2009 Toyota Sienna problems
Owners have filed 270 complaints with NHTSA about the 2009 Toyota Sienna. Body & structure is the most reported problem area, at 36% of complaints. Next are electrical system (10%) and air bags (5%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 270 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Body & structure 36% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 35 and 5
- Injuries and deaths
- 104 and 0
- Typical mileage
- 80,000 miles 209 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 | 22 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 11 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 42 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 27 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 35 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 34 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 19 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 8 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 1 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 3 |
| 200k+ miles | 7 |
What the data shows
Of the 209 complaints that include odometer readings, half describe a problem before roughly 80,000 miles. For body & structure specifically, the median reported mileage is about 81,000 miles (78 complaints with mileage).
Safety-related details: 35 complaints mention a crash; 5 complaints mention a fire; 104 injuries reported. Its complaints are more severe on average than those of 91% of model years in our database.
Looking only at complaints filed within five years of the model year (so older and newer years are comparable), the 2009 ranks 16th most-complained-about out of 23 model years of the Toyota Sienna with enough data (129 complaints in that window). It is also covered by 10 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.
In november 2009 while parking my car in store parking, my foot was on brake my car accelerated, suddenly jumped on the 1 foot high footpath and crashed into the store injuring few people. Nothing worked even brakes jammed. I contacted the toyota and they sent me letter after 30 days that they have found nothing and toyota dealer was not ready to take any part in resolving the problem. They refused to give me rental vehicle and I had to pay one month of rental car as well. I am scared to drive this vehicle now.
The car had an alignment problem after 5000 miles. Firestone always aligned the wheels but 1 went through 3 sets of tires. The car would speed up the last couple of months after I took my foot off the gas pedal. The brakes seemed to work but they just did not seem right. I noticed the day after I drove the rav4 the difference form the sienna. The rave 4 also jerks sometimes when I step on the gas pedal.
The cable broke on the power sliding door due to the plastic coating being worn, exposing the cable to the elements and rusting it. This vehicle is less than 5 years old.
I had a catastrophic oil leak all over my driveway and garage. Reseached history of this type and found it was it was a rubber hose associated with oil transfer (also called the v v t 1 actuator hose. A voluntary recall on this part ended in 2013. I will have it fixed by a local car repair shop but if this is a known part failure for years, why would toyota not make a mandatory recall of this faulty part? My 2009 toyota sienna which I just purchased 2 months ago will now have a major car repair.