The driver's side rear sliding door has several times now refused to latch, and when in emergency situation I have locked it and forced it to shut then it will not unlock and it has to be taken apart to be opened and the whole latch and lock mechanism reworked by the mechanic, and in the meantime the door is unable to be opened which is extremely unsafe when I have children in the middle and back rows of the van. This is the third time in the past 3 years that this problem has occurred, so it is definitely an actual problem with the hardware of the door latch mechanism itself and not simply a glitch that occurred once or something.
2001 Toyota Sienna: doors won't lock, open or latch
19 of the 180 complaints about the 2001 Toyota Sienna describe doors won't lock, open or latch.
- owner complaints
- 19
- of this car's complaints
- 11%
- typical mileage
- 69,490
- recalls
- 0
Is there a fix? No recall or service bulletin covers this area of the car yet.
Doors won't lock, open or latch by model year
What owners say
The left and right rear passenger doors failed to open due to breakage of the cable. I am uncertain of whether the child safety locks were engaged, however, the doors will not open wider than approx. 6". Rear passengers had to crawl out of the van via the driver's or front passenger door. I am elated that the failure of the doors did not occur during a hazardous condition, since this would have placed the rear occupants in extreme danger. If toyota and the federal safety agency was aware that there is a failure in the cables and the manual release of the rear doors, there should have been a safety alert and/or recall of the vehicles for repair of the vans. The failure of the doors is not simply a matter of cosmetic issues, it is potentially hazardous and life threatening. At a minimum, the doors should have allowed for manual opening and closing, if the cables should break. The breaking of the cable, along with the inability to open the door is a defect in workmanship, since the door did not open to allow the passengers to exit the vehicle. I am requesting, along with all of the other owners who have registered complaints, that the agency investigate this matter. At a minimum, the doors should default to manual mode.
I purchased a brand new 2001 toyota sienna xle in 2001. The passenger side power sliding door has given us problem since we purchased the car. We had it back to the dealer for the same power door issue at least 11 times. They now want to charge me. The ntsb should force a recall to fix this issue. The door will not open or close and now it will not move at all either by remote or manually.
I purchased a brand new 2001 toyota sienna xle in 2001. The passenger side power sliding door and the drivers side power sliding door has given us problems since we purchased the car. We had it back to the dealer for the same power door issue at least 11 times. They now want to charge me. The ntsb should force a recall to fix this issue. The door will not open or close and now it will not move at all either by remote or manually. We purchased the dual power sliders as a convenience and now we have inconvenience. We have not been able to use the door properly for years, we have never had the benefit of the power sliding doors that we paid for. I would request that the government investigate the numerous complaints on the various blogs for the same issue described here. We have had this problem for over ten years without a resolution provided by toyota. The doors still do not function. Toyota does not care.
Tl* the contact owns 2001 toyota sienna. The contact stated that both rear sliding doors handles failed. The exterior handle on the rear lift gate also failed. As a result, the power motor on both sliding doors was removed. Due to the removal of the power motors, the contact stated that the door handles were too thin to successfully open and close the doors. The manufacturer was made aware of the failures, but offered no assistance and advised the contact to replace the door handles. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was 57,000.
{much of this content is copied from another complaint, but we are experiencing the same problems} sliding door latches get stuck sometimes in the open and sometimes in the closed position. When doors are closed we are unable to push the button inside or use the outside handle to release the latch and open the door. If the door is open when this happens we are then unable to close the door as it will not latch. When the door remains open this is an obvious safety issue and the van is undriveable as doing so would put the passengers at risk. When the door is stuck in a close position it makes exiting the vehicle difficult which would be a safety issue if there were an emergency and a quick exit were necessary. The back hatch latch has also broken. We have removed the cover from the back hatch and with a great deal of manipulation we can usually make this door work. The power sliding door is now stuck open and will not close. The outside handle has completely broken off. The handle on the manual sliding door is going to break off soon. Please note the vehicle is in good shape otherwise and has never been in an accident. 2001 toyota sienna le/xle.
Tl* the contact owns 2001 toyota sienna. The contact stated the door latches were fractured on the front driver, passenger and rear passenger sliding door. The driver side sliding door failed and was unable to be opened. The contact stated that the only way to enter the vehicle was from the rear hatch. The manufacturer was contacted but provided no assistance. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was 115,000 and the current mileage was 118,000.
2001 toyota sienna... The plastic door handles are breaking off... The right, rear slider handle broke off in 2007. .next the left, rear slider handle broke off... This was dangerous since the child lock was on preventing opening the door from either inside or outside the vehicle with the children trapped inside...now the front passenger door handle has broken.....toyota dealership charges $89.73 for each handle not including installation....it is obvious to me plastic fatigue is the problem...3 of 4 handles have failed in past 3 years...I contend these handles as well as the fourth remaining were and are defective.
Both driver and passenger sliding doors will not open from the inside. The child locks are not on, and occasionally the doors will not latch closed. After fidgeting with the lock and latch, it will eventually latch.
I own a 2001 toyota sienna van ce. In the past 1.5 years all door handles have separated from the car. This includes the driver, passenger, rear driver, rear passenger and tailgate doors handles. These handles are made from plastic and crack and break off at the hinge point. I don't believe the number of breakages of these handles can be caused by normal wear and tear and certainly with two small children and two adults making use of the vehicle would constitute normal wear and tear. This problem is a defect of design or workmanship of the handle and the cost to repair is approximately $350 per handle. It is a serious threat should they break at the improper time or for emergency access to the automobile. I have addressed my concerns with toyota and they don't believe there is a need to correct. Please investigate and respond. [xxx] information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u.s.c. 552(b)(6).
Passenger sliding door would not close/open electronically or manually. The button to turn off the electronic open/close did not work. Toyota service could not fix. Had them cut cable so can close and open door manually. Until the cable was cut, door could not be used to exit van.
The door latch on the passenger side sliding door has failed on two occasions. The first time was in september 2007. We had it replaced at the dealership at our own expense. Then it failed again last week. The dealership tells us it needs to be replaced again. The latch on the rear door has also failed and been repaired at our expense.
Related recalls
No recalls on record for this model year.
Questions about the 2001 Toyota Sienna door locks
Is doors won't lock, open or latch a common problem on the 2001 Toyota Sienna?
19 of 180 owner complaints about the 2001 Toyota Sienna (11%) mention doors won't lock, open or latch. The model year with the most reports is 2004.
Is there a recall or service bulletin for this on the 2001 Toyota Sienna?
There is no recall or service bulletin for this area of the car on record.
Other symptoms on the 2001 Toyota Sienna
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