2005 toyota sienna side doors (sliding) constantly lock up in cold weather (less than 40 degrees) prohibiting me from using either door to get my children into my car. there is no way to correct this issue. turning on your car and warming it up for even as long as one half hour has no effect. to compound matters, once someone has attempted to open either of the doors, the car alarm continues to beep (warning that a door is ajar). also, i am unable to fully re-close the doors when this happens. thus, i am forced to drive with my doors not fully closed (as they should be). this is more than an inconvenience. my safety and that of my children is being compromised, driving with the doors stuck in a slightly ajar position. also, it is dangerous for my children to be climbing in and out of the car through the rear hatchback because the sliding doors will not open. i cannot solve nor prevent this problem. placing the car in the garage has no effect. same problem. i have complained numerous times to my car dealership to no avail. they simply tell me to graphite the door seals. this does not help. the door seals are inadequate. *tr
2005 sienna. passenger sliding door is not opening or closing electronically. it will open and close manually with no apparent obstruction. when attempting to use the key fob or buttons inside the van, we hear the motor make a straining noise and a click, yet the door doesn't move. this has happened before twice, yet seemed to correct itself before i took it to the shop. now we are 6 months out of warranty and i'm annoyed that it is happening again. right now, my 6 kids get in and out of the car on the driver's side, which is very inconvenient as it is on the street side as opposed to the curb side of the car. being a manual door requires me to exit the car also to assist with the door opening/closing. *tr
Passenger power sliding door cable jacketing has come off and cable is fraying badly (unwrapping) and making much noise and making difficult for door to open/close. i am concerned this weakened cable may snap and hit someone (esp my children) who uses the door for entry/exit as it is under high tension. driver side door cable jacketing is also beginning to come off and i am concerned it will end up doing the same thing. the van was purchased in march 2005 and since i am past three years, the toyota dealer i originally took it to said it was not covered by any warranty (including my 7 year/100k mile extended warranty) and it would cost over $1700/door to fix. the car is not even 4 years old and the basic safety of the door open/close is already compromised! i was also told today by another dealer that toyota issued a "technical bulletin" about the hinges/mechanism on 2004 versions (and the 2005 - at least through my production date) since they had a number of (questions?) about this issue - and it identified specifically how to fix it. to me if this is occurring enough to have a technical bulletin, then toyota knows they have a problem. but since they do not consider this safety oriented they never recalled it. if this cable snaps i do not see how it could not be a safety issue. in summary it is happening on both doors (though faster on the more used passenger side) and toyota seems to be aware of a number of issues in this area. the frayed cable also tends to scratch up the cable travel area for the rubber sealing and the paint.*tr
2005 toyota sienna le, the automatic passenger side door failed, and the cables were hanging from the track. door became fixed in one position, would not open or close. repairs were too costly, nearly $2000 for part alone, not including labor. dealer removed automatic door cable to allow it to work as a manual door. there were no incidents leading to the failure, it was a complete surprise. in my opinion, and after reading other complaints on this issue, i believe the failure is caused by a design flaw between the sliding door and open window. on a manual door, the door will not stay fixed open when the window is rolled down. on an automatic door, the door is forced open even when the window is down. clearly there is a conflict between these two mechanisms. one additional note on the sliding doors, they freeze closed at the first drop in temperature. extremely inconvenient when trying to load 3 kids on a chilly morning. *tr
Driver side passenger door will not open past about 4 inches due to locking mechanism at bottom that engages when fuel door is open stuck in the up position. fuel door is closed but the locking mechanism that prevents the door from opening when the fuel door is open remains up. *tr
The manual sliding doors are supposed to lock in the open position. when the window is rolled down, the door does not lock in the open position, creating a hazardous condition when young children are entering or exiting the car, as the door is heavy, and on a slight incline could actually injure a child. minivans, after all, are supposed to be for transporting children. *tr
Passenger sliding door would not open, or it would open a little bit and close again. *tr
Sliding door, driver side will not open, safety, for emergency purposes it should open. i asked that dealer repair and they did not. *tr
Toyota sienna mini van rear passenger doors lock and will not open i own two to different years same problem dangerous situation if in an emergency you cannot get out of van doors still not open toyota does not care. *tr
2005 sienna xle model. the passenger side automatic sliding door's latch does not lock and will close on slight incline. myself, my wife and one of my kids has experience the door close on us unexpectedly. this is a potentially serious safety issue if the car is parked on a steep incline facing down. the car has been in the dealer for over a week and so far, they have tried to replace the motor, the latch to no avail. i think there is a design flaw somewhere in the door that causes this to happen. strangely, the problem does not exists on the driver's side sliding door. it's unknown if the problem is caused by repeated use or not. *tr
1) we had been on vacation for a week and a half, during which time our minivan sat in our garage. the first day after returning, i took the kids to a grocery store and used the power sliding door button to open and close the doors. when trying to lock the doors, i noticed that one power sliding door would not lock - it slid back but would not latch. i tried pushing it in but it was not working. nothing was jammed in it either. this had never happened before. 2) suddenly and without warning, the power sliding door on the driver's side was not latching. i had to get myself and the kids home from the grocery store, but the dashboard display showed me that a door was unlocked and there was nothing i could do to lock it. i started driving slowly but upon the slowest of turns in the parking lot, the door would start sliding open. my 7 year old daughter was trying to reach over to keep it shut! in order to drive to get it repaired, i had to tie the door to an inside handle and drive slowly in order to keep the door from opening. the consequences of this failure: safety issue!!! this failed without any warning. this is on a minivan, where children are sitting. even though my children always have their seat belts on, it was still scary for them and i'm very concerned about the passenger side sliding door, which did not fail and thus was not repaired. how can this happen on such an important part, on a relatively new car? 3) i called our toyota dealer to schedule a service appt. the cause was found to be "actuators binding internally" in the door. the dealership replaced the sliding door lock assembly. this is a 2005 model year car with 39k miles on it, therefore just past the warranty period. i see this as a major safety issue - what if this lock failed without warning on the highway and the door flew open? *tr
Locking mechanism on passenger sliding door failed. door would not open. *tr
The power rear door lifts normally and then immediately goes down suddenly, if some is putting something in the cargo area, the door will hit the person on the back or head. as resistance is applied to the door coming down, it will start lifting again and continue the same pattern. *tr
Left, rear manual door will not open right rear power door will not close toyota service said all latches are bad, and need to be replaced they want to charge us $3,800.00 to repair the latches they claim that the latches are not defective. *tr
Opened rear hatch on 2005 toyota sienna. it opened then immediately closed, hitting me on the head. *tr
I am having trouble with the side power sliding doors. took it to the dealer twice and they said they could not duplicate the problem. service bulletin was performed on a rattle. dealer always tells me that they cannot duplicate the problem- but the problem is still there when i get home! the sliding back doors open but will not shut once pushing any button and i have to do it manually, meaning that i would have to hit the remote a couple of times to get it to open. both sliding doors stuck closed. they would not work with the button are manually. at times i can't open it using either inside or outside door handle, nor has jiggling the door lock. there is a noise that the doors normally make. this does not happen every time i try to open and close the doors- only sometimes! so, yes it is hard to take it to the dealer and able to show him the broken part!! i fear that the doors are going to open and have the kids fall out or something! lift gate unexpectedly closed while standing at the back of the van. at one time the rear door light on the dash stayed on when the door was closed. i pushed the button on the b-pillar and the remote inside the vehicle and the door did not open. i manually closed the rear door and the light was still on. eventually the light when off the automatic control worked. one time the driver side sliding door starts to open when i try to open it using either button on b-pillar or remote. it starts moving but only moves may be about 2-3mm - that's rights, about 1/12 of an inch. i can hear the motor working fine, and no sound is different from the sound the passenger side door makes when opening or closing (passenger side sliding door works fine). now, when i try to open driver side door using the door handle, nothing happens no motor activation, no nothing. the door has even closed on it own when my wife was getting out of it and i can operate the vehicle with the ...
I own a 2005 toyota sienna le without automatic doors. 1. in the winter the doors freeze shut and will open on their own while driving once the temperature warms up. anything under 38 degrees this happens. 2. the sliding rear doors do not open about 50% of the time, once the passenger side door did not open for 4 months and then started working again out of the blue. i find these glitches dangerous to my family. especially, when the frozen doors open while driving or when the sliding doors will not open from the inside or outside. what if the car was on fire or submerged in water? we would die. *tr
About a week ago, the rear lift-gate on my 2005 toyota sienna minivan (xle) started to drop down unexpectedly after being opened. if pushed, the lift-gate would go up, only to drop down again. a few days later, while i was unloading items from the back, the lift-gate started to close automatically and would not go up when i pushed it. i had to escape under the lift-gate or else i would have been crushed between the lift-gate and the car. now, the lift-gate opens and then automatically closes; it doesn't stay open. i cannot use it - it is too dangerous.
I own a 2005 toyota sienna. the automatic back hatch/tailgate began to not work. when it opens it immediately falls down and even though there is some supposed safety feature that is supposed to have it pop up when it meets an obstruction,one must push with all their might to get it to stop closing. although there have been no serious injuries i have been hit in the head and have strained myself to keep it closed. if a child ever were caught in it,my fear is it could be deadly. my mechanic called the dealer for parts and not only were they ridiculously expensive,but they are hard to get. i called the toyota consumer line and was told they were unaware of any problems with the back hatch or any on going investigations. because of high mileage on my vehicle,this is not covered under warranty any longer. i believe this is a potential fatal accident waiting to happen to somebody and toyota should be responsible for fixing the problem. *jb updated 3/4/08 *cn
I opened the manual liftgate on the 2005 sienna and it immediately came back down on my head, striking me on the forehead. according to the dealer the cylinders will have to be replaced. they stated they have received numerous similar complaints and to date there has been no recall.*ak
Left front door,weld broker, check strap mount base. i would like this safety defect repaired to avoid a complete failure which would permit the unchecked door to swing into an adjacent car or into oncoming traffic, (if parked on a street). reported this safety defect to toyota on 6/20/07 @ 44,082 miles, assigned file number 200707020143. toyota has declined to repair this safety defect. nhtsa service bulletin num 00307, item number 10021711, and two reports on your site, odi 10184002 & odi 10191764, outline similar defects. *tr
2005 toyota sienna xle 42000 mile, when trying to close the driver side automatic sliding door, it bounced back before completely close. an obvious hinch worn out at the doorway made the sliding door very loosing. it is dangerous when the door can't shut. *tr
The liftgate on a power liftgate 2005 toyota sienna will not stay open. it has come down and wacked my wife and i on the head many times. i found out the replacement is $450. *jb
2005 toyota sienna le's driver's side sliding door does not lock into open position when windows are down leaving opportunity for injury to limbs, head, body, etc. *jb
(#1) we purchased a 2005 toyota sienna xle. within one week of owning the car, the driver's side sliding door was not working. automatic opener did not work. i'm not sure what the fix was. about six months ago the driver's side sliding door, again, started to sound like crumpling aluminum and with a few more uses would not open any more. my daughter and son could have been trapped if that was the only side to get out. toyota wanted $1,800 to replace the cable that moves the door automatically back and forth. this was at approximately 46,000 miles. (#2) after a few years of owning the car, the driver's door started "clicking". it was determined to be a faulty weld. it was fixed and about a year later now it is "clicking" again. (#3) about three months ago they had to replace the rear door lifting mechanism. it failed and the door was like a big weight waiting to crash down. another recall. had i know that in the 30,000 to 45,000 mile range that we would have four times door problems, i would not have purchased this car. i feel that it is poorly made and engineered and requires a serious investigation. is this a nhsta or dca issue? *tr
Tl* the contact owns a 2005 toyota sienna. the contact stated that the outside rear driver side door handle would not open the door. the vehicle was taken to the dealer and a technician replaced the release mechanism. the current and failure mileages were 90000. updated 10/28/09.*lj shortly after purchasing the vehicle, the consumer noticed the driver side door would not always operate when using the outside handle. eventually the door would never open with the handle and the consumer would press the button on the door column to open the door and then that stopped working as well as the key fob opener stopped working and the consumer couldn't use the door at all. the vehicle has 2 automatic sliding doors. when the consumer took the vehicle to the dealer, they were unable to get the door to open and then the passenger sliding door failed. the consumer also stated it didn't seem the doors could be opened manually which is a safety hazard. the steering column was also replaced. updated 10/29/09. *jb
I was reaching into the rear part of my 2005 toyota sienna xle minivan when the hatch started to close right on me. luckily i was able to get away quick enough where there was no harm done but it was a close call. *nm
Power sliding door failed to retract. once when my wife was leaning in the van to get something, i accidentally pushed the button on my key chain that closes the door. it jammed her leg. the door didn't reopen until i pushed the button. this happened a second time when my wife was again getting something out of the back seat when my granddaughter pushed the button on the inside of the car to close it. my wife said she even tried to use her body weight to stop the door or to make it open back up, but it didn't. fortunately she was able to reach the button. the third time this happened, my grandson was on the outside of the van and put his fingers in the way as the door was closing. it totally closed on his fingers. they were smashed and bruised. no serious injuries occurred. *jb
The power sliding doors on my sienna van "freeze up" under certain cold moist winter conditions making it almost impossible to open them (you have to climb in from the front door) and then once you manage to get them open, they will then not close properly. i have had to drive miles with the door alarm sounding and the heat full blast before i was able to stop and get them to finally close. this is dangerous, because although the door looks "closed" it is not hooked in as signaled by the alarm. i doubt if i was hit if the air bags would function properly either. this occured the first winter i had the car and then a few times each winter thereafter, but since ouir winters have been mild, and certain conditions are needed for it to occur plus lack of time, i have not pursued it. when i happened to mention it to my dealer, they didn't understand how this problem could occur and it was then dropped. other sienna owners however, have told me they also experience this problem.
My van has electric sliding side doors that can be actuated by several means. the forward motion has a safety sensor that will stop and reverse the closing of the door if a person should be in the way and that works well. however, there is not any way to sense a dangerous condition when the door is opening. upon opening, the door rolls out about 4 inches and then slides on a rail system to the rear of the vehicle. the accident occurred when my mother who was in a wheel chair just two inches away from the side of the rear closed door. a passenger hit the automatic door open button for that door. the door traveled outward 4 inches pinning the arm rest and began lifting the side of the chair and carrying her towards the back of the van. it apparently knocked her arm off the chair arm thus preventing pinning her hand as she and the door traveled to the rear of the van. during this accident the door received a longitudinal scraping dent. photos showing the dent with replication of the wheelchair could be provided, if requested before repairs are made. upon further checking this, i confirmed there was not any stop sensor or physical way to stop the door when in the opening mode. i also noted that the clearance between the doors inner side and the body presents a perfect pinch area for a hand or arm to wedge that would be capable squashing ones hand and or arm. the other event that occurred was when a person was leaning along the side of the van when the retracting door struck them and knocked them aside, fortunately without injury. *jb
Purchased a new toyota sienna le minivan. noticed within the first day of ownership that the sliding doors were not opening and latching open. the doors would open, but would not latch in the open position causing the potential for the doors to close by themselves. *jb
Consumer requesting reimbursement for 2005 toyota sienna for low tire pressure and rear door shock failure. *kb the rear wiper didn't work, the blower motor and damper had to be replaced, the rear heat did not work. the low pressure light did not warn the consumer that the tire pressure had dropped. *jb
Dt: both sliding doors will not lock into place. the vehicle has been to the dealership, but they stated this was a safety design . when the consumer opened the door it will not lock into place. the service dealer stated when the windows were opened on the door it will not lock into place. the consumer did try to leave the windows up, but the door still will not lock when opened. the owner's manual stated the when the sliding door window was opened the sliding door will stop half way and lock into place. the consumer has not contacted the manufacturer. *ak
Automatic passenger door does not sense any person, child or object and will try to shut until enough force is exerted back. closed completely on my child's hand. automatic door feature is not recommended due to lack of safety feature to prevent closing on children, pets etc. would not have purchased this car for that reason alone. please read other complaints for the '04 toyota sienna passenger doors manual and automatic. *jb