Comments: 1-15, 16-29
Gas tank was replaced due to recall.
Check engine light after approximately 150 miles after replacement.
Dealer said, "We had not put the gas cap on correctly." I explained to the dealer his mechanic had filled the tank last when they replaced the gas tank. Dealer fixed nothing. I called Toyota corporate customer service and asked them if they had trained the dealerships in installing the tanks. Got a warm fuzzy call from the dealership's clueless part-time warm fuzzy customer service gal.
Another fill-up with gas, and check engine light comes on again after about 150 miles. Take it back to dealer again. This time I get a loaner car and am told the car will be ready tomorrow. Tomorrow turned into three days, at which point they told me the parts were on backorder and I would not get it back for 21 days. I call Toyota corporate again, and get a "parts expediter" looking for parts. Called my lawyer as by our state laws if a vehicle is out of service for more than 20 days it's a lemon and the dealer gets to eat it. Three more days and they get it fixed Toyota corporate has opened one of the incomplete tank kits to give the dealer the parts needed. So, as you can imagine I have become extremely frustrated.
In addition to gas tank problem, the interior molding is falling apart, and the sliding door squeaks loudly while the car is in motion. Looking at the door it is obvious the pads and mounts do not line up, but dealer is unable to fix it.
The transmission is extremely slow to engage.
The product is not as good as expected.
I recommend that no one buy a new model Toyota. Instead wait three years and look for the recalls and complaints. Who would have thought it would fail safety testing? The lowly Kia van ranked well in safety. Do we know the dealer installed anything that it any safer than the original flawed design? This is my family in this vehicle and I don't like depending on a company which sold a defective product.
Luckily, we never sold our 1998 Nissan Maxima (95,000 miles) or our 1994 Nissan pickup (153,000 miles) which both have performed far better than we ever imagined. Minor maintenance only.
I only wish the Nissan Quest minivan were as large as the Toyota. I believe Nissan makes a better engine/transmission package, but the interior design team needs help.
Funny, I have never heard such a thing called the Sienna LS. Another funny thing, our 1998 Maxima SE almost killed us on the highway. The car's engine decided to shut off on a full tank of gas and it wasn't overheated. We had no power steering and we plowed into a wall at 65MPH. And to make it worse, the passenger airbag was stuck and my son's head dived for the glove box area. I have never had this problem with a Toyota. Had a 1988 Corolla that was only demolished when a garbage truck went over it. Our 1995 Camry is running like a charm. Our friend's Sienna had to be recalled. Never heard him complain. But I can agree with you that sometimes Toyota's service is frustrating.
I have three cars all maintained exactly as recommended by the manufacturer. Only the Toyota developed engine sludge. When I took it in to get fixed I was told that my engine was only moments away from completely seizing which would have been catostrophic if it had happened during my freeway high speed commute. Mine was 2002 not 2004 and I don't know if they fixed the engine problems in the 2004 or not. Look at www.google.com and search for "Toyota Engine Sludge"
Well, my Sienna 2004 has been having problems after problems. As said, the gas tank had to be replaced; the sliding door squeaks loudly. I was able to pinpoint however, that it worsens when there is warm temperature. Where we live now is cold, so is not doing it; however, during the warm months of summer is annoying.
The interiors are terrible and also breaking down. There is a rattling noise on the engine that the dealership was not able to fix and the a/c kicks in with another loud noise.
Today I got stranded on the road when my gas line broke. That was very frustrating. I hope they fix all the problems because it is definitely a low performing vehicle which does not meet the expectations that we had from Toyota.
I've owned many cars, 3 VW's, 1 Subaru, 2 Ford, 3 Chevy's and 6 Toyotas. Every other car has died except the Toyota's the oldest being a 86 Celica with 500,000 miles on it. I own a 2004 Sienna. You have a lemon, call the dealer back and tell them that you want to talk to the regional manager and tell him that you expect quaility from Toyota, explain what you have done to try to fix your problems and if they still do nothing tell them you will never buy from Toyota again. This should work.
I have owned a 2004 Sienna XLE since October 03 and have had nothing, but problems with it. The first week we owned it, it rolled back on a hill in drive so violently when we took our foot of of the break that we crashed into the car behind us.
We have taken it in four times for rolling back on hills, transmission that doesn't always "go", and tire pressure light that keeps coming on.
Toyota could not fix any of the problems and said that these were normal in their vans.
We went through a hearing with the National Center for Dispute Settlement and Toyota and was declined a refund.
We have obviously received a lemon of a vehicle and plan on taking further legal action. Toyota has had many problems with the new van, but don't want to take responsibility for them.
If anyone else is having any problems, please let me know. A class action lawsuit may be in order.
We have a Toyota Sienna 2004. At 22,000 miles the brakes began squeking incessantly and loudly. We had the appropriate servicing done, but Toyota would not do a thing. We assume the pads or shoes are shot, but we have never had a new car or van with brake problems at 22,000 miles. We took the car in at 34,000 prior to our warranty expiring and they said the VERY LOUD sqeaking was a problem with all vans and they weren't going to do anything. The sqeaking is loud and embarrassing. I don't think a customer should have to pay for brake work at 22,000. Has anyone else had this problem?
My 2004 Sienna also makes a loud, crunching sound, coming from the rear, when firm pressure is applied to the brakes. When I took it in for service I was informed that the service manager "thought he read somewhere that this was a problem in the Sienna". The brakes were reported to be "fine", however, whenever I hear this noise I wonder--it sure doesn't sound "fine". I am also unhappy with the AC. This is my second summer with the car and I don't recall that is was slow to cool last year. When I took that in for service I was told that it is normal for the van to take up to 20 minutes to begin to cool!! My radiator was replaced at approx. 17,000 miles.
We own a 2004 Toyota Sienna and have had it since May 2003. At first, we loved it, now we are beginning to wonder. I was left stranded after the gas line broke and there was 12 gallons of gas underneath the van, not to mention I had five children with me on that day. That was the worst thing that has happened, these are the other five:
1. Terrible rotten egg smell.
2. Squeaky, annoying sliding door problem.
3. Very loud, squeaky brakes at 18,000 miles.
4. Seat belt problems.
5. Bad engine knocking at 19,000 miles.
The last one is the final straw, if we do not start getting somewhere with Toyota service, it is time to get serious about crying lemon law. We have always loved toyotas and unfortunately, this experience will probably have us at the honda dealership next time around. A very disheartened Toyota owner.
We purchased our 2004 Toyota Sienna LE in November of 2003. We wanted an entertainment system and were charged $1800.00 for the system. The day we picked it up from the dealership after the entertainment system was installed, the system would not work. I then drove it back down to the dealership and showed them. The installer came down to the dealership and looked at it and promised he would not only take care of it, but would give us some upgrades for our trouble. I got on the Internet to get some info about this system since it was not a Toyota system. I found that the DVD player sell for $99.00, the LCD screen for about $300.00, and the wireless earphones for about $30.00 apiece. So we spent $1800.00 for a system that costs less than $500.00. I printed the pages off the Internet and took them to the Toyota dealership and showed them the prices of the junk that was installed in my van. They said there was nothing they could do since the company they contract with has the right to install whatever they want. Needless to say we had to take the van back 6 times before we were given a Toyota entertainment system. We are still trying to get the 3"x4" hole that the installer put in our glove compartment fixed. Also a 110 volt plug with an inverter was installed so my kids could plug in their game systems and it still doesn't work correctly and in fact, it shocked my son the other day when he tried to unplug his game and the receptacle came apart.
Our newest problem is that we went on a trip this weekend and stopped at a grocery store. I put the park, turned off the ignition, and let my foot off the brake. We were parked on a hill and when I took my foot off the brake we started to roll down the hill backwards. I tried repeatedly to get the van to go into park, but all it would do is shift from L2 to L. Since the van wouldn't go into park, I couldn't start it. We called the Toyota road service number since this is a leased van with 9000 miles that is still under warranty. They told us that the nearest dealership was closed and that they would call us a tow truck, but that we would be responsible for the bill and that was all they could do. I asked them if they could please get us a rental since we were about 180 miles from home and were basically stranded. I also wanted to know if we did get home would Toyota be able to bring our van to us when it was fixed. The guy on the phone repeated that all they could do is call us a tow truck and we would have to pay for it. I wasn't very happy and decided to let my wife talk to them since I was going to start using some very bad language at this point. While she talked to them, I took the little compartment the sits under the shifter apart and discovered the shift cable had came out of it's holder and that's why it wouldn't shift. I put it back together and we were then on the road. I am very disappointed with how we were taken care of by Toyota and I will never buy another Toyota again!!! Do not buy a Toyota, they don't care about their customers, I learned this first hand!!!
I bought a used 2004 Toyota Sienna in July 2004 with 19000kms to save a little money. I am female and this is the first vehicle I have bought totally on my own. Already I have had to have the radiator replaced. I am lucky I made it to my destination. Now I am noticing that the van is very squeaky and sounds like an old cargo van. Did I get a lemon? I am so upset. I tried so hard to be smart with my purchase.
I went to the dealer to get the first oil change for my 04 sienna today. the first thing they asked me was, "would you like to do the brake cleaning service and tire rotation for $59.95?" of course I declined and asked why should I have that done? he said it helps the brakes perform better. he went on to tell me that, at 8000 miles he has seen 04 siennas get brake jobs because of not receiving this brake cleaning service. he warned me that I should expect to get the brakes done my next visit. has anyone heard of this???
We bought our Sienna new in 2000 with 6 miles on it. On the way home from the dealer the check engine light came on. That was just the beginning of our Toyota nightmare. Within 4 years we replaced the fuel injectors 3 times at $1400.00 a pop, the engine wore down because of sludge build-up (which they did replace, but we were without our van for 3 weeks), the water pump was replaced, various sensors have been replaced at different times and the power door stopped working the second year we had it. It would be $1000.00 to fix the door. We are very disillusioned by Toyota, as we spent a little extra for the Toyota name simply because of their supposed reliability. Next time we will buy a Nissan.
Thanks guys and gals. I was about to put down the money to buy a used 2004 Sienna. Instead, now I will do more research on the problems you have discussed and see how often they are actually occurring before I consider this purchase. I hope the problems mentioned are rare, but I guess we'll see. Thanks again for your comments! Is there anyone out there who has actually had no problems?!
I owned a 92 corolla which was used as a taxi, and a early model sienna.
Both of these cars worked fine and surpassed 250 000 miles, I sold them to people who lived in my city and i still spot them on the road today.
These cars won't die like my brothers jeep or my sunfire, don't be cheap pay the extra 5-10 thousand and get a good japanese car. toyota double cab truck will be my next victim.
We were loyal toyota owners until now. our 2004 sienna has been giving a loud and strange noise from the rear area of the engine near the exhaust. the problem occurs after the engine revs above 2000-2500 rpms. after several attempts the dealer was unable to fix the problem. the ac clutch also makes a loud squeal. a toyota rep checked the vehicle and made the determination that the noise is within normal operating parameters. in additional, we have several minor problems that needed repair. in totality this vehicle does not seem reliable in our opinion.