Hi,
I own a 2004 Toyota Sienna which I purchased in July 2003.
I have 88,500 kms on it now. We have been as far as Newfoundland with our hardtop trailer.
It gets great gas milage and has lots of power for climbing hills.
I have had it serviced regularly and have use synthetic oil since I'm pulling a trailer.
I have had numerous "product upgrades":
- replaced the gas tank
- replaced the Radiator
- replaced a fitting on the power steering pump
- replaced a steering knuckle part
- added door wear strips

These were all done at Toyotas expense.

Recently I have had the check strap on the drivers door fail and in fact the spot weld has let go on the plate the check strap fastens to. Since my car is past the 60,000 kms Toyota wont cover this. I have never heard of spot welds breaking apart, especially on a joint that is being pulled together ie the joint is in compression.
I'm wondering how many other owners have experienced a similar failure.
I beleive the spot weld was not completed properly and that this is a manufacturing defect. I have concerns about whether other joints will fail. What kind of quality control lets bad welds leave the factory?

Welcome :)

You could call Toyota Customer Service directly, in Toronto and plead your case. Suggest you take a picture and circle the affected area with an explanation (powerpoint is great for this).

Ask Toyota for a good-will warranty coverage. It worked for me once...especially for latent manufacturing defects such as this.

If you can put a safety spin on it..so much the better (your call).

By law, Toyota has to keep the statistics on complaints as faw as repairs and what the suspected cause of the repairs are. I'm not sure if you can get that info from them or if they have the right to keep it private (not sure why they would). Once their statistical data goes up in one particular area, red flags start going up. It is then they check and test other vehicles of the same model. If they fail then you get a good ole fashioned recall.

It seems you have had a lot of problems and the vehicle is only 3 yrs old. At least the repairs have all been on toyotas cost.

Not exactly an ad for Toyota? I'm with the others. Contact someone higher up to see if they'll repair even out of warranty! And keep going until you get a yes or the president and CEO.

This worries me. Anyone else have similar problems with the same model?

I was wondering if this car was bought new or used. If used, did you check to see if there was any prior body damage. If new, contact the local news and let them publize the problem if the dealer or company won't do anything.

Yeah, about every state has a community action program on one of the main channels. Thing is, just letting the dealer know you're about to do this might cause some action on their part. What is the lemon law in your area?

All of it sounds like either you got a lemon or this van isn't a good one to buy.
Those "product upgrades" make me wonder if the van was released too early. Does anyone have a newer Sienna to speak for? I think I might take this one off the consideration list.

Its funny you mention that, I too have a 2004 sienna, purchased in July ( 2004 though ). I have a little over 46,000 miles on mine. On Tuesday of this week I had it in for service at the dealership for a "noise in the door". The dealer wanted to replace the check stop, but couldn't because the spot welds had let go and now they want me to take it to a body shop to get it fixed. They tell me that it must have been caused by the wind grabbing the door. I found it odd that out of the myriad of cars I've owned ( this one being the newest ) that it should have this problem.

Other than that, I've not had issues with this toyota. This is my third one.

-Jon

I too own a 2004 Sienna, August purchase. I brought it in last week for the same driver door problem, it will swing all the way open. I was told it was a safety hazard and should fix it (buy a new door) but it would not be covered under warranty. I picked up the car, not fixed, and on the way home found that the driver window only went down 1/3 of the way. I was told to bring the car back. Then I was informed today that they could not fix the window and the only thing to do is get a new door, cost about $1,000. I am contacting customer service tomorrow.

I too own a 2004 Sienna bought in July of '03. The door check strap failed a little over a year ago. A body shop rewelded it and Fidelity, the extended warranty company, paid for it. It is now at the dealership as we speak for the same problem. They now tell me that the weld plate has broken into 3 pieces and that the only solution is to replace the entire door, which Fidelity is refusing to pay for so far. I've gone back and forth with them on this and they've now agreed to give me a loaner and they will send an inspector our. I bought their "platinum" level plan, and I cannot get them to cite a provision in the contract under which they can refuse to fix this. But Toyota will take absolutely no responsibility for this, which I understand from my service rep is a very well known problem. Since it is common, well known, and very costly it is extremely disappointing that Toyota will take no responsibility.

I am still fighting to get my door fixed. The dealership states that they can not fix the window without getting a new door that I have to pay for. I do not qualify for good will warranty because I did not have my car serviced at toyota dealerships. They asked if I purchased the extended warranty but I see from the previous post it wouldn't matter if I did. When I spoke with the operations manager at the dealership he said that there is a recall for this problem. When he looked up my vehicle he said it is not applicable for my car. Obviously there is a large scale problem with this and Toyota should be paying for ALL of these problems.

i also have 2004 sienna and have had a boat load of problems but iam interested in your powersteering pump issue and the knuckle issue as iam now having problems in that area can you explain the problem you where having and what they did to fix it

My check strap problem started in the summer. The dealer told me to have it spot welded, at any convenient bodyshop. I took it to a Volkswagen bodyshop nearby. Later I read that in the US, Toyota was doing an "unofficial" recall to fix what they recognized as a defect. In January 08 the noise started again. The Volkswagen bodyshop offered to install a new checkstrap, with no charge for labour, paint etc. but suggested I check with my dealership on the "recall". The Edmonton dealership (Sun Toyota) told me that Toyota Canada was not participating in a recall type action and that this would only be repaired if the car was under warranty. So it's back to the Volkswagen dealer. On another site one Sienna owner suggested that no repair would fix this problem as it is a factory defect and that only a new door would permanantly solve the problem. Another posting suggested that the same problem would likely occur in the drivers door. So I have my fingers crossed, and will be doing my best to take this up with Toyota Canada.