Last year the driver side automatic sliding door started to have issues. It would open but would not close. We have little children so the automatic sliding door feature was very appealing to us on the Toyota Sienna. On one occasion, it was so bad that my wife had to drive home with the sliding door open because she could not get it to close which is a serious safety concern. We have since disabled the automatic door and just slide it open and close manually. I took it into Toyota to see if the door was under warranty or recall and they said that there was an recall on the sliding door that was going to be released soon so I decided to wait to have it fixed until the recall was released.
The recall finally was released in August/September of 2017 on the electrical for the door. Unfortunately this did not solve the problem and Toyota informed me that there is a malfunction in the motor cable assembly in the door and repairs would cost approximately $1400. I called Toyota directly and they said that they would help cover half of the cost of the repair. Unfortunately, I am not able to cover the $700 at this time to have it repaired and have decided to deal with the manual opening and closing of the door in the meantime, as challenging as that can be with children.
The opening and closing of the sliding door is a standard function of normal daily vehicle use and I feel like should be within warranty or recall from Toyota.
When opening either sliding door by pulling on the outside handles, if you don't pull hard, the doors will only partially open. I have to push the doors the rest of the way open. The same applies for closing them with the handles. This happens about once a month when I forget to use enough force or a rider unfamiliar with the van, doesn't pull hard enough. There is no problems using the other methods to operate the doors.
The 2011Sienna was perfect for us with the 8 passenger seating, we have 4 kids. I went to our nearest dealership, Curry Toyota in Peekskill, NY. The salesman got us into one almost instantly, the weekend slowed the process a little. After a few times driving it I barely missed the sports car.
Now to the problem with sliding doors. My fiancee was the one who noticed the problem first. While loading up the crew she pushed the button on the remote to open the passenger sliding door and was surprised when the door got stuck partially opened. she forced the door closed and retried it. This time it opened correctly. We have had this problem occurring a few times a week since we have gotten the car almost a year ago.
- Rob F.,
Jefferson Valley, NY, US
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A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
Last year the driver side automatic sliding door started to have issues. It would open but would not close. We have little children so the automatic sliding door feature was very appealing to us on the Toyota Sienna. On one occasion, it was so bad that my wife had to drive home with the sliding door open because she could not get it to close which is a serious safety concern. We have since disabled the automatic door and just slide it open and close manually. I took it into Toyota to see if the door was under warranty or recall and they said that there was an recall on the sliding door that was going to be released soon so I decided to wait to have it fixed until the recall was released.
The recall finally was released in August/September of 2017 on the electrical for the door. Unfortunately this did not solve the problem and Toyota informed me that there is a malfunction in the motor cable assembly in the door and repairs would cost approximately $1400. I called Toyota directly and they said that they would help cover half of the cost of the repair. Unfortunately, I am not able to cover the $700 at this time to have it repaired and have decided to deal with the manual opening and closing of the door in the meantime, as challenging as that can be with children.
The opening and closing of the sliding door is a standard function of normal daily vehicle use and I feel like should be within warranty or recall from Toyota.
- Dallas A., Oakley, US