2005 Toyota Sienna: harsh or hard shifting

Filed Jul 27, 2015 · Steering, Transmission · 119,000 miles · NY

I noticed a clunking noise when turning into a parking spot. It also felt like my van was diving into the parking spot. I took my van into toyota for another reason and was told at the time it was leaking at the rack and needed a new drive shaft and boot to the tune of 1200 dollars. We are still debating what to do and are very disappointed in toyota. We purchased this vehicle based on toyota's reputation for quality but have found this vehicle particularly repair prone. We have already replaced the radiator, parking brake and had a very expensive serpentine belt replacement due to the fusion of dissimilar metals. It seems to me that toyota's engineers should have understood the consequences of designing a vehicle with dissimilar metals that come into direct contact. We have never owned such a repair prone vehicle.

Filed Jun 17, 2015 · 930,000 miles · NN

In the past month, I have had major issues with three of the doors on my 2005 toyota sienna xle. The tab welds on the front driver's door have snapped, the cable on the passenger side sliding door snapped and the driver's side sliding door only works manually. When I called toyota customer care, I was told that the sliding doors would be covered under an extended manufacturers warranty and that the front door, had an extended customer care program because of a known issue with the welds. Obviously this was a big relief for me because of the cost of repairing the doors ($ 4,000+). When I was transferred from the call taker to toyota itself, I was then told none of the doors are covered. I was told the doors were covered under an extended customer car warranty because it is a known problem. The extended warranty for the doors has expired so toyota won't cover them. As of now the passenger side slider will not open because the snapped cable jammed the door shut. The driver's door makes two loud "clunks" when open and closed and it is just a matter of time before that door becomes inoperable. I would think that not being able to exit one of the doors would be considered a safety risk and it is obvious toyota knows of this problem because they already had the extended warranty.

Filed Aug 30, 2013 · Body · 57,985 miles · PA

Auto was purchased new from toyota dealer in march of 2005. Received an extended warranty enhancement notice for front door check mounting panel from toyota in 2007. The warranty was for 5 years or 100,000 miles. In june of 2011, my driver door began making the popping sound described in the information I received from toyota. I took the car into a toyota deal and was told the extended warranty had expires and I would need to pay for any repair. This was a manufacturing defect identified by toyota yet the refuse to cover the repair,$2,000. August 2013 took the sienna into the dealer because of a clunking noise when window was being lowered. I paid for the "repair" but still have a malfunctioning window. I was informed, after discovering the window still wouldn't work, that the door weld would have to be fixed for the window to function properly. I am concerned because now I have a nonfunctioning window and a door that has a manufacturing defect that toyota refused to acknowledge as a long term safety issue. Interestingly enough, if you were lucky enough to have the door weld fail prior to toyota issuing the "extension" they would have reimbursed the owner for repair. Or, if you experienced the failure during the 5 year period, it would also have it fixed by toyota. This should be a mandatory recall based on it being a safety issue.

Filed Aug 4, 2013 · Body · 80,120 miles · ME

Several months ago, the panel spot welds on the front door (driver's side) door check mounting panel became detached causing a "popping" noise when opening and closing the door. Today, I heard a "clunk" noise when I opened the door and the "popping" noise stopped. However, now I am not able to open the window more than 1/2 way nor open the door properly which has me rather concerned for my safety. If the window is open at all, I cannot open the door wide enough to get out even though I am not overweight nor am I a large man. If I close the window first, I can open the door 3/4 of the way before it stops. Toyota is fully aware of this door check problem. I received a notice from them a number of years ago indicating that, because this problem is quite common, they are offering an "enhanced warranty" for 5 years from when the vehicle was first put into service or 100,000 miles, which ever comes first, to fix the door. I bought the vehicle new in 2005 so the enhanced warranty expired in 2010. When I first heard the popping noise, I brought the vehicle back to the dealer who informed me that I would have to pay for the repair since the enhanced warranty period had expired. The cost, $2300 dollars. When I asked, "why so much?" their body shop gave me a long list of parts and work that needed to be done to "repair" the problem it included removing the headlights, bumper, quarter panel and rear door among other things. The reason they could not just replace the door was that toyota redesigned the entire door and had to retrofit the newly engineered door to my vehicle. So unless I pay $2300 to repair what is, essentially, an engineering design flaw on toyota's part, I am left with an unsafe situation if I need to quickly get out of the vehicle and cannot close the window first as would happen in case of an electrical system failure for example.

Filed Mar 26, 2013 · Steering · 147,333 miles · AZ

Vehicle had been parked. When we backed out I turned the wheel to the left. There was a "clunk" and it felt like I just went over some object with the right front tire. We could find nothing in the parking lot that would contribute to this. I drove the car that day without further incident. The next day we went on a 430 mile trip. Several times that we parked we heard the same "clunk" and felt a slight drop in the right front. I went to the toyota dealer as soon as I could get an appointment on 2/26/13. Toyota found that the internal power steering rack was failing and had to be replaced for safety. The part number was: 0 44250-08041. I asked toyota if there were any safety recalls. There were none. Toyota said these failures did occur on trucks in heavy duty use but not in sienna mini-vans.

Filed Aug 19, 2012 · Acceleration, Steering · 76,050 miles · PA

During the turning of the steering wheel to the left at 5-10 MPH, in making a left turn, clicks and clunking noise could be heard and felt through the steering wheel. At one point, I had to apply bigger turning force to the left as if I was overcoming some unusual resistance in the steering column, making the turn uneasy and non-smooth.

Filed Mar 19, 2012 · Body · 60,000 miles · CA

Our 2005 toyota sienna van has 82,000 miles yet the front driver door has stopped catching when opened. It flings all the way open, hitting the car, wall, post or whatever we park next to, not to mention catching my children's fingers between the door and other object. The problem originated about 2 years ago when the front driver's door started to make a very loud clunking sound when opened and closed. Now the sound has stopped but the door no longer catches to prevent it from slamming closed or open. I fear my children's hands will inadvertently get caught and possibly broken.

Filed Mar 27, 2011 · Body · 59,200 miles · AZ

The drivers side door mount has failed. It "clunks" as it opens. This is a factory defect the manufacturer is aware of. Toyota issued a "warranty enhancement" offering to fix the problem if the failure occurred prior to 5yrs/100,000 miles. The failure of the mount could result in injury as the door will begin swinging freely. We were told that our door replacement wouldn't be covered because we'd had our car for 5 yrs, 6 mos. Finally, I was able to get toyota to cover the parts, but not the labor. Why would there be any limit on the repair of a factory defect? Driving with the door as they installed it isn't safe but to have the door replaced is cost prohibitive, especially when you consider it was made this way and we did absolutely nothing to cause the failure, nor could any maintenance have prevented it. It was a defect that was caused by the manufacturer, for which they now refuse to take full responsibility.