Toyota fixing 600,000 Sienna doors -NOT RECALL

[DSMLVR]

Toyota fixing 600,000 Sienna doors, but it's not a recall mind you
Posted Oct 24th 2007 4:57PM by John Neff

The hits just keep coming for Toyota Motor Co. After a pair of new problems with its all-important Tundra pickup were brought to light this week, a reader sent us a link to this article in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that reveals the automaker will voluntarily fix the front doors on 600,000 units of its Sienna minivan (current model shown above) built between 2004 and 2006. Apparently there may be an issue with the door check mounting panel on both of the minivan's front doors. The door check mounting panel is the piece that keeps the door open, and if the part fails the door can swing freely and unexpectedly shut – obviously a concern for parents with kids. Toyota has traced the problem back to bad spot welds performed at the automaker's Princeton, Indiana factory.

Toyota will be sending out letters on Nov. 2nd to owners of said Siennas explaining the problem and offering to fix it. To do so, Toyota will offer what it calls a "warranty enhancement" to these vehicles, covering the cost of these door repairs on Siennas up to five years old with 100,000 miles or less. Though a bad spot weld on the door check mounting panel would normally be covered by the Sienna's standard warranty, that only lasts 3 years or 36,000 miles. Toyota has also said that it will reimburse owners who have already had the doors repaired on their own, in some cases at the cost of thousands of dollars.

Curiously, Toyota is not calling this a recall. Of course, what automaker wants to refer to a problem with one of its vehicles as a recall if it doesn't have to? As long as Toyota takes care of the Sienna door problem to the satisfaction of its customers, they can call it a Happy Happy, Joy Joy Service Encouragement Bulletin.


Toyota to cover defect
In mass mailing going out soon, company offers to pay for minivan doors with bad welds
By RICK BARRETT
rbarrett@journalsentinel.com
Posted: Oct. 23, 2007
Toyota Motor Co. said Tuesday it would cover the costs of repairing doors on up to 600,000 Sienna minivans, after learning from consumers that a part can fail, causing doors to shut unexpectedly.

Tom Osman of Wauwatosa isn't happy about the failure of the welds on his Toyota minivan driver's door. The problem causes the door to swing freely and close unexpectedly. Until now, Toyota had agreed to pay for only part of the repair.

Toyota had offered to pay 75% of the $2,000 bill to fix Osman's door flaw. Now Toyota will pay for the repair on his van and many more.
It's not a factory recall for the vehicles, made from 2004 through 2006, but the owners will receive a letter from Toyota explaining the problem and offering to take care of it at the company's expense.

The letters will be mailed Nov. 2, Toyota spokesman Bill Kwong told the Journal Sentinel.

In Wauwatosa, Tom Osman spent about six months trying to get Toyota, or his local dealership, to pay for the failed door mechanism on his 2005 Sienna.

At best, it was going to cover only 75% of the $2,000 repair bill, Osman said, leaving him to pay the $500 difference.

That was just for one door, on the driver's side, which must be replaced because the "door check mounting panel" failed.

"It's probably a matter of time before the passenger door fails too," Osman said.

The problem is with the front doors on the driver's and passenger's sides, rather than the van's sliding doors. When the door is open, it's supposed to be held in place by the door check mounting panel. When the part fails, the door swings freely.

With two children, ages 4 and 7, Osman said he worries that one of the doors will close on their hands while they're getting out of the vehicle.

Osman was angry that until Tuesday Toyota said it would not cover the full repair costs, because his van had 40,000 miles on the odometer and was out of warranty, even though it was less than three years old.

"This was a factory defect. It should have nothing to do with the warranty," Osman said.

Toyota had been handling the out-of-warranty complaints on a "case by case" basis, said Mary Doherty, customer relations manager at Wilde Toyota, in West Allis. Osman bought the vehicle used from Wilde.

If the vehicles were under Toyota's three-year, 36,000-mile warranty, the repairs were fully covered, she said.

It's difficult to say whether the Sienna door problem is widespread, partly because it might not surface for years on some vehicles.

But Toyota now says it will pay for the repairs on Siennas up to five years old with 100,000 or fewer miles on them.

"We are calling it a warranty enhancement," rather than a factory recall, Kwong said.

The defect was caused by bad spot welds. Siennas are built at the company's factory in Princeton, Ind. Toyota doesn't consider the defect a safety issue, although a door that closes unexpectedly could be hazardous to small children.

"Most of the time, people are just annoyed by a 'popping noise' they hear" when the welds are weak, Kwong said.

The faulty part is the latest in a string of problems that have raised doubts about whether Toyota can maintain quality standards amid booming sales.

Last week, Consumer Reports said Toyota had fallen so far in its annual vehicle reliability survey that it could no longer automatically recommend the company's new cars and trucks to readers.

Toyota slid from first place last year to fifth place in Consumer Reports' 2007 rankings. Honda replaced Toyota in the No. 1 spot.

In 2005, Toyota had 12 recalls totaling more than 2 million vehicles. One of those involved nearly a million vehicles built as far back as 1989. A recall of more than 768,000 involved trucks and sport utility vehicles no older than three years.

Toyota hasn't issued a factory recall for the Sienna door problem, perhaps because such notices generate a lot of negative publicity, said Joe Wiesenfelder with Cars.com, a Web site for car enthusiasts.

"It's probably on the cusp of being a recall, but maybe not," he said.

Still, Toyota is probably more sensitive to Sienna owners' complaints now, given the Consumer Reports rankings, according to Wiesenfelder.

"Anyone who pays the kind of money we're talking about here, especially with a company of Toyota's reputation, is justified in feeling outraged," he said.

Toyota is offering to reimburse consumers who have already paid up to several thousand dollars to have their Sienna doors fixed.

If the bad welds are broken or cracked, the entire door assembly has to be replaced at a cost of several thousand dollars.

"You don't have to be the vehicle's original owner. Anyone can bring the car in and it will be fixed," Kwong said.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has received a few complaints about the problem. Earlier this year, Toyota issued a service bulletin to its dealerships advising them of the necessary repairs.

[DGC]

So, this is a TSB?

[Jason]

Originally Posted by DSMLVR

"We are calling it a warranty enhancement," rather than a factory recall, Kwong said.

Corporate weenie-speak is so predictable.

Originally Posted by DSMLVR

The defect was caused by bad spot welds. Siennas are built at the company's factory in Princeton, Ind. Toyota doesn't consider the defect a safety issue, although a door that closes unexpectedly could be hazardous to small children.

NOOO, of course it's not a "safety issue". Those generate as much bad publicity as do recalls, ya know.

[HyperFox]

Its funny. I honestly think that some companies purposely dont issue recalls just to save face. coughcoughtoyotacoughcoughhondacoughcough.:biglaug h:

[Chrysler1924]

Originally Posted by DSMLVR

Toyota doesn't consider the defect a safety issue, although a door that closes unexpectedly could be hazardous to small children.

See now, that statement does NOT sit well with me. It's not a safety concern even though a door closing on a child could do harm.

...seriously?

[PTCarl]

Originally Posted by DSMLVR

Toyota fixing 600,000 Sienna doors, but it's not a recall mind you
Posted Oct 24th 2007 4:57PM by John Neff.....

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that reveals the automaker will voluntarily fix the front doors on 600,000 units of its Sienna minivan (current model shown above) built between 2004 and 2006. Apparently there may be an issue with the door check mounting panel on both of the minivan's front doors. The door check mounting panel is the piece that keeps the door open, and if the part fails the door can swing freely and unexpectedly shut – obviously a concern for parents with kids. Toyota has traced the problem back to bad spot welds performed at the automaker's Princeton, Indiana factory.

Toyota will be sending out letters on Nov. 2nd to owners of said Siennas explaining the problem and offering to fix it. To do so, Toyota will offer what it calls a "warranty enhancement" to these vehicles, covering the cost of these door repairs on Siennas up to five years old with 100,000 miles or less. Though a bad spot weld on the door check mounting panel would normally be covered by the Sienna's standard warranty, that only lasts 3 years or 36,000 miles.....

It's difficult to say whether the Sienna door problem is widespread, partly because it might not surface for years on some vehicles....But Toyota now says it will pay for the repairs on Siennas up to five years old with 100,000 or fewer miles on them.....

"Most of the time, people are just annoyed by a 'popping noise' they hear" when the welds are weak, Kwong said.....

If the bad welds are broken or cracked, the entire door assembly has to be replaced at a cost of several thousand dollars.......

Some people have complained in this forum because I have identified problems with my 2006 Sienna LE that has 18,000 miles in 25 months.

However, this significant DEFECT causes considerable concern. I observed soon after purchase that the connection between the door check mounting and the Sienna frame is very flimsy compared to the 02 T&C and 99 GC we owned. (Too bad my trusted Chrysler-Dodge salesman died earlier this year.)


All the problems daoushy has reported with his new 2008 T&C Touring is scaring me away from a new 2008 GC or T&C. WHAT do you satisfied T&C/GC owners recommend?

[joepeterson56]

Originally Posted by DGC

So, this is a TSB?

No mater what they want to call it, it is a problem they probably wouldn't have acknowleged if it hadn't gotten enough attention to make it to the press.

wienie speak or tsb, a recall is a recall as far as I am concerned even if it is voluntary and not ordered by the gov't.

[Jason]

Originally Posted by PTCarl

All the problems daoushy has reported with his new 2008 T&C Touring is scaring me away from a new 2008 GC or T&C. WHAT do you satisfied T&C/GC owners recommend?

Carl, I think you're too late for what we recommended. I think we recommended getting a 2007 while they were still on the lots and available for a good price. I know how much you like your 2002. We loved our 2003, which is a big reason we didn't hold out for an '08. A very few '07s are still left out there if you look for 'em.

[shipo]

Our local dealers have the following on the lot:

Allen Motors -- Derry, NH
- 2007 TOWN & COUNTRY SPRING SPECIAL EDITION -- MSRP: $33,040

Foss Motors -- Exeter, NH
- 2007 TOWN & COUNTRY SPRING SPECIAL EDITION -- MSRP: $32,340

Carlson's Motor Sales -- Concord, NH
- 2007 TOWN & COUNTRY -- MSRP: $22,310
- 2007 TOWN & COUNTRY -- MSRP: $23,060
- 2007 TOWN & COUNTRY -- MSRP: $23,210
- 2007 TOWN & COUNTRY -- MSRP: $23,560
- 2007 TOWN & COUNTRY TOURING -- MSRP: $30,190
- 2007 TOWN & COUNTRY LIMITED -- MSRP: $37,560
- 2007 TOWN & COUNTRY LIMITED -- MSRP: $38,160

So, there are a few out there, however, most seem to be either highly optioned or strippos.

[PTCarl]

Originally Posted by Jason

Carl, I think you're too late for what we recommended. I think we recommended getting a 2007 while they were still on the lots and available for a good price. I know how much you like your 2002. We loved our 2003, which is a big reason we didn't hold out for an '08. A very few '07s are still left out there if you look for 'em.

Almost all the 2007 T&C's and GC's were SOLD out early in this area. After buying the Light Pearl Almond Metallic, I quickly learned that Stonewhite with Khaki/Graystone interior was by far the color we prefer. There were Linen Gold with Khaki/Graystone in both T&C Touring and GC SXT but we want WHITE only.

Best scenario would be to have someone steal our Sienna, collect the insurance and go buy a mint condition 2007 GC SXT or T&C Touring. However, since it is illegal to bribe anyone, that is not probable.