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.
As a result of the transmission cooler being a part of the radiator system, the transmission cooler ruptured while driving causing immediate loss of power and the engine to overheat. This malfunction also caused coolant and transmission oil to contaminate the engine compartment as well as the transmission. This is a major iengineering flaw and safety issue as I was on the interstate when it happened and was stranded on the side of the highway until help could be obtained.
The contact owns a 2007 Toyota Sienna. The contact stated while stopped at traffic light, the vehicle stalled with the brake pedal depressed. Several warning lights illuminated on the instrument panel. The contact shifted the vehicle into neutral and coasted into a driveway. Upon inspection, the contact discovered that there was no oil in the engine. The contact refilled the oil however, the oil immediately leaked out the vehicle. A mechanic arrived on scene and replaced an oil hose. After the hose was replaced, the contact heard an abnormal knocking noise in the engine. The contact took the vehicle to several independent mechanics and was informed that the engine failed and needed to be replaced. The contact had the vehicle towed to Suburban Toyota of farmington hills (25000 haggerty rd, farmington hills, mi 48335) who confirmed there was an engine failure. The contact then had the vehicle towed to an independent mechanic where the engine was replaced. After the engine replacement, the contact experienced several transmission issues. The contact stated that while at a stop, the vehicle independently shifted in and out of gear without warning. Also, while in reverse, the vehicle coasted and jerked upon slight depression of the accelerator pedal. The manufacturer had yet to be notified of the failure. The vehicle had yet to be repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 126,300.
Driving 55mph on frwy, van started smoking in the rear and oil on back of van. Slowly drove short distance home and lights on dash came on upon arriving home. Oil leaked on street where we parked. Had mobile mechanic look at it. Oil cooler hose had burst. He replaced it, we drove the van 50 miles on short trips.when on frwy, it happened again about 3 wks later. Had towed home. Same hose busted again. Looked on internet sites & found same problem has occurred to many people with same van year. Longterm ongoing problem. Called tejas Toyota in humble, tx and svc mgr said Toyota offered an extended warranty (knew there was a problem), but it ended at 100,000 miles/10yrs (we have 120, 900) and is 2007 van. We've already had it towed and fixed twice. We're recovering from near death/covid afraid to drive it since we can't trust it. Based on internet stories by others with same problem, & svc mgr at Toyota opinion, fear is warranted. Our van was repaired 2X w/ same type of inferior hose put on van when built by a mechanic not at Toyota. None of us realized inferior part was the problem.now we need to repair it again with a "kit" that Toyota specifically made because this is known problem after we spent many 100S of $S repairing it using same type part when built. Wouldn't fix it when I called in 2015. It had to break 1st per Toyota when I checked on it in 2015 when got notice.Toyota should repair it at no cost & reimburse me for the expenses I've already had. My husband had covid and almost died and it happened the day after he was released from a month long covid hospital stay and again when I was taking him to therapy for covid 3 wks later. We could have had a accident, been injured, when the van stops with no notice or warning lights.Toyota Corp. Takes no responsibility.it's our problem, not theirs. Can't drive van. Will happen again w/out warning. Help please!!!
The contact owns a 2007 Toyota Sienna. While driving at an unknown speed, the vehicle began to jerk and the transmission hesitated. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic where it was diagnosed that the transmission failed. The dealer was not contacted. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and stated that the vehicle was out of warranty. The failure mileage was 53,000.
At my 120,000 service, the Toyota dealer technician reported a leaking front differential. He said it would take 16 hours to repair. The technician also mentioned that he had 3 Toyota cars currently in the shop for the same thing. This seems beyond coincidental. Clearly, Toyota has a problem with leaking seals. The difficulty to fix this problem translated into a bill of $1,404.60 plus $31.79 for a rental car. The bill may have been more: The car's rack and pinion was also leaking, so some of the labor was shared with that job. This amount seems extreme and either Toyota has faulty seals or, if this is a "normal" wear and tear item at 120,000 miles, Toyota has made it way too difficult to fix. Either way, this amount of expense is inordinate.
- Sandpoint, ID, USA
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Vehicle was parked on slight incline in driveway (not running). Key was in ignition, but vehicle was not running and it was in the off position. Four year old child shifted vehicle out of park into neutral causing it to roll down a hill and impact several trees (no injuries). After the incident, we have found that the vehicle can occasionally be easily shifted out of park with no key in the ignition and without applying pressure to the brake pedal. Most of the time it functions as it supposed to (and won't let you take it out of park).
I was driving my husband to work, when we pulled into his work, all of a sudden I had smoke coming from under my hood. We shut the vehicle off, I had oil everywhere. We couldn't tell where the leak was. I had the vehicle towed home and then to elk grove Toyota. Well it turns out that the oil cooler line broke. This is a design flaw in 2007 to 2010 Toyota Sienna's. there are technicial service bulletins but no recalls. I had to rent a vehicle before I could even get it to a dealership. That bill was $365. This is my only vehicle. The first time ever buying a Toyota. I researched for 4 months before I bought this vehicle.
Transmission had been hesitating at times, but mechanic couldn't find any problems. At 60,400 miles, the transmission died completely and we were stranded far from home. This occurred on a well-maintained vehicle. Because it was over the 60 months/60,000 miles warranty, Toyota offered no assistance. Between towing and replacing transmission, it cost us $5900. Even the mechanic was surprised by the failure at such low mileage, as Toyota Sienna is what he normally recommended to his customers looking for a reliable family vehicle. We were lucky no one in our family was injured, but we are extremely disappointed with Toyota not standing by its product. In hindsight, I wish we had purchased the Honda Odyssey.
Car started having problems approx 55,000 miles, left me stranded on the side of the road twice. First time check engine light came on and started to stall. Pulled off freeway, checked manual and it referenced electronic throttle control, shut off the car and restarted and was able to get on the road. Check engine light came on again, checked code ignition coils, had to replace #6. another instance, car started to stall, check engine light flashed at me, pulled off the road. Was able to take it to dealer in which they stated they couldn't find a problem. Now within days my car's transmission completely went out, current millage 65, 987. Toyota will no absolutely nothing to assist because its "out of warranty". absolutely unacceptable.
On 11/12/15, the radiator body around the lower transmission oil line fitting on the radiator cracked, allowing the fitting to break away from the radiator. This caused almost all of the transmission oil to be pumped into the right side of the engine compartment. The vehicle was being driven in heavy rain on rain soaked roads at 55mph on secondary roads when smoke was observed. When the vehicle was stopped heavy smoke was coming from under the hood and bottom of vehicle, but no fire started. No oil leak was observed before the incident (no oil on garage floor). Leak happened suddenly after approximately 3 miles of driving. The vehicle odometer reading was 95,510.
Our Sienna is a well maintained, low mileage (just over 66,000 miles) vehicle. As of August 30 of this year, the transmission planetary gears have totally failed, leaving the vehicle and us stranded over 100 miles from home. The estimate for a complete transmission rebuild from a reputable transmission specialty shop is $4500, which is much lower than the estimate of $6500 that our Toyota dealer gave us to install a remanufactured transmission. Based on the number of complaints I have read about on the internet, this particular transmission seems to have had significant problems with early failures around the 65,000 mile mark. This repair is on top of a $1000 repair just a month ago to replace both of the rear coil springs. Both springs failed at the same time, with the bottom coil rusting through and failing at the bottom spring support. As a materials engineer myself, I believe this is a design or production issue with these springs, for both to fail in the exact same spot on the same coil at the exact same time. (and it is worth pointing out that this vehicle has spent its life in northern Virginia, a place that does not have much snow, or extensive use of road salt.) also, just about a year ago, we had to have the steering rack replaced at the dealer's recommendation, which was another $1000 repair. So in a period of just over a month, this vehicle is going to have almost $6000 of repairs to it (not including the steering rack repair.) this is completely unacceptable for a low mileage vehicle, especially for a Toyota, which are normally highly reliable. This vehicle has been maintained by a reputable local Toyota dealer, so all of the records are available to you.
I was northbound on interstate 15 in Utah and noticed smoke coming out from underneath my car. I pulled into a Firestone service center where they diagnosed the issue to be a faulty oil cooler hose assembly on my 2007 Toyota Sienna mini-van. I contacted Toyota dealer who said that the part had been upgraded from a rubber hose to a metal hose that would not burst like mine had. I was not informed of the option to upgrade prior to this incident and in fact had had my car into the dealer for an oil change the week before this incident. Firestone said I was down to two quarts of oil remaining in the oil pan. I feel lucky that I did not burn up my engine by stopping before the oil pan ran dry. Also, I am lucky that I was driving and not my wife with a car full of kids as there seemed to be a risk of a car fire based on the smoke. I am wondering now just how safe and reliable my car is and what other problems Toyota is aware of that they have not yet told me about on my year make and model. By the way it kind of ruined the family vacation we were just starting.
Upon slowing down to turn a street corner the transmission slipped before it would go again. It seemed that it was between the slowing down and re-accelerating after the turn. This problem is well documented on google by many drivers. The dealers reprogram some computer and then declare it to be fixed when the same problem occurs again. Toyota refuses to fix the problem which costs one about $3,000 to actually fix it by replacing the transmission. I bought the van as used.
The transmission started slipping and then went out completely, causing the van to be unable to move at all. This occurred on a public highway. The transmission required complete replacement at a cost of over $5000.
The contact owns a 2007 Toyota Sienna. The contact stated that the transmission failed. The contact also stated that NHTSA campaign number 13V429000 (power train) repair was performed; however, the repair did not correct the failure. The contact also stated that the gear shift was in drive however, the vehicle failed to accelerate. The driver attempted to shift from reverse to drive and was unable to release the gear shift. The vehicle was towed to the dealer, who performed a diagnostic test that confirmed that the transmission failed. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure and current mileage was 127,000.
I am the second owner of the vehicle. I was driving on interstate 5 at 65 miles per hours from sacramento to los angeles. The time was 1600 on 13 April 2014. I did not notice any crack or noise from road debris damage while I am diving. The red low oil warning light on the dashboard did not turn on at the time when the incident happened. I was pulled over a rest stop to use restroom; I also walk around the vehicle to conduct a visual check and fluid check at the same time. I was discovered engine oil was all over the engine bay, undercarriage and the back lift door during the visual check. When I checked the engine oil, the dip stick showed no engine oil. Again, the red low oil warning light did not turn on which indicate low engine oil at that time even the engine had no engine oil. Vehicle was towed to Toyota dealership and discovered an oil cooler hose which make out of rubber was ruptured. Even the oil cooler hose was replaced with a metal oil hose; the engine was damaged by operated without engine oil for a significant period. Prior to the trip, I purchased the all metal vvt-I hose from a local dealership, again no warning from the dealership. I used a local repair shop to replace the vvt-I hose locate at the passage side of the engine to an all metal pipe since I have knowledge on the rubber vvt-I hose have the same rupture issue. However, I have no knowledge on the T-sb-0201-11 which is the Toyota technical service bulletin title oil cooler pipe seep. There is recall regarding shift lock solenoid and severe corrosion of the spare tire carrier cable on the 2007 Sienna, however, there is no recall on possible rupture on vvt-I hose or oil cooler hose. If the recall was issued or at least warned by dealership, I will fix the oil cooler hose at the dealer or a local repair shop and avoid the engine damage which leaded to engine replacement.
I have had this van since new. Air conditioning stopped working after 4 years with less than 60000 miles. First transmission problem started at 68000 miles. The transmission problem first reared its ugly head when I was backing out of a parking spot one early morning in November 2011. It sounded as though I had run over something. After getting out of the van and looking around it appeared as though everything looked good. I got back in the van and started to drive and could hear a rubbing sound coming from the front of the van and noticed it would slow down quicker when taking my foot off of the accelerator, so much so that your body would lean forward. Also, I noticed the van would now slow down instead of picking up speed when coasting down a hill which is something it had never done before. I brought the van into my local Toyota dealership that week to have it looked at but they said that was the way it was supposed to run. I told them 68 000 miles of driving experience since it was new has told me otherwise. They persisted with their "everything was as it should be" story and that it could be the brakes sticking occasionally. I even told them that the rubbing sound goes away when shifted into neutral which would eliminate the brakes as the cause. The vans transmission finally failed in February of 2013 at 82 000 miles after I had brought the issue up 4 times with my Toyota dealership while getting other service completed, and yes they did change the transmission fluid before all of this happened. The transmission diagnosis and subsequent repair/rebuild quoted by the Toyota dealership was $4000. Mr. Transmission charged me $3100. Like me, you have either already purchased a Toyota product or are considering the purchase. All I can say is google transmission and problems and you'll find lots to read. Good luck.
After a short trip, 5 miles, I was backing into my driveway when I noticed some fluids on the cement. I checked the liquid and was not sure if it was coolant or transmission fluids so I called my mechanic and he recommended that I should have it towed in.it turns out that the problem was that a connector at the bottom of the radiator cracked and was mixing the coolant with the transmission fluid, it appears that a defective fitting was the problem. It cost me $977.3 to replace the radiator and flush the transmission. My mechanic said if I would have continued driving with these 2 fluids mixing I would have damaged the transmission beyond repair for a bill of $3,000. More if this is a common problem on these cars people should at least be notified what to watch for or better yet repaired by the company.
On mon 10/22/2012 at 11:15 am I experienced sudden uncontrolled acceleration driving my van. I was traveling on I-696E in detroit at a constant 70mph, then slowed to 45mph due to construction. As traffic cleared the construction, I pushed the accelerator pedal to pass a semi-truck. I felt the accelerator continue to depress, I completely pulled my foot off but the pedal did not come back nor did the vehicle slow down. Rather, it did just the opposite and continued to accelerate. I attempted to brake hard with no response--the vehicle did not slow down. Then I put the van in neutral to slow down the engine with no results, the van continued increasing 60+mph with no foot on accelerator. This is when I became extremely frightened. The vehicle was pulling from side to side. I looked down to see if there was any interference from the floor mat and none was seen. I tapped gas pedal - no response. Next I put van back in drive and braked --no response again. Then I downshifted to 4th, the engine did not slow, and further downshifted to 3rd gear. Finally, the engine responded and slowed. I used the gas pedal cautiously as I then shifted to 4th so that I could exit the freeway. I parked at my office & immediately called my husband first and explained what happened and I then immediately called the our Toyota Suburban dealer. They told me to bring it in for inspection. I was still shaking when I brought the vehicle in and extremely upset. After two inspections, they stated sudden acceleration was caused by the floor mat. Although this seems reasonable, it does not explain why brakes failed to overcome the engine, and shifting to neutral failed to disengage the transmission. The vehicle scares me to death. I do not know what to do next. I consider myself a serious witness as a registered nurse (rn/bsn) with 20 yr manual driving. Ref Toyota case #[xxx] and #[xxx]. information redacted pursuant to the Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).
4 yr child was able to shift van into drive without ignititon key in starter. Was able to replicate the event 30 min later at home once. Will take van in to dealer for service.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Ashland, OH, USA