2002 Toyota Sienna problems
Owners have filed 225 complaints with NHTSA about the 2002 Toyota Sienna. Body & structure is the most reported problem area, at 19% of complaints. Next are latches & locks (12%) and brakes (12%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 225 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Body & structure 19% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 16 and 7
- Injuries and deaths
- 19 and 0
- Typical mileage
- 70,000 miles 148 complaints with mileage
Source: NHTSA owner complaints
Where the complaints are
Share of this model year's complaints by the part of the car involved. One complaint can name more than one part, so the shares can add up to more than 100%.
When problems show up
View the numbers
| Mileage | Complaints |
|---|---|
| 0k to 20k miles | 16 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 31 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 11 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 27 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 23 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 14 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 13 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 3 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 5 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 0 |
| 200k+ miles | 5 |
What the data shows
Of the 148 complaints that include odometer readings, half describe a problem before roughly 70,000 miles. For body & structure specifically, the median reported mileage is about 75,000 miles (25 complaints with mileage).
Safety-related details: 16 complaints mention a crash; 7 complaints mention a fire; 19 injuries reported.
Looking only at complaints filed within five years of the model year (so older and newer years are comparable), the 2002 ranks 18th most-complained-about out of 23 model years of the Toyota Sienna with enough data (99 complaints in that window). It is also covered by 1 safety recall campaign.
What owners wrote
A few complaints as filed, shortened and with personal details removed. The first ones are among the most serious reports for this model year; the rest are typical.
Another vehicle hit consumer's vehicle at 70 MPH in rear, consumer ran head on into the guardrail, vehicle was totaled, none of the air bags deployed. Contacted dealer. Consumer states that the vehicle also has side airbags.
While at a complete stop, my vehicle was struck at the seven o'clock position. During the accident, the seat belt retractors allowed the belt webbing to extend beyond 25 mm without restraining the occupants. All seat belted occupants struck the vehicle interior directly in front of their prospective position. The force of acceleration and subsequent secondary impact was sufficient to cause moderate facial lacerations.
'02 toyota sienna, accelerated into an intersection, causing grave injuries to other driver. Toyota driver does not recall the accident.
My wife was backing out of a parking space on a slight incline. When she stopped and tried to put the car into drive, the gearshift broke. We had the van towed to the toyota dealer and they determined that the metal parts into which the gear shaft inserts had broken clean in half. Neither the customer service rep nor the mechanic had ever seen that happen before they claimed. Nevertheless, toyota did not deem this to be a defect and we had to pay close to $800 to have it fixed.
Have had the sliding door looked out & "re-set" 4 times. If we pull the door a little, it will close, but will not open or close with any button (front panel, key fob or side panel). Today it started to close on my child & she couldn't get it to stop, her backpack strap was caught on the seat. Pretty scary. Right now the kids are climbing in through the front passenger door.