The rear lift door of the 2009 Sienna has the power lift. I hit the fob to open the door to load items into the back of the van. It opened normally and my wife and I leaned into the van to put items in. As the door reached the top, it suddenly started closing while we were standing under it. I had to use quite a bit of force to slow it down enough so we could get out of the way. And even with me being 6'1 and 195 lbs, it was not easy to do. My wife who is 5'1 and 110 lbs could not have stopped it. If I opened the door manually, there was nothing to assist me with the weight of the door, so I had to continually hold it up. Since this incident, it happened every time until I got it fixed at a Toyota dealership. They said the hatch stays were leaking, it cost me $327 for them to install a back door stay kit. In researching this on the internet, I noticed there was a recall for older model years, but not for 2009. It seems like the same exact problem, and feel the recall should be extended to newer model years.

- Cincinnati, OH, USA

The automatic rear lift gate closes as soon as it opens. It been doing for pass few days now. Its a pain but had to go thru. Its expensive to fix, ,,

- Forks, WA, USA

The automatic rear lift gate closes prematurely. The above date is the last time an injury was caused. I think that the gas struts are defective, and can no longer support the weight of the lift gate, which causes the gate to close prematurely. The failure has happened several times in the past year. On one occasion, the gate struck the bridge of my nose and caused a small laceration. I think that the struts can no longer support the weight of the liftgate when it is open, so the liftgate will fall about ten inches after it reaches the fully open position, at which point the power motor will engage the power liftgate to the fully closed position. This has caused injury to me because I was struck by liftgate when it falls or closes. I think that Toyota should correct the defect by replacing the gas struts with redesigned gas struts that have longer service life.

- Bethesda, MD, USA

Rear hatch struts stopped working (manual door). Extremely heavy rear door of the Sienna is now extremely dangerous. Once opened the door just crashes shut. It could easily kill someone who was standing under it.

- Phoenixille, PA, USA

Lift gate struts on 2009 Toyota Sienna have failed meaning that the rear door does not hold itself up when opened. There are two struts and both have failed. The struts must be replaced at a cost of about $200 each for a total of $400.

- Lindsborg, KS, USA

Rear hatch on 2009 Toyota Sienna xle closes spontaneously and does not stay up w/O holding it.

- Fpo, AE, USA

Usually in cold temperatures, whenever the rear automatic hatch is opened from the either the fob or the van's control panel, the rear hatch door begins to close back without warning/notice. This has happened at least 20 times since we purchased our 2009 Toyota Sienna in December of 2008 and is increasing in frequency. The approximate onset date is recorded below on this form. When it begins to close, adults and children have been trapped between the hatch and the vehicle, resulting in pinning and cuts to the head. Only with strong manual force does the hatch stop closing. As of today, 2/9/10, there have been no notifications of a recall or effort to correct or repair the problem. Because the problem was infrequent at first and corrected itself when the temperatures got warmer, we thought it was just a temporary glitch, but then the problem reappeared once temperatures began to get cold again in the fall of 2009.

- Vincennes, IN, USA