Anything plugged into 12V slot?

Any mods [dash cam, hitch, etc.]?

Any items staying plugged into usb ports [tablets, phones, etc.]?

 

There's a TSB mentioned in one of the threads with similar battery issue. A few people (4 - 6??) here had their batteries replaced because they were faulty from the get go, or died prematurely within months. I say get a 2nd battery check from Autozone or others.

I would tell dealer to keep It until they fix it. You shouldn't have to look for solutions yourself. You should get a loaner too.

I hope you get it sorted out soon.

 

There's a TSB mentioned in one of the threads with similar battery issue. A few people (4 - 6??) here had their batteries replaced because they were faulty from the get go, or died prematurely within months. I say get a 2nd battery check from Autozone or others.

I would tell dealer to

Anything plugged into 12V slot?

Any mods [dash cam, hitch, etc.]?

Any items staying plugged into usb ports [tablets, phones, etc.]?

Thanks for the input. We don’t have anything plugged into the 12v slot.

woulda drained 12v battery prevent the car from starting? Ie is there just one or two batteries? I feel dumb asking this but I can’t find details on the batteries.

thanks

 

Depleted 12v Auxiliary Battery TSB

I've seen a few complaints about 12v Battery rundown conditions. Some may be due to events that occur, others may be due to the ECU not properly powering down to a standby state. TSB #16 for 2021 software might apply.

www.siennachat.com

 

You're right. There are 2 batteries. First is the Traction or High Voltage battery that is used to drive the car as needed. These are under two front seats. The 2nd is the traditional 12V battery that is used to power the computers that manage the drivetrain. For reasons that are beyond my purview or understanding, Toyota needs 12V battery for the car to function normally.

Thanks a lot - it would be worth mentioning that the first month we had the vehicle it had to go back to the dealer twice for what turned out to be a bad speed sensor (the dealer doesn’t like us at this point). This appears to me to be a condition described in the TSB (battery unattached to install accessory). Would that be a correct assessment?

 

Battery has to be bad or something along those lines. We have not had problems with the Sienna battery, but I’ve had to replace "new" batteries in new vehicles before. Manufacturers use the smallest and lightest battery possible to start the vehicle, and if the battery is damaged somehow in transit (froze, dropped, defective, etc) it may struggle to produce enough cold crank amps to start the vehicle. I had a Subaru Outback battery that the dealer insisted was fine, would recharge it, and the vehicle wouldn't start the next day. This went on for a while. I eventually bought a new battery from Autozone and never had another issue. I suggest, if your dealer refuses to help as you say, buying a new fresh battery to see if that solves the problem. If the van is still failing to start, then you know that you have some type of parasitic draw on the battery or other electrical issue which unfortunately the dealer will have to solve.

Two other general things I just thought of that can cause a small draw on the battery: the key being stored near the van, or leaving a door or the rear hatch open for a long period of time (even if interior lights have turned off).

Good luck trying to solve this issue. It's very frustrating when any car, but especially a new car, has trouble starting.

 

Battery has to be bad or something along those lines. We have not had problems with the Sienna battery, but I’ve had to replace "new" batteries in new vehicles before. Manufacturers use the smallest and lightest battery possible to start the vehicle, and if the battery is damaged somehow in transit (froze, dropped, defective, etc) it may struggle to produce enough cold crank amps to start the vehicle. I had a Subaru Outback battery that the dealer insisted was fine, would recharge it, and the vehicle wouldn't start the next day. This went on for a while. I eventually bought a new battery from Autozone and never had another issue. I suggest, if your dealer refuses to help as you say, buying a new fresh battery to see if that solves the problem. If the van is still failing to start, then you know that you have some type of parasitic draw on the battery or other electrical issue which unfortunately the dealer will have to solve.

Two other general things I just thought of that can cause a small draw on the battery: the key being stored near the van, or leaving a door or the rear hatch open for a long period of time (even if interior lights have turned off).

Good luck trying to solve this issue. It's very frustrating when any car, but especially a new car, has trouble starting.

Thanks a lot. I appreciate your thoughts. I’ll keep those things on the table!

 

The dealer is not being imaginative in my opinion. My first impulse is to talk to the dealership owner and arrange to swap cars with him for a few days, or asking him about your state's lemon law.

What is needed is to monitor what power is entering and leaving the battery over time. Devices like this are cheap and have minimal impact on your car's electrical system
DC 0-300V Battery Monitor Meter Capacity Voltage Ammeter Coulometer+Hall Sensor | eBay

It may be necessary to run a video camera in time lapse mode to get the full story.

BTW I recall a story with a dealer being unable to diagnose a similar problem. The cause was traced to the car being parked on a steep driveway which triggered a hood or trunk light to run the battery down.

 

My 89 Olds would drain the battery in a couple days. Removed one of the battery wires and series spliced in a tiny 12v bulb. It glowed slightly while pulling fuses and disconnecting components zeroing in on the circuit containing the drain. Then the bulb would stop glowing. In the Olds case it was the radio.

 

How far are any other Toyota Dealers?

Or for the sake of it, ask them to put in a new battery to see if it solves the problem. New one might be 100-150 may be?

 

Has anyone come across a 2022 sienna that has to be jump started almost every morning - especially in the cold? Dealer couldn’t recreate the problem when we brought it in. Is there something that we are doing that is draining the battery? It’s not the lights we are militant about making sure the dome/map lights are off.
thanks,
Andrew

Yes! I am having this exact issue. We have had it for 3 months now and the last couple weeks have been hell!

 

We have about 8000 miles on it and all the sudden it has been not starting.. I go out open the sliding doors with the button; so they auto open just fine. Put my kids in. Go to close the doors; by the button and it won’t close. Go to start it lights and sounds but won’t start. The dealer replaced the battery earlier this week then it happened again. They kept it this weekend and I am going to go back and fingers crossed they find something but I’m afraid they won’t. We have been through making sure no lights are left on and nothing plugged in. We have also stopped keeping the key fob inside the van because the dealer believed that could cause an issue. I disagree with that though because we leave it in the car because we have a garage and have done that ever since we got it and never had an issue until recently.

 

They might need to replace the DCM

 

You might try turning off the smart key system for a few days. Our Gen 2 Prius manual said to turn off the smart key system if leaving the car inactive for a period of time as it would drain the 12v battery. Especially if the key fob was near the vehicle where the two could communicate with each other. I'm not sure if the sienna has a smart key system on/off switch like the early Prius' did.

Sent from my SM-F711U using Tapatalk

 

You might try turning off the smart key system for a few days. Our Gen 2 Prius manual said to turn off the smart key system if leaving the car inactive for a period of time as it would drain the 12v battery. Especially if the key fob was near the vehicle where the two could communicate with each other. I'm not sure if the sienna has a smart key system on/off switch like the early Prius' did.

The key fob can be put to sleep by holding the lock button and pressing unlock twice. The fob will not communicate with the car again until any button has been pressed on the fob.

 

Has anyone come across a 2022 sienna that has to be jump started almost every morning - especially in the cold? Dealer couldn’t recreate the problem when we brought it in. Is there something that we are doing that is draining the battery? It’s not the lights we are militant about making sure the dome/map lights are off.
thanks,
Andrew

I'm in Canada. 2022 XSE AWD. Battery has drained 11 times in the 7 weeks I have owned the van.
It could be worse, but i installed the COMFORT+ package that comes with a battery charger. Takes about 15 minutes to charge the battery enough to start the van. It's a good idea to get that type of package in Canada, but honestly I never thought i would need it unless it hit -20C. I need it everyday to get the battery enuf juice to get out of the driveway

I was at the dealer today. They tested the 12V battery and say it's perfectly fine. Their opinion is the DCM is failing to communicate properly to Toyota's Satellite and it's causing just enough of a drain at 300 mA to drain the battery.
Dealer mechanic pulled the fuse to disable the DCM, and we are going to go 2 weeks and see what happens.
They don't believe it's a wire harness issue,and there are NO fault codes getting recorded by the van

The DCM draining the battery was a problem in 2020 and 2021 RAV4 and Camry. The big problem here is there is NO SOFTWARE updates for 2022. And I'm in Canada and we might get our own software update which could take longer.

I don't like the thought of the DCM being disable. Toyotas are highly stolen cars in Canada esp Highlanders, Tacomas and Siennas. the DCM allows Toyota to track stolen vehicles. I bought an Apple airtag for it.

I'll try to update, but for now dealer told me to keep driving and parking as normal and begin to track battery drains. Cross our fingers it's this DCM celluar issue!

 

In theory, the DCM battery drain issue was fixed by a DCM software update early in production of the 2021 models. The 2022 should have that software update installed as it has been installed at the factory since around January 2021. The original problem was related to losing the cellular signal and not being able to reacquire the signal. When the DCM is trying to find a cell signal, it uses more power.

 

Put an ammeter in series at the battery terminal and see how big the parasitic draw is with the car off. If you don't see anything at first, come back every half hour or so to see if things changed. Hard to believe a dealer wouldn't do this. Normal parasitic draw is probably 20-50mA. Anything larger is probably something not working properly.

 

Has anyone come across a 2022 sienna that has to be jump started almost every morning - especially in the cold? Dealer couldn’t recreate the problem when we brought it in. Is there something that we are doing that is draining the battery? It’s not the lights we are militant about making sure the dome/map lights are off.
thanks,
Andrew

I heard you can’t jump a hybrid unless it is another hybri. I heard it will damage the battery

 

Hybrid Siennas that won’t start can be jumped, but should not be used as the source to jump other cars with dead batteries.

 

We ha ours drain down a couple of times during a week period similar to as you described. It had 5,500 miles on it. It had gotten broken into in Oakland the week earlier and we had rigged up a temporary plexiglass window in passenger side sliding door. Back in cold NW Wisconsin, it drained twice. Brought it in for 5,000 mile check and they could not find issue. When I scheduled appointment, service manager said to mention the window being out with respect to battery drains. Service manager on site when I dropped it off looked at me as if I were crazy that that could have anything to do with issue. Had window replaced elsewhere earlier that same day and haven't had one instance of the battery drains since and we are up over 8,000 miles. It makes no sense, but thought I'd share.

 

Yeah I was gonna suggest leaving it overnight at the dealer so they can repro the problem.. crazy that they would blame you for "leaving the lights on".. I mean jeez!

 

Same thing just happened to us in Quebec, after two -20c nights. Our 2022 Sienna AWD XLE Tech package battery was completly emptied out. We didn't go for any short rides and didn't leave any accessories going during the night. 175 miles on the car.

Had it jump started yesterday but I have to admit, we really hope this gets fixed quite soon specially with the current weather and with three childs under 4 yo. In the meantime, I'll be carrying a booster pack, just in case...

 

Same thing just happened to us in Quebec, after two -20c nights. Our 2022 Sienna AWD XLE Tech package battery was completly emptied out. We didn't go for any short rides and didn't leave any accessories going during the night. 175 miles on the car.

Had it jump started yesterday but I have to admit, we really hope this gets fixed quite soon specially with the current weather and with three childs under 4 yo. In the meantime, I'll be carrying a booster pack, just in case...

Have it documented with dealership... the more cases they see hopefully more impetus to act.

Most of the Asian auto makers undersize their batteries [you hear me Subie ] and unfortunately some owners just end up getting a better battery [about $150 or less] out of pocket to avoid the hassle.

 

I have a Canadian 2022 XSE. My battery discharged twice last week overnight. Only 4000km on the car. I brought it to dealer they said it was due to DCM Power draw and did a software DCM software update:
..
HAD TO BOOST CAR TWICE, CEL OFF NOW
CAUSE: SOFTWARE UPDATE AVAILABLE PER TCI-5389
OFP 8674106092
CORRECTION: PERFORMED DCM SOFTWARE UPDATE

So it looks like even 2022 models don't have the recent DCM update..time will tell if this fixes the problem as it's only been a day with the new update.

 

Thank you, I'll make sure to mention your situation to our dealership. This is encouraging if it can be fixed with a simple update.

We just had to boost our Sienna again this morning, for the viewing pleasure of our euro cars mechanic neighbour, who asked "how the new car was going" with the sh*ttiest of grins, while holding the other pair of reds and blacks...

Hope the software update does the trick for you!

 

Unless I'm mistaken glad our LE does not have DCM.

Don't like it when dealership puts blame on the owners.

 

Our Dealer Georgetown Toyota of Georgetown Ontario puts the blames on customers. They were no help on the first 9 dead batteries we had on our 2022 Sienna

 

Has anyone come across a 2022 sienna that has to be jump started almost every morning - especially in the cold? Dealer couldn’t recreate the problem when we brought it in. Is there something that we are doing that is draining the battery? It’s not the lights we are militant about making sure the dome/map lights are off.
thanks,
Andrew

Their famous, for that!!! The dealer, that is...

 

I have the 2021 XSE AWD with over 5000km on it and the battery does not have any problem, start right up even at -20C temperature. Just updated my Audio to the latest version. Something is not right for sure. Hopefully the dealer figure it out or escalate it to Toyota Canada.

 

Hey guys just an update. My 2022 sienna has died a total of 4 times now and because people are having increasing issues Toyota has issued an official investigation into all our issues. Fingers crossed it is something they can fix for us and all of you too! I will keep you updated when we get more!

 

Hey guys good news! It actually died while the dealer had it! After a visit from the production engineers they believe the side door kick sensors are staying active after the van is off causing the battery to slowly drain. This is just their idea but it’s a step in the right direction! Hopefully you guys can have this checked on yours!

 

Has anyone come across a 2022 sienna that has to be jump started almost every morning - especially in the cold? Dealer couldn’t recreate the problem when we brought it in. Is there something that we are doing that is draining the battery? It’s not the lights we are militant about making sure the dome/map lights are off.
thanks,
Andrew

YES! This is happening to me too. I'm on my 3rd time of waking up to a dead battery. I also brought it to the dealer after the 2nd time for them to say nothing is wrong and to move my key fab away from the car which I did and then it happened again when I was traveling and came back to a dead battery at the airport. Very frustrating. Something must be draining these batteries. Any update on your end from Toyota?

 

We have had the same issue. Died 3 times in a month. Was told it is the rear kick sensor issue which they now have disconnected. Certainly would recommend that you ask the dealer

 

Did this fix your issue ?

 

Any update from you guys with battery problems? Just put a deposit in Canada on a 22 XSE AWD and when I tried to test drive the car (Limited version), battery was dead in front of the salesperson. Hopefully they fix this problem ASAP.

 

I also have a Canadian 2022 XSE AWD
Had the battery problem for the first time 2 weeks ago.. Jump started and recharged the battery.
Last monday, battery dead when I was going to job, jump started again and went to the dealer to check the problem.
They did a lot of tests with the vehicle but can't find a solution.
Technical advisor called me yesterday and told me that 2 Toyota engineers are coming Tuesday next week to check what's going on!
They told me that at this dealer, 3 people got the same problem as me so yeah..

To be follow!