I purchased a brand new 2001 Toyota Sienna xle in 2001. The passenger side power sliding door and the drivers side power sliding door has given us problems since we purchased the car. We had it back to the dealer for the same power door issue at least 11 times. They now want to charge me. The ntsb should force a recall to fix this issue. The door will not open or close and now it will not move at all either by remote or manually. We purchased the dual power sliders as a convenience and now we have inconvenience. We have not been able to use the door properly for years, we have never had the benefit of the power sliding doors that we paid for. I would request that the government investigate the numerous complaints on the various blogs for the same issue described here. We have had this problem for over ten years without a resolution provided by Toyota. The doors still do not function. Toyota does not care.

- Davie, FL, USA

I purchased a brand new 2001 Toyota Sienna xle in 2001. The passenger side power sliding door has given us problem since we purchased the car. We had it back to the dealer for the same power door issue at least 11 times. They now want to charge me. The ntsb should force a recall to fix this issue. The door will not open or close and now it will not move at all either by remote or manually.

- Davie, FL, USA

{much of this content is copied from another complaint, but we are experiencing the same problems} sliding door latches get stuck sometimes in the open and sometimes in the closed position. When doors are closed we are unable to push the button inside or use the outside handle to release the latch and open the door. If the door is open when this happens we are then unable to close the door as it will not latch. When the door remains open this is an obvious safety issue and the van is undriveable as doing so would put the passengers at risk. When the door is stuck in a close position it makes exiting the vehicle difficult which would be a safety issue if there were an emergency and a quick exit were necessary. The back hatch latch has also broken. We have removed the cover from the back hatch and with a great deal of manipulation we can usually make this door work. The power sliding door is now stuck open and will not close. The outside handle has completely broken off. The handle on the manual sliding door is going to break off soon. Please note the vehicle is in good shape otherwise and has never been in an accident. 2001 Toyota Sienna le/xle.

- Cleveland Heights, OH, USA

Rear tailgate latch broke. Because there's no remote way to open the latch (either wireless or wired), it's necessary to climb inside the vehicle remove and disassemble the interior rear-hatch door paneling and manually engage the release cable. This is the third time this has happened with this vehicle.

- Alpharetta, GA, USA

2001 Toyota Sienna... the plastic door handles are breaking off... the right, rear slider handle broke off in 2007..next the left, rear slider handle broke off... this was dangerous since the child lock was on preventing opening the door from either inside or outside the vehicle with the children trapped inside...now the front passenger door handle has broken.....Toyota dealership charges $89.73 for each handle not including installation....it is obvious to me plastic fatigue is the problem...3 of 4 handles have failed in past 3 years...I contend these handles as well as the fourth remaining were and are defective.

- Middletown, CT, USA

Both driver and passenger sliding doors will not open from the inside. The child locks are not on, and occasionally the doors will not latch closed. After fidgeting with the lock and latch, it will eventually latch.

- Clearfield, UT, USA

I own a 2001 Toyota Sienna van ce. In the past 1.5 years all door handles have separated from the car. This includes the driver, passenger, rear driver, rear passenger and tailgate doors handles. These handles are made from plastic and crack and break off at the hinge point. I don't believe the number of breakages of these handles can be caused by normal wear and tear and certainly with two small children and two adults making use of the vehicle would constitute normal wear and tear. This problem is a defect of design or workmanship of the handle and the cost to repair is approximately $350 per handle. It is a serious threat should they break at the improper time or for emergency access to the automobile. I have addressed my concerns with Toyota and they don't believe there is a need to correct. Please investigate and respond. [xxx] information redacted pursuant to the Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).

- The Woodlands, TX, USA

When child lock is on the power door on passeger side can be opened by a 4 year old.

- Macomb, MI, USA

Passenger sliding door would not close/open electronically or manually. The button to turn off the electronic open/close did not work. Toyota service could not fix. Had them cut cable so can close and open door manually. Until the cable was cut, door could not be used to exit van.

- Sioux Fallss, SD, USA

I have a 2001 Toyota Sienna and the both the rear sliding doors have had intermittent issues with either opening or closing since around 2003 (although more often seen with driver side). When the issues is present the doors work fine when the automatic open/close is turned off. The issue may occur more often when raining then when dry. One observance of issue is that when auto open is engaged the door makes a clicking sound but doesn't open. The other observance of issue is when the door is open and the auto close is engaged the door starts to close (maybe an inch) and then re-opens...the only way to get the door closed is to turn off the auto open/close. While under warranty I took the van to be serviced twice, but was not able to re-produce the issue at the dealership...as such they would not even look at it.

- Brecksville, OH, USA

The door latch on the passenger side sliding door has failed on two occasions. The first time was in September 2007. We had it replaced at the dealership at our own expense. Then it failed again last week. The dealership tells us it needs to be replaced again. The latch on the rear door has also failed and been repaired at our expense.

- Fairfax, VA, USA

We own a 2001 Toyota Sienna van. All but 1 of 5 door handles on this van have broken and the door handles on each of the 4 doors (except passenger front) have cracked and broken clean off the door. Currently, the driver side is taped on. I feel that this could have happened to 1 by user wear. However, I'm not inclined to believe that all could break so easily from user wear and tear. This creates a significant safety hazard in accessing the vehicle in emergency situations as clearly the only access will be through windows at some point.

- Richmond, VA, USA

The contact owns a 2001 Toyota Sienna. While changing the rear light bulb, the contact noticed that there was no safety latch to release an occupant if they became trapped in the rear of the vehicle. The contact feels that this is a safety issue in the event of an emergency. She is in the process of taking the vehicle to the dealer for further inspection. The manufacturer stated that the vehicle was not designed with that feature; therefore, no compensation would be provided. The failure mileage was 110,000 and current mileage was 111,000.

- Lexington, KY, USA

The passenger-side sliding door (manual) on our 2001 Sienna began having problems approx. 6 mo. Ago, with the inside button to open the door intermittently sticking - happened both in open & closed positions. Obviously a safety concern, both for being able to close the door in order to drive, and for opening the door particularly in case of an emergency. At the beginning, a good "whack" on the door would usually release the button, and the door would function. Now, the door is not working at all - thankfully, it is in the closed position, but it is totally non-functional as we cannot open it at all. Had one or two episodes of the driver-side door getting stuck open - the latch had a problem that prevented closure (seemed that the latch got into the "locked" position somehow when door was open, and then wouldn't release in order to close it). Now, the rear hatch lock/latch is not working either. We cannot open the hatch, which is extremely inconvenient and also another safety concern. If any emergency would happen which would require us to exit the vehicle quickly (or if we needed to be rescued from the vehicle), the only doors that actually work all the time are the two front doors. This is a huge concern to me, particularly if we have passengers riding in the 3rd row seats. We have not yet taken it to a dealer for repair - have not heard of good outcomes for this particular problem, and don't want to spend a ton of money.

- Stow, OH, USA

Both power sliding doors fail to work. Neither door opening switch will open or close them. Also, right side will not even open manually from inside the vehicle! safety issue. Repairs for the powered door issue were estimated at $350 for the door computer + 350 to install - per door! outrageous. American car companies have been slammed for this kind of thing. How about Toyota?

- Centennial, CO, USA