2008 Toyota Sienna problems
Owners have filed 571 complaints with NHTSA about the 2008 Toyota Sienna. Body & structure is the most reported problem area, at 20% of complaints. Next are cruise control (9%) and engine (9%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 571 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Body & structure 21% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 49 and 6
- Injuries and deaths
- 21 and 0
- Typical mileage
- 79,000 miles 468 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 | 57 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 63 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 58 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 60 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 81 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 52 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 32 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 19 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 22 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 15 |
| 200k+ miles | 9 |
What the data shows
Of the 468 complaints that include odometer readings, half describe a problem before roughly 79,000 miles. For body & structure specifically, the median reported mileage is about 82,000 miles (101 complaints with mileage).
Safety-related details: 49 complaints mention a crash; 6 complaints mention a fire; 21 injuries reported.
Looking only at complaints filed within five years of the model year (so older and newer years are comparable), the 2008 ranks 6th most-complained-about out of 23 model years of the Toyota Sienna with enough data (251 complaints in that window). It is also covered by 9 safety recall campaigns.
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.
Tl* the contact owns a 2008 toyota sienna. The contact was stopped in a parking space when the brakes were depressed and the vehicle accelerated to approximately 25 MPH. The vehicle crashed through the parking sign and into a tree. The contact continued to depress the brakes and shifted into reverse. The vehicle then reversed and crashed into another tree. After the contact activated the emergency brake, the vehicle came to a complete stop.
I was traveling in a 2008 toyota sienna south after just coming from being stopped at a red light when I was t-boned by a driver that ran the red light traveling west bound. I was hit between the driver's side door and front left wheel. The impact took the wheel off the axel and the car was inoperable after the incident. I hit my head on the driver's window as the air bag did not deploy and suffered a concussion and bruising.
I approached the intersection of cortz rd. And 34 st. In bradenton, fl in heavy traffic. The traffic light changed from red to green, the line of traffic started to move forward. I applied accelerator and brake as needed with traffic, then the car in front of me stopped suddenly ,I let up on the accelerator and pressed the brake and they did not respond as they should hitting the car in front of me. This all resulted in a 5 car chain reaction crash.
Toyota 2008 sienna le 2wd power steering rack & pinion seal failed and leaked on the passenger side at 120,000 miles. The rack boot tore and broke as a result. Repair cost is estimated at approximately $2,000. Numerous complaints are posted by other owners on the internet all pointing to the same defect. If drivers are unaware, or if the defect is not resolved, power steering could freeze and potentially cause life threatening situations.
I was driving on the freeway at approximately 70MPH on dry asphalt on a sunny day when the stability control warning light came on along with rapid beeping. What was the most concerning was that the breaks activated twice causing me to have a near panic attack and I didn't think I had control of the vehicle. After a few seconds, the beeping stopped and I had full control of the vehicle again. There was no apparent cause for these safety features to have been engaged and no longer feel safe driving this vehicle.