated that the rear hatch would close unexpectedly when it was opened all the way. the dealer stated that the struts needed to be replaced. there was an open investigation action # ea06020. the powertrain was unknown. the current mileage is 18,791 and failure mileage was 18,500. updated 02/01/08. *lj

Power lfitgate was closing unexpectedly on the 2004 toyota sienna xle fwd because the struts supporting the lftgate failed. *ak

Dashboard defect interference with airbag deployment - due to manufacturer defect the dashboard has many long cracks that extend from the a/c vents and glove box across sections of the dash, including around the airbag. i am fearful that in the event of a crash the airbag would not deploy as designed, due to the defective dashboard. as of yet there has been no recall or manufacturer amends to this problem. it is a serious safety concern to me due to interference with the proper functioning of the airbag. *tr

Tl*the contact owns a 2004 toyota sienna. the tailgate had the same failure as noted in defect investigation # ea06020 concerning the liftgate. the only exception was that the tailgate was not power operated. when the tailgate was lifted it fell down immediately. the dealer stated that the struts failed. the current and failure mileages were 48,000.*ak updated 05/23/07 *tr

Dashboard cracks started to appear on the vehicle, which is garage kept. the cracks have continued to expand and branch out across the entire width of the dashboard. i fear that in an crash that the passenger airbag may malfunction given the structural weakness in the surrounding dash. *tr

My 2004 toyota sienna rear liftgate failed numerous times - including falling without warning on my 5 year old daughter - she was not hurt thankfully. no warning - the gate would just start to fall. it did not matter if it was in "power lift mode" or manual. i took the van to toyota, hoping they would fix the problem. they said since i have 60k miles it is out of warranty. i took the van to my mechanic and he replaced the struts with others, that do not allow me to use the power option. *tr

Driver side passenger door on a 2004 toyota sienna mini van will not close. normal use of the door. it is electronic opening and closing. however the door goes to shut and then continuously opens back up as if a sensor won't let it close. however when switching to manual, the door does not close either. nothing in the door runner would cause it not to close, cleaned out all door runways and openings. something with the door clasp not closing around the hatch of the door prevents the door from remaining closed. the safety issue is the door does on some occasions start opening while driving. toyota dealer says its our fault and that it would cost close to $2,000 dollars to fix. money is not the object here, it is a known issue with many sienna owners and this is just another example of their poor quality workmanship. *tr

Rear passenger sliding door will not open. *tr

Struts on lift gate of 2004 toyota sienna failed suddenly, making lift gate dangerous, and causing minor injuries when being used to myself and my children. *jb

2004 toyota sienna, rear lift gate hold open gas struts failed with rear hatch in full open position causing rear hatch to slam shut narrowly missing my wife. failure may cause severe injury if person struck by falling door. toyota contacted, vehicle out of warranty by 6 months & 2500 miles. no assistance offered. parts ordered from local parts dealer. *jb

The two liftgate support arms failed and the door fell on my head. i was not seriously hurt, but had a knot on my head. toyota and the local dealership refused any responsibility. this door has not yet been fixed because it is expensive ($520) and since they are continuing to use the same parts, this will probably happen again! *jb

Early 2007 (this date/mileage etc... are approximate since we didn't know this was going to be an ongoing problem) our passenger automatic sliding door malfunctioned. there was a cord with a plastic piece that snapped off the door frame and the door was not able to open using the button feature and it took 2 people to close it manually. luckily, no one was hit by the cord or the plastic piece and of note this cord is held extremely taut in order to pull the door via a motor. this was covered under warranty and repaired. september 2009 the same thing happened again. this time toyota said it was because of damage from an accident where we were hit on the passenger side. the insurance company paid for toyota to repair it. feb 21, 2010 the door malfunctioned by not opening or closing fully, retracting partially and getting stuck and repeatedly cycling. again i was concerned about the kids getting stuck in the door and we turned off the automatic feature. in manual mode it was difficult to open or close. we brought it in to toyota who said it was working fine. it seems changing turning it to manual reset it, but it was still not as smooth opening/closing as the original door. then march 1st it happened again. i pushed the button to change it to manual, then back to automatic, and it seemed to reset it but it is still very rough/grinding sounding with the automatic door use. we are going to video-tape it next time this happens as toyota doesn't seem to want to take responsibility with this defect. *tr

Tl*the contact owns a 2004 toyota sienna. the contact stated that the liftgate failed and comes crashing down if you do not manually hold the tailgate. the current and failure mileage were 54,000.*ak the consumer states that his wife had a personal experience where the liftgate hit her in the head while unloading the groceries. update 4/30/07*tr

Right side rear hatch support strut failed causing the hatch to self-close instantaneously after opening. i began to load groceries as the hatch opened and the hatch closing startled me to jump into the traffic lane of the parking lot. no traffic. strut replaced at dealer at my cost. old part retained by dealer. *jb

Right side passenger door will not open. it is an automatic sliding door, but the door failed to open 6 months ago and will not open manually. this is an extreme danger and have been told it will cost 1800 dollars to fix. it should at least open manually, but will not. now i would have to spend 1,800 dollars i do not have. *tr

Rear lift gate struts fail causing injury to head when door is in the open position. lift gate does not open to the full position and the problem gets worse during time. if the person opening is not aware that the clearance is not sufficient, the sharp edge of the door can hit user in the forehead. *jb

Toyoata sienna rear power liftgate abruptly reverses directions and begins to close immediately after it has opened up. liftgate will not remain in open position. if liftgate is opened manually the struts provide no lift assistance or support - liftgate door is very heavy. this is a safety hazard & liftgate is not able to be used with this defect. each attempt to open the liftgate results in failure.*ak

Tl*the contact owns a 2004 toyota sienna. the contact stated that the struts on the rear door that support the lift gate failed. the lift gate could be operated manually or electronically. the rear door closes on the person under the door, but there have been no injuries. there is an open investigation (ea06020). the current mileage was 37,302 and failure mileage was 30,000.

Tl*the contact owns a 2004 toyota sienna. the contact heard a clicking sound when opening and closing the driver side door. the dealer stated that the door latch hinge made the noise because the weld failed. the vehicle has not been repaired. the current mileage was 39,000 and failure mileage was 36,000. the consumer stated toyota corporate office offered a good-will reimbursement of $750 and vehicle was taken to dealer for repairs at no cost to owner. updated 12/12/07 *tr

power sliding door inoperative stopped working not really sure of the date it stopped working(our lease was approaching the end) as we found sliding door to be too slow and not safe therefore we turned it off. we leased vehicle and therefore returned it. toyota parkway in hamilton,ontario,canada service performed a diagnostic test to tell me the cable and motor on the power door needed replacing. we were informed it would cost over $2,000 to fix the door(cable and motor) i was given the option to take elsewhere for a quote. where i had it fixed said there was nothing wrong with the motor it did not cost me $2,000. i returned it to toyota with the door working. i spoke to the general manager (parkway toyota) and he mentioned there were problems with the power doors. he refused to cover my costs as i did not have it fixed at toyota. i was not told that they would take care of it in the beginning. both sliding doors freezing shut in cold weather- passengers had to go out the hatch door i have heard of melting ice pooling on the door but nothing done to correct. we returned vehicle fed up by this point. too many recalls and issues for a toyota. *tr