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.
- Traction control engaged at high speed(70 mph on interstate) causing the vehicle to brake abruptly and pull the vehicle to the right. Had I been traveling in the left hand lane, I could have been forced into the right hand lane causing a collusion with another vehicle. Also occurred at lower speed(30 mph on a windy road) causing the same issue as described above, almost causing the vehicle to leave the paved surface. - Mechanic was able to duplicate the issue - Mechanic diagnosed intermittent traction control activation, scanned computer for codes. Yaw rate/steering angle correlation causing false activation ABS/traction. Replaced hub bearing and spindle. Four wheel alignment, including check castor, camber and adjust toe. Performed zero point calibration and reset ABS memory. - Traction control lights up briefly
About a year ago the Vehicle Stability Control warning light along with an audible alarm started coming on intermittently while turning on highways going uphill or downhill in dry weather and with no risk of any tire slipping. At first this only happened at higher speeds 65+mph. Over time, it has occurred more and more frequently and can occur at speeds down to 25 mph. At times, the Anti-lock Braking System is also activated resulting in jerky braking and loss of throttle. When people have been following me too closely, this has almost caused accidents. When these symptoms occur, it is always on a curve (of any degree, even slight curves) and while driving at least 25 mph, and even happens on flat turns now. The weather has always been dry with no risk of tire slippage.
Sometimes when I take turns in my Sienna, the VSC starts going off and braking individual wheels without my control. This happens unexpectedly on highway bends at speeds of 60+ mph and it is difficult to control the car and keep from swerving into another lane. If the roads were icy when this happens, it would probably cause a dangerous accident. Toyota has a technical service bulletin for this, but not a recall - which it should since this is a significant safety issue. The TSB is BR008-04. There are many others experiencing this same issue: https://forums.edmunds.com/discussion/13855/toyota/sienna/vsc-sudden-activation-2004-toyota-sienna
I had the control arms replaced, then one of the bolts came out after a few thousand miles. I had that bolt replaced and the problem started happening intermittently after that. Everything will be functioning fine and then the speed of my vehicle is inhibited and it is hard to accelerate. It is very difficult to get from 40 MPH up to 50 MPH. On slight curves, not always, it will beep and the slip indicator light comes on and will apply the brakes on what feels like one side. This has happened at 35-60 MPH. The slip indicator will beep sometimes until I decrease my speed to under 25 MPH. I took it into a reputable tire and front end shop and they replaced a wheel bearing with sensor, and 2 front tires. The problem happened again within 5 miles and the shop said I need to take it to Toyota dealer to have it the steering angle sensors recalibrated. The Toyota dealership said that this is something that the vehicle does itself. They inspected it and took it for a test drive and said nothing is wrong. The problem happened again within a few miles of leaving the dealership. I have read countless forums of people experiencing the same thing in their Toyota Sienna and having the dealership telling them there is not a problem. I have also found that the solution could very well be worn rack and pinion bushings that are creating the play that are triggering the sensors. I don't think they gave it a proper inspection. This is a very dangerous problem, and even more so when the dealership is saying there isn't a problem. I am feeling very lost on what to do with my van right now. I have spent $1100 and 3 days of my time with the same thing happening. I
- Soquel, CA, USA
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When driving under normal conditions the vehicles' vsc will engage. The dashboard lights go off, there is a loud interior beeping sound, the ABS engages, the car slows down drastically at once. The roads are dry. At first this happened while driving normal speed exiting or entering an hwy off/on ramp. Then happened yesterday as I was driving on neighborhood streets at about 25-30 mph. I could hear a rubbing on the back tires as if the brakes were on.
Traction control kicks in for no reason, tration beeping and tires lock, at freway speed traction control activates and cuts off speed dramatically.very unsafe to drive.
While driving at 55 mph or faster, generally on a right hand bend, the vsc will activate pulsing the brake and violently pulling the car to the left and towards oncoming traffic. The skid light goes on, and the car beeps until you are out of the turn and then it goes away. This problem has been intermittent for about 6 months but has gotten much worse and more frequent in the previous 2 months. It has been to the dealership several times and they do not know what to do. There are no error codes. The best they can say is "you're going to fast..." which is a wholly unacceptable answer considering we are going the speed of traffic and no more than 0-10 over the speed limit.
NHTSA recall number 13V429, mfr recall number D0R is listed on the safecar.gov web site for my VIN number as being an incomplete recall, but the Toyota servco service center says they have already fixed this recall on my car. I had an incident recently that was traced to the gear shift cable bushing. The car was parked in a grocery store parking lot, put into park, ignition turned off, and then started to roll backward, the brake didn't work to stop the rolling since the ignition was off, luckily the parking brake was applied to stop the rolling before any damage was done, it was a very gradual slope. I see that the later 2014 model Sienna has a recall for the gear shift cable, but my year does not have a recall for this problem so I had to pay ~ $600 to get this fixed. Luckily no one was hurt and no property was damaged.
On numerous occasions, we have had the vsc indicator light turn on while driving on dry pavement while on the highway, which caused the car to apply the brakes and also swerve. Our car is AWD so the first time it happened, we thought there must have been black ice on the road (even though the road appeared dry). It first happened about three years ago, although it is happening more frequently now. We drove home yesterday through the mountains and it happened four times on our two hour drive. It mostly happens while going downhill for us, and has happened at speeds of 70 mph - 30 mph. It has happened while turning (both directions) and going straight. It is very scary for both my wife and I, and I feel unsafe with her driving our car with our four children. We've taken it to the dealership and they want to charge us lots of money to try to fix what they "think" the problem is. I have spoken with other Sienna owners who have experienced the same frightening experience so know it is not just our car, driving, etc.
The contact owns a 2004 Toyota Sienna. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds, the vehicle stability control warning light and trac warning light illuminated intermittently. As a result, the vehicle decelerated independently. The failure recurred numerous times. The vehicle was taken to a dealer where it was diagnosed that the steering sensor needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired however, the failure persisted. The vehicle was taken back to the dealer where it was diagnosed that the cable needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired but the failure persisted. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 70,000.
It started a year or so ago the while driving on dry road above 50miles the vsc light would lit with a alarm sound, the van will automatically apply brakes and slow the Sienna. Since this was extra van and we were driving mostly sedans we had and due to business I could not spend any time on it.. now it happens more frequently and it risk our lifes on highway. Upon searching internet various forums came with with problems pertaining only to this year and model, please search (sudden vsc activation) and you will find multiple owner only of 2004 complaining for same issue.. in fact there are to two tsb articles to point to this problem ( tsb-BR001-04 and tsb-BR004-03). I would kindly request to investigate the sudden vsc activation in middle of highway. I have spent money to replace tires, aligment balancing to find the issue is widespread.
At varying rates of speed, on dry roads, my van's vsc and traction control icons will illuminate on the dash, the acceleration will cease and the brakes will pump 2-4 times, and the steering will stick. Originally, this occurred only on roads that curved however the frequency of occurrence is increasing and it now occurs on straight roads as well.
Purchased 2004 Sienna xle AWD limited 2/18/15. While commuting to work the traction control system randomly activates in dry conditions (usually on downhill angled turn) causing loss of power, activation of front right brakes, and the steering wheel jerked from my hands (resulting in transient overall loss of control of vehicle). This defect has occurred 6 times in 2 days and I am currently afraid to drive the car, especially with a 3 month old. There have been multiple reports on edmunds.com and other Toyota forums that support this is an ongoing problem with this model/year vehicle. This is a safety defect and the vehicle should be recalled to prevent injury or fatality and to resolve the issue with the tcs. There is no way to turn off the tcs manually and this issue can cause an accident.
The outside temperature was below 32 and it was close to 25 or so. When I was driving the car at 40 mph with engine temp still slightly above cold(not at optimal which is almost half way) and slowed down by using gentle brakes(not hard brakes). Just before the vehicle comes to a full stop, there is unintended acceleration and I could see even the RPM(scale) to spike temporarily. This has been happening every time when outside temp is cold and vehicle is driven with cold or slightly above cold engine temperature. There is a risk of hitting another vehicle or meeting accident if misjudge my braking because of this problem.. please note : this problem disappears when engine temperate is at optimal and I have driving a Honda Accord 2008 exl for last 7 years(was bought new one), I never had experienced this problem in that car even when driven with cold engine.
The contact owns a 2004 Toyota Sienna. The contact stated that after shifting into reverse, the vehicle accelerated independently. The contact stated that the brakes were depressed, but failed to stop the vehicle. The vehicle went over the curb, and was stopped by a pile of snow. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 150,000.
Dash board has a crack on passenger side right where the air bag is. While driving on the freeway noticed check engine light came on and speedometer reading went to 0. stopped counting miles and car going on 65 but speedometer reads 0. also gas tank level indicator goes from half tank to empty and gas light turn on. It is not safe as I don't know at what speed my car is going on and also if the crack on the dash board gets bigger, air bags might pop out. Need somebody to look into this as the van is driven only 49000 miles. This is very unusual.
Sudden deceleration of vehicle: 2004 Toyota Sienna xle. The vsc engages, without warning, on smooth, dry roads and when cornering or negotiating a curve. We are the original owners and have never experienced this until the first incident in late Oct. 2014. We did not take any action because although road conditions good, we were rounding a sharp bend in the road and assumed this had something to do with the incident. Vehicle speed was approximately 25 mph as the vehicle suddenly decelerated, the vsc light came on and a rapid beeping alarm sounded. The vehicle pulled to one side and steering the vehicle became extremely difficult. The whole incident, start to finish, lasted approximately 5 seconds. The next incident happened in early December 2014. Again, all the above described things happened, except vehicle speed was approximately 35 mph going around a gentle curve in the road. I did some research and found many complaints concerning this issue but do not see any recommendations or recalls officially issued by Toyota. It appears most of the dealer recommended repairs did not correct the problem. Today (December 26, 2014), this same issue happened five times within 40 minutes. My wife managed to get the vehicle home and we called our local Toyota dealer, described the issue and they informed us they have never received any complaints concerning rapid deceleration of this model year, before our phone call. I've scheduled an appointment for December 30, 2014 to have the vehicle checked out and have recall work done concerning the "shift lock solenoid assembly". will update after appointment.
While driving the vsc activates, the brakes engages, the cars slows down and it make it difficult to control. It has happened to me more than 10 times. Mind you its on a dry surface and no curves. Very scary I drive it with nobody inside just in case... thanks
The contact owns a 2004 Toyota Sienna. The contact stated that while driving at approximately 45 mph, the traction warning light illuminated. In addition, the contact stated that the vehicle accelerated independently. The failure occurred on several occasions. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where the failure was unable to be determined. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 130,000...updated 12/02/14 the dealer attempted to fix the vehicle three times. Updated 01/13/15
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Saratoga Springs, UT, USA