The incident occurred while I was driving from ohio to florida, on spring break. I was the sole adult in the vehicle with my two daughters, who were riding in the middle seats. We had traveled all day and had stopped in lake city, fl to fill up with gas. When we got back on the highway (I-75), my daughter told me she was hot. It was just after 8 pm and the sun had set. Not wanting to turn on the air conditioner, I told her I would open the rear vent windows to move air through the car. I pushed the button to open the rear vent windows, and the window on the passenger side flew off the van. I heard the noise, and my daughter yelled that the window was gone. I looked in my rear view mirror to see the window sailing through the air in the draft of the van. Then it crashed and shattered all over the highway. We were very lucky that no one was traveling directly behind us. I slowed down and waited for any cars traveling behind me to pass and to see if anyone was going to pull over. No one stopped, and there was no reason for me to go back for the shattered window. I would like to note that I was not traveling at an excessive speed. Thankfully my van was the only car involved and no one got hurt. One expectation that I have when I buy a car is that the windows wont fly off when I open them during normal operation, no matter how old the car is. My car has never been in an accident, and further more it had just been in the dealership for the 90k maintenance and body check.
2004 Toyota Sienna body complaints
Page 13 of 33: complaints 341 to 370 of 962, newest first, as owners wrote them.
Tl* the contact owns a 2004 toyota sienna. The contact stated that while parked on an incline, the cable fractured and the passenger side sliding door slammed shut. The dealer diagnosed that the motor and cable needed to be replaced. The manufacturer was notified, but denied assisting the contact with the failure. The failure was not repaired. The failure and current mileage was 90,000.
Toyota sienna automatic sliding door failed. The door is unable to be opened even in manual mode. This is a design flaw and a serious safety issue as my children need to climb over seats to exit through the only door that works. When that cable mechanism breaks, they will have no way to exit the vehicle in an emergency.
Driver's side door makes a popping noise when opened & closed. Dealer inspected it and indicated it was a driver strap weld that is bad. District service manager offered to cover 50% of repair which I refused as this is a common defect with siennas ('04 to '07). Toyota previously issued a "warranty enhancement" for this defect but has not been accountable for their poor design and materials. A call to toyota consumer affairs was not successful in resolving the payment issue.
Tl*the contact owns a 2004 toyota sienna. The contact stated the passengers automatic sliding door required extensive force when it was opened manually. The vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer who stated the failure was related to the power sliding door motor. The service warranty expired and the vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the defect and were unable to provide further assistance. The failure mileage was 120,000.
The drivers side passenger sliding door will not open. This is a non-automatic sliding door. There is no way to open the door from the inside or the outside. This has happened with our automatic door as well. We had to pay over 1800 to have that door fixed. This is a safety issue when the doors will not open! If there was to be an accident and the children could not get out of that door because there is a fault with the latches, that would be tragic. This is not the first time a complaint has been filed about the sliding doors in a toyota van.
Cable failure on both power sliding doors of my 2004 toyota sienna. Doors now not operating properly if opening at all.
Tl* the contact owns a 2004 toyota sienna. While the vehicle was parked during inclement weather the contact stated the rear driver and passenger side automatic power sliding doors would not open automatically or manually. The seals on the door were frozen shut. While the vehicle was parked on an incline the doors would automatically close on their own while exiting the vehicle. The contact noticed a cable on the automatic sliding doors snapped on the rear drivers side. The passengers in the rear seat had to enter and exit the vehicle from the lift gate. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where the motor was disconnected and the wires were removed. The automatic feature was also disconnected and the doors were opened manually. The vehicle was repaired. The approximate failure mileage was 50,000. Updated 07/08/11 *bf the consumer stated the cable snapped on both sliding doors, which disabled automatically. Even manually, there was no way to open or close the doors. Updated 11/23/11
2004 toyota sienna. Left side, driver side power sliding door will not close-motor failure.
Toyota sienna 2004 le - rear door struts (manual) failed causing the door to drop (free fall). Very lucky that my kids were not around at that time.
2004 toyota sienna,power door cable snapped...dealer asking $1500 to fix this problem..when this happened ,the car was only 50k miles on this..I found that this is a common problem with all the sienna..I would like to concede this as a recall & fix this asap.
Manual sliding door (drivers side) doesn't latch completely and comes open when turning right.
Description: front door check popping noise cause: spot weld in door check failed controls door when opening and closing safely. Toyota has tsb nv003-07, but has limited warranty. Expired for me.
My 2004 sienna toyota door fell right off of the car. First the power opening stopped working then some wire snapped and the door fell right off the car. This is usually a spot most people put their children. This is a door that teachers open to get my child out for school. If this happened moments before it would of fell on a teacher in front of the entire school and my child.
Rear sliding door power cable on 2004 toyota sienna broke. Causing door to be stuck in open position. Toyota has known of defect and issued a tsb (el004-04) in april of 2004, but did not repair previously manufactured minivans.
Right power sliding door is completely inoperative. Unable to open the door with either the manual handles (inside or outside) or the power switch.
Door check had been clicking - lubed it with lithium grease. Then window wouldn't go all the way down. Brought vehicle to dealer to be told the door check failed, bent the window track and needs to be repaired by re-welding another piece of metal to the door and door check to the tune of $500. When we inquired about the past safety issue of the door investigation and voluntary warranty extension of the door check, we were told the vehicle age and mileage passed the bulletin campaign that was in effect for 2004-2006 model years. I guess we were unaware that a safety issue such as sagging doors and doors falling off a vehicle would have limited time to fail. We have four children in the "family friendly van" on a regular basis. How long should one expect a door to provide safe containment of the occupants of a motor vehicle ?? Laws protect us by having auto makers provide replacement parts for so many years after production ends, but we set up a solution for a proven safety problem with a limited responsibilty time frame. I hate to think how many drivers or occupants will die if their vehichle door falls off while they are driving. Especially if they knew there had been a prior solution for those that had parts sooner rather than later.
Loud noise when closing and opening driver side door.
The rear, automatic sliding door to my 2004 toyota sienna is inoperable. The cable snapped. I've read numerous reports on-line of this type of incident related to this model. The repair estimates average about $1500. Obviously, this is a consumer issue as well as a safety issue that should be addressed.
Passenger sliding power door stopped working. I manually tried to open the door and it fell off the rear hinge point. I am a mechanical engineer specializing in product testing. I worked in the automotive component industry for 11 years. I can say that this door system is way under engineered. Toyota should be forced to fix this. People are reporting this all over the internet. I called toyota when just the auto open/close system was broken. They told me I'm on my own. That system fails in two ways. 1.) if the auto open/close system fails it should break way from the hinging system so the door will just function manually. Instead it jams the door in the position it broke in. That is a safety issue. 2.) the hinge system is way under engineered for load. I am a 180lb 46 yr old engineer who is soft around the middle. I'm not very strong. I took the door off the hinge! That should not able to happen with such a low force rate. I see this as a safety issue as well. Toyota engineers should be ashamed of them selves. That van cost over 40k brand new. It's only 6 years old and has been well cared for. T's a family/child carrier. It should be designed like a tank in my opinion.
Sliding doors open when driving.
Tl*the contact owns a 2004 toyota sienna. While the vehicle was parked he noticed that the drivers side door check mount panel was no longer welded in some areas. He stated the door made a lot of noise when opened or closed. The contact noticed the failure a month ago. He called the dealer and was advised that they were aware of the failure and it would be costly to repair to repair the vehicle. He called the manufacturer and filed a complaint. The vehicle was not repaired. The approximate failure mileage was 106,000 and the current mileage was 107,000.
I have a 2004 toyota sienna. Both sliding doors now have broken cables and will not open from the inside. They only open when forced open from the outside. The repair cost from a toyota dealer is $1,600.00 per door. The part itself cost $1,100.00 plus the labor. The doors now are a safety issue since my son can not get out of the back quickly if needed. The cables rusted and severed while opening. The doors do not have a manual override to allow opening properly once the electronic operation is compromised.
Tl* the contact owns a 2004 toyota sienna. The contact stated that the driver door was fractured and would not open any more than two inches. The vehicle was inspected by an independent mechanic and they advised her that the hinges on the door were not welded properly. The manufacturer was then contacted and they advised her that they were offering an extended warranty for the failure, but she did not fall within the category. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 85,000.
Tl* the contact owns 2004 toyota sienna. The contact stated that the motor cable for the passenger side sliding door fractured. The contact took the vehicle to the dealer and was told that the motor assembly unit failed and would need to be replaced. The door was no longer operable because the dealer stated that it was opened, it would cause further damage. The dealer did not give a cause for the failure. The failure and current mileage was 88,000.
The 2004 toyota sienna xle van that we own has two power sliding doors. The cable to the passenger door snapped preventing the door from functioning as it should. The motor on the door is still in working order, but you cannot replace just the cable, you must replace the entire unit including the motor at $1200. We converted the door to a manual door and that worked for about 2 weeks. The door stopped functioning entirely and we are no longer able to open the passenger sliding door on our vehicle. This is a potential safety risk to us as we haul our 3 children in the back of the van. For example, when fueling the vehicle, the driver side sliding door is inoperable and in the event of a fire, the children would be trapped in the back of the vehicle. We have had very little luck in finding a used part and will hopefully be getting a new part to fix the problem in the near future.
I own a 2004 toyota sienna with power sliding doors. The cable on my driver's side door snapped, causing the door to not be able to close. My husband sat in the back seat and held the door shut while we drove it to the service center. The repair was estimated to be around $1500, so we had them disable the power feature and we now use the door manually. This cable snapping on 2004 sienna vehicles is a known problem which they refuse to issue a recall for. The sliding doors are poorly designed and dangerous. I currently drive a newborn and a toddler around in my sienna and I don't trust the doors that are supposed to protect them. Please encourage toyota to issue a recall and fix these broken sliding doors!
A few months ago a cable snapped on the passenger side sliding side doors. Without the cable the door will not open properly. Recently, the same cable snapped on the driver's side sliding side door. Now that door will not open. I have been told that an entire new cable assembly must be placed in each door. Without the sliding side doors opening the only means of ingress and egress from the vehicle is through either the rear hatch or the front doors. It is both a safety concern as well as very inconvenient to not be able to use those doors. The side sliding doors, back when they still worked, were also prone to freezing shut whenever it got cold outside and the doors would not open unless they thawed. Again, this made the passenger compartment difficult to access and dangerous in case of an emergency.
2004 toyota sienna: automatic sliding door fails to open or only opens intermittently. In 2008 I spent over $1000 to have this exact problem fixed and it is happening again. The passenger sliding door will not open, whether in the automatic mode or if changed to manual. This not only shouldn't happen, but is a safety hazard. If I were in an accident and my kids were in the car - they would not be able to get out of the car. Toyota has not taken responsibility for this problem. There are over 500 posts on edmunds.com about the exact same problem! It is about time to do something about this!!!!
I have a toyota sienna 2004 le model. 2 weeks back my back door (hatch back) started closing down without any resistance. The back door struts have stopped working. The back door pretty much fell on my child's back. I called toyota but they wouldn't do anything about it. My toyota reference number is [xxx]. Information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u.s.c. 552(b)(6).
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