# Toyota Sienna and entrapment hazard in an accident?



## RunnerDuck (Sep 12, 2003)

Never posted under "family safety" before but yesterday I hit upon something that has me rather disturbed - wanted to throw it out there to see if my being disturbed is justified and if so what to do about it.

We have an '08 8 passenger Toyota Sienna (LE package 1 which is semi-relevant - trunk does not "pop," driver's side sliding door is not automatic)

My son likes to play with the lights







which are the type you push in... we kept warning him if they got left on the battery would die. Well I guess it finally happened. Yesterday I went to get some hooks out of the van for a stroller I am trying to sell - they are in a compartment in the very back - and my little key clicker wasn't doing anything. I walked right up to the car and pressed the buttons - nothing. Tried pushing the sliding door button - nothing. Tried opening the sliding doors and trunk - couldn't. Had to go in through the front door using the key - stuck the key in the ignition and turned it and yup, sure enough - dead. Totally dead - not even a flicker of lights or a whine or attempt to turn over.

There is NO WAY to unlock the sliding doors. There is NO WAY to open the sliding doors (from inside or out). There is no way to open the trunk (which, by the way, can't be opened from the inside anyway - another concern)

I am extremely pregnant - there was no way I could climb into the very back of the van for the hooks. I had to get my son to do it... I couldn't even make it into the middle row of seats because there is a baby bucket in the middle of the middle - couldn't get back.

OK - my point - and I do have one - IF you were in a front end collision such that the battery was destroyed - the only way out of the van would be out the driver's or passenger's side doors. Maybe this is only true if the doors are locked at the time of the accident... but the van locks itself once it is put in drive unless you have this feature turned off at the dealership. No one can get out the back or sides - no one could get in to help you. If the adults in the front were OK it might be very hard if not impossible to get to anyone in the back if there is a car seat in the middle of the middle row - and then even if they could, getting back out would be hard.

I totaled a Ford Tempo in college and was unable to pop the trunk to get anything out - had to use a key, not a huge deal - so I know it is possible for an accident to wipe out battery power.

Anyway - this has me pretty alarmed. It's not something you think of when you buy a car. It's oh, air bags, crash tests, safety ratings... no one thinks "Will I be trapped if the battery goes?" But in this van, I think you would be, and it seems to me like it could be very dangerous. There should be some sort of over ride where if battery power is lost everything automatically unlocks.

It seems like if this were a huge deal it would have been addressed by now but I have never heard anything about it, can't find anyone else complaining about it - but how can it not be a big deal? I am freaked out to think of getting in an accident and no one being able to get in the side doors to help out my kid(s).

Does this strike anyone else as a huge problem? This isn't like "Go to the dealer and complain" material - this is something that IMO needs to be address much higher up.


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## alegna (Jan 14, 2003)

lurking for any word on this... sounds scary...

-Angela


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## Evan&Anna's_Mom (Jun 12, 2003)

Well, I guess first I would, in fact, talk to the dealer or someone at the company to see if what you envision could really happen. Maybe your car is defective and the doors should open without battery power. Maybe they have some sort of protection on the battery in case of accident that doesn't deploy just when the battery wears down. So, get facts before worrying.

Assuming that this really is a danger, seems to me its a pretty limited risk. In the case of a collision bad enough to knock out the battery, the car is pretty much going to be a total (or you are going to wish it were because fixing that much damaage always leaves the car just a little off). So, if its a total, then wouldn't they just use some sort of "jaws of life" or similar prying devise to open the doors? Big can opener = no problem.

But its an interesting question and I'd be really interested in what the dealership says when you ask.


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## RunnerDuck (Sep 12, 2003)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Evan&Anna's_Mom* 

Assuming that this really is a danger, seems to me its a pretty limited risk. In the case of a collision bad enough to knock out the battery, the car is pretty much going to be a total (or you are going to wish it were because fixing that much damaage always leaves the car just a little off). So, if its a total, then wouldn't they just use some sort of "jaws of life" or similar prying devise to open the doors? Big can opener = no problem.

Yeah they could just cut the car open but it's not like when you have an accident the fire trucks are there waiting to help you out, you know? You have to wait, and if there were a fire in the car or some other reason it were unsafe to stay in... It just seems weird to me.

I will check with the dealer about it - see what they have to say.


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## alysmommy2004 (Jun 23, 2006)

Definitely talk to the dealer, maybe ask to speak to the general sales manager or service manager, or possibly the Ops manager (service managers boss, they usually know a lot). Once upon a time I worked for Toyota and they were generally pretty knowledgeable about those kind of things, you know, the ones you don't think of while you're buying the car.


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## Ironica (Sep 11, 2005)

Actually, before going to the hassle of talking to the dealer (who may not know off the top of his/her head)... do you have the manual?

I remember having a weird problem with my husband's Camry several years ago. We couldn't shift it out of park. I can't remember the exact circumstances, but we were all totally baffled (me, my husband, and I think one other person... maybe his dad, or a friend). Spent 10-15 minutes with it like the monkeys in 2001.

Finally, I got out the manual... and I found that, for *just* the situation we were in, there was a tiny unmarked panel next to the gearshift that you could prise open and flip an override switch. 10 seconds with a nail file, and the car was in gear and ready to go. (Had something to do with requiring the keys to be in the ignition, but that wasn't feasible for some reason, I think.)

So... it may be that there *is* some manual override for the automatic door locks, but it's not clearly labeled. Still, it may be documented in the manual for you. That would be important info to know about your car!

And I'm amazed that there's no indoor trunk latch... heck, my *sedan* has one! And people aren't supposed to ever BE in the trunk at all! (There is a lockable pass-through from the back seat, though, so you could theoretically worm through and escape through the trunk in an emergency I guess... after uninstalling the Britax Marathon... ;-)


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## Ceili (Nov 21, 2001)

There is a button on the left side of the steering wheel that disengages the power doors and allows them to be opended manually. At least that is where it is in my 06 Sienna.

Thinking this scenario through a bit more, if the battery were destroyed all the doors would be locked, powered or not, because the auto door locks engage everytime you put the car in gear, even if you had the presence of mind to put your car in park, if the battery was destroyed the door locks might not disengage? I have several seat belt cutter/window smasher thing stowed in car in case the doors jam and we need to get out asap.


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## wendy1221 (Feb 9, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Ceili* 
There is a button on the left side of the steering wheel that disengages the power doors and allows them to be opended manually. At least that is where it is in my 06 Sienna.

I was going to post this. I have an '04 Sienna and my battery has gone dead. Before getting a new one, we had to get jumps a couple times b/c I thought it was just dead from a light being left on, so it was dead more than once. You can manually unlock all of the doors, including the power sliding door, and once you push in the button that turns off the power sliding door, you can open it manually, whether you have power or not. I didn't know about the trunk, though. I never noticed that there wasn't a keyhole back there. If the car is unlocked when the battery dies, you can still open the trunk. I wonder if there's a way to open the trunk from the inside if you take the panel off? I bet there is. You will always be able to manually unlock the doors by sliding the lock, whether you have power or not, including the sliding doors.


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## CarrieMF (Mar 7, 2004)

Quote:

You have to wait, and if there were a fire in the car or some other reason it were unsafe to stay in...
but if you were in an accident that was bad enough to stop the battery from working chances are there are windows broken, if there isn't you can break them easily enough.


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## thepeach80 (Mar 16, 2004)

I've never heard of a van w/ an inside trunk pop. Van trunks are not entrapment areas b/c the kids can climb under the seats or over the seats, unlike in a sedan.

Make sure your child locks aren't on on the doors (unless you feel you need them). I've gotten locked in the back before b/c I couldn't get the doors open from the inside b/c a smart 4yo I know turned that on.









I'm pretty sure it would be against code or something to have a fully automatic car w/ no way to use it manually. My van is completely manual (we could afford the cheap model, lol) sp we have to use the key for everything, but my back van doors have to be unlocked from inside, they don't have key openings on the outside.


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