10.0

really awful
Crashes / Fires:
2 / 0
Injuries / Deaths:
0 / 0
Average Mileage:
129,861 miles

About These NHTSA Complaints:

This data is from the NHTSA — the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints are spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem.

So how do you find out what problems are occurring? For this NHTSA complaint data, the only way is to read through the comments below. Any duplicates or errors? It's not us.

2002 Toyota Sequoia suspension problems

suspension problem

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2002 Toyota Sequoia Owner Comments (Page 1 of 2)

problem #39

Aug 242023

Sequoia

  • miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

To whom it may concern, I recently purchased a 2002 Toyota sequoia. I brought the truck to a local shop for a (overall assessment of the vehicle) since I just Purchased it. The shop owner ( I have their name address if needed). The chassis is rusty and has holes sue to rust. If someone can get back to me It-??s much appreciated

- Brooklyn, NY, USA

problem #38

Jul 192022

Sequoia

  • miles
Rack and pinion rusted out and had to be replaced. It cracked in the middle of the highway and left me inching to safety. Never fully recovered 186k, frame is fully rusted and will not pass inspection due to faulty oxygen sensors and excessive rust and corrosion. Will need to replace exhaust to input a new sensor at 4k Vechicle is fully operable and functional but cannot pass inspection without the safety of rust treatment or replacement It-??s a great vechicle but unfortunate that the 2002 series is left out of the recall. There are a lot of early generations that have these issues and although the trucks are reliable and have a long life, are undriveable because they can-??t pass inspection. Please consider extended the rust recall to 2001-2003 Sequoias. This was my grandfathers truck and really would like to keep his memory in the family and drive my grandfathers truck as it still runs perfectly but has on going issues with rust and frame issues. There was an extended warranty for 2002 Sequoias that expired in 2014. This is a point where most Sequioas weren-??t experiencing this issue. Dealership or recall will not honor and denied any claim for rust It is unfortunate because I am now disabled and love my Sequoia so much and was hoping to drive to appointments and gain my health back. It has become more than I am able to afford to fix an entire frame of the vehicle. It-??s evident that early generations all that his issue but has not been honored for repair. I-??ve repaired things over the years with hopes to pass inspection and now have insight as to what the real issue is. The excessive rust and damage to the frame.

- North Brunswick , NJ, USA

problem #37

Feb 232022

Sequoia

  • miles
On parkway 50 to 55 mph driver side ball joint broke. Truck could of flipped or hit another vehicle. Could of caused damage to my body or death. No warning of impending breakage. I do have pics of broken balljoint and it did cause damage to driverside fender. Frame is rusting. Worried about frame unsafe could brake at any time. Toyota refuses to check and replace.

- Uniondale, NY, USA

problem #36

Nov 222021

Sequoia

  • miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

The frame of the vehicle has severe rust and now has holes in the frame, making it unsafe to drive and possibly causing an accident. Meticulous care has been taken of this vehicle and it is never taken off road or abused. I-??ve had several other vehicles and have never had this frame rust safety issue.

- Chicago, IL, USA

problem #35

Jun 012021

Sequoia

  • miles
The left rear frame broke away from rear sway bar. I was just leaving my house when I heard a thunk. I noticed the problem when I turned onto the faster road as I accelerated the whole backend moved right, pushing the front end left (into oncoming traffic). Letting up on the accelerator cased the reverse to happen, the back end swung left and the front turned right. So, glad it happened slower streets and not the highway. There was a limited service recall on this model to coat with a rust proofing paint and we had the service done in 2012. This failure would have probably killed someone if it had happened on the freeway or cloverleaf. These vehicles should be either repaired by Toyota or off the road.

- Shorewood, MN, USA

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problem #34

Nov 012020

Sequoia

  • 117,000 miles
The vehicle was raised to perform an oil change, and the technician noticed the frame had holes in it from rust. He explained that the entire body and suspension was connected to this, and if a component came loose the vehicle could crash. Toyota was notified about the issue, but did not take action.

- Brick, NJ, USA

problem #33

Oct 052020

Sequoia

  • 150,000 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

The frame is rusted so bad chucks of the frame are falling out causing problems to sway bar, the motor was basically laying side ways towards the driver side front panel. I have seven children we depended on this vehicle to get us everywhere we needed to be. Now its sitting on the side of the road bc when the chuck of frame fell out it caused sway bar to drop down causing me to almost wreck with my children in the SUV. I was driving down ky 344 vanceburh ky, 41179 at approximately 10:00 a.M traveling towards route 57 tollesboro ky 41189

- Vanceburg, KY, USA

problem #32

Jul 182019

Sequoia

  • 175,000 miles
After driving roughly 40 minutes on a straight dry highway at a constant 70 mph, my vsc off and trac off lights suddenly came on for no reason, accompanied by a loud high-pitched alarm. The steering felt like it was dragging, was grinding, and pulled to the right. Felt like something was breaking apart. Very scary since I was in the left lane with no shoulder. I decreased my speed to about 60 and moved to the right hand lane. After several seconds, the alarm and grinding/dragging stopped just as mysteriously as it started before I'd even gotten to an exit. The lights stayed lit. Before I used the vehicle again, I inflated the tires from 32.5 to 35 psia, just in case that might have contributed. The next day, I drove on the highway for 40 minutes with no problem, but on the way back home, the same thing recurred after about 20 minutes, again at highway speeds on a straight section of dry road. This time the dragging and grinding was worse and the alarm lasted much longer. Again, it mysteriously stopped as I was preparing to exit the highway. Searching similar anecdotes seems to imply a known failure of the yaw sensor. That sensor has triggered the lights to come on from time to time ever since 2002, but it never caused the loud alarm or struggle to steer the vehicle before. This should definitely be a recall item. I think I'm going to have to disable the variable speed control and traction control features of the vehicle by removing the fuse just so I can keep driving it.

- Houston, TX, USA

problem #31

Apr 042018

Sequoia

  • 100,000 miles
Severe premature frame rust including the dislodge of spare tire and carrier, repaired periodically at high cost to the vehicle owner. Frames in question were manufactured with defect in corrosion resistant properties that is well known and documented. Ntsb has been aware of this condition on various Toyota trucks for at least 10 years. Class action lawsuit has been approved for limited model years vehicles but leaves many effected out of the class. Condition effects model year 2000 and up all Tundra, Tacoma, sequioa and 4runner vehicles. Toyota has been allowed to deny responsibility by implementing a limited service campaign that has long since expired on these faulty vehicles. This condition should have been a recall of all vehicles manufactured with these frames as so many continue to become unsafe over time with no resolution due to expiration of the "limited service campaign." Condition also causes failure of electronic stability control leading to temporary loss of vehicle control which is very common on these vehicles and has happened to me many times.

- Cary, NC, USA

problem #30

Jan 142018

Sequoia

  • 177,000 miles
While driving 75mph on the interstate the front right ball joint failed (4 days after a safety inspection done at the Toyota dealership). The tire folded under the car and we nearly hit the median and then the car to our right. We managed to get the car to the side of the road. Took car to Toyota dealership where we were told that the ball joint had failed. $6,700 worth of damage was done to the vehicle. I ran my VIN # through your database and 0 recalls were found even though there is a recall for this make, model and year of car.

- Helena, MT, USA

problem #29

Oct 192017

Sequoia

  • 178,000 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

Frame rust. My mechanics will not lift the truck because of extensive frame rust

- Prairie Village, KS, USA

problem #28

Feb 042013

Sequoia

  • 58,530 miles
In 2002, I complained of rust rapidly accumulating on the vehicle. I was told by the dealer that rustproofing came on the vehicle and they would reach out to Toyota directly to get an exclamation. They inform me that Toyota confirmed that statement the rustproofing was provided. In 2013, I received what was called the 'limited service campaign' stating that the incorrect rustproofing was applied to the vehicle for cold weather states that use salt in the winter. At that time was severe corrosion in the body that was separating from the frame. I wrote a letter to Toyota CEO and the us office intercepted the letter to communicate with me. I requested the replacement of my vehicle from Toyota. In 2017, I wrote a letter to the CEO's office in Japan and the matter was sent back down to the same office in the us. There is severe corrosion all over the body rust breaking through corroding all components. Toyota then requested all records related to repairs associated with vehicle. I was sent a denial to my request for another vehicle with a suggestion to communicate to national center for dispute settlement but was not return the document copy highlighting the determination of damage as a result. I'm very dissatisfied and concerned with the way this was handled because I informed Toyota during the first-year ownership of the problem, told 11 years later that I was correct, and then treated as if I'm trying to get something out of the company after I have been a customer of Toyota for over 25 years. Every component exposed to the air outside of the replaced frame rotting away and has caused significant repair bills in damage. The file(s) that I'm going to upload does not include all repair bills because of the file size limitation by your site. I'm available for discussion and will submit additional records if requested.

- Chicago, IL, USA

problem #27

Jul 102017

Sequoia

  • 180,000 miles
The contact owns a 2002 Toyota Sequoia. The contact stated that the vehicle's suspension detached from the vehicle due to severe rust on the vehicle. The contact took the vehicle to the Toyota of grand rapids dealer who stated that they previously repaired the vehicle by replacing the frame. The contact called the manufacturer and was informed that the vehicle was previously included in an unknown recall regarding the same failure and had already been repaired. The manufacturer opened case number: 1707172761. The approximate failure mileage was 180,000.

- Holland, MI, USA

problem #26

Aug 022016

Sequoia

  • 124,000 miles
2002 Sequoia purchased used, vsc trac desengages without warning at any time, slowing down the vehicle and making grinding noice in the suspension or breaks, it will reset again after park and shutting the engine off, this problem had happen at least 10 times in about one year that I am driving it, due to the unexpected desengage of the vsc trac at any time slowing down the vehicle with out warning and no break light it is a safety concern, I have look in the internet and this problem is very common with this vehicles equiped with the vsc trac, I have called Toyota and there is no recalls for the issue, I believe it it is a malfunction of the system it should be take care unless they are waiting for something drastic to happen, hope I can get some where with this complaint, this is a second Toyota at home and I like to keep both cars for as long as I can. This particular problem does happen at any time in the street at 20 miles higway at 50 some times at 60 miles, during straight ride or turning left or right, please advise I should not have to incurre expences on a factory defective issue.

- Miami Lakes, FL, USA

problem #25

Feb 272016

Sequoia 4WD 8-cyl

  • Automatic transmission
  • 131,000 miles
The contact owns a 2002 Toyota Sequoia. While driving 60 mph, the lower ball joint detached from the knuckle lower control arm. As a result, the contact lost steering control and the brakes failed. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic where it was diagnosed that the lower ball joint failed and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired. The VIN was included in NHTSA campaign number: 05V225000 (suspension). The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 131,000. Updated 09/28/16 the consumer stated the suspension and steering components were replaced at a cost of $1,000. Updated 03/13/17.

- Coupland, TX, USA

problem #24

Jan 012016

Sequoia

  • 262,000 miles
I have a 2002 Sequoia and the dealership has been doing the repairs since I purchased it in 2003. I took in the recall for the ball joints and even before I received it I had an issue. When turning right, mostly in curves there is a loud grinding in the frontend and has been doing this since I purchased the car. They told me that here was not a problem but I am still having this problem and now the trac has to stabilize my car, this has happen while traveling no turns. The trac light is on and off constantly for whatever reason they can not explain it to me. This is getting dangerous for me I have spent money on this car lately but this is a very large repair and need to know what can be done to get this fixed I was also told that there is not an issue with my airbag as well that my car was not affected. I need help with this, this is my only transportation and this is getting dangerous.

- Shreveport, LA, USA

problem #23

Nov 102015

Sequoia

  • 130,000 miles
As my wife was driving on a city street, the right lower ball joint separated. This is a sealed unit with no fitting for adding lubricant. The joint looked dry.

- Washington, DC, USA

problem #22

Apr 152015

Sequoia

  • 167,000 miles
I was on my way to work when all of the sudden I drove over a small pot hole and I heard a loud loose metal noiseand now I been hearing it since. I took my vehicle to a mechanic and he said, that the lower ball joint cover is damaged and needs to be replaced.

- Chicago, IL, USA

problem #21

Apr 012015

Sequoia 8-cyl

  • 160,000 miles
Took vehicle in for safety inspection and was informed there was a rust hole in the frame. Called Toyota 800-331-4331 spoke to [xxx] C and was informed that Toyota will do nothing to help me at all. Case # [xxx]. help information redacted pursuant to the Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).

- Spokane Valley, WA, USA

problem #20

Feb 132015

Sequoia

  • 200,500 miles
The contact owns a 2002 Toyota Sequoia. The contact stated that while driving at 20 mph, the ball joints fractured without warning causing the vehicle to stall. The failure recurred twice. The vehicle was taken to the dealer. The technician diagnosed that the ball joints needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 200,500.

- Orange, TX, USA

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