Toyota Sienna Reliability by YearBest & worst years, problems & recalls β NHTSA data
Comparing used Toyota Sienna options? We analyzed 10 model years (2017β2026) using real NHTSA complaint and recall data so you can spot stronger years, avoid riskier ones, and know what to inspect before buying.
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Model-year trends show patterns β they can't tell you whether this car was crashed, flooded, or rolled back. A VIN check can.
- Accident & damage history
- Odometer rollback records
- Open recalls & title brands
Based on NHTSA complaint data, the Toyota Sienna has 507 owner complaints and 0 safety recalls across model years 2017β2026. The most reported issue area is SEATS. 2018 drew the most complaints; 2020 drew the fewest.
- Make
- Toyota
- Model
- Sienna
- Model years analyzed
- 2017β2026 (10 years)
- Total NHTSA complaints
- 507
- Safety recall campaigns
- 0
- Crash-related complaints
- 13
- Fire-related complaints
- 2
- Worst model year (by complaints)
- 2018 (69 complaints)
- Best model year (fewest complaints)
- 2020 (36 complaints)
- Top reported issue area
- SEATS
- Reliability signal
- Poor
By model year
Toyota Sienna: which years to avoid & which to buy
Based on total NHTSA owner complaints per model year. Higher complaint counts indicate a riskier year to buy used β lower counts suggest a cleaner reliability record.
These years have the most owner complaints. Inspect carefully and always run a VIN check.
These years have the fewest owner complaints on record β lower risk starting points.
Crash test ratings
NHTSA NCAP crash test ratings
New Car Assessment ProgramNCAP crash tests measure how well a vehicle protects occupants in controlled frontal crash, side crash, and rollover scenarios. Stars are awarded per category (5 = safest). These laboratory results are independent of owner complaints and are performed by NHTSA engineers on new production vehicles.
NCAP crash test ratings for this model are not yet loaded or this vehicle was not tested in the years analyzed. NHTSA tests a subset of new vehicles each year. Check nhtsa.gov/ratings directly for the latest results.
What the complaint data suggests
PoorThe TOYOTA SIENNA has 507 NHTSA complaints and 0 recalls on record. 13 complaints involve crash-related incidents. This data reflects owner-reported issues submitted to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
- 507 total complaints filed with NHTSA
- 0 federal recall campaigns
- 13 crash-related complaints on record
- Review NHTSA complaint history for the most-reported components
- Check recall completion status at nhtsa.gov/recalls
- Verify service records for frequently complained components
Consult the by-year breakdown to identify model years with elevated complaint rates.
Consult the by-year breakdown to identify model years with fewer reported issues.
- Run a VIN check on the specific vehicle you are considering
- Verify all open recalls are completed at nhtsa.gov/recalls
- Request service records for the most-reported complaint components
- Have a certified mechanic inspect the vehicle before purchase
Problems by model year (best vs. worst)
Source: NHTSA public complaints database. Updated: Jul 2026
Safety recalls
NHTSA safety recalls
0 recalls foundSafety recalls are mandatory repair campaigns ordered by NHTSA when a vehicle defect poses an unreasonable risk to safety. Manufacturers are required to fix recalled vehicles free of charge. Always verify open recalls before buying a used car.
No NHTSA recalls were found in our database for this model. Always verify open recalls using your specific VIN on NHTSA.gov.
Source: NHTSA Recalls Database. Data covers model years 2017β2026. Always run a VIN-specific check below for the most up-to-date open recall status.
Common problems
What goes wrong most often
The vehicle systems owners complain about most, ranked from all 507 NHTSA complaints β these are the areas to inspect first on a used car.
Owner complaints
NHTSA complaint reports
507 totalThese are consumer-submitted safety complaints filed directly with NHTSA. Each complaint describes a real owner's experience. Complaints flagged as crash-related or fire-related are highlighted.
2019 Sienna XLE with 77,000 miles has a UA80 Transmission is whining at the final gear per Imperial Toyota Milford MA service center. They want to replace the transmission for 9,000 USD and Toyota Corporate refuses assistance. It appear to be a common defect which could lead to transmission lockup if the gear fails.
The contact owns a 2019 Toyota Sienna. The contact stated that while attempting to open the driver's side sliding door, the door failed to completely open but remained ajar. The contact became aware that an electrical cable was hanging from the door. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, where it was diagnosed, and determined that the cable needed to be replaced. The dealer informed the contact that the door needed to be taken off and reinstalled to repair the vehicle. The vehicle was not repaired due to the cost. The manufacturer was notified of the failure, but no assistance was provided. The contact was referred to the NHTSA Hotline to report the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 72,000.
Started hearing a whining noise upon acceleration. Took car to Toyota for a diagnostic check. Discovered transmission is failing. Recommended repair is a full transmission replacement, quoted 10,000. After bringing to a local mechanic for a second opinion, he claims this is a widespread issue with Toyota Siennas in similar years. After some research, Toyota quietly claims there was an issue in the manufacturing of these transmissions however wonβt take accountability
About 2 years after the 9/30/2019 purchase (new), the paint on the front engine hood began peeling & cracking. Calls to Parks Toyota were ineffective. Now the entire hood has pervasive cracks. The hood needs to be removed, sanded & painted with a more substantial, long-lasting paint. The paint used is supposed to contain an additional clear coat for protection.
Transmission has failed and been replaced. This is part of issues from 2017 to 2020 tranny failures, loud whining and needing to be replaced. Tranny failure is very dangerous to the occupants. Toyota has failed to warranty these.
Lyft deactivated 60yo driver (7yr Lyft, 30yr driving) over vague "unsafe driving". Submitted **20 raw dashcam videos** (Oct 29, 2025) proving: - Full stop at flashing red light - Safe rolling stops (<4 mph) in Toyota Sienna + 3 passengers - Max 28 mph Videos requested by Lyft but ignored. **Tickets:** XXX/ XXX/ XXX **Evidence:** https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1OIgAwnaAV8Jr8GS4uiUcmqwYodmgCAWy?usp=sharing Lyft violates safety policy (Β§7.3). INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)
Read 14 more owner reports
sever transmission whine started at 138k miles over a year ago.Toyota will not fix issues under recalled ua80 transmission. Said my vin doesnβt fall within recall.
The Harness Adjuster Strap (item 5 in attached snip from user manual) loosens while in use. This item was manufactured post-recall 24C002000, using Nuna's new design described here: [XXX] This design change did not prevent the functionality of the strap to fail. There was zero to minimal debris (no food, drink, or water) in the mechanism causing it to fail. The Harness Release button (item 4 in snip from user manual) actuates freely. The adjuster strap, and subsequently the entire harness strap, moves freely, while the carseat is loaded or unloaded. I have a video available showing that the strop in the seat freely moving. We discovered the product failure while loading the child in the carseat and testing it's security by pulling on chest straps. Nuna's response was lackluster and unprofessional. Here is the sequence of events: We immediately reported the issue the first business day available, May 27th, and Nuna responded 24hrs later, informing us they would again respond in 1-2 business days to send us a form and shipping label to send back the defective product. We responded the same day asking them to expedite the process and send us a new product immediately as we had no backup for a carseat and my wife could not leave the home. A little over 48 hrs later they denied our request, and sent us the shipping and RMA form. We are now a full business week past the initial request and now are returning the carseat, with no assurance of when the replacement will be delivered. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)
Transmission UA80e is a poorly designed transmission. It almost caused an accident due to the transmission lunching forward on its own. Also has a whine coming from the transaxle. There is a customer service program for the 2017-2018 models about this issue. But I have a 2019 and not eligible for the program. Would like for Toyota to make this right. Less than 5 year old van.
My van was struck directly in the driver side rear sliding door while sitting still at a stop sign. The other driver collided straight into the passenger compartment door at an approximate speed of 30 mph crushing the door, exploding the window and neither the driver side airbags nor the side curtain airbags deployed. Resulting in my wife severely jarring around in the driver's seat, as well as my son who was securely fastened in a child booster seat in the driver side rear seat. The glass from the rear door window shattered and covered my son and the interior of the vehicle. There are no active recalls, but I read about a recall concerning the passenger side door welds that could affect operation of the side airbag and side curtain airbag sensors, but this only applied to a small number of 2019 Sienna's. Could this have been a manufacturing defect that bled over to the other door structures affecting the sensors in the same way.
Car was recalled for fuel pump and I repaired in 8/2020 with approximately 11,190 miles. I had complained that car, since time of purchase and had 4662 miles when I insisted Toyota fix this, (hunted for gears, hesitated, lagged when accelerator pushed, and had poorer gas mileage than expected). The car now has 34,875 miles on it and is doing the same thing, hesitating, lunging between gears. Our mechanic confirmed this and stated worse when using a.c. Called Toyota Customer Service and they said the car was out of warranty for the pump repair, but perhaps not the power train, transmission, etc. Have not gotten back to me yet, but has not been one working day after spending 2.5 hours on the phone with them yesterday. This is a safety issue, I press on the gas to make a turn and it lags leaving me in traffic. My 2007 Sienna, which is still running for my daughter, never did this and has full power when called upon. Toyota needs to repair the entire fuel system, transmission, if they cannot fix this. There are no warning lights when this happens & it is happening more frequently. Dealership told me they could not put another pump on car and to contact Toyota Customer Service and gave me the number. When we had the car for about a month, dealership said we were just not used to driving a car with this type of transmission and car was low on oil, we added oil and dealership said we used the wrong type, but we figured some oil was better than no oil. We are boomers and have been driving cars for decades, with clutches and without and we know how to drive a vehicle.
The contact owns a 2019 Toyota Sienna. The contact stated that after he entered the vehicle, he depressed the brake pedal to start the vehicle. After the vehicle was started, he shifted into reverse(R) while the brake pedal remained depressed; however, the vehicle inadvertently accelerated without warning. In a desperate attempt to stop the vehicle from crashing into another vehicle, the contact shifted into drive(D) while the brake pedal remained depressed. The contact then stated that he applied pressure to the brake pedal to stop the vehicle from accelerating when the vehicle then jumped the curb and struck a garbage can. The contact then shifted into reverse(R) while the vehicle continued to accelerate to move away from the garbage can and then shifted in neutral(N). The contact then shifted back into park(P). The contact then stated that after he placed the vehicle in park, the inadvertent acceleration stopped. The contact shifted into drive(D) and the vehicle performed as designed; however, the contact was concerned for his safety and carefully drove the vehicle to his residence where the vehicle remained. The contact was unsure if any warning lights were illuminated. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. Neither the dealer nor the manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 45,750.
Problems with catalyst
The microphone has an issue and it is tied to the SOS call button in the car. I asked my dealership, they wanted to charge $200 to run a diagnostic scan, I contacted Toyota directly, they basically said the dealer can charge it if they want and reverse the charge if they find a problem under warranty. I originally thought the issue was with the Blue Tooth. I found this video on YouTube, his fix did work-my concern is, if I had needed Emergency help-the button would not have called anyone, disconnecting your car battery is NOT something I should I have to do to fix a 2019 vehicle. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkAdMRKHS_0
I was traveling on the Capital Beltway (495) during morning rush-hour in my 2019 Toyota Sienna Minivan. Normal Road Conditions: Stop & Go traffic in the right-most lane around 9:30am on December 14, 2022. All of a sudden and without warning, when attempting to accelerate and keep up with traffic after the vehicle was stopped, I found that I was unable to move forward. (There was no indication that my vehicle was suffering from mechanical failure prior to this incident and no visible alert or alarm was triggered) At that point, I powered down the vehicle after turning on the hazard indicator lights. After re-engaging the ignition, I then tried to move forward, and found the vehicle to be unresponsive. A tractor trailer was directly in back of me and was inching closer as to keep up with the rush-hour traffic. I was immovable at that moment and waived the truck around. After finding a break in traffic, I attempted to move out of the right-most lane, but with the transmission not responding to the Drive function, found that my only course of action was to to engage Reverse and move to the Right shoulder of the highway. I then notified triple A and my vehicle was towed to a local garage for evaluation. Upon initial evaluation is was determined that it was either related to where the shift cable goes in to the transmission, or complete transmission failure. It is highly unusual for a Toyota transmission to fail at 71.000 miles (odometer reading at the time of the incident). I currently have two other Toyota vehicles with odometer reading in excess of 140,000 miles. I am concerned for the safety of my family and myself, as this is the primary vehicle used for transport. A 3 year old car with less than 100,000 miles should not suffer from transmission failure. This is a major safety concern. What if this happened and I was not in stop and go traffic or already in the slow lane, on a major highway?
The contact owns a 2019 Toyota Sienna. The contact stated that the liftgate failed to lower while using the remote. While reversing, the back-up camera became inoperable. The air bag warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer who stated the failure was due to the remote start feature that was installed. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The contact stated that she noticed the mirrors were fractured. While driving at an undisclosed speed, several unknown safety features became inoperable. There was a burning odor detected inside the vehicle. The manufacturer was contacted and offered to pay a nominal portion of the repair for the mirrors and referred her to the NHTSA Hotline for assistance. The approximate failure mileage was 72,000.
Second row passenger seatbelt jammed. Unable to be repaired needs new seatbelt part. We were out of town and a passenger was unable to be restrained on way home. The Part is on back order. I cannot use this seat which i need for babysitting grandchildren. I cannot eve sell this van because part not available. Van is available for inspection.Colerain Toyota Cincinnati is the dealership i also contacted Toyota complaint department.
This tire separated at the side wall nearest the rim. The last one separated and swelled roughly the size of a ping pong ball, prior to that the same thing. This is the 3rd Pirelli Scorpion Verde All Season tire to fail. After this last one, I realized it's got to be something with the construction of the tire so I googled and found recalls for other Pireeli tire models. I contacted the mfr and they refused to assist. Spoke with very rude individual at Pirelli USA in Rome, GA location who stated 'if I am concerned about the safety of the tire, report it to the NHTSA' and that in order to obtain a replacement I would have to contact the retailer to initiate a return. As instructed, I spoke with the retailer Simple Tire (Trevose, PA), an individual named Shailesh. I was told since there is no NHTSA recall therefore there is no replacement.
The headlight on the passenger side has LED daylight running lights. A number of the led's are not working of flickering. Toyota refuse to cover this under warranty even though the car was bought 8-31-2019. Not having working daytime headlights is a major safety issue to me.
The contact called on behalf of her husband who owns a 2019 Toyota Sienna. The contact stated while her husband was driving approximately 65 MPH, there was an abnormally loud bang heard. The driver became aware that the sunroof glass had shattered and that a part of the glass was missing. The driver continued to his destination. The vehicle was not diagnosed; however, the contact spoke with the local dealer; who informed him that a foreign object probably had struck the sunroof for the glass to shatter. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 30,000.
Showing 20 of 507 total NHTSA complaints. Source: NHTSA Complaints Database
Check the exact car
Before you buy, check the exact Toyota Sienna
These pages show model-year patterns across 10 years. Enter a VIN to verify the exact vehicle's accident history, title brands, odometer records, and open recall status before purchase.
The basics
How to read this data
Complaints, recalls, investigations β hereβs what each number actually tells you about a used Toyota Sienna, in plain English.
What is an NHTSA Complaint?
An NHTSA safety complaint is a report filed directly by a vehicle owner or driver describing a safety-related issue. Anyone can submit a complaint at NHTSA.gov. The number of complaints is a signal of how common a problem is β but complaints per model-year matter more than raw totals, since popular vehicles naturally receive more reports. The Toyota Sienna has 507 complaints on record across 10 model years.
What is a Safety Recall?
A safety recall is a mandatory campaign issued by NHTSA when a vehicle component poses an unreasonable risk to safety or does not comply with federal motor vehicle safety standards. Unlike complaints (which are owner-reported), recalls are formally investigated and confirmed by regulators. Manufacturers must fix recalled vehicles free of charge. The Toyota Sienna has 0 recall campaigns in the NHTSA database.
What Are Crash Complaints?
Crash complaints are NHTSA filings where the owner indicates a crash occurred as part of the incident. 13 of the Toyota Sienna's 507 complaints involved a crash. This metric is particularly important because it indicates how often defects resulted in actual collisions β a key safety signal beyond general reliability.
How Is the Reliability Verdict Calculated?
The reliability verdict (Poor) is generated by analyzing the vehicle's total complaints, recall history, crash complaint ratio, fire complaint ratio, and top component failures relative to class averages. This verdict gives buyers a quick interpretation before they review year-level details and VIN-level history. It should be treated as one decision input, not a substitute for a VIN-specific report.
Why Do Newer Years Have Fewer Complaints?
Newer model years appear to have fewer complaints because there has been less time for owners to file them. Complaints accumulate over years of ownership. A 2020 model year vehicle will typically show fewer complaints than a 2015 model year even if it is less reliable β simply because fewer owners have had time to report issues. Focus on complaints per year of market presence when comparing across model years.
Fleet Data vs. Individual VIN
Everything on this page reflects aggregated data across all Toyota Sienna vehicles on the road β not any specific car. Two Toyota Sienna vehicles of the same year can have very different histories: one may have been in three accidents and have an open recall; another may be clean. A VIN check gives you the individual car's history: accidents, title brands, odometer records, service history, and real-time recall status.
What Are NHTSA Investigations?
When NHTSA receives a pattern of related safety complaints, it opens a formal investigation. A Preliminary Evaluation (PE) is the first stage β NHTSA determines if a safety defect may exist. If evidence is strong, it escalates to an Engineering Analysis (EA), which can result in a mandatory recall. The Toyota Sienna has 0 investigations on record (0 active). Investigations listed above may have already led to the recalls shown on this page.
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Toyota Sienna reliability β frequently asked questions
Is the Toyota Sienna reliable?
Poor. The Toyota Sienna has 507 NHTSA owner complaints and 0 recall campaigns across model years. A commonly reported issue area is SEATS. Use year-level data as a pattern guide, then verify the exact car with a VIN check before purchase.
Which Toyota Sienna years to avoid?
Years with the most NHTSA complaints: 2018 (69 complaints), 2019 (45 complaints), 2021 (37 complaints). Use these years as a shortlist for deeper inspection, and always run a VIN check on the exact vehicle before purchase.
What are the most common Toyota Sienna problems?
Top reported issues: SEATS (222 complaints); UNKNOWN OR OTHER (73 complaints); POWER TRAIN (39 complaints).
Does the Toyota Sienna have recalls?
No NHTSA recall campaigns are currently on record for the Toyota Sienna. Always verify with a VIN check as recalls can be added at any time.