10.0

really awful
Crashes / Fires:
3 / 0
Injuries / Deaths:
9 / 0
Average Mileage:
133,265 miles

About These NHTSA Complaints:

The NHTSA is the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints can be spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem. See the Back button — blue bar at the very top of the page — to explore more.

Get notified about new defects, investigations, recalls & lawsuits for the 2002 Toyota Sequoia:

Unsubscribe any time. We don't sell/share your email.

problem #196

Jun 122020

Sequoia

  • 95,000 miles
Grinding noise, beeping, warning lights flashing, difficulty steering, difficulty braking, clunking when braking, vsc and ABS lights on. Very scary. I was driving approximately 50 mph. It also happened when my daughter was driving it. Very intermittent. I was going straight, no turning, no bumps in the road. So random. I have researched the much on youtube and the internet and there are many others who have experienced this scary situation. I am afraid to drive the vehicle and it is a major safety hazard and must be fixed! I heard they recalled the 2003's but not the 2002's but they have the same parts. I will send pictures of others who have similar complaints. If you go to the website I sent you will find many others who have experienced the same thing. I am sending only a sample. Please do something. Serious safety hazard, whatever the problem is! I have not driven it much since it happened. I have been very distracted since my boyfriend passed away. I did call the local Toyota dealer after it first happened and also the national number for Toyota and was told there is no recall. Yet! go to carproblemzoo.com and input "brake grinding noise of Toyota Sequoia ABS and vsc. I tried to upload docs but they were the wrong format.

- Marysville, CA, USA

problem #195

Jun 012020

Sequoia

  • 210,000 miles
As I drive down a highway, gravel road, driveway, street, anywhere, going slow or the speed limit, all of a sudden my vsc light and traction control light on the dash will start flashing accompanied by an alarm in the dash, causing the car to momentarily feel almost as if its hydroplaning. Then all of a sudden it will go back to normal but the lights will stay on. Sometimes it does it 2-3 times each time the car is turned on. It has also been doing it when I come to a complete stop, then go to take off again it will flash the lights and make a weird grinding noise for about 5-10 secs not letting the car move at all. Then it will all of a sudden start moving again. I have 7 kids that ride with me daily and I find this extremely scary. It's been happening for 6/01/2020 to now/present/daily/

- Searcy, AR, USA

problem #194

Jun 222020

Sequoia 8-cyl

  • 196,000 miles
Driving straight down 35 mph road and ESC light starts flashing, dash beeping, anti lock brakes start surging without pressing pedal. Car shaking. Come to a stop. After 10 seconds, beeping stops, ESC stops flashing. Trac off and vsc light come on and stay on. Car drives fine now with lights on. Mechanic said need new brakes and yaw sensor out of calibration probably due to brakes. Replaced all brakes and rotors, re-calibrated yaw sensor for $1000. Same thing happened again 600 miles later. This time when it happened, my 18 year old daughter was driving. She will not drive the vehicle anymore. This is very dangerous. I researched and many 2002 Sequoias have this problem, sometimes at highway speeds. There was a recall for 2003 Sequoias, they need to cover this year.

- Wheeling, IL, USA

problem #193

Aug 112019

Sequoia

  • 247,514 miles
At 247,000 plus miles the ABS system would suddenly engage going around sharper curves on the highway at 65+ mph. Recently the ABS system engaged at 32 mph around a sharper curve on a mountain road. I brought it into the dealer in August 2019. As of February 2020 it is still not fixed, despite spending a lot of money. Besides being nerve wracking, it is a potentially hazardous problem, especially in snow and ice, that should qualify for a recall.

- Phoenix, AZ, USA

problem #192

Jan 152020

Sequoia

  • 130,000 miles
When I start the vehicle the trac off and vsc trac light is illuminated on the dash. After driving a short time the vehicle beeps and goes into a skip and breaks to one side. It corrects itself in a second. Sometimes it beeps and no skid. This started a year ago. Frequency was a few times a year then. Now it happens several times a week. I believe Toyota addressed the issue on 2003's, but not 2002's. most of time the vehicle is on city streets when this happens and it is more likely to happen after driving a few minutes. It always happens when I am driving straight.

- Parkland, FL, USA

problem #191

Oct 102019

Sequoia

  • 145,000 miles
I forgot to mention in complaint 11282925 that some of the dozen parts needed to fix the vsc problem have been discontinued by Toyota. So I could pay the dealership thousands to replace some of the possible culprits but the real problem could be the items that Toyota discontinued. Toyota cannot isolate what the exact problem is and has to replace possible culprits to see it it fixes the problem. After all of this and a huge repair bill could still have the highway safety problem if the faulty part(s) are the ones that have been discontinued. Replacing items one at a time and then driving it on the highway to see if it's safe is not a good strategy. Toyota should recall and fix all items at the same time and also produce the parts they have discontinued as a way to possibly try to cover up their negligence.

- Bethesda, MD, USA

problem #190

Oct 102019

Sequoia

  • 145,000 miles
On multiple occasions recently while driving on the highway in a straight line manner, the rear brakes either the left or right have automatically engaged causing my sequioa to jerk to the left or right while at highway speed. My vehicle jerks violently, a buzzer sounds, and the vsc and trac lights illuminate and remain illuminated. If those lights are illuminated it no longer does this; however, if the lights are not illuminated it's a coin flip whether being jerked to the left or right while driving in a straight line on the highway. Toyota dealership doesn't know what problem is. Apparently it could be a dozen different things and they have to start replacing each one at a time to see if the problem goes away. To replace everything is several thousand dollars, probably more than the book value of the vehicle.

- Bethesda, MD, USA

problem #189

Oct 012019

Sequoia

  • 140,000 miles
During driving on freeway with clean dry road car has beeping alarm on, vsc traction light on and svc lights lit up while the car shakes line the brake is on by itself for short period (3 seconds). Then both warning light vsc and off and vsc track light is on still until the engine is turned off an hour afterward. The next day I drove the car slowly on a local street after picking up my son after school, the brake started shaking the car and vsc off and vsc track lights are on again. I drive the car with caution everytime after that but the occurance doesn't happen every time nor being recreate. It happened every few thousand miles unexpectedly. This is very dangerous. I would like to find a fix by the manufacturer and have them pay for it. It seems like this is a problem for many same cars.

- Ruskin, FL, USA

problem #188

Oct 012019

Sequoia

  • 159,432 miles
Just bought a used 2002 Toyota Sequoia and quickly found that I can not pull out into heavy traffic without plenty of gap in said traffic.I had unhooked the battery to do some work on it and now it will hesitate for 1.5 to 3 seconds when you ease from a stop.I have seen on other sites that it is called the hesitation of death.I notice on the dash the (car with the slipping) light comes on and there are some relay noises under the dash.I don't see the vsc light come on or the ABS light come on.I did call my local Toyota dealership to explain my experince and they claim to have never heard of this issue.they told me just to drive it and it should within a few days it should relearn itself.I told them I just drove a 650 mile trip with it and its been a week or two since I unhooed the battery with no change.she simply just wished me luck and that was it.as a update I changed the front brake calipers in witch lowered the brake fluid level in the master cylnder witch turned on all the vsc warning lights and brake light and the hesitation went away as long as the lights were on.unfortuntaly I turned it off and filled the brake fluid to max level and the hesitation came right back and the vsc warning lights went off.nothing to indicate or give a direction to a repair.I see the reports about the 2003 sequioa having a recall but not the 2002.if they are the same part numbers I think for all safty factors on both years they shoud be honering the 2002 under a safty recall.not really sure what to do at this point.do I sell it, trade it in, the dearship didnt offer any true help or even mention the recall on the 2003 sequioa. They were not to forth coming with info on this problem that seems to be well known on a Toyota forum page.

- Liverpool, NY, USA

problem #187

Sep 062019

Sequoia

  • 136,000 miles
The first indication that something was wrong was the first week of September 2019. I was driving down a county road when the lights indicator lights for the trac and vsc started flashing and beeping when I drove over some bumps. The lights would not go off even when pressing trac off. I turned off the car and restarted it and the lights were off but only for about 15 minutes into my drive. I took it to the Toyota dealership and the agent said he did not know anything about the system and I would have to bring it back for diagnostics. That night I was getting ready to go over a rather large bridge when all of the sudden the car jerked twice to the right with the second event pulling me off the road. It was extremely frightening and terrified us all. Thank god it did not happen on the bridge or under other circumstances. The vsc and trac lights came on at approximately the same time as they had been off. I contacted Toyota corporate and essentially they said that the vehicle was not under warranty. This is an extremely dangerous situation. Thankfully I am a experienced driver but if it would have been one of my kids, I don't know if the outcome would have been the same. The local Toyota dealership has been of no help. The car is sitting in my drive. I implore you to further investigate this failure of the system before someone gets killed.

- Destin, FL, USA

problem #186

Sep 042019

Sequoia

  • miles
When driving at 70mph or higher a light comes on at the dash board vsc trac off the car loses speed and veers right to left almost loosing control of the steering wheel a diagnostic gave me a code C1234 wich is related with the stability control system yaw rate sensor / computer recalibration. This sensor is supposed to last the life of the car.

- Antioch, CA, USA

problem #185

Jul 042019

Sequoia

  • 177,000 miles
I didn't realize what the lights meant being on when I bought it until I was attempting to drive 4hrs away and suddenly the steering started veering off to the other lane and swerving. I could not drive past 40mph on the interstate the rest of the way and almost crashed into other vehicles and off the side of the road. When you switch lanes the vehicle pulls you too far and it is very unsafe to drive especially with kids. I had to break the ABS fuse to get back home and even then it still veers off when trying to switch lanes and I can't go past 60 or so. I don't see how there are this many complaints and many accidents and almost accidents to not have everything associated with this malfunction to be considered not dangerous enough for a recall. I'm thankful my kids were not with me during that trip.

- Pensacola, FL, USA

problem #184

Apr 292019

Sequoia

  • 90,000 miles
The vsc and trac off light comes on when driving. There is a sound when I hit a pot hole or hit the brakes. The vehicle is then a little unstable.this happens on the street and the interstate. When I hit the brake there is a loud sound and then the vsc and trac off light comes on.this is scary. This have been happening for the last two weeks on and off.this has been happening when driving slow at 10 mph or 60mph.

- Baton Rouge, LA, USA

problem #183

Apr 152019

Sequoia

  • 190,000 miles
Just driving along, and feels like brakes grab and jerk the wheel and vsc trac lights go on. Problem has been occurring intermittently. Can be at highway speeds, but also happens at any speed. Very dangerous and scary. Vsc-trac and trac-off lights randomly illuminated on dry, level pavement when brakes were applied, causing a loud grinding noise (much louder than normal application of anti-lock brakes).

- Panama City, FL, USA

problem #182

Apr 142019

Sequoia

  • 220,000 miles
While driving on the highway at 75mph we made a slight turn with the road and vsc-trac and trac-off lights randomly illuminated without warning on dry, level pavement causing the steering wheel to pull to the right. It was very hard to control, as well as to brake. We were in the middle of heavy traffic. We finally pulled over shut off the SUV and turned it back on. The lights went off so we tried again. About 30min it did the same exact thing. Very frightening. Is there a recall out on this??

- Loveland, CO, USA

problem #181

Jun 182018

Sequoia

  • 440,000 miles
Takata recall we have owned our sequioa since 12/13/2001, we bought it brand new. When we 1st bought it the airbag light came on immediately and bill dube of dover nh replaced something and fixed it. I have had many complaints with my vehicle and returned to the dealership many times thru out the years. I have had multiple issues with vsc traction control starting in 2002 lights would come on and go out, air bag light comes on when there is high humidity and when using air conditioning, my alloy wheels have been disgusting since 2004. I have a extensive repair history with bill dube dealership they never addressed issues as once lights on dash turn off there is no history. In 2006 my lights on dash came on I brought it to Toyota of portsmouth nh as I was almost at 100000. Miles. They could not look at vehicle due to warranty. I drove to bill dube and they refused to see me that day or document that lights were on so they could fix it. Once my odometer hit 100000 warranty was null and void. I was extremely upset called multiple times to Toyota corporation and appeared to get same jerk who refused to help and gave me the run around. We have owned our sequioa for 18 1/2 years. I love my car it has approx 445000 miles and would appreciate assistance. My vsc is constantly on now along with the ABS light. The air bag only comes on when there is high humidity and I am driving. When we bought the sequioa the salesman actually stated the sequioa had a hard drive to retain light history. I also have been concerned with my frame which was replaced in 2012. I have return to portsmouth Toyota where work was down a few times. My vehicle appears crooked and not aligned they think I am crazy. I practically live in my vehicle I work in hospice so I am very aware of my vehicles look and condition. I would appreciate your assistance with my vehicle, I would like make it to 500000.

- Rye, NH, USA

problem #180

Jan 302019

Sequoia

  • 126,631 miles
The contact owns a 2002 Toyota Sequoia. While driving 30 mph, the traction and vsc warning indicators illuminated. The vehicle started to slide as if the brakes had been applied. The contact was able to drive home. The dealer and manufacturer were not notified. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The failure mileage was 126,631.

- Yuma, AZ, USA

problem #179

Dec 142018

Sequoia

  • 190,000 miles
Tamara recall: I was going 60 mph when my traction control lights started blinking. It started making a grinding noise and front end shaking and loss of power steering it has 190,000 miles on

- Whigham, GA, USA

problem #178

Oct 272018

Sequoia

  • 73,000 miles
Trac/ vsc alarm light came on, the car brakes was activated while on heavy traffic on top of a bridge with a dry road surface.

- Harvey, LA, USA

problem #177

Sep 012018

Sequoia

  • 259,400 miles
Driving the vehicle at about 60mph, grinding sound, loss of power steering control, pulls to the right side, deceleration, loud noise like a tire blowout, vsc lights on dash come on. This has happened 4 times while driving the vehicle, no warning and you must pull over and turn the engine off and it will reset so you are able to start the vehicle to continue. Very scary incidents!!!

- Green Pond, SC, USA

Read the next 20 complaints »