2003 Toyota Sequoia recalls and problems

The 2003 Toyota Sequoia has 6 recalls and 565 owner complaints on file with NHTSA; the most reported problem area is electronic stability control.

How the 2003 compares

Highest

Fewest complaintsMost complaints

Highest complaint count among 22 Sequoia model years — 2nd most.

6recalls

565complaints

16crashes

1fires

21injuries

84,000median miles

Owner complaints filed with NHTSA, not verified and not adjusted for sales. Ranking compares this model's own years only.

Does your car have an open recall?
Recalls apply to specific vehicles. Only a VIN lookup on NHTSA's official site shows whether yours is affected and still unrepaired.

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6 recalls

Air Bags

Oct 17, 2019 · NHTSA campaign 19V741000 · 928,220 vehicles

Problem: Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing (Toyota) is recalling certain 2010-2016 4Runner, 2003-2006 Tundra, 2003-2013 Corolla, 2009-2010 Corolla Matrix, 2004-2005 RAV4, 2002-2007 Sequoia, 2011-2013 Sienna, 2008-2012 Scion xB, 2008-2009 Lexus IS-F, 2007-2012 Yaris and Lexus ES350, 2010-2017 Lexus GX460, 2002-2010 Lexus SC430, 2006-2012 Lexus IS250 and IS350 and 2010-2015 Lexus IS250C and IS350C vehicles. These vehicles had their driver or passenger frontal air bag inflators previously replaced under a prior recall using inflators of the same design. The inflators may explode due to propellant degradation occurring after long-term exposure to high absolute humidity, temperature and temperature cycling.

Risk: An inflator explosion may result in sharp metal fragments striking the driver or other occupants resulting in serious injury or death.

Remedy & notes

Toyota will notify owners. Depending on the vehicle model, dealers will replace the front driver inflator, front passenger airbag inflator, the airbag assembly, or the front passenger airbag sub-assembly and inflator. The recall began November 20, 2019. Owners may contact Toyota customer service at 1-888-270-9371 or Lexus customer service at 1-800-255-3987. Toyota's numbers for this recall are J0A, J0B, and J0C. Lexus' numbers for this recall are JLI, JLJ, and JLK.

Owners may also contact the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Vehicle Safety Hotline at 1-888-327-4236 (TTY 1-800-424-9153), or go to www.safercar.gov.

Air Bags

Dec 12, 2018 · NHTSA campaign 18V883000 · 168,993 vehicles

Problem: Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing (Toyota) is recalling certain 2002-2005 Lexus SC and Toyota Sequoia, 2003-2005 Toyota Corolla and Tundra, and 2003-2007 Pontiac Vibe vehicles. These vehicles are equipped with certain air bag inflators assembled as part of the passenger frontal air bag modules used as original equipment or replacement equipment. In the event of a crash necessitating deployment of the passenger frontal air bag, these inflators may explode due to propellant degradation.

Risk: An inflator explosion may result in sharp metal fragments striking the driver or other occupants resulting in serious injury or death.

Remedy & notes

Toyota will notify the Toyota and Lexus owners. General Motors will notify the Pontiac Vibe owners. Depending on the vehicle model, dealers will replace the front passenger air bag inflator with an alternate inflator, or replace the air bag assembly that includes an alternate inflator, free of charge. The recall began January 23, 2019. Owners may contact Toyota customer service at 1-888-270-9371, Lexus customer service at 1-800-255-3987 or Pontiac customer service at 1-800-762-2737. Toyota's numbers for these recalls are J0A (Zone A Toyota), J0B (Zone B Toyota), J0C (Zone C Toyota), JLI (Zone A Lexus), JLJ (Zone B Lexus), and JLK (Zone C Lexus). Note: This recall includes vehicles that have had their air bag previously replaced under an earlier air bag campaign.

Owners may also contact the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Vehicle Safety Hotline at 1-888-327-4236 (TTY 1-800-424-9153), or go to www.safercar.gov.

Air Bags

May 13, 2015 · NHTSA campaign 15V286000 · 1,069,055 vehicles

Problem: Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing (Toyota) notified the agency on May 13, 2015, that they are recalling 2005-2007 Lexus SC, Toyota Corolla, Corolla Matrix, Sequoia, and Pontiac Vibe, and 2005-2006 Toyota Tundra vehicles that were originally sold, or ever registered, in Florida, along the Gulf Coast, Puerto Rico, Hawaii, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, Saipan and American Samoa. On June 16, 2015 Toyota expanded the recall to cover an additional 769,055 vehicles, including certain model year 2002-2004 Lexus SC, Toyota Sequoia, 2003-2004 Toyota Corolla Matrix, Toyota Corolla, Pontiac Vibe, and Toyota Tundra vehicles, as well the vehicles covered by the May 13, 2015 notification in the portions of Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas that were not previously included. The inflators in the front passenger air bags are susceptible to rupture in the event of a crash necessitating the deployment of the front passenger air bag.

Risk: In the event of a crash necessitating deployment of the passenger's frontal air bag, the inflator could rupture with metal fragments striking the vehicle occupants potentially resulting in serious injury or death.

Remedy & notes

2003-2004 Corolla and Corolla Matrix vehicles that are recalled under both 15V-043 and 15V-286 are under a Do Not Drive advisory. Owners of these vehicles are advised not to drive their vehicles until the recall remedy has been completed. Toyota will notify their owners. Pontiac Vibe owners will be notified by GM. Dealers will replace the passenger side front air bag, free of charge. Owners may contact Toyota customer service at 1-800-331-4331. Toyota began the recall on July 13, 2015. Pontiac Vibe owners may contact GM at 1-800-762-2737. GM began the recall on June 29, 2015. NOTE: This recacll supersedes recall 14V-655 in its entirety. For vehicles located in the U.S. states not listed above, please see Toyota recall 15V-285 which covers all other U.S. states.

Owners may also contact the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Vehicle Safety Hotline at 1-888-327-4236 (TTY 1-800-424-9153), or go to www.safercar.gov.

Air Bags

May 13, 2015 · NHTSA campaign 15V285000 · 1,973,468 vehicles

Problem: Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing (Toyota) notified the agency on May 13, 2015 that they are recalling certain model year 2004 Sequoia vehicles manufactured August 18, 2003, to August 19, 2004, and 2003-2004 Tundra vehicles manufactured March 18, 2003, to August 25, 2004. On June 16, 2015, Toyota expanded the recall to include an additional 1,270,468 vehicles, including model year 2002-2003 and 2005-2007 Sequoia, 2005-2006 Tundra, 2003-2007 Corolla, 2003-2007 Corolla Matrix, 2003-2007 Pontiac Vibe and 2002-2007 Lexus SC vehicles. This is to address a safety defect in the passenger side frontal air bag inflator which may produce excessive internal pressure causing the inflator to rupture upon deployment of the air bag. This recall addresses both the passenger side frontal air bags that were originally installed in the vehicles, as well as replacement air bags that may have been installed as replacement service parts. A replacement air bag may have been installed, as one example, if a vehicle had been in a crash necessitating the replacement of the passenger side frontal air bag.

Remedy & notes

2003-2004 Corolla and Corolla Matrix vehicles that are recalled under both 15V-043 and 15V-285 are under a Do Not Drive advisory. Owners of these vehicles are advised not to drive their vehicles until the recall remedy has been completed. Toyota will notify their owners. Pontiac Vibe owners will be notified by GM. Dealers will replace the front passenger air bag. The recall began on July 13, 2015. Toyota owners may contact Toyota customer service at 1-800-331-4331. Pontiac owners may call 1-800-762-2737. NOTE: This recall supersedes recall 14V-312 in its entirety.

Owners may also contact the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Vehicle Safety Hotline at 1-888-327-4236 (TTY 1-800-424-9153), or go to www.safercar.gov.

Electronic Stability Control

Apr 30, 2010 · NHTSA campaign 10V176000 · 50,000 vehicles

Problem: Toyota is recalling certain model year 2003 sequoia passenger vehicles manufactured from April 1, 2002 through April 17, 2003. The center position of the steering angle sensor (sas) May not be stored correctly due to improper logic of the skid control ECU programming. The vehicle stability control (vsc) system could activate at low speed for a few seconds during acceleration from a stopped position.

Original NHTSA wording

TOYOTA IS RECALLING CERTAIN MODEL YEAR 2003 SEQUOIA PASSENGER VEHICLES MANUFACTURED FROM APRIL 1, 2002 THROUGH APRIL 17, 2003. THE CENTER POSITION OF THE STEERING ANGLE SENSOR (SAS) MAY NOT BE STORED CORRECTLY DUE TO IMPROPER LOGIC OF THE SKID CONTROL ECU PROGRAMMING. THE VEHICLE STABILITY CONTROL (VSC) SYSTEM COULD ACTIVATE AT LOW SPEED FOR A FEW SECONDS DURING ACCELERATION FROM A STOPPED POSITION.

Risk: Should this occur, the vehicle May not accelerate as quickly as the driver expects, increasing the risk of a crash.

Original NHTSA wording

SHOULD THIS OCCUR, THE VEHICLE MAY NOT ACCELERATE AS QUICKLY AS THE DRIVER EXPECTS, INCREASING THE RISK OF A CRASH.

Remedy & notes

Toyota will notify owners and dealers will reflash the ECU. If the reflash cannot be completed on a particular vehicle, the ECU will be replaced with a new one. This service will be performed free of charge. The safety recall began on June 11, 2010. Owners May contact Toyota at 1-800-331-4331.

Toyota safety recall no. Aog.owners May also contact the national highway traffic safety administration's vehicle safety hotline at 1-888-327-4236 (tty 1-800-424-9153), or go to <a href=http://www.safercar.gov>http://www.safercar.gov</a> .

Suspension

May 17, 2005 · NHTSA campaign 05V225000 · 768,379 vehicles

Problem: On certain sport utility vehicles, due to a manufacturing issue in the front suspension lower ball joint, there is a possibility that the surface of the ball of the joint May have been scratched. The ball joint May eventually experience excessive wear and looseness, resulting in increased steering effort.

Original NHTSA wording

ON CERTAIN SPORT UTILITY VEHICLES, DUE TO A MANUFACTURING ISSUE IN THE FRONT SUSPENSION LOWER BALL JOINT, THERE IS A POSSIBILITY THAT THE SURFACE OF THE BALL OF THE JOINT MAY HAVE BEEN SCRATCHED. THE BALL JOINT MAY EVENTUALLY EXPERIENCE EXCESSIVE WEAR AND LOOSENESS, RESULTING IN INCREASED STEERING EFFORT.

Risk: The lower ball joint May separate from the knuckle causing loss of steering control and a crash could occur.

Original NHTSA wording

THE LOWER BALL JOINT MAY SEPARATE FROM THE KNUCKLE CAUSING LOSS OF STEERING CONTROL AND A CRASH COULD OCCUR.

Remedy & notes

Dealers will replace the front suspension lower ball joints free of charge. The recall began on July 5, 2005. Owners May contact Toyota at 1-800-331-4331.

Toyota recall no. 50J.customers May also contact the national highway traffic safety administration's vehicle safety hotline at 1-888-327-4236 (tty 1-800-424-9153), or go to http://www.safercar.gov.

Recall text as published by NHTSA and the manufacturer.

What owners complain about

Electronic Stability Control165

Service Brakes152

Structure98

Vehicle Speed Control91

Electrical System66

Traction Control System51

Air Bags41

Suspension40

Engine30

Unknown or other30

Owner complaints filed with NHTSA; one complaint can name several areas. Not verified by NHTSA.

Complaints by year filed

NHTSA investigations

Desiccated Air Bag Inflator Rupture

EA21002 · opened Sep 17, 2021 · open

Summary

From 2000 through 2017, Takata produced millions of air bag inflators using two types of phase-stabilized ammonium nitrate ("PSAN") propellant -- propellant 2004 and propellant 2004L. After prolonged exposure to high temperature cycles and humidity, inflators using propellant 2004 can degrade, causing the propellant to burn too quickly when ignited. The rapid burning can cause the inflator to rupture during deployment, potentially causing serious or even fatal injury to vehicle occupants. See 2016 Blomquist Report at www.nhtsa.gov/sites/nhtsa.gov/files/documents/expert_report-hrblomquist.pdf.Consequently, all frontal inflators using propellant 2004 that do not contain a "desiccant" (a substance that traps and holds moisture) in US vehicles are under recall. These "non-desiccated" inflators either have been or are required to be replaced.In some cases, the remedy part for these recalled inflators was, or will be, an inflator using either propellant 2004 or 2004L that does contain a desiccant. None of these "desiccated" remedy parts (which were installed in older model year vehicles) are currently under recall for a degradation concern. Certain subsets of desiccated PSAN inflators using propellant 2004 for use as original equipment, however, have been recalled for a degradation concern. All Takata inflators produced with propellant 2004L contain desiccant, and none of these desiccated inflators using propellant 2004L are under recall for a degradation concern. There have been n…

Air Bag Inflator Rupture

EA15001 · opened Feb 24, 2015 · open · led to recall 14V668

Summary

The Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) opened PE14-016 in June 2014 based on six inflator rupture incidents involving consumer owned vehicles produced by five vehicle manufacturers.All six vehicles were operated in Florida or Puerto Rico at the time of the rupture and for the majority of their service life, and were equipped with inflators produced by Takata, a tier-one supplier of automotive air bag systems.During the course of PE14-016, ODI determined that five additional vehicle manufacturers used inflators of a similar design and vintage also supplied by Takata. No evidence of field failures was found in vehicles produced by these five additional manufacturers.Nonetheless, at ODI's insistence, all 10 vehicle manufacturers initiated a regional recall within approximately two weeks of the opening of the investigation.The regions recalled initially included Florida, Puerto Rico, Hawaii, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, areas with high absolute humidity and climatic conditions believed to be a significant factor in the inflator ruptures.As part of the recall actions, inflators removed from remedied vehicles are to be returned to Takata for testing.Takata's initial test results on passenger inflators from remedied vehicles indicated a much higher than anticipated rupture frequency for inflators returned from Florida.Accordingly ODI requested all 10 manufacturers expand the regional recalls for passenger inflators to include other geographic areas where high absolute humidity co…

Air Bag Inflator Rupture

PE14016 · opened Jun 11, 2014 · closed Mar 2, 2015 · led to recall 13V172000

Summary

The Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) opened PE14-016 in June 2014 based on six inflator rupture incidents involving consumer owned vehicles produced by five vehicle manufacturers.All six vehicles were operated in Florida or Puerto Rico at the time of the rupture and for the majority of their service life, and were equipped with inflators produced by Takata, a tier-one supplier of automotive air bag systems.During the course of PE14-016, ODI determined that five additional vehicle manufacturers used inflators of a similar design and vintage also supplied by Takata. No evidence of field failures was found in vehicles produced by these five additional manufacturers.Nonetheless, at ODI's insistence, all 10 vehicle manufacturers initiated a regional recall within approximately two weeks of the opening of the investigation.The regions recalled initially included Florida, Puerto Rico, Hawaii, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, areas with consistently high absolute humidity and climatic conditions believed to be a significant factor in the inflator ruptures.As part of the recall actions, inflators removed from remedied vehicles are to be returned to Takata for testing.Takata's initial test results on passenger inflators from remedied vehicles indicated a much higher than anticipated rupture frequency for inflators returned from Florida.Accordingly, ODI requested all 10 manufacturers expand the regional recalls for passenger inflators to include other geographic areas where high absolu…

ELECTRONIC STABILITY CONTROL

EA09006 · opened Apr 8, 2009 · closed May 12, 2010 · led to recall 10V176000

Summary

On April 28, 2010, Toyota Motor North America submitted a Defect Information Report (NHTSA Recall No. 10V-176) to NHTSA describing a problem in the Vehicle Stability Control (VSC) system in approximately 50,000 Model Year (MY) 2003 Toyota Sequoia vehicles.According to the report the centering position of the Steering Angle Sensor (SAS) in the MY 2003 vehicles may not be stored correctly due to a logic problem with the Skid Control Computer programming.The VSC system uses the information from the SAS to calculate the driver's intended vehicle direction.This information is cross referenced to sensors that tell the system which direction the vehicle is actually going and the system will, if it determines a variance indicating the vehicle is in a over-steer or under-steer condition, reduce throttle control and apply braking to make a correction in vehicle direction towards what the system believes is the driver's intended path.Toyota dealers will replace the Skid Control Electronic Control Unit in recalled vehicles.Toyota has indicated to NHTSA that it does not believe that inappropriate activations of the VSC system present an unreasonable risk to safety because it believes the activations are rare and tend to occur at low speeds when the vehicle is fully controllable and that the activations do not last more than a few seconds.Based on interviews with complainants ODI believes that the majority of the inappropriate activations of the VSC system occur when turning at low speeds,…

ELECTRONIC STABILITY CONTROL AND/OR TRAC

PE08072 · opened Dec 16, 2008 · closed Apr 15, 2009

Summary

ODI HAS RECEIVED 64 CONSUMER REPORTS AND TOYOTA HAS RECEIVED 96 REPORTS THAT ALLEGE INCIDENTS OF INAPPROPRIATE ACTIVATION OF EITHER THE ELECTRONIC STABILITY CONTROL SYSTEM [TOYOTA NOMENCLATURE: VEHICLE STABILITY CONTROL (VSC)] AND/OR THE TRACTION CONTROL SYSTEM IN MODEL YEAR (MY) 2003 TOYOTA SEQUOIA VEHICLES.DURING THE ACTIVATION OF EITHER SYSTEM THE DRIVER LOSES THROTTLE CONTROL AND ONE OR MORE BRAKES MAY APPLY CAUSING THE VEHICLE TO SLOW SUDDENLY.DURING THESE ACTIVATION EVENTS THE BRAKE LIGHTS ARE NOT ILLUMINATED TO SIGNAL TO FOLLOWING TRAFFIC THAT THE VEHICLE IS SLOWING.SOME OF THE COMPLAINANTS ALLEGE ALMOST BEING STRUCK BY FOLLOWING OR CROSSING TRAFFIC BECAUSE OF THE UNEXPECTED DECELERATION.IN RESPONSE TO ODI'S INFORMATION REQUEST LETTER FOR PE08-072, TOYOTA INDICATED THAT IT HAS REVIEWED THE REPORTS SUBMITTED TO ODI AND TO TOYOTA AND THAT IT BELIEVES THAT THERE ARE SEVERAL ISSUES RESPONSIBLE FOR THE REPORTED INCIDENTS.IT IS TOYOTA'S OPINION THAT THE VSC SYSTEM WAS OPERATING AS DESIGNED AND THAT THE REPORTS ARE MOST LIKELY RELATED TO THE APPLICATION OF THE TRACTION CONTROL SYSTEM RATHER THAN THE VSC SYSTEM.AT THIS TIME TOYOTA HAS NOT DETERMINED THAT A SAFETY-RELATED DEFECT EXISTS IN THE MY 2003 SEQUOIA VEHICLES. THIS PRELIMINARY INVESTIGATION HAS BEEN UPGRADED TO AN ENGINEERING ANALYSIS (EA09-006) TO CONTINUE TO INVESTIGATE THE SCOPE, FREQUENCY, AND SAFETY-RELATED CONSEQUENCES OF THE ALLEGED DEFECT.

2003 vs. other Toyota Sequoia years

Owner complaints by model year; the darker bar is the 2003. Click a bar to switch year.

Questions

Does the 2003 Toyota Sequoia have recalls?

Yes — NHTSA lists 6 recall campaigns covering the 2003 Toyota Sequoia, the latest from Oct 17, 2019 (air bags). A recall applies to specific vehicles: enter your VIN at nhtsa.gov/recalls to see whether yours is affected and still open.

What are the most common problems with the 2003 Toyota Sequoia?

Owner complaints filed with NHTSA most often mention electronic stability control (165), service brakes (152), structure (98). Complaints are consumer reports and are not verified by NHTSA.