2012 Toyota Sienna problems
Owners have filed 333 complaints with NHTSA about the 2012 Toyota Sienna. Air bags is the most reported problem area, at 25% of complaints. Next are body & structure (22%) and electrical system (8%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 333 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Air bags 25% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 18 and 10
- Injuries and deaths
- 25 and 0
- Typical mileage
- 58,000 miles 165 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 | 36 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 21 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 29 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 24 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 28 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 6 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 4 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 7 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 3 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 3 |
| 200k+ miles | 4 |
What the data shows
Of the 165 complaints that include odometer readings, half describe a problem before roughly 58,000 miles. For air bags specifically, the median reported mileage is about 58,000 miles (12 complaints with mileage).
Safety-related details: 18 complaints mention a crash; 10 complaints mention a fire; 25 injuries reported.
Looking only at complaints filed within five years of the model year (so older and newer years are comparable), the 2012 ranks 7th most-complained-about out of 23 model years of the Toyota Sienna with enough data (245 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.
On august 27, 2016 I was driving our 2012 toyota sienna on an interstate highway. Traffic was terrible and I rear-ended another vehicle in stop-and-go traffic. The impact was minor, but the engine caught fire and burnt the car to the frame. My wife and I were able to exit the car before it burned. When I exited the car, I took my keys with me. However, I was not able to open any of the doors and everything I had in the back of the van burned. Thankfully, our children were not in the car.
Steering knock is experienced at speeds of approximately 35MPH and less whenever steering left or right. This condition was first noticed at approximately 80k miles and has gotten worse over the next 50k miles. The knock is not only felt in the steering wheel, but it has become an audible noise as well. I've read several complaints where dealers have fixed this known problem, however I haven't seen any recalls on this or any information from toyota stating that this is a known condition and is safe to continue…
The rear viscous coupler on the AWD had gone bad and needs replacement. This part is the same defective part on the rav 4 that had an extended warranty coverage due to bad design but is not covered on the sienna. This part needs a recall.