1998 Toyota Sienna: doors won't lock, open or latch

Filed Aug 18, 2008 · Body · HI

Both driver's and passenger's side interior door handles broke, in addition to both outdoor handles for the sliding doors (total of three times), and the handle for the trunk broke. First one (exterior sliding door) broke four years ago. They continue to snap to this day.

Filed Jul 26, 2008 · Locks · FL

1998 toyota sienna van - rear passenger sliding door handle broke off when attempting to open the door (the door stuck). This is the second handle that has broken on this van. The rear door hatch handle broke about two years ago. This appears to be a design flaw and is a potential safety hazard. There are numerous complaints posted on bulletin boards about this problem. Toyota has not addressed this concern through a general recall and appears to be blaming the owners. I have had my van serviced by a toyota dealer on a regular basis, so this problem is not a maintenance issue.

Filed Jul 14, 2008 · Body · 102,000 miles · CA

Sliding door handle on exterior has broken off. Broken off when pulling handle to open door. No history of accident. Part will need to be replaced.

Filed Jun 23, 2008 · Body · 120,000 miles · IN

Door handles on all doors have broken off. In case of accident, there would be no way to enter the vehicle from the outside. Rear sliding doors also stick and again do not allow entry or exit from the vehicle without use of a lot of strength which is dangerous for children in back of van.

Filed Mar 13, 2007 · Locks · 5,000 miles · WA

On numerous occasions since purchasing this vehicle (and most recently, today), the sliding door handle/latch/lock has failed. Usually, the failure is such that the door cannot be opened from the inside or outside. Sometimes, the door can only be opened from the inside and sometimes the door can only be opened from the outside. On at least one occasion, an inoperable door spontaneously opened itself when nobody was near it. The dealership has looked at this problem numerous times, to no avail, and significant pieces of the mechanism have been replaced at the cost of several hundred dollars, but the problem persists. A different, but possibly related, problem is that the front passenger door lock (the electronic lock) has also failed repeatedly over the life of the car.

Filed Mar 27, 2006 · Locks · GA

Driver's side door handle, both sliding door handles, and rear hatch handle have broke or are still broken. Driver's handle and one side door handle have been super glued to make operational.

Filed Aug 31, 2005 · Locks · FL

Sienna van back door latch failure to open. Latch components include a piece of plastic that can apparently break rendering the back door latch unusable. Occupants of vehicle would not be able to use the back to escape in case of an accident or allow emergency crews access. Considering a door handle (latch) to be a critical component for safety reasons, I was surprised to find this part made out of plastic. In calling toyota service I was told that its not uncommon for this piece of plastic to break on the vehicles after ~7 years. This is when they expect the failures to occur and the service personal indicated they had just repaired one last week too. At a cost of over $300 to repair this piece of plastic and allow the trunk to open and close again, I personally consider this a safety defect. The trunk latch is not used on a daily basis as the doors are but is an integral part of the vehicle access and failure to design and use parts that can stand up for the life of the vehicle is a safety hazard. The failure came with no prior indication. Went to open trunk and piece of plastic under latch handle broke rendering it useless. I don't know if there are any other failures related to the passenger or driver doors with the latches or if they are made of the same material. Something for the federal safety agency to review.

Filed Jul 31, 2005 · Locks · TX

I have a 1998 toyota sienna. The passenger-side siding door handle broke off in my hand! This is our family car and we take good care of it. The handles have not been jerked or otherwise roughly treated. Now, until we can get this defect repaired, the door cannot be opened from the outside. I am upset because this appears to be common problem with this model.

Filed Jul 18, 2005 · Locks · 15,000 miles · WA

Rear sliding doors on both sides of van at times cannot be unlocked and/or opened from inside or outside. Sometimes cannot close and latch the sliding door. This all happens when the inside push button door release becomes stuck in the depressed position in the door handle. Occurred first on passenger side in cold weather (jan 2000). Dealer followed mfg's tsb to help reduce problem. But now (july 2005, hot weather) driver's side sliding door has same problem.

Filed Jan 10, 2005 · Locks · 20,000 miles · MD

Since our purchase of our 1998 toyota sienna van we have experienced sparatic problems with both slider doors of the van. I have taken it to several toyota dealerships where they tell me that the rubber stripping has to remain clean. I followed their suggestion and to this day it is still happening. This poses a problem when both doors will not open and everyone has to climb through the front doors.

Filed Aug 10, 2004 · Body, Locks · 1,500 miles · GA

1998 toyota sienna sliding door on left and right get stuck and will not open. In case of accident or fire my grandchildren would not be able to get out. Rear door handle broke off in my hand which would create the same hazard of not being able to exit. I've had this problem since I bought the car, and they have never been able to fix it even though they have tried. There are many complaints about thiis very problem from sienna owners. This will definitely cost someone's life.

Filed Aug 5, 2004 · Locks · 25,000 miles · FL

Sliding doors stick and/or jam. Right side door handle has fallen off causing no entry/exit capabilities from right side of vehicle. Left door still jams/stick causing exiting from drivers door or back hatch.