2021 Toyota Redundant Sienna

I was in a major traffic accident on 2/14/22. I was rear ended in traffic by a car going high speeds. The headrest on the driver seat popped off and ended up in the second row on the floor. Because the headrest came off during the accident my head and neck were not supported and I am still recovering at this time. Although I'm thankful to have survived this is likely a safety issue. I do have a picture and a police report if needed.

The rear 3rd row single seat does not stay folded down in the compartment. It constantly pops up and if you put anything on it to weigh it down, that object can be a potential death threat. Toyota needs to be responsible to resolve this issue. They have offered to replace the spring on the seat, but then said the same thing would happen. Upon researching online, I have found several 2021 Sienna owners are having the same issue. This is not normal. We've had 4 previous Siennas and NONE of them have ever had a problem with the seat folding down, so I don't know where the design flaw is.

The contact owns a 2021 Toyota Sienna. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds, the third-row seat would slide up whenever the vehicle went over a bump. The third-row seat latches were not installed properly to secure the seat to the base. The contact was concerned that the seat could injure his pet dog when it was in the seat. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, but the dealer could not duplicate the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and acknowledged the failure but informed the contact that there was no fix currently available. The failure mileage was 2,296.

When driving over speed bumps or sometimes bumps in the road the 2 3rd row seats will fly up. There is no locking mechanism. This causes the seats to sometimes go from the stowed position into the seating position. There have been times when using one of the two 3rd row seats the stowed one has flown up into a seating position from stowed. Hitting the arm of the 3rd row passenger. I have the vehicle looked at by the dealer and was told there is no issue with the seat. I contacted Toyota Corporate and was referred back to the dealer. The dealer contacted me and acknowledged the seats do not stay down. Toyota Corporate has nothing to offer as far as a solution.

The adjustable middle seats of this new Sienna have a severe safety issue! As someone who has owned 6 prior Siennas I am very familiar with this vehicle. In past years the middle seats had two levers- -one for adjusting the back of the seat and one for moving the seat forward or back. This changed with the 2021 model that I just bought to one handle that does both functions. And here is the safety issue--when you lift the handle to move the seat forward or back the back of the seat rockets forward with way too much force and speed. When i tried to do this for the first time yesterday, I was standing outside of the car but had my head inside over the seat when I lifted the seat handle. The back rocketed forward and the hard plastic on the edge hit my head cutting me and almost knocked me out! I was left with a goose egg sized lump and cut. If this is not recalled and fixed by Toyota some adult or child is going to get severely injured or killed. The spring that powers the seats movement is just way way too strong. If a person like myself, who has owned multiple Toyota Mini Vans and is very familiar with them can get hurt by these seats you can only imagine what a new owner is going to experience. I took pictures of my injuries and debated going to the ER but my headache from this blow eventually went away so I did not. Please look into this before someone ends up with a closed head injury or worse. Thank you so much.

The third row seats in the new Sienna, like most minivans, fold flat into the floor. However, there is no latch to hold the seats in place when folded. I noticed this immediately after taking delivery of the van in April because when the seats are folded, they bounce a bit over bumps. On web forums for the car, other owners mention this as well. However, twice in the last two weeks while I was driving the car, the seats popped up out of the rear well and latched violently into place. The first time this occurred was driving over a pothole at about 40 mph, and the second over a speed bump at about 25 mph. I was terrified the first time it occurred - there was a very loud metal on metal noise and impact at the rear of the van. I thought I had hit something, but when I checked after I got home, the seats were out of the well with the bottom cushions latched into place as they would be if the seats were unfolded for use (the backrests remained folded on the bottom cushions). This is a major safety issue. The third row is split into two independent sides, so if anyone was sitting in one side of the seat, they could easily be injured if the other side suddenly sprang from the well. A pet in the rear of the car could easily be killed. Depending on weight, cargo in the rear could be thrown around the car. Finally, as it was for me, this could be a major distraction for the driver. I checked online, and many others 2021 sienna owners have reported issues with the third row and some have reported the same issue with the seats springing out if the well and latching in place.

When the 3rd-row folding seats are down and stored and the breaks are applied suddenly the seat will release and attempt to return a nonstored position. I had a box of water on top of the seat to keep it from moving. Unfortunately when I breaked the box moved and the seat left the stored position and crushed the water bottles. If I had had a pet back there they would have been injured.