Have A Toyota Sienna? Do You Know Where Your Spare Tire Is?

Bertel Schmitt
by Bertel Schmitt

And the hits, they keep on coming: The Nikkei [sub] has it that Toyota will recall 740,000 Sienna minivans that have been sold or operated in cold-weather areas in the United States and Canada. They’ll be checking for corrosion of the spare tire carrier cable.

If extensively exposed to road salts, the carrier cable of the 1998-2010 models of the minivan could disintegrate and the spare tire could get away from the vehicle.

Reports that “Toyota will recall all their cars to get it over with” are a nasty rumor.

Bertel Schmitt
Bertel Schmitt

Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.

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  • Pete Zaitcev Pete Zaitcev on Apr 17, 2010

    This seems like a real thing, unlike all the unintended acceleration nonsense. Just like the rusty frames on Tacomas actually. Fortunately, only a small number of cars is affected.

    • B1msus93 B1msus93 on Apr 19, 2010

      you have to be kidding. "unlike all the unintended acceleration nonsense"? you do realize that toyota admitted the vehicles are faulty right? obviously not all accidents were because of the faulty parts, but the problems do exist in those cars

  • FromBrazil FromBrazil on Apr 17, 2010

    This is a real issue down here. But not really for the rusting issue (I'll get to that later). The issue here is that all cars that have this design are totally vulnerable to theft. And rest assured, you'll be robbed. So much so that I refuse to buy a vehicle that doesn't put the spare in the trunk, where it belongs. And so much so that anybody w/ half a brain puts a heaqvy chain around the spare tire as soon as they buy a car w/ this figure (like you see on Bicycles). And who really gets under the car, dirty, and air up the tire for a trip? Or even every couple of weeks? I mean these spares lose air, too. Ny brother has a 1998 Palio Weekend (station wagon). It's sitting (not so pretty) on the curb of my parents' house. the thing is he's got another 2 newer cars for him and the wife (Fusion and peugeot 307 SW) and he "bought" the car from a deceased uncle's estate. But our cousin never finds the time to ask the judge to allow the sale of the car. So he stopped driving the Palio Weekend about a year ago and parjked it on my mother's curb. And there it sits. Never washed and only driven on those rare occasions I take pity on it and drive it around the block a few times. Amazingly the battery is holding on for dear life and the air con has lost potency but it still starts and moves when I drive it. My brother, the owner, never does it. But I hate to see cruelty to good cars...Any way it's a miracle the neighbors haven't complained. Sorry to get off topic but I thought the story was relatively pertinent.

  • Don1967 Don1967 on Apr 18, 2010

    Can't help but think that a quick shot of grease at the factory could have prevented all this, given that spare tire cables are otherwise fairly well-shielded from direct road spray. Penny wise, pound foolish.

  • Relton Relton on Apr 19, 2010

    If it wasn't for elevator inspectors, the redundant cables would eventually fail, one by one, until there were no redundant cables. Then, when the last cable failed, the safety brake would probably fail to work because it had never been maintained, again because there were no elevator inspectors. Falling elevators are extremely rare, but not unheard of. Sometimes there just aren't enough elevator inspectors. Bob

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