Toyota Sequoia fire or smoke problems

Filed Nov 23, 2022 · Electrical · 200,000 miles · LA

The contact owns a 2003 Toyota Sequoia. The contact stated while parking the vehicle, the contact noticed smoke coming from under the hood of the vehicle. The contact stated while depressing the brake pedal, he felt the vehicle made a sudden stop. The contact checked under the hood and noticed that the VSC box was melting. The contact disconnected the battery to the vehicle and the smoke stopped. The vehicle was not diagnosed. The manufacturer was not contacted. The failure mileage was 200,000.

Filed Jan 11, 2021 · Engine · 150,000 miles · UT

Toyota has developed what is becoming an infamous oil leak on their 5.7 v8 engines that is coming from the camshaft tower (camshaft housing sub assembly). Apparently in production they use a silicone where this attaches to the head and in many cases they did not get enough silicone. Research has shown me that many, many of these have this issue and that when the vehicle is fairly new that toyota will stand behind it in limited cases. My vehicle has 150,000 miles on it so they will not do anything to stand behind it and claimed to not be aware of the problem. I have contacted several dealerships and all of them stated they were well aware of the problem. I believe this to be a safety issue as mine has started to leak, it does so on to the exhaust manifold and has a strong burning smell each time I drive even if only a short distance. This could easily cause a fire. While I am not aware of any of these causing a fire it is a very common issue to the point that I found a law firm that was looking to do a class action lawsuit because of it. I can provide pictures if needed but they can be seen all over the internet.

Filed Jan 5, 2021 · Engine · 137,200 miles · CA · fire

On 12/21/2020, after running errands, I put my vehicle inside my locked garage at 10:30 a.m. And all was fine. At around 9:00 p.m. That same night, I opened my garage to find it full of smoke. After inspecting everything, I saw nothing was still on fire and waited until the morning to investigate the problem. I first tried to start the vehicle and it had battery power but would not turn over. I then put it in neutral and backed the vehicle away from the front of the garage to open the hood. I saw the engine had burned up from somewhere on the passenger side but had put itself out. The fire cracked the exterior hood, burned hoses, electrical and other areas of the inside of the engine. Black soot had also dropped on the floor of the garage underneath where the fire was. The wood beams inside my garaged were also scorched black from the intense heat from the fire/smoke but luckily had not caught fire. I had it towed to my mechanic who said I should have my car insurance take over. Mercury has not determined the cause of the fire but I am pushing for the exact cause since if it's related to a recall issue, then toyota should be held accountable and I should be compensated. My vehicle has 37,200 miles less than the average and I have a spreadsheet of all scheduled maintenance, smog checks and recalls completed. There was no reason this vehicle should have spontaneously combusted inside my garage. Luckily, I wasn't driving, wasn't hurt, and no other property was damaged due to this problem.

Filed Mar 23, 2020 · Engine · 137,000 miles · UT

Toyota has a faulty design on 5.7 liter sequoias and tundras where the engine camshaft tower sealant leaks oil towards the cabin. Since the engine is tilted back, the engine oil is directed to a heat shield and then directly to the exhaust pipe. Upon reaching the exhaust it causes smoke. The smoke will enter into the cabin causing engine fumes which occur when driving or parked until the engine cools. The engine could have caught fire, based on the amount of smoke that came out. Upon further research, this issue has caused fires. Evidence of this problem is readily available searching "toyota tundra cam leak fire", furthermore, change.org petition has over 5,178 signatures requesting the recall. This issue has occurred in vehicles from 1,000 miles and up. Toyota now uses a different sealant to prevent this leaking, so they must have recognized the issue but have remained silent. Upon contacting toyota, the customer service representative stated that he "had never heard of this problem". The dealership that is fixing this has a number of experienced mechanics that do see this often. It is unsafe to drive with this condition and the cost to repair is over $3,000!

Filed Jun 15, 2019 · Engine · CA

My 2013 toyota sequoia with the 5.7 liter engine (only 28,000 miles) is leaking oil by the cam tower (left side). The oil is landing on the manifold which can catch on fire if not repair. Not a safe SUV to drive on long trips.

Filed Nov 16, 2017 · Seats · 223,601 miles · SC

3/22/17, driving om I 85 highway from greenville, s.c. To ga.. Smelled something burning, turned off my air and radio. Seat began to heat up. 45 minutes to go. Parked did not get back into the car until 4/3/2007. Noticed side of seat covered in smoke and seat adjusters melted and blackened. Unable to adjust seats. Took car back to greenville to dealer week of april 10th. Told I had to report this to corporate. I called corporate and they asked me to send pictures, I did, corporate sent inspector out on may 15th, 2017. Promised a response in 30 days. This is my only vehicle, I was fearful, but I continued to drive it. I waited on a response, and made several phone calls, and was told pictures were sent to china, and it would take more time. I continued to call corporate and in august I finally received information telling me that I had caused the problem and toyota would not fix my car. I have had the SUV serviced as directed by the manuel by a toyota dealer since I purchased it in 2003. I did nothing to cause this malfunction in my power position control system. I informed corporate several times that this was aggravating my already injured back because I could not adjust my seat. I am now scheduled for back surgery next month. This malfunction could happen to someone else and I am fearful of my what could have happened to me and what could happen to someone else. I had about 223601 miles on the car at the time of the incident. Please investigate.

Filed Mar 10, 2012 · Engine · TX · fire

It made noise on start and while pulling out of parking the flames/smoke came under the engine/hood and whole vehicle got burned in few minutes. Recently had 30k service done by toyota dealer. It has been running in excellent condition.

Filed Nov 24, 2010 · Body, Locks · 100,000 miles · TX

Interior door handle failure - only method of exiting vehicle. Failed for a third time under normal use before reporting to the federal safety agency. If vehicle is in a crash, on fire, or under water, a person will panic and exert greater force than normal on the handle, snapping it, leading to potential death. Dealer told me they have "hundreds" of these come through. Ask toyota how many they have replaced to get actual scope. They have no incentive to correct failure since dealer makes $250.00 to correct the failure. No egress in a burning car is equivalent to no fire exit doors in a burning building.

Filed Aug 19, 2010 · Driver assistance · 177,425 miles · GA

On friday, july 30, 2010, my 2004 toyota sequoia sr5 suddenly disengaged in the middle of oncoming traffic with loss of power; dashboard lights vsc, brake, and trac lights, illuminating, loud metal skidding noise coming from underneath, and subtle burning smell all happening simultaneously as it cruised in fatigue-mode the rest of the way. Scared the life out of me as all I could do was pray that a tractor trailer was not behind me in full speed as they so often do on major roadways. As the truck continued to glide and drivers honking for me to clear the way, I proceeded to nearest toyota dealership. I reached closest toyota dealership service dept. For them to examine root cause of issue. Rather than them explaining to me why issue occurred, they quickly concluded need for ABS skid control computer, part# 89541-0c062, with diagnostic test results dtc1223 ABS control, c1247 stroke sensor, and c1310 active booster solenoid and wanted to charge $$$$ number of thousand dollars. I called toyota corporate not satisfied with results and corp suggested I get data from dealership's diagnostic for further analysis by my selling/home dealership. I asked servicing dealership for data and they admitted they had erased it and it was no longer available; and said they cannot look into black-box unless mandated by law or by corporate tech support. I then wrote toyota president mr. Steve st. Angelo and he forwarded it to exec. Customer relations. Customer rel vowed to pay repairs on reimbursement terms if I find toyota dealer who is willing to repair the truck. I called servicing dealer and they refuse to fix without same-day payment by toyota corporate. I asked my selling/ dealership who at first agreed to repair the truck then rengaged stating that since former dealership "erased the code" they have no way of confirming issue and if changed ABS box and truck's further issues later, they would be held liable. In meantime, I am urgent need of my truck; please help.

Filed May 1, 2010 · Driver assistance · 98,000 miles · GA · fire

Battery in 2004 toyota sequoia went dead. Put the battery on charge. After charging was complete I put the key in the ignition to start the car. I started the car and smoke poured out from under the hood. I immediately turned the ignition off and opened the hood to find the ABS computer smoking with flames. I quickly put out the flame with a thick blanket and noticed smoke shooting through a hole burned in the computer. I am still researching this issue...thank god my family was not in this car when this happened.