Vehicle hesitates and lurches forward on acceleration. Driver gets jerked forward at an abnormal rate. After acceleration upon leaving a stoped state vehicle does not respond and/or hesitates for a second then lurches forward. Dealer has been notified many times and they tell me this is a characteristic with the new fly wheel design in the Toyota. They agree it is not right but tell me there is nothing I can do about it?? as a consumer this in unacceptable. Am starting to have neck problems as a result of doing a lot of local in town driving and constantly stopping and starting with being jerked around in my van. Even the passengers feel it. I think this is a major safety issues since it can create physical damage to the driver and cause an accident if van does not respond to accelerator when expected too. Tires may spin out too when the jerky acceleration occurs.

- Endicott, NY, USA

Problems with the dunlop run flat tires and the transmission on the 2004 Toyota Sienna. During a 3000 mile service the technician notice that on or more of the tires was balding. All four tire were replaced. A few day after the 3000 mil maintenance the vehicle would not move because there was no transmission fluid.

- Las Vegas, NV, USA

2004 Toyota Sienna xle van. When accelerating from a coast the van hesitates. Have to press the accelerator harder to force a hard downshift. This is very dangerous when a predictable acceleration is needed. It seems like the transmission control gets confused on when to downshift. Probably a result of what Toyota has to do to keep the mileage rating up. The number of times this happens are to numerous to count.

- Lower Burrrell, PA, USA

2004 Toyota Sienna experiencing hesitation when trying to accelerate. The problem would occur when starting to move the vehicle, when the consumers removed his foot and placed it back on the throttle, severe hesitation would occur.

- Mesa, AZ, USA

After 5 months of purchasing a 2004 Toyota Sienna the transmission went out and was replaced. The vehicle continues to lag and lurch.

- Chalmette, LA, USA

I have a 2004 Toyota Sienna with a transmission hesitation problem. (a problem toytoa denies but there are thousands of complaints about it to dealers) it is dangerous in snowy conditions as the 2 second hesitation results in a slowing down before an abrupt upshift/power surge that breaks the wheels loose in the snow. This then causes the traction control system to engage. I was stuck repeatedly and in many dangerous conditions in the mountains in an attempt to get to a ski area due to this problem. Toyota needs to have some pressure put on them.

- Ashburn, VA, USA

There is a slight, but annoying and unsafe, hesitation with the transmission when accelerating from a turn or from stopping. I have brought it back to the dealer for numerous tsb upgrades, including replacing of a new transmission. However, nothing has changed !!!!!!

- Campbell, CA, USA

Vehicle transmission appears to have a significant delay, dead spot or trouble deciding what gear it wants to be in. Primarily when accelerating if hesitation or a lifting of the pedal takes place and then gas is applied again the car lurches after hesitation and downshifts jerking the car. This can't possibly be healthy for the vehicle transmission long term as well as other car parts. I have had to change my driving habits to account for the poor design of the transmission. I've registered my complaint w/the dealer and they've checked to see if the latest software was on my vehicle and it was. They also indicated that there have been other complaints of this type. The major concern is long term and if my transmission goes bad 3-5-7-10 years from now, how much of this is actually Toyota's fault from poor design but then I have to incur the cost. At a large price tag initially this is not fair to the consumer.

- Uniontown, OH, USA

When I step on the gas there is a pause. Toytota says it's an identified problem with the transmission. When I hit the gas, the car should move!

- Clovis, CA, USA

No throttle response for about 2 seconds, occures all the time, most noticeable on a rolling stop at a yeild sign. Several near accidents.

- Leawood, KS, USA

2004 Sienna ltd AWD has both a hesitation in acceleration and shifting problems if the vehicle is at low speed and then the accelerator is depressed. The engine does not respond to the accelerator pedal then after a delay, can over rev and then engage the transmisson. There have been incidents where it causes dangerous delays in avoiding a potentiao accidant situation. Taken the car back and was told that Toyota says this is operating according to the design. This is an unsafe situation.

- Downingtown, PA, USA

When slowing to make a turn the transmission will on occasion hesatate and then surge.

- New Smyrna Beach, FL, USA

While merging onto another lane transmission down shifted on its own. Consumer applied the accelerator pedal and vehicle would not accelerate. Then, consumer noticed that the RPM gauge registered high on the dashboard. Consumer took vehicle to dealer for inspection, and mechanic determined that transmission fluid was leaking from underneath, and needed to be replaced. The other problem could not be duplicated by the mechanic. Consumer informed mechanic that this problem recurred and had not been resolved.

- Montebello, CA, USA

Hesitation of 2004 Toyota Sienna xle limited. Vehicle has a significant delay in acceleration when applying gas from a slow roll (under 5 mph). This is a recurring problem that is not addressed by Toyota.

- Valdosta, GA, USA

I could not shift out of park upon starting the engine and the vsc and ABS light came on, I had to set and release the emergency brake and the brake pedal randomly then re-attempt to shift out of park which would then enable me to shift into drive or reverse.

- Jersey City, NJ, USA

While approaching a left hand turn off a 4 lane undivided highway I saw a vehicle approaching in the middle most lane with its left turn signal on which I interpreted as a sign that the vehicle was going to make a left turn where I was also turning. But it turned out the turn signal must have just been forgotten about and the vehicle was intending to continue travelling straight. By this time I had already started my turn and was in the path of the oncoming vehicle. When I realized that the vehicle was not going to turn I floored the accelerator to get out of its way. The Sienna seemed to slow down violently as all passengers in my Sienna lurched forward, and then the transmission finally seemed to kick in after what seemed like a couple of seconds of sitting helplessly in the path of the oncoming vehicle, which had to slam on its brakes to avoid colliding with us. This acceleration hesitation could have been much more dangerous if the other driver had not been driving defensively.

- Eliot, ME, USA

Engine idles very fast in cold weather first few minutes. While driving a block to the first stop sign has to apply the brakes very forcefully to get the car to stop. This causes some loss of control, especially on a slight down hill slope during snowy/icy weather. Appears to be combination idle, and the automatic transmission.

- Geneva, IL, USA

Vehicle hesitates/fails to move forward in the following mode: After braking, when the vehicle is still moving between 5 to 15 mph, the van does not respond to accelerator pedal input; vehicle hesitates with no movement forward, then shifts hard into first gear and lurches forward. We have had 2 close calls, waiting for the vehicle to respond to accelerator pedal input. Also, accelerator pedal has a dead spot. The first half inch of pedal causes no response from vehicle). This "dead spot" along with the hesitation noted above can result in a 2 second response failure from the vehicle. This situation has put my family in harms way on numerous occasions.

- Pottstown, PA, USA

Once, while driving on I-5, on a slight incline in 'd'(overdrive), I slowed the vehicle from 60 mph to around 50 mph because of traffic. The vehicle then seem to slip out of gear, the rpms hit approx. 6000, then the vehicle caught a gear. It repeated this several times. I pulled over and call the dealer. He said to if there were no warning lights, then it's probably ok. The second time we were in 'd' and slowing from about 60mph to 50mph coming into a slight corner. The vehicle repeated the same jerking. I notice that when slowing the rpms dip below 2000-1800 before the slipping occurs. I kept the car above 2000 rpms at higher spends by shifting into '3' when needed. This seem to avoid the problem" we brought the car in to the dealer. I was told what happen is normal operation for the new transmissions in the Sienna and highlander" however, losing power and being jerked around did not seem safe. I am bringing it to another dealer on this coming Friday.

- Lake Oswego, OR, USA

Vehicle is having a problem with the transmission. There is a 3 second hesitation interval before the vehicle will move into gear. When driving around town, it is at its worse. Vehicle is equipped with a 5 speed automatic transmission. The vehicle only hesitates when downshifting.

- Battle Creek, MI, USA