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10.0

really awful
Crashes / Fires:
0 / 1
Injuries / Deaths:
11 / 0
Average Mileage:
87,462 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.

2004 Toyota Sienna body / paint problems

body / paint problem

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2004 Toyota Sienna Owner Comments (Page 13 of 15)

« Read the previous 20 complaints

problem #41

Sep 202009

Sienna

  • 72,000 miles

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

I have a 2004 Toyota Sienna van with the same problem many other Sienna owners have, the passenger side rear sliding power door does not open, not by power or manually. This is an expensive repair as noted all over the internet and not considered a safety issue by Toyota. Having 2 young children riding in the back seat every day, I do consider this a safety issue, not only because of possible entrapment, but because they must now discharge on the traffic side of the vehicle, not the street side. Additionally, this van has faulty welds in the driver side front door, another issue frequently documented online and for which there was a tsb. Because my van is now out of warranty, the dealer will not cover this repair even though it was purchased after the tsb was issued for this defect. I think a door falling off the car is also a safety issue. Please look into this matter further and have it corrected. Thank you.

- Dalton, PA, USA

problem #40

Dec 312009

Sienna

  • 106,550 miles
Sliding side doors freeze shut and can not be opened when temperature drops below freezing.

- Leawood, KS, USA

problem #39

Jan 042010

Sienna

  • 112,000 miles
2004 Sienna xle power sliding door fell off. The power sliding function has been a troublesome issue with this door for over 2 years but since it did not start to fail until just after the warranty period ended Toyota insists that there is no issue for them to address. We having been using this door in manual opening mode with power assisted closing for 2 years. Last week the cable became snagged in the mechanism but the door still worked in full manual mode. 3 days ago my wife placed our daughter in the vehicle and went to close the door. When the door was nearly closed the top and center rollers came out of their tracks and the door fell off the vehicle in her hand. The sharp bottom edge of the door nearly hit her toes and could easily have severed the end of her foot. The bottom hinge bracket is now bent and the back corner of the door is damaged from striking the ground. Dealer quote for the repairs is over $4000. From reading various posts on the internet this would appear to be a common defect with this vehicle which I consider to be a serious safety issue. I count us fortunate that neither my wife nor my daughter were seriously injured by this occurrence. Had she not caught the door before it struck the vehicle beside her or swung inwards toward my daughter who was sitting right beside it, the situation could have been much worse.

- Calgary Ab Canada, 00, USA

problem #38

Jan 012010

Sienna

  • 3,000 miles

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

I have a 2004 Toyota Sienna minivan. Every year when the temperature is below freezing and there is even slight precipitation, my sliding doors freeze so I am not able to open them at all or even close them completely. I have been to the dealer repeatedly. They have lubricated the seals but it has not solved the problem. The dealer acknowledges this is a design problem with this model and that Toyota is aware but will do nothing about it. My daughter was recently injured getting into the rear door when she slipped. I live in fear there will be a car accident or emergency where my children will not be able to exit the van. Please help me with this problem.

- Skokie, IL, USA

problem #37

Jul 162007

Sienna

  • 70,000 miles
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?

- Mount Prospect, IL, USA

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problem #36

Aug 012009

Sienna

  • 81,000 miles
Power sliding door on 2004 Toyota Sienna xle AWD fails to operate. The door is actuated by a cable and the cable has broken. The replacement is extraordinarily expensive at approx $1500 or more. As a result, the door must be opened or closed by hand, which is a difficult proposition, and if the vehicle is parked on an incline, nearly impossible. Further, the door doesn't stay open when on an incline posing a danger to exiting passengers.

- Westborough, MA, USA

problem #35

Mar 092008

Sienna

  • 44,056 miles

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

Broken cable in side sliding doors (automatic). Would not open manually. Children stuck inside had to exit through front doors. Manual override not functioning. Dealer wants $2,000 per door to repair. Van only 4 1/2 years old when cables broke.

- Redondo Beach, CA, USA

problem #34

Jul 012009

Sienna

  • 88,000 miles
Auto sliding door cable rusted through and broke, leaving door inoperable.

- Birmingham, AL, USA

problem #33

Sep 122009

Sienna

  • 79,000 miles
I own a 2004 Toyota Sienna (79K mileage) and the cable in my passenger side sliding door jammed, leaving the door open. I had to drive the van with the door open (kids in car seats, with rain falling) to a mechanic to help close it. Now I notice how common this problem is for Sienna owners. Toyota will not fix the problem with replacing the entire engine for $1500+ labor. This widespread issue is a health and safety concern, as it would limit someone's ability to get out of the car in case of accident or emergency. Very large problem that Toyota is choosing to ignore.

- Round Rock, TX, USA

problem #32

Jun 012009

Sienna

  • 60,000 miles
Power sliding door is inoperative, intermittently inoperative, does not close properly and returns to the open position while being closed using the power switch or remote control.

- San Ramon, CA, USA

problem #31

Aug 092009

Sienna

  • 72,149 miles

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

My driver side sliding door is inoperable. The passenger side sliding door motor and cable failed a few years ago now the driver side cable broke. It happened has one of my children was opening the door from the inside and it only opened about a foot wide. Now the door only opens about a foot and my 3 children have to get out of the passenger side.

- Andover, MA, USA

problem #30

Jul 042009

Sienna

  • 108,000 miles
I am the 2nd owner of a 2004 Toyota Sienna. Recently, the passenger side power sliding door would start to close before fully opening. Then it quit opening at all. When manually opened, there is a cable that sticks out under the rear window. I took it to the local Toyota dealer and they said it would be $1800 to repair! they said the part alone is over $1000 and the repair isn't covered under my extended warranty. After researching the problem on the internet, I decided to file a complaint as this seems to be a very prevalent problem that Toyota would rather ignore. Please help!

- Powder Springs, GA, USA

problem #29

Jul 262009

Sienna

  • 70,000 miles
Initial note: This is a dangerous defect. Toyota should be ordered to recall this vehicle to fix this problem. We have a 2004 Sienna le, with about 70,000 miles on it. A few weeks ago, we noticed some difficulty with the passenger side power door. The problems began with the door not opening when we used the remote control or the button in the front of the car. The door seemed to function normally when pulling the handle, so we thought the problem was limited to the remote controls. When we were away at a camping trip from July 24 - 26, I noticed the problem had started to affect the handle as well. The door would hesitate, but would open normally if I pulled it a second time. When we returned home, after my family exited the vehicle, I tried to open the door to unload the car. It did not open, so I pulled the handle a second time. The door began to open. I then heard a "pop" as the rear side window, next to the third row of seats, shattered. There was a plastic strip lying on the driveway along with shattered glass. Shattered glass covered the interior as well. The door was hanging down slightly. The internal "wheels" for the door had come off their track; the internal cables were frayed. I could not close the door completely. We found numerous complaints about this door malfunctioning on 2004 Siennas. We reported our problem to Toyota, referring to the other complaints, but Toyota has done nothing. We are thankful that our children were not in the car when this happened, as they could have been severely injured! we are also thankful that this did not happen while we were away on our camping trip, as we were at a remote location with no mechanics for many, many miles!

- Bainbridge Island, WA, USA

problem #28

Jul 152007

Sienna

  • miles
*****2004 Sienna power sliding door fell off******* 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.

- Dracut, MA, USA

problem #27

Jun 102009

Sienna

  • 72,284 miles
The power sliding driver-side door of our 2004 Toyota Sienna jammed open recently. Turning it to manual mode, we were finally able to close the door. Then it would only open about 10 inches wide with great force applied to it. There is no chance whatsoever my 10 year old daughter could open or close that door even in manual mode because she is simply not strong enough. In addition, the passenger-side power door would make a grinding noise as it would open and close. I took the van to the local Toyota dealership who informed me it would be $1,700 to repair each door because it is out of warranty! ironically, I mentioned a popping noise whenever the driver's door is open or closed. Turns out Toyota has decided to fix that defect for free which is not nearly the safety issue of power sliding doors not functioning where small children need to open and close them. After browsing this issue on the web, it is clear Toyota knows about this defect but has chosen to ignore it. I can only suspect because of the large amount of revenue their dealers obtain with each door repair. For safety reasons, I felt compelled to have both power sliding doors fixed. The dealer's final bill for this repair of both doors was $3,800 dollars... but they fixed the popping driver's door for free as part of some customer support program. There are hundreds of 2004 Sienna sliding door complaints posted all over the web. So far, Toyota has not taken any interest in or responsibility for this defect. This is my first Toyota purchase ever and was based on supposed Toyota quality. Now I see that is a joke and this will be my last Toyota. I've been told I should have bought a Honda and now I see why.

- Highland, UT, USA

problem #26

Mar 302009

Sienna

  • 76,427 miles
Noticed that the driver side sliding door was not seating properly. On investigation, discovered that the bolts holding the latch at the rear of the driver's side sliding door cut through the sheet metal of the door itself, causing the door to be unlatchable.

- Raleigh, NC, USA

problem #25

May 252009

Sienna

  • 72,000 miles
2004 Toyota Sienna power sliding door does not work. Scanned internet and found many people facing similar issue. This is so common a problem that Toyota should fix this.

- Fremont, CA, USA

problem #24

Oct 012008

Sienna

  • 110,000 miles
On the automatic passenger side door, cable that opens and closes the door, rusted and snapped after the plastic coating wore and failed, had to remove cable so I can open it manually. The wear of the cable seems premature since the vehicle is only 4 years old.

- Florida, NY, USA

problem #23

Jan 012009

Sienna

  • 63,000 miles
2004 Toyota Sienna xle -premature failure of driver side slider door - door diagnosed by dealer with faulty motor, cable assembly and hinge, this is a dangerous condition in that door may freeze in either full open or closed position and not be able to activate to open or close. Tsb EL004-00 addresses this issue, but Toyota has not notified buyers of defect. Only cover repairs within 36 month or 36,000 miles. Many incidents reported on internet sites about this being a known defect and very high cost to repair (approx $1,700). Request help to compel Toyota to support a recall action on this problem.

- Cupertino, CA, USA

problem #22

Feb 162006

Sienna

  • 32,000 miles
Driver's side door weld has failed. Door make loud popping sound and has now affected window operation.

- West Monroe, LA, USA

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