In the early summer of 2013, I was traveling north on I-15, approx 5 minutes to st. George, utah on a beautiful clear day when the car began to swerve and the yellow skid light came on and the emergency beeping sound alarmed and the car slows down on its own--I no longer have control over accelerating the speed of the car. It frightened and alarmed me and my passengers. Within about 5 seconds the light went off and the alarming beeping sound stopped and now I have control of the speed of the car. I have traveled that road several times since and the same incident has occurred at approx the same spot. However, in 2014, during my travels to and fro on this same highway where the speed limit is 65-75mph, the incident occurs in several other spots along I-15 north and southbound. The skid light and the alarming beeping sound even went off when coming to a stop going approx. 5mph. The indicator light and alarm sound seems to be getting more and more sensitive. The same incident has been occurring this year every day on my way home from work at the same spot on I-215. Even though the speed limit is 65mph, I have to slow down to less than 50mph in order to avoid this occurrence. This creates a very hazardous situation since I am slowing down for apparently no reason to the cars behind me who are traveling at the speed limit.
2004 Toyota Sienna brakes complaints
Page 3 of 4: complaints 41 to 70 of 88, newest first, as owners wrote them.
In this initial incident, I was traveling on a curvy road at posted speed limit of 30mph. My vehicle suddenly slowed, as if I was applying the brakes, which I was not, and my steering was compromised. In addition the vsc indicator and symbol flashed on my dashed and beeped. The road was dry. This has occurred 10+ times since. I have brought it to my mechanic, without turning the engine off after the occurrence so that he could "read" the computer but there is no evidence available. We have brought it to the toyota dealer. They "rebooted" the sensors and said it should be fine. It has continued to happen, on the freeway going uphill at 55 MPH, going downhill at 60 MPH and has been close to causing a rear end collision each time.
Starting from a stop and accelerating up to approx 20 MPH, ABS tracs vsc lights illuminated with beeping alert, and activation of brakes causing a sudden deceleration. The road was dry, level pavement, no ice, no gravel, driving straight and the brakes were not being applied. There were no conditions that would necessitate the traction control. As the brakes were not being applied at the time of the incident, the rear brake lights would not have illuminated. Therefore, any driver behind our vehicle would not have been alerted to the sudden deceleration which could have resulted in a collision. Fortunately this was not the case. This is the 2nd time that this issue has occurred with this vehicle. The first was in nov. 2007 (46000 miles in the vehicle). Toyota service was not able to find a fault, no codes stored and not able to replicate at that time. They said that they would have a corporate contact get in touch with me. I never heard from them. Nothing was resolved. There are at least two tsbs related to the vsc issue (tsb br004-03 and br008-04). Neither was implemented.
Summary: sensor in stability control failed and falsely reported crisis situation, causing computer to seize control to slow vehicle and change course. Long version: while driving straight on city street, suddenly vehicle slowed and pulled to side, stability control light and audio alarm activated, heard grinding noise that sounded like ABS. Condition persisted if driving over 5-10 MPH. Crawled to nearby non-dealer repair shop. Diagnosis/solution: steering angle sensor reporting wheels at 250 degrees when actually straight ahead, would not recalibrate, circuit integrity otherwise good, sensor was replaced. No residual problems noted so far since then (one day). I have the failed sensor. This sensor problem was cause of a production change and tsb br008-04 in the first year. Obviously toyota has known about this problem for years, but no recall. Other accounts exist on line of people who have had this happen. This is a major safety hazard. It's the mechanical equivalent of riding with a driver on lsd who is braking/swerving to avoid hallucinations. I was lucky to be going slowly on an uncrowded street, but at higher speed or crowded conditions this could be a disaster. Toyota has not been terribly helpful so far, but discussion will continue....
Tl* the contact owns a 2004 toyota sienna. The contact stated that while driving 35 MPH, the vsc and the traction off light illuminated causing the brake to engage independently. The vehicle was not taken to the dealer for inspection. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 20,000.
Six times now driving at speeds between 30 and 60 MPH my toyota mini van's vehicle traction control has activated, brakes go on, pull me into another lane, all lights flashing, car beeping. It lasts anywhere from 3 seconds to 10 seconds. It is absolutely terrifying.
My car is a 2004 toyota sienna awd xle limited. The vehicle will activate the vehicle skid control (vsc) without warning while driving on smooth dry roads. The effect is for the vehicle to apply brakes strongly to specific wheels pulling the car strongly to one side. This happens most frequently while driving winding roads and in corners. It has become more regular it it's occurrence and has happened on relatively straight sections of highway most recently. A similar situation occurred approx 2 years ago. At that time the retailer repaired it by adjusting the steering sensor used by the vsc and stated that this should be done periodically dependent on alignment work done on the vehicle. This solved the issue at that time. It is very dangerous both to the vehicle which requires great effort to maintain control and the vehicles following it which are at risk of rear ending the effected car. The toyota retailer initially indicated that a catalyst failure was the cause (yes they said this). I was told that the cat failure could induce other brake and engine related failures. The cat was replaced and the vsc failure has resumed. At this time no failures of any kind are indicated. I have researched this topic and find about a dozen identical failures on 2014 toyota siennas documented in various user forums. As there are only a few documented on the federal safety agency site I am concerned that the situation is under reported. Many of these user forums indicate that the symptoms were reported to the manufacturer. My most recent trouble report case number from toyota is [xxx]. Information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u.s.c. 552(b)(6).
Traction control unexpectedly engaged while I was driving on the curvy hwy 17 from santa cruz to san jose, california on july 04, 2012. The traction control light came on with sound "bip, bip. Bip.... I lost control of the car in a very short moment and cars adjacent to me veered away to avoid me. I almost caused an accident. I had both toyota dealership and qualified auto shop test my van, replaced a fault sensor (recemended by toyota dealer) but the same problem remains. I had toyota dealership and private qualied auto technician test the van again and they could not repeat the same problem, and determined that there was nothing wrong with it. During the past 12 months I experienced traction control problem around 10 times, the last 2 times were in july 2013. The problem happens only on curvy roads, at any speed, and in a very short moment, around 1-5 seconds before the traction control light and sound go off. This is a very serious safety problem.
The vsc has activated multiple times on my van for no apparent reason. While driving at any speed and usually in a turn, the vsc light will flash, the warning beep will beep, and the ABS brakes will automatically be applied and the engine will quickly decelerate. I have almost been rear-ended several times because the van will suddenly decide to decelerate. I have no control over when this happens and no control of the van when it does!
2004 toyota sienna van has been having intermittent vsc. At 10-20 MPH the anti-skid warning light will activate with warning beep and the anti-lock brakes will active and begin to stop the car. When the anti-lock brakes activate the car pulls violently to the right and is difficult to control. Toyota issued a tsb br008-04 in november 2004 stating ''some customers may experience an intermittent vsc activation after starting the engine and driving straight from a stop position. This condition is always accompanied by the instrument panel vsc light and audible warning buzzer turning on at the same time. To prevent this condition, the steering angle sensor has been changed. This is an obvious recall malfunction. Why was there not a recall?
Tl*the contact owns a 2004 toyota sienna. While driving approximately 5 MPH a slip control alarm began to sound and the rear brakes locked. During the failure a slip control light also began illuminating on the instrument panel. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic who stated that there was rust developing on a spindle near the front driver's side speed sensor. The front driver's side speed sensor was replaced and the rust was cleaned from the spindle. The failure continued to occur. The failure and current mileages were 94,900. The VIN was unavailable.
Tl* the contact owns a 2004 toyota sienna. The contact stated that the vehicle would not shift out of park just after the ignition was started. After repeated attempts, the contact was able to shift the vehicle out of park as the anti-lock brake warning light illuminated. The vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer where the brake switch and the anti lock braking system were replaced. The failure and current mileage was 97,145. Updated 04/15/11*lj updated 1/13/2012 *ln
I owe a 2004 toyota sienna. Within the last 30 days I had to replace my brake master cylinder at my local toyota dealership (over $1500) due to a brake fluid leak which caused brake fluid to accumulate into the booster and into the engine (and the brake light to illuminate). This is a very similar to the problem which caused toyota to issue the recall that was announced on october 20th with the toyota highlander model. I feel the recall should be extended to the sienna model. I contacted toyota, and they will not offer any reimbursement or relief for me.
Tl*-the contact owns a 2004 toyota sienna. While the contact was driving approximately 35 MPH the brakes began to engage without pressure applied to the brake pedal. There was an illumination of the anti-lock brake system warning light. The failure was a first time occurrence. The vehicle was taken to the dealer for service repair. The technician replaced the steering angle sensor. The failure mileage was 68,734. The current mileage was 160,000.
2004 toyota sienna xle ltd. There were times when the gas pedal would get stuck at 60 MPH or when I was turning on a long freeway on ramp going about 30-35, the van would accelerate when I did not want it to.
1. Events leading to the failure: my wife was traveling north on peebles rd in allison park, pa in our 2004 toyota, sienna. After my wife proceeded through the intersection with duncan avenue the driver of the vehicle in front of my wife suddenly stopped short and that person's brake lights did not come on. When my wife realized the situation she hit her brakes hard and the pedal went quickly to the floor providing no braking and resulting in my wife?s vehicle to hit the vehicle in front of her. While all vehicles were traveling well within the speed limit the damage was extensive as the vehicle in front of my wife was a ford explorer. 2. The failure, frequency, and consequences: I have tried to replicate this failure and can readily recreate it. In a safe environment I have tried to suddenly and dramatically hit the brakes and the pedal quickly goes right to the floor. Some fairly limited braking does occur during these attempted re-creations but it seems to be too little and delayed. My wife's vehicle was significantly damaged requiring $7,083.61 in total repair cost (documentation is available). 3. While the crash was the first time for such a dramatic failure, our concerns of the softness of the braking system had been previously reported to a local toyota dealer and their response was "that is how those brakes are". So nothing has really been done to correct the failure and I believe all the parts in the braking system currently are original to the vehicle.
Our 2004 toyota sienna experienced a malfunction related to the ABS vsc computer control. The car would get up to about 6 miles an hour and then the vsc light and warning bell would come on. You could feel the brakes trying to lock up the vehicle and bring it to a stop. My wife was fixing to get onto the highway when this occurred. I found the technical service bulletin # 10011806 related to this event, the vehicle is currently at the toyota dealership and I am waiting to hear back from them.
I was driving 2004 toyota sienna xle awd, 109,000, with bridgestone rft snow tires. At 15-20 MPH on dry pavement, I tried to stop quickly for a dog strolling in front of us. The van slightly slowed, the dog waddled out of the way and we came to a rolling, gradual stop with the brake pedal depressed fully to the floor. I hadn't time to pump brakes and I don't know if it would have mattered. The toyota dealer couldn't duplicate problem and said pads, etc; were good. Has happened to me this one time only, but google search suggests others may have had this experience. Thanks
When backing 2004 toyota sienna le van in driveway the brakes failed. The vehicle has 41,000 miles and has always been serviced by toyota. The brakes were checked at 34,388. The car has a higher idle (fuel consumption) so in the process of backing, the car was rolling. I put the car in reverse and did not touch the acelerator. The vehicle rolled and continued to pick up speed, since I was unable to stop the car. The brakes were applied around 3 times and then I opted to hit the retaining wall instead of going back into the a busy street with wife and children in the car. It was either pray for no coming traffic or run into the neighbors house and vehicles. We have not experienced any problems in the past. The dealership was unable to identify any root cause. We are concerned about the safety of the vehicle and wanted a complaint as a matter of record. In researching the incident in google this is not an isolated incident and there have been a few records of such cases with the sienna van around this make and model.
The car is used on an occasional basis. 34,000 miles in four years. It has suffered corrosion buildup on the rotors, so we have tried to use it at least twice a week, knowing that catastrophe can occur when the vehicle is not used with some regularity--especially in the cold weather. About two months ago, my wife complained of noise, and I told her it was due to corrosion buildup and that driving would remove the corrosion. Then she abandoned the car a couple of days later when the brakes failed. The inner pad had work down to metal, and the metal backing slid out of place. My wife wound up braking on the caliper piston. I will replace the brake shoes and rotors, and must also replace a caliper if I cannot find the piston as a separate piece. Estimate: $300, not counting the caliper, with me doing all the work. Toyota would likely charge a little more than $1,000 for the job. The car has sat unused and unrepaired now for weeks for want of the cash for the parts.
Tl*the contact owns a 2004 toyota sienna. While driving 40 MPH, the contact depressed the brake pedal, but the vehicle did not stop. There were 30-40 yards between the contact's vehicle and the preceding vehicle. The brake pedal extended to the floorboard. The brakes grabbed momentarily, but then became "mushy." the contact crashed into the preceding vehicle and caused injuries to the occupant in the other vehicle. The passenger's seat belt did not engage properly, causing the passenger to strike the dashboard and sustain minor injuries. A police report was filed. The vehicle was destroyed and towed from the scene. The failure and current mileages were less than 55,000.
Driving our '04 sienna at about 30-40 MPH in flow with traffic with about 30-40 yards of separation had to brake for suddenly stopping traffic in front when brake pedal went to the floor with shocking mushiness failing to stop in time resulting in totaling of our vehicle and significant damage to vehicle we struck.
Our family is deeply troubled and worried about the safeness of our 2004 toyota sienna le-8 every time we use it on the road. Our van has been having intermittent vsc, kicking which started early this year. First, it will hesitate to accelerate followed by vsc kicking then automatic braking engages then sudden pull of the steering to the left. The vsc keeps flashing and beeps continuously unless I slow down to around 20mph. I even showed the dealer copies of sienna owners complaints with similar problem and tsbs regarding yaw rate sensor and steering column sensor. But still could not fix or duplicate the problem. Nothing was done to correct the problem and no parts replaced or repaired.
2004 sienna, had to replace brake pads twice. Brought vehicle in for 30,000 mile check, and was told that they were again 75% worn out and need to be replaced for the third time. Also, had to replace all four tires at 18,000 miles.
I own a 2004 toyota sienna I bought new that has had to have the brake pads replaced 3 times in 62,000 miles. The last 2 sets only lasted 17,000, but the factory ones lasted 27,000. It' was worn out rotors, and had to replace those twice. It wa sbecoming very expensive, and seemed to be a product default. No other mini van I drove had anything like this.
Tl* the contact owns a 2004 toyota sienna le. After purchasing the vehicle, the contact noticed that the brakes were making a squeaking sound and when engaged they did not stop the vehicle as quickly as they should have. The brakes were repaired. The failure and current mileage were 73200.
Tl*- the contact stated that while driving the 2004 toyota sienna (with 30600 failure mileage at 30 MPH the contact's vehicle struck a second vehicle , t-boned, on the passenger's side, pushing the other vehicle out of the way and continuing down the street. The vehicle picked up speed going down a hill. The contact applied the brakes and tried to down shift, but nothing seemed to decrease the velocity. The vehicle hit a street sign, jumped a curve ,and the contact purposely crashed into a clump of guide wires in order to stop the vehicle. The contact pushed on the emergency brake and it did not engage. The contact noticed after the crash that the vehicle had lost power. The vehicle sustained extensive damage.
Vehicle hesitates when accelerator is pressed. Vehicle 'surges' at times when brake is depressed. Similar to other complaints noted in this section, my sienna has a rough transmission, tires occasionally spin out with normal acceleration from a parking lot, toll booth, etc. Repeated trips to dealership bring no satisfaction: response from dealer is that vehicle is operating within standards.
Dt*: the contact stated while driving 40 MPH or at various high speeds on normal braking conditions, the automatic braking engaged intermittently and the wheels locked up. The vehicle was taken to a local dealer who upon examination determined that the steering angle sensor failed. The dealer also stated that there was a the federal safety agency service bulletin # 10011806 regarding the service brakes, hydraulic. The vehicle was taken to the dealer for further repairs.
2004 toyota sienna, left outside in long term parking for three weeks, during that time it rained a lot. Upon return and backing out of parking spot, a popping sound was heard. Since then every time the brake is depressed a thumping noise can be heard from the tire. Inspection of the tire didn't reveal anything stuck in them that would cause the noise. After bringing it to the dealer for servicing, the technician explained that rust build on the rotor actually fused to the brake pad thus causing the popping noise. The thumping noise when the brake is applied is caused by the brake pad rubbing against the rust on the rotor. Toyota motor corp. Has refused and so has the dealer to replace the rotor since they say it is a wear and tear item and has exceeded the warranty period so I will have to come up with the money to replace them. There should not be that much rust on any part of an 04 sienna that it would fuse to another part of the vehicle. This is a defect and should be handled by the manufacturer.
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