2011 Toyota Sienna Steering Problems

“The power motor would turn off for a week or so then come back on for several weeks. The power motor now doesn't work at all. The final time it went out was when I was driving. I took it to a dealership they told me the steering column need to be replace at a considerable cost. I have read on-line on many forums that this is a common occurrence.”

“Steering locked while leaving a parking spot making it impossible to steer right or left. Steering warning light appeared on dashboard. I was a able to apply the brakes to stop the vehicle and tow car to repair shop. They found error code 1524 and after troubleshooting they advised that steering column had to be replaced. Car has 58k miles. Rare for this to go bad short of a defect in manufacturing in my opinion.”

“For every maintenance service through Toyota care, I pointed my concerns on a steering pop sound while making u-turns under very low speed, and a sense of steering instability on highways under windy conditions, as well as wearing tires rapidly. All the time the dealers technicians answer was: a green report for every safety point, suspension and alignment was proof of no problems at all . I am replacing 4 tires (to serve 65 000) at 45 000 miles totally worn out with uneven patterns specially the ones at front wheels, even following regular rotation program. …”

“My Toyota Sienna 2011 was on parked and stationary. When I restarted vehicle electric power steering failed. My steering became manual. It is hard to turn. I had to tow my car to Toyota dealer. After the check and based on their experience, Toyota dealer said that it is an electric failure in power steering system and I have to replace the whole power steering system. I have to pay $2032. Based on internet search, Toyota Sienna 2011 has this issue on the market. Other Toyota cars which used the same system and built in 2011 had the recall. Only Toyota Sienna 2011 in not in recall. …”

“I was parking the car and needed to move the vehicle backward in a parking lot with a slight slope. When I attempted to move the shift lever to reverse the lever locked up and the vehicle started to roll backward. I applied the brakes to no avail and the engine died. The steering was locked. The ignition switch also locked. The vehicle stopped . I called the Toyota dealer and the service manager said to apply the brakes vigorously, at the same time pump the accelerator and turn the ignition. I did and the functions all started working. No damage, no injuries. …”