2011 TOYOTA SEQUOIA Complaints

The vehicle fuel tank was punctured and then patched with JB Weld Epoxy. This vehicle was sold to me by a private owner that did not disclose this information to me. The safety of my family as well as thousands of others were at risk as the vehicle was parked in several parking garages of large buildings. The fuel tank and fuel pump has been replaced by Lewis Toyota of Topeka, KS. Several occurrences of a strong fuel smell had taken place for the two week time frame from the previous owner selling it to me. A fuel smell was present at inspection before purchase, however the owner stated that he had spilled fuel.

On [XXX] while driving our 2011 Toyota Sequoia 4x4 Limited (5.7 iforce non flex fuel) my wife was preparing to stop at a traffic light. Completely unexpected and with no warning, the vehicle started bucking, the engine began making a knocking noise and numerous dashboard lights started flashing. It immediately stalled while attempting to stop, thus, causing a very dangerous situation, losing total control of the brakes and steering, nearly causing a collision with the vehicle in front of her. The vehicle had to be towed from the middle of the road, while in heavy traffic. Eventually it was diagnosed (at my mechanics shop) and determined to be a broken valve spring in cylinder #7. This caused the valve to drop into the cylinder bore, making contact with the piston, known as "catastrophic failure on an 'interference' engine"..I later learned that these DEFECTIVE ($5) valve springs, are used in my meticulously maintained 5.7 Toyota motor,...THE SAME PART NUMBER UNDER RECALL IN SEVERAL LEXUS VEHICLES!! Being that I constantly maintained this vehicle and it being in overall excellent condition, I determined it was less expensive to have the engine replaced over repaired. I spent over $4600 in a used motor with 88k miles, and $5400 in labor for the replacement.. total cost of over $10,000 for a $5 defective part that was only recalled on the Lexus vehicles. I kept the original engine in case I can (eventually) have Toyota Corp do an inspection on it and get some kind of compensation on this dangerous, avoidable, selective vehicle recall. No luck thus far but have pictures, invoices and all documents on this situation that I can provide when requested. I am having difficulty downloading these documents to this site. Thank you very much. [XXX] [XXX] [XXX] INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

The contact owns a 2011 Toyota Sequoia. The contact stated that while driving approximately 60 MPH, the rear liftgate opened unintendedly. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic to be diagnosed. The contact was informed that the liftgate latch assembly was rusted and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not yet repaired. The local dealer was notified of the failure. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 178,000.

While returning home from a vacation, the glass over our sunroof suddenly exploded. We were traveling about 50 MPH and just heard a sudden bang. We pulled over to investigate and it looked like it had exploded outward. We had a luggage carrier on top of the car that covered most of the sunroof, so I am confident that it was not struck by any objects.

THE REAR HATCH HAS A RUST SPOT NEXT TO THE LATCH THAT IS RUSTED THRU AND BREAKING CHUNKS OF METAL FROM AROUND IT. THE LATCH MECHANISM MAY SPLIT FROM THE REAR DOOR ASEEMBLY AND FAIL TO REMAIN CLOSED AND OPEN UNEXPECTEDLY ON THE HIGHWAY ALLOWING ALL CONTENTS TO FLY OUT OF THE VEHICLE. SOURCE OF PROBLEM MAY BE IMPROPER WELDS ALLOWING WATER TO GET INSIDE THE TAILGATE FRAME.

TOYOTA HAS A FAULTY DESIGN ON 5.7 LITER SEQUOIAS AND TUNDRAS WHERE THE ENGINE CAMSHAFT TOWER SEALANT LEAKS OIL TOWARDS THE CABIN. SINCE THE ENGINE IS TILTED BACK, THE ENGINE OIL IS DIRECTED TO A HEAT SHIELD AND THEN DIRECTLY TO THE EXHAUST PIPE. UPON REACHING THE EXHAUST IT CAUSES SMOKE. THE SMOKE WILL ENTER INTO THE CABIN CAUSING ENGINE FUMES WHICH OCCUR WHEN DRIVING OR PARKED UNTIL THE ENGINE COOLS. THE ENGINE COULD HAVE CAUGHT FIRE, BASED ON THE AMOUNT OF SMOKE THAT CAME OUT. UPON FURTHER RESEARCH, THIS ISSUE HAS CAUSED FIRES. EVIDENCE OF THIS PROBLEM IS READILY AVAILABLE SEARCHING "TOYOTA TUNDRA CAM LEAK FIRE", FURTHERMORE, CHANGE.ORG PETITION HAS OVER 5,178 SIGNATURES REQUESTING THE RECALL. THIS ISSUE HAS OCCURRED IN VEHICLES FROM 1,000 MILES AND UP. TOYOTA NOW USES A DIFFERENT SEALANT TO PREVENT THIS LEAKING, SO THEY MUST HAVE RECOGNIZED THE ISSUE BUT HAVE REMAINED SILENT. UPON CONTACTING TOYOTA, THE CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE STATED THAT HE "HAD NEVER HEARD OF THIS PROBLEM". THE DEALERSHIP THAT IS FIXING THIS HAS A NUMBER OF EXPERIENCED MECHANICS THAT DO SEE THIS OFTEN. IT IS UNSAFE TO DRIVE WITH THIS CONDITION AND THE COST TO REPAIR IS OVER $3,000!

THE DOOR LOCK ACTUATOR ON EACH OF THE DOORS ON THE SUV HAVE FAILED. THE DOORS WILL NOT LOCK/UNLOCK WITHOUT USING THE KEY, AND THE ONLY DOOR WITH KEY ACCESS IS THE DRIVER'S DOOR. THE DOORS CAN BE LOCKED/UNLOCKED FROM INSIDE. THE REPLACEMENT PARTS SEEM EXCESSIVELY HIGH, AND IT APPEARS THAT THIS IS A COMMON OCCURRENCE ON TOYOTA VEHICLES. SINCE THE ACTUATOR IS PART OF THE DOOR LATCH, I AM CONCERNED THAT THE ACTUATOR FAILURE MAY LEAD TO A LATCH PROBLEM. THIS OCCURS WHEN THE VEHICLE IS AT REST.

REAR WINDOW RANDOMLY SHATTERED WHILE DRIVING IN TOWN- 10 MPH. NO CHIPS, NO ISSUES WITH WINDOW PRIOR, JUST BLEW. IT WAS WINTER HERE, AND THE REAR DEFROST WAS ON. MY FRIEND RECEIVED A RECALL NOTICE FOR HIS RAV 4, FOR THIS EXACT SAME ISSUE. I'VE SEEN OTHERS COMPLAINING ONLINE ABOUT THE EXACT SAME THING AS WELL

PURCHASED THE VEHICLE NEW. BRAKE ROTORS SEVERELY WARPED AT12,572 MILES CREATING SEVERE VIBRATION/SHAKING THROUGHOUT THE VEHICLE WHEN BRAKES APPLIED. PROBLEM IS PARTICULARLY SEVERE WHEN UTILIZING BREAKS ON A DOWNHILL GRADE. THE SEVERE VIBRATION CREATED A SIGNIFICANT SAFETY HAZARD AS IT IMPAIRS BREAK PERFORMANCE PARTICULARLY WHEN ROADS ARE WET OR ICY. CAR WAS UNDER WARRANTY. TOYOTA'S SOLUTION WAS TO RESURFACE/GRIND THE ROTORS BACK TO SMOOTH. UNFORTUNATELY THIS PROCESS REMOVES METAL, AND MASS, FROM THE BRAKE ROTORS WHICH EXACERBATES THE PROBLEM. LESS MASS, LESS ABILITY TO DISSIPATE HEAT. THE SAME PROBLEM OCCURRED AGAIN AT 22,391 MILES. DEALERSHIP REFUSED TO ACKNOWLEDGE THE VIBRATION. RETURNED TO DEALERSHIP AT 24,564 MILES. DEALERSHIP NOW ACKNOWLEDGED THE PROBLEM AS IT WAS SO SEVERE IT WAS IMPOSSIBLE TO IGNORE. ONCE THE PROBLEM WAS ACKNOWLEDGED THE DEALERSHIP INFORMED ME I WOULD HAVE TO PAY TO HAVE THE ROTORS RESURFACED AS THE CAR WAS NOW OUT OF WARRANTY. INFORMED THEM I BELIEVE THIS IS A WARRANTY ISSUE AS IT STARTED DURING THE WARRANTY, BUT WAS INFORMED THEY LOOK AT THE ROTOR ISSUES AS INDIVIDUAL OCCURRENCES. ROTORS ONCE AGAIN TURNED, FURTHER REDUCING MASS AND FURTHER EXACERBATING PROBLEM. NOW A MATTER OF TIME UNTIL ISSUE RETURNS. BRAKE ROTORS ARE CLEARLY MADE OF MATERIALS INSUFFICIENT TO HANDLE THE WEIGHT OF THE VEHICLE. THIS ISSUE ALSO CAUSES SEVERE TIRE WEAR, FURTHER IMPAIRING STOPPING PERFORMANCE OF THE VEHICLE. TOYOTA REFUSES TO ACKNOWLEDGE TIRE WEAR CAUSED BY ROTOR ISSUE.

2011 TOYOTA SEQUOIA. CONSUMER WRITES IN REGARDS TO VEHICLE AIR PUMP REPAIR PROBLEMS. *SMD THE DEALER INFORMED THE CONSUMER, THE VEHICLE NEEDED A NEW AIR PUMP AND A NEW AIR PUMP DRIVER AT A COST OF $ 2643 BEFORE TAXES. THE DEALER NOTED THE PROBLEM WAS CAUSE BY POSSIBLY WATER INTRUSION. *JB MA 10/21/15 UPDATED 10/12/2017*CN