[Toyotadriver#1955]

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.

We have 17000 km and our Sienna is 9 months old and just happened that it would not start…had it towed to the dealer and they said it was the battery. Why now? They turned off the sensors and have called Toyota as they have had some problems with sensors draining the batteties so they said.

 

[Toyotadriver#1955]

In regards to the battery, I have it on good authority that the kick sensors when blocked will drain the battery - This is caused by dirt or more likely snow,

Our battery died yesterday after 9 months….no problem before. We had it towed in and they mentioned the sensors and that Toyota was replacing them in some models so while he waits for a reply on ours he disconnected the sensors. What you say makes sense about dirt and slush on the sensors. We had a trickler installed when we purchased it so have it plugged in for now.

 

[Broncofan]

I agree the hands free door closers are mostly an advertising gimmick that rarely works. At least part of the problem is that sensors get covered with road grime quickly, and car wash does not always remove it. So, just climb under your car, locate the sensor, clean it with soap and water, then rinse and pat dry, and "poof" your door opens with no hands. Oh, and, the sensors on all the time causes your battery to drain, and your car not to start. Until/unless Toyota fixes this problem, the hands free sensors are nothing but an advertising gimmick, and I feel scammed.

Ditto for the "voice recognition" software. On my phone, I can say, "Call Rhonda" and it dials the number. In my car, even connected to the same phone, the car will say, "I didnt get that". When I repeat, it says the same thing. In Toyota's defense, Honda and other cars voice recognition is also very low quality compared to, say Google.
The obvious solution, if for Toyota to BUY the rights to use, say, Google or Apple's voice recognition software, then, we would have a product that works at least some of the time.
Interestingly, if this software is "open source" android, and not proprietary software, they can use this software for free, without a license. If the software is owned, by, say , Apple, then Toyota would need a software license purchased from Apple, to use Apple's proprietary software.
I think this is why Toyota did not have "Apple Car play" for a while. Toyota and Apple needed to negotiate a contract, often involving money paid to Apple, to use this software. And, Toyota probably did not want to pay for the software, or, they had a difference of opinion on how much "apple car play" integration with Apple phones was worth to Toyota.

 

[Toyotadriver#1955]

I agree the hands free door closers are mostly an advertising gimmick that rarely works. At least part of the problem is that sensors get covered with road grime quickly, and car wash does not always remove it. So, just climb under your car, locate the sensor, clean it with soap and water, then rinse and pat dry, and "poof" your door opens with no hands. Oh, and, the sensors on all the time causes your battery to drain, and your car not to start. Until/unless Toyota fixes this problem, the hands free sensors are nothing but an advertising gimmick, and I feel scammed.

Ditto for the "voice recognition" software. On my phone, I can say, "Call Rhonda" and it dials the number. In my car, even connected to the same phone, the car will say, "I didnt get that". When I repeat, it says the same thing. In Toyota's defense, Honda and other cars voice recognition is also very low quality compared to, say Google.
The obvious solution, if for Toyota to BUY the rights to use, say, Google or Apple's voice recognition software, then, we would have a product that works at least some of the time.
Interestingly, if this software is "open source" android, and not proprietary software, they can use this software for free, without a license. If the software is owned, by, say , Apple, then Toyota would need a software license purchased from Apple, to use Apple's proprietary software.
I think this is why Toyota did not have "Apple Car play" for a while. Toyota and Apple needed to negotiate a contract, often involving money paid to Apple, to use this software. And, Toyota probably did not want to pay for the software, or, they had a difference of opinion on how much "apple car play" integration with Apple phones was worth to Toyota.

At the Toyota Dealer this past week the said Toyota is replacing sensors in some models because they are draining the battery……..won’t they too just get covered with dirt and snow and drain the battery?? I agree that the sliding door sensor really has never worked well and I am just as happy to keep it off. We did have a trickle charger installed by Toyota so using that presently until the problem is sorted out. However a pain to have to plug in a brand new car everytime we park it just in case the battery goes dead. I will tell them about the dirt etc when they call this week abut replacing the sensors.

 

[Jetstreamblue]

Ditto for the "voice recognition" software. On my phone, I can say, "Call Rhonda" and it dials the number. In my car, even connected to the same phone, the car will say, "I didnt get that". When I repeat, it says the same thing. In Toyota's defense, Honda and other cars voice recognition is also very low quality compared to, say Google.
The obvious solution, if for Toyota to BUY the rights to use, say, Google or Apple's voice recognition software, then, we would have a product that works at least some of the time.

Already done, just that Sienna didn't get updated to the new infotainment systems. Maybe in 2024...

Toyota and Google Cloud Partner to Bring AI-Powered Speech Services to Toyota and Lexus Vehicles - Toyota USA Newsroom

SUNNYVALE, Calif. and PLANO, Texas (Oct. 11, 2022) – Toyota and Google Cloud today announced an expanded partnership that brings together Toyota and Lexus next-generation audio multimedia systems and Google Cloud’s AI-based speech services. Customers can now experience the first results of the...

pressroom.toyota.com

 

[pamhar]

Between the FOBs and the buttons on the sliding door we find it more then enough for convenience so think people are doing right thing to turn off kick sensors until a fix is available, if at all.

Do still rinse undercarriage with hose quickly after most drives in winter.

 

[Sienna9816]

I agree the hands free door closers are mostly an advertising gimmick that rarely works. ....

I use hands free side doors all the time. Side door ones have worked without me putting in much learning efforts to it. The rear one needed some practice, but now it's obscured by my hitch so I can't use it much. It needs very precise swipe over the hitch to make it work.

However, in reference to this thread, the rear one kept closing on me recently when I was trying to put stuff back there during light rain. I tried standing away from the sensor but it still kept triggering. I suspect that rain drops on the hitch might have been the issue.

 

[Vanman999]

Since my last post the 12 volt battery has drained 3 times while sitting in the garage. We called our dealership and they confirmed that they have had other customers with the same issue, that it is a known issue and the fix is to replace the faulty kick sensors that keep draining the battery. They are ordering the replacement parts, testing the 12 volt battery and will replace it it has gone bad because of all of the draining and they will disconnect the kick sensors so they cannot drain the battery until the replacement parts come.

I'll update once my parts are replaced!

Thanks all!

 

[Broncofan]

Since my kick sensors never did work, it sound like they disabled mine. But my battery does not drain. Its a 2023 XLE AWD

 

[dunphy947]

Since my last post the 12 volt battery has drained 3 times while sitting in the garage. We called our dealership and they confirmed that they have had other customers with the same issue, that it is a known issue and the fix is to replace the faulty kick sensors that keep draining the battery. They are ordering the replacement parts, testing the 12 volt battery and will replace it it has gone bad because of all of the draining and they will disconnect the kick sensors so they cannot drain the battery until the replacement parts come.

I'll update once my parts are replaced!

Thanks all!

I'm in the same boat I just had mine towed to the dealer because it was dead and I got the parking brake unavailable message. 2022 xse. They said it's a 6-hour job to replace it and they would have to order parts if that's the issue. I hope they replace the battery as well.

They gave me a Toyota Camry as a loaner. Not even sure I can fit the twin stroller in the back of that thing.

The more fancy Electronics the more problems.

 

[gpcork]

Snow storm headed towards Eastern Ontario in the next few days. I'm considering turning my kick sensors back on just to test the theory that they are to blame.

 

[Vanman999]

I had turned off the kick sensors in the menu but that had not fixed the battery drain issue for me. My dealership has had multiple of these come in and needed to disable them (I'm guessing physically) so the battery would not continue to be drained while the new parts are on order.

 

[cougarhound]

How much are these devices drawing? I'm looking at some specs and most of them draw less than 5mA. It's prob a 50Ah battery. A 50Ah battery should be able to provide 50mA for about 800 hours. At freezing temps that prob drops down to 400 hours.

 

[Jetstreamblue]

How much are these devices drawing? I'm looking at some specs and most of them draw less than 5mA. It's prob a 50Ah battery. A 50Ah battery should be able to provide 50mA for about 800 hours.

I can't remember which thread, but someone measured the Sienna's charging system and it didn't seem like it charges to 14V like you'd expect. So it could be that the 12V battery is never fully charged.

 

[shersingh]

When you disable the kick sensor from the settings menu, does the button to open and close the doors still work?

 

[cougarhound]

When you disable the kick sensor from the settings menu, does the button to open and close the doors still work?

I don't even see how disabling the kick sensors in the software would work unless it shuts off all power going to the sensors. If there is a hard wire short like at the connector, it doesn't matter if the software is disabled. Don't you have to unplug it?

 

[Vanfam12345]

When you disable the kick sensor from the settings menu, does the button to open and close the doors still work?

Yes. A different button is used to disable power to the doors. That setting is unrelated to the kick sensors

 

[lucasgm1983]

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

HI, I had the same issue, the dealer told me there is a problem with the sliding doors system that drains the battery. Nos my Sienna is at the dealer wating for the parts, hope it solves it.

 

[JohnHartshorn]

HI, I had the same issue, the dealer told me there is a problem with the sliding doors system that drains the battery. Nos my Sienna is at the dealer wating for the parts, hope it solves it.

Not the doors themselves, but the kick sensors under the doors. They get grime on them and seem to think your waving your foot under them and never turn off like they should, thus slowly draining the 12v battery.

 

[cougarhound]

My kick sensors are fine. It's prob a quality assurance issue. Toyota decided to source them from "HUF." They are a German company and also make electronics for Mercedes. Enough said.