10.0
really awful- Crashes / Fires:
- 0 / 0
- Injuries / Deaths:
- 35 / 0
- Average Mileage:
- 35,065 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.
The contact owns a 2004 Toyota Sienna. The contact stated that the rear liftgate strut failed in the vehicle. He attempted to open the gate, but it would not open. In order to lift the gate, he had to trip the handle. The liftgate would not remain open and had to be held open manually. If the rear door was released, it would slam down hard enough to possibly cause an injury. The VIN and mileages were unavailable.
- Kirksville, MO, USA
2004 Toyota Sienna ce(manual hatch):the hatch is hard to lift open and does not stay up--just slams down shut. Very dangerous!! need 1 person to hold hatch open when accessing interior.
- Windermere, FL, USA
Rear hatch lift gate came down on my daughters back....not sure what happened, but it took a lot of force to free her. Later the same day the lift gate opened all the way and then came down about a foot and hit my wife on the head....knocked her to the ground and caused a pretty bad headache for a day. After the gate hit her, it continued to close. Right now the lift gate opens half way and then slams shut.
- Saline, MI, USA
In the winter of 2006 the gas struts that supported the rear cargo door failed. The struts did not fail completely. It appears that some, but not all, of the gas that charges the struts has leaked out. The problem manifests only in the cold weather when the gas volume in the struts is less due to the cold. In the summer the struts perform normally.
- San Diego, CA, USA
The lift gate on the van suddenly failed and struck me in the head.
- League City, TX, USA
Toyota Sienna 2004 rear power lift gate - gas struts failed causing the lift gate to fall below normal opening.
- Tucson, AZ, USA
I have a Toyota Sienna 2004 xle with power assist lift gate. The rear lift pate opened then immediately closed. It has hit me on the head several times. And my 18 month old daughter once.
- Virginai Beach, VA, USA
The contact owns a 2004 Toyota Sienna. The contact stated that the rear hatch support struts failed and nearly caused severe injury to a passenger. The dealer has not inspected the vehicle. The contact noticed that the vehicle had not been operating correctly for a period of time prior to the failure. The purchase date was unknown. The current mileage was 62,000 and failure mileage was approximately 60,000.
- Sycamore, IL, USA
Toyota Sienna le, rear hatch lift gate struts failed - struts do not support lift gate anymore, must be held or propped open to prevent closing on person.
- Burnsville, MN, USA
The lift gate struts on my 2004 Toyota Sienna without the power function failed unexpectedly and smacked my wife in the head. Fortunately, she only had a little knob on her head and nothing more serious. Thanks goodness one of my kids wasn't loading something at the time. They might have been crushed. I was looking for replacement parts online and saw that there's quite a few people having this same issue and thought I'd register a complaint. I'm 38 and have never had any sort of lift strut failure on any of my vehicles. This is particularly troubling given the weight of the gate and immediate failure of the part.
- Wausau, WI, USA
The contact owns a 2004 Toyota Sienna. The contact stated that when the liftgate was power-opened, it unexpectedly power-closed on its own. The door would re-open if it met resistance; however, it would continue to close. As of November 30, 2007, the dealer had not inspected the vehicle. There is an engineering analysis open (NHTSA action number EA06020). The failure mileage was 35,000 and current mileage was 45,000.
- San Ramone, CA, USA
The rear door of my 2004 Sienna collapsed on me. The door was not touched and it just collapsed on me. I reported this event to my local Toyota dealer. They said that I was out of warranty and had to pay out of pocket for the repairs. I then reported this failure to Toyota usa who then referred me back to the local Toyota dealer. The local dealer again informed me that I need to pay out of pocket for the repair. My vehicle was out of warranty by 1 month. The local dealer wanted approximately $200-$300 for the repair. Through the support of the online Sierra owner's club, I found out that the strut on the back right support was broken. I ordered 2 struts from an autoparts dealer and repaired it myself in about 2 minutes for about $50. I installed 2 struts because I don't trust the Toyota strut at all.
- Brooklyn, NY, USA
While removing items from the rear section of the vehicle the lift gate dropped down and begin closing on me. As thought the locking device failed holding it up and open, it did not stop once gently touching me and I had to use force to stop it from closing further until I could get out from under it. The only thing I have noticed prior to this incident is that the gate seems to open/close slower than previously. Now I do not use the rear storage unless absolutely necessary and even then, I do not allow anyone to work underneath it without a second person being there for support.
- Plano, TX, USA
Since I bought it, my 2004 Sienna back door won't lift up easily. I need to lift it up. I need to pull hard to get it down and close. Right after 3 years of struggle, one of the air strut failed. It won't go in and the rod was bent.
- Fremont, CA, USA
The contact owns a 2004 Toyota Sienna. The contact stated that the struts on the rear door that support the lift gate failed. The lift gate could be operated manually or electronically. The rear door closes on the person under the door, but there have been no injuries. There is an open investigation (EA06020). The current mileage was 37,302 and failure mileage was 30,000.
- Glen Ellen, IL, USA
The rear liftgate struts on our 2004 Toyota Sienna failed to hold up the back tailgate. It collapsed on my wife and bruised her neck. Should this have happened to a small child I think with the weight of this door could severely injury. We have not replaced these shocks yet as they are very expensive. We do not use tailgate without someone to hold it up. Toyota never mentioned that there was a problem with these liftgates or have even upgraded the replacements so this will not happen again.
- Benson , MN, USA
Power rear gate did not stay open and closed after the gate reached opened position. Because it did not stay open, rear cargo space was useless. In order to store some things, it needed to be held by another person.
- Suwanee, GA, USA
The pressurized gas struts on the Toyota Sienna 2004 rear liftgate failed right after our warranty expired and the rear lift gate almost crashed on my wife head.
- Mason, OH, USA
Power liftgate failed and door came down on my back as I was retrieving items. Had to have the leaking liftgate struts replaced at Toyota. They charged an outrageous $450 to replace an obvious potentially dangerous part defect.
- Sarasota, FL, USA
- Buena Park , CA, USA