2006 Toyota Sienna - Pulls right

Maintenance/Repairs
1

Hi. I have a 2006 Toyota Sienna and it always pulls to the right side of the road!
I have done numerous alignment with different Toyota dealers but nobody can diagnose my problem. I had this issue from the beginning back in 2006 when I bough it new. I have put 5 sets of new tires so far because it keeps wearing out quickly. There is 100K on my car but I don’t want to sell it. Some mechanics tell me that it may be a manufacturer’s defect but Toyota doesn’t admit it. Does anyone else has similar problem with their 2006 Toyota minivans?
Thanks
Brandon.

2

Can you post the last alignment readout?

3

Hi

circuitsmith

I just asked the dealer to send it to me. Will share it with you as soon as I get it.

Thanks and regards,

Brandon

4

Toyota seems to be aware of the problem. This Toyota repair manual supplement document discribes the procedure to diagnose the pulling.

5

Thank you COROLLAGUY1. I had my car at Toyota dealer again today to see if they can find the problem but nobody could figure it out. I will share this document with them early next week.

Best regards,
Brandon

6

That service bulletin is a repair manual supplement to give general guidance to technicians for all Toyota vehicles, it does not suggest or indicate that all Toyota vehicles have suspension or steering problems. Your Toyota technicians should already be familiar with this bulletin, it provides labor codes that can allow them to be paid 4 hours + for alignment warranty work from Toyota.

7

Thank you Nevada_545

8

There are a couple of things that jump out at me:

The first is that this is a 12 year old mini-van that has done this from new.

The second is that 5 sets of tires over the course of 100k miles hasn’t changed anything.

I wonder if the pull is from the road or that it is something weird like a pull only under acceleration (a consequence of different half shaft lengths!).

A bit more info would be very helpful. Like: Does it do it on ALL roads? Is it there ALL the time? If not, when does it do it?

9

Hi CapriRacer,
It does it on all roads! It also does it on the left side of the road. I originally thought because the right shoulder has some curve to the right, it pulls it towards right side of the road but even as I drive on the left side, it still pulls toward right side of the road. It is very frustrating because not only you have to tilt the steering wheel about 5 to 10 degree to the left, it eats my tires rapidly. Numerous alignments and inspections have not found the problem.
I even have Firestone’s lifetime alignment package and check my car on regular basis with different shops so maybe someone can tell me what the heck is wrong with it but they keep telling me that my alignment is fine.
Few years ago a mechanic told me that some 2005, 2006 and 2007 Siennas have an issue with weight distribution. Means, the tires Toyota designed for this model cannot sufficiently handle all the weight in the front. But why it pulls only to the right side, it’s a mystery!
I have been driving for over 37 years but the last 12 has been a very frustrating with this car. As I said before, my wife and I love this car and don’t want to sell it. Just need to find out what the issue is.

10

I really find it hard to understand why someone would put up with a vehicle that caused them grief like this . I would have replaced this thing after the third attempt to solve the problem.

1 Like
11

At this point, nothing makes sense. - BUT - It has been my experience that published alignment tolerances (not the target value, but the deviation from that target.) are too wide by half.

So I think a good look at the actual alignment values is in order.

2 Likes
12

I can see how this would be very frustrating for the OP. Certain suspension problems are very difficult for a shop to diagnose without taking the stuff apart and doing a bench inspection item by item; a broken strut spring for example. The tire wearing problem indicates something in what keeps the tires pointed in the right direction is definitely amiss. Maybe the problem is something like that.

13

I am still waiting on the dealer to send me the actual reading printout. Will share with everyone as soon as I get it.

14

Here is the latest… Toyota dealer lost my alignment report! Now I have to go there again and do another one. I was told because they lost my report, I can get the second alignment for free. I just have to find the time. Thank you all for your patience.

15

Good luck and please let us know the outcome.

16

Possibly Toyota built these with the dimensional tolerances stacking up to pull right. Still “in spec” but shifted to cause the problem.

I’d suggest a good alignment guy could fix this problem with a die grinder. Toyota tech’s wouldn’t be allowed to do this. Plus there are very few good alignment guys out there that really understand what alignment is all about. You need to find an alignment specialty shop in your area. Maybe one that advertises to folks that race their cars.

Finally, you have FAR, FAR, more patience than I do. I would have been standing on the Toyota service writer’s head with a lawyer on hold and the zone rep on the other line after the 3rd attempt to fix it!