Problems with 2005 Toyota Sienna STRUCTURE

Back door was opened using the remote key and then it suddenly closed by itself. individual was hit by the door as it closed. further inspection showed that the left side "strut" on the door was leaking. called toyota customer support at 800-331-4331 and was given a reference #. toyota also referred to tsb bo001-07. brought vehicle to dealer and dealer would charge to fix since vehicle has 51k miles, although less than 2 years old. dealer refused to acknowledge back door stays were defective although numerous consumers have complained, and there is a current nhtsa investigation (action #ea06020). *tr

Liftgate on 2005 toyota sienna xle limited with the power liftgate option. gradually stopped lifting and upon several occasions, would lift up completely and as i was loading cargo into the rear it came down pinning me between it and the bumper. the shocks were not strong enough to hold the weight of the liftgate and it had started to go down and the power closing feature took over. *tr

Tl*the contact owns a 2005 toyota sienna. the contact stated that the power lift gate would close immediately after opening and would force itself shut when opened manually. the dealer has not inspected the vehicle. the current mileage was 20,000 and failure mileage was 19,900.

Complete failure of right rear hatch shock. the shock completely and suddenly lost all pressure causing the rear hatch to fall. defective part was replaced. toyota covered only half of the cost. part was left at toyota of greenville. *jb

My rear passenger side sliding door does not open from the inside. i have checked the child safety lock and it still will not open. the power switch broke about 2 years ago and we learned to live with it, but the fact that my children can not get out of the door is so unsafe. if there was an emergency, they would not be able to get out. i have to get out and walk around the car to open it for them. this is unacceptable. this is a problem with all sienna owners i know. this should be a recall. *kb

Tl*the contact owns a 2005 toyota sienna. the contact stated that the rear door rises when it is engaged. the two struts that support the door are known as the rear gauge strut assembly. the door closes on its own and could cause injuries. the contact went to the dealer to have the door repaired and was informed that nhtsa declared that the replacement struts were also defective. the failure mileage was 35,000 and current mileage was 80,000.

Rear liftgate stay on 2005 toyota sienna has leaked and failed. result is now liftgate closes automatically on top of owner when loading and unloading. only 25,000 miles at time of failure. *tr

The car's power sliding door sometimes cannot be closed. after pressing on the remote control to close the door, it moves the door to the close position. however, the door opens itself right after it gets to the close position. i brought the car to a dealership in california (elmore toyota) back in 2007 shortly after the warranty went out, but they said that it would cost me several hundred dollars to fix the problem. in may 2012, i received a letter from toyota indicating that they will extend the warranty to cover the cable and the latch that causes the issue. therefore, i brought the car to elmore toyota only to learn that the reason the door would close is caused by the rear slider hinge that was sagging due to the door weight and causing the problem. so the warranty would not cover the fix. in my opinion, the warranty extension should cover all assembly components causing the very problem with the door, not just the cable or the latch. the purpose of the extension should be to fix the door closing problem for customers no matter what component of the assembly is causing it. *tr

Issue: structure:body:hatchback/liftgate. the back door of the sienna 2005 stopped functioning. after the door was lifted to the top it came down and tried to close the door. i was taking out things from the car and the door hit my head and back. it was going back upward, and when it got to the top it came down again while trying to close the door. this was very dangerous at the point that we stopped using this door. i had to have someone hold the door when i took out things from the trunk. i did the research on this issue and found out that toyota had issued a technical service bulletin (tsb) to replace back door struts and its brackets. this was a manufacturing defect. i took the car to the local dealer , toyota of huntington beach, and they would not replace it since the sienna had 37, 392 miles on it. by the time i took it to the dealer it was too late for the warranty, 36000 miles. they quoted $350 to repair it. i called toyota to report this problem and asked their help to fix it. they refused to give any assistance. the case that i opened with toyota was #200705091268. i requested that toyota took responsibility and fix the problem. this was a family car. none of my children were allowed to get too close to this back door anymore.*ak

Using the automatic opener on the key fob i opened the trunk liftgate of the 2005 toyota sienna xle limited and was putting groceries in it when it came crashing down on my back. i brought it in to the toyota dealership, and they confirmed there was an issue with the shocks ,and were ordering replacement parts. this was very dangerous. the force that the door came crashing down with was enough that it would' have crushed a child. even as a strong adult, it is difficult to hold the door open. the trunk was not usable until this problem was fixed. *ak

Tl*the contact owns a 2005 toyota sienna. the contact stated that both of the rear sliding doors were defective. she mentioned that she was unable to open them. the vehicle was taken to a local mechanic who was not able to diagnose the failure. the manufacturer was made aware of the failure but referred her to nhtsa. the vehicle was not repaired. the failure mileage was 50,000 and current mileage mileage was 74,000.

(#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

The rear door with automatic opening feature closed on me immediately after it opened. *nm

Tl* the contact owns a 2005 toyota sienna. the contact stated that the rear lift gate no longer stays up on it owns. the contact had the rear lift gate repaired for this same problem in july 2007 and now the gate needs to be repaired again. the dealer stated that this normal and they have to be replaced ever few years. the failure mileage was 40,000 and the current mileage was 70,000.

Tl*- the contact stated that the driver's side front door of the 2005 toyota sienna made a loud screeching noise when he opened it. the contact stated that when he openedthe door it felt like the doorwas going to fall off. the dealerships informed the contactthat it was due to a poor welding job. the vehicle currently had 42,000 miles. *ak

I noticed one morning when opening the rear liftgate of my toyota sienna that the "door" or liftgate very slowly came back down. the next time i used it in a morning, i used the power lift, stood under the door once it was fully opened and it came crashing back down on me. now, i have to hold it open or use something to wedge it open. *nm

I've got a 2005 toyota sienna xle with the power rear hatch. i think i've verified the problem with the hatch not retracting when it encounters an obstacle. last year (first year of ownership) the hatch closed on me and would not retract. and, i was pushing back on this thing by arching my back. i'm not sure how i got out from under it but i did. it pretty much freaked me out. it was cold, and there was snow on the van. there was also an ice dam in the gap at the top of the door. i originally attributed my incident to this ice dam. (btw - chrysler's don't have this problem because they have a piece of plastic attached to the door that prevents ice from getting into this opening.) i continued to test my hatch on occasion from then on all throughout the summer and the fall. it worked just fine until dec 8, 2006. dec 8, 2006, the temperature dropped to 33 degrees fahrenheit. it was a clear day. there was no snow. the hatch would not retract when i pulled back on it. it closed - even though i began applying upward pressure while it was still 90% open. if i had been between the closing hatch and bumper, i could have been badly hurt. if my children were there, it could have been worse. i am convinced that whatever is being used as a sensor in the door mechanism loses sensitivity during freezing temperatures. i'm suggesting that the reason the failure to retract can't be replicated at the service centers is because the car has warmed up enough by the time it gets there, or when it is worked on in a heated garage, the sensor then begins to work correctly because it is now "warm". each time i've had the problem, my car was stone cold. it sat out overnight during freezing or near freezing temperatures while in my drive way. the engine had not been started. i was using my rear hatch to load/unload the van only. now that the temperature has moved up into the 40's-50's, the hatch appears to retract correctly when it encounters an obstacle. *jb

I have a 2005 toyota sienna with the same problems with the back liftgate being investigated in ea06-020. when it first began to fail, the power option was engaged. it did not open all the way, so i manually pushed it up further, and upon release it fell and the power closing activated with me underneath. the liftgate currently will not stay up by itself. *jb

Sliding doors on 2005 toyota sienna get stuck ' cannot open or fully shut. (both manual door and)power door got stuck and would not open but tried to open so it got stuck in a semi open state where it appeared to be closed, however, when i started driving the open door light came on and lights where flickering inside the car because it was not completely shut. there was no way to either open it or completely shut it. very scary! it was about 38 f and was raining the whole day prior to my driving it. this happened at night. after a short drive and 2 tries the door seemed to go back to normal. this situation has happened several times before (over the years in which we had the car) with the manual door when it is too cold outside - usually below 32f. the door gets stuck and will not open. usually after the car warms up the door gets unstuck. however, in this instance i have still not been able to open the manual door (this is the driver side sliding door) and this is about 24 hours later i can visually see nothing wrong with it but cannot open it. (or close it when it gets into that appears to be closed but it just a tiny drop open mode) i am the original owner of this car so i know it has been very well taken care of. *tr

2005 toyota sienna lift gate strut fail, causing the lift gate to fall on users. *nm

Tl*the contact owns a 2005 toyota sienna. the contact stated that the driver's and passenger side sliding doors will not open. she has been complaining about the sliding doors working intermittently since september of 2006. when she took the vehicle to the dealer, the doors would open. when the contact made another attempt to open the doors before leaving the dealer, they would not open again. she was informed that the vehicle was out of warranty; however, the contact believes that when she first began taking her vehicle in for this failure, it was still under warranty. the current mileage was 60,734 and the failure mileage was unknown.

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 have a 2005 toyota sienna with numerous problems. 1st, rear hatch would not stay up. many times it hit my head with no severe injuries. due to extended warranty uac covered replacement at 73,646 miles. 2nd, driver's front door was making popping like noise when opening and closing door. uac (extended warranty) declined claim. problem has not been corrected. now when i roll down my window, it feels like it is going to brake. both problems started six months from purchase date (10/05/04).

Dt*: the contact stated while the lift gate was opened, the left rear support hydraulic strut fractured and the lift gate fell down without warning. no injuries were sustained. the vehicle was inspected by a dealer who determined both rear lift gate hydraulic support struts needed to be replaced. the manufacturer was alerted.

My liftgate on our 05 sienna van began acting very strange, not opening fully, closing on people while in the back of the van, almost causing injury to my 9 yr. old. very odd behavior. the dealer said we need to replace the stay sub-assembly and two brackets. *jb

I went to put boxes in the rear of my 2005 toyota sienna le and as soon as i lifted the door, it fell on my head. after looking at the door, i noticed what appeared to be oil on my bumper and the ground right below where the struts holding the door were. it worked perfectly fine the previous day, but i am concerned that this really could have injured my children if it were them opening the door. the door will no longer stay up by itself and it is a very heavy door. there was absolutely no indication that there was a problem with the door prior to this. i called the dealership and since i am out of warranty, i will have to pay for the replacement. on top of that, they have replaced the strut so i also will have to pay for new brackets. the 2004 have a tsb on that very part, why not the 2005?? isn't it the same part?? *nm

Rear hatch fails when trying to open the hatch causing the hatch to fall and because of the weight could cause serious injury if someone is attempting to get items out of the back of the van. *jb

Failure of rear liftgate strut causing liftgate to immediately close we have a 2005 toyota sienna with a power rear liftgate. when only one strut failed, as soon as the door was opened, it no longer had enough pressure to keep the door open. as the the door began to fall, the power closing mechanism began to pull it closed. in otherwords, as soon as the door was opened, it began to automatically close. fortunately there were no injuries--it just gave us a scare. to correct this failure, the dealer is replacing the struts so that the door will remain up when opened.

Liftgate support cylinder is leaking, won't support the liftgate. fell on my head the first time before i knew about the problem. happened 1000 miles out of warranty and the dealership wouldn't help me out. the part is very expensive for what it is. $180.00 from the dealership. i ordered mine on the internet for $125.00. still waiting for it to come. *nm

1-no events 2-rear lift struts failed 3-need to replace rear lift struts. *jb

Power sliding door on passenger side of 2005 toyota sienna xle minivan does not open. *tr

I was loading packages into the cargo bay of my 2005 toyota sienna (minivan) and the power hatch failed and closed on me. i was leaning into the vehicle and my arms were pinned. the hatch did not go back up on its own and i had to push up with my neck and shoulders to free myself. the vehicle has approximately 13,500 miles and has never been in an accident or otherwise damaged (to our knowledge). i would estimate fewer than some 200 cycles of using the hatch. there was no warning of imminent failure such as a gradual lowering of hatch opening performance. i am currently going through rehab for a cervical strain (sprained neck and shoulders). i brought the vehicle in to the dealership to be inspected by the local toyota regional rep. he said he never heard of this before and that i am the only who was ever injured by this type of failure. i do not trust him to be truthful and unbiased. i am an engineer and i do mostly component failure analysis. with a fairly new vehicle, low miles and a little used hatch i doubt this could be a single occurrence. i don't care to be bamboozled by toyota. had this happened to someone physically more fragile, they may have been paralyzed or killed. i requested that toyota not repair the vehicle at this point in time in order to make it available for other inspections or if this becomes legal evidence.*jb

Automatic rear hatch opener "failure" combined with uncontrollable door (and dangerous crushing hazard when you disable automatic door if it's in the up position). graciously, toyota took care of this issue and fixed the hatch. however, i am concerned, because the door and related situation poses great risk to anyone else who this problem affects. *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.

Tl*the contact owns a 2005 toyota sienna. the hatchback door handle detached two days after purchasing the vehicle. the handle was replaced by the dealer. the passenger sliding door handle and the driver side front door handle also failed. the doors could only be opened from inside the vehicle. the remaining three handles cracked and in the process of failing. the dealer will not replace the door handles. the failure mileage was 79000. *ak

Tl*the contact owns a 2005 toyota sienna. the contact observed that the rear passenger and driver sliding doors failed to operate automatically and manually. the vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer for inspection. the technician stated that the failure was contributed to the motor and cable assembly. the vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer on thirteen separate occasions for identical failures. the failures continued to occur. the estimated service repair cost was $1,800.00 per door. the vehicle has not been repaired at this time. the contact has concerns of the safety risk. the failure mileage was 10,000. the current mileage was 83,000. updated 10/21/09 *bf the consumer stated the doors should be able to open/close manually. updated 10/20/09*jb

Tl*the contact owns a 2005 toyota sienna. while driving at various speeds, the vehicle decelerates on its own. the vehicle jerks when the contact depresses the accelerator pedal. the dealer reprogrammed the software for the throttle, however, the failure still occurs. the current mileage was 35,300 and failure mileage was 1,000. updated 01/09/08. *lj the consumer stated has had problems with the door of the vehicle. updated 12/12/07 *tr

My 2005 toyota sienna xle sliding door cable snapped 07-25-2011. i only have 63,500 k on the minivan. it's out of warranty. called local toyota dealership and they gave me a quote of $1,092 to fix the problem. this is not affordable for us. i will probably have to cut and remove the cables and open and close the door by hand and hope this modification does not cause a safety issue. this seems to be a common problem with the toyota sienna. result of the broken cable is the door is inoperable to the point you could not exit that side of the van.

Toyota sienna 2005 automatic sliding door fails to shut and stay shut. jack sherman dealership sent me home with only one latch working, inside interior lights indicating doors not shut and the auto locks would not engage because the door was not shut properly. have had this issue going on for 5 years that i have owned this vehicle new. *tr

Dt: the contact owns a 2005 toyota sienna ce. vehicle has two sliding doors they are manually operated when the glass is up on the two sliding doors it electrically locks . the doors opened. when putting the windows down it does not lock, the doors open. when parked in a driveway or facing downward the doors will slide shut when the windows ares down. *ak

I have noticed rattles in my sliding doors during warmer weather. made numerous visits to the dealership to fix the problem during summer 2005 (in my estimates 8 visits, but some were not recorded by the dealership). at last a field manager from our region drives with me. 5 minutes later, he suggests that i use door-ease (he was aware of this kind of noise -creek- when accelerate and decelerate - in other siennas.) incredibly, this seems to eradicate the noise. march 2006 i start noticing the creaking noise again. it takes me another three days to figure out that the service advisor has a problem communicating with his technicians, finally, a technician mention to me that there might be a tsb exactly for my car and for the sliding door rattle. but the service advisor dismisses this information initially, saying that such a tsb only exists for 2002 models. i go home and to my surprise, i see the tsb dated january 26, 2006, which addresses exactly this problem. bring the car back to the dealership (set up an appointment in advance) and ask to make sure that they follow the tsb recommendations. they reassure me that it will happen. get the car in the afternoon and learn that they replaced the striker plates on both sides (procedure 1 on the tsb). when i confront the service manager (by that time no service advisor wants to deal with me) about the dealerships lack of knowledge of the specific tsb, he tells me that the tsb does not apply to my vin, hence they did not have to replace any parts, but that they did because they were nice to me. at that time the manager also acknowledges that my advisor has made blunders during my previous visits. as if this was not enough, i then pursue clarification from toyota via phone whether the vin on my car does or does not appear to be affected by the tsb. and they confirm that it is included in this tsb, but not under procedure 1, but under procedure 2. hence, they did not replace the lock assembly (as the tsb recommends). *nm