2018 Toyota Sienna
This year drew an ordinary 69 complaints for a Toyota Sienna — the model's median is 172. What they were about is the unusual part: 20.3% of them mention fuel, against 3.6% across the other years of this generation.
Generation 2 of the Toyota Sienna, which began in 2011 and ran to 2020. Everything below compares this year against the others in that generation, not against a different car wearing the same name.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 69 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 172 |
| Involving a crash | 5 |
| Recalls | 7 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 5/5 |
| EPA combined | 21 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- fuel — 20.3% of this year's complaints, against 3.6% across the other years of this generation (5.6×).
- acceleration — 21.7% of this year's complaints, against 8.3% across the other years of this generation (2.6×). Owners wrote it as: acceleration, throttle, especially, merging.
- starting — 10.1% of this year's complaints, against 1.5% across the other years of this generation (6.6×). Owners wrote it as: starting, know issue, hot, turning left.
Words owners used for the same problem are counted together, so a fault written four different ways is measured once. Grouped by which complaints they appear in, not by a list anyone wrote in advance.
What owners wrote
When accelerating, both from a stop and/or at speed, there is a definite hesitation. When gas pedal is pressed down, there is a noticeable pause before acceleration begins. This causes safety issues especially when accelerating to merge with moving traffic. Ha…
MY 2018 SIENNA LE IS EXPERIENCING ACCELERATION PROBLEMS. I HAD THE SOFTWARE UP DATED BUT AFTER APPROXIMATELY 1,000 MILES THE PROBLEM IS RETURNING. THIS PROBLEM IS ESPECIALLY UNSAFE WHEN MERGING ONTO THE HIGHWAY.
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 20V682000 FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE Fixed free of charge.
- 20V012000 FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE Fixed free of charge.
- 19V532000 STEERING Fixed free of charge.
- 19V410000 SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC Fixed free of charge.
- 19V503000 EQUIPMENT Fixed free of charge.
- 19V553000 SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC Fixed free of charge.
- 18V130000 WHEELS Fixed free of charge.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Toyota Sienna was compared against its own history rather than against other cars, which removes popularity and age from the answer — a common car draws more complaints at equal reliability, and an older one has had longer to accumulate them. A year is flagged when it drew at least 2.5× this model's median and at least 50 complaints.
This is a fault record, not a review. Nobody files a federal complaint to say the car was fine, so it shows what tends to go wrong — not whether owners liked it, and not whether it is a good car.
Source: NHTSA complaints, recalls and investigations, retrieved . Look this vehicle up directly on NHTSA's site to check anything here.
Own a 2018 Toyota Sienna? What happened to yours?
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