News Our Sienna problems have been heard

SavsMom

New member

• Sep 1, 2010

• #1

I work for a large Toyota dealer in Florida. We have corporate trainers that come into the dealership to assist us with certification, product info and often they listen to what we have to say can be improved.

I have mentioned several times about many of the changes to the 2011 Sienna that irked a lot of parents and CPST's on this board, mainly the latch/top tether/8th seat issues.....never really got any feedback.

WELL....today our trainer (a super nice gal named Dawn) was in the store and we started to talk about the Sienna again, and we got into the discussion about how the Odyssey is going to have more latch & tethers and that their 8th seat can actually be used etc etc etc. She emailed our in-store trainer, who happens to be a good friend of mine and wanted me to email me links to this site where real parents and safety fanatics are talking about the van. She said that they are putting together another focus group to see what would be good in the van and wanted input from a safety stand point :thumbsup::thumbsup:

I emailed her many of the threads on here about it along with the blog review on the 2011 Sienna....so it sounds as though they ARE listening!

 

G

Guest

New member

• Sep 2, 2010

• #2

Yeah, but are the changes coming for the 2012 model, or the next generation which might not be til 2016 or something?

 

QuassEE

Moderator - CPST Instructor

• Sep 2, 2010

• #3

It takes a while to implement major changes. I've heard it to be years from the initial idea to actual production design. I can't see them making any significant changes all that quickly.

Now..what I wouldn't give to be part of one of those focus groups.

I'm 75% leaning towards a 2011 or 2012 Odyssey and NOT the 2011/2012 Sienna at this point. I need to be able to put two seats side by side in the middle row, since it seems that my oldest son (14, 5'11", 155lbs) is having trouble climbing over seats to get into the back.

-Nicole.

 

SavsMom

New member

• Sep 2, 2010

• #4

codex57 said:

Yeah, but are the changes coming for the 2012 model, or the next generation which might not be til 2016 or something?

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I don't know what they would do. At our Sienna launch back in Febuary, one of the corporate trainers had mentioned that they were going to be taking a good look at the new Odyssey when it came out and that they may make do some "refreshing" of the Sienna after the Odyssey had hit the roads. So maybe they can make some changes for the 2012 model year. Keep in mind that to add latch and top tethers in the 3rd row and to modify the 2nd row of seating wouldn't require what I would consider a "major" change to the actual vehicle itself. I guess we will just have to see, but it does give me some hope that they are actually listening :thumbsup:

When I emailed our trainer the links to this site, I did mention that if they wanted a focus group of parents and child safety experts this would be the site to come to.

 

G

Guest

New member

• Sep 2, 2010

• #5

I agree. One of the major complaints was the lack of LATCH/tether spots. Since it's already in a nearby spot, I'm assuming there are no structural reasons for not putting them in. That it was purely a financial decision. Thus, it'd be easy to fix.

 

SavsMom

New member

• Sep 2, 2010

• #6

codex57 said:

I agree. One of the major complaints was the lack of LATCH/tether spots. Since it's already in a nearby spot, I'm assuming there are no structural reasons for not putting them in. That it was purely a financial decision. Thus, it'd be easy to fix.

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My thoughts exactly. Plus I don't think they would have to re-design the entire van to accomadate a better 8th seating position - they simply need to come up with a better middle row - much like the previous model.

 

Dillipop

Well-known member

• Sep 2, 2010

• #7

codex57 said:

I agree. One of the major complaints was the lack of LATCH/tether spots. Since it's already in a nearby spot, I'm assuming there are no structural reasons for not putting them in. That it was purely a financial decision. Thus, it'd be easy to fix.

Click to expand...

And didn't Honda do something like this around 2005- dropped down to 3 tethers and then in 2006 came back with 5 after complaints? I don't think they redesigned that year, just added back some tethers.

 

K

karlatta

New member

• Sep 2, 2010

• #8

Changes to the seating/tethers would be fabulous. I have lots of mom friends, and I used to always recommend the Sienna when they asked me my opinions on vans. Now I recommend the Sienna if they're getting a used car, and the Odyssey if they're buying brand new.

I would love to be able to recommend the Sienna to anyone.

 

D

DahliaRW

New member

• Sep 3, 2010

• #9

The important part, really, is just those upper tethers in the 3rd row. Doesn't have to be full sets of LATCH. Just the tethers would be fine.

 

pj2rc

New member

• Sep 7, 2010

• #10

lol!!! I was just coming here to vent!! I have an 05 Sienna and I hate that the
3rd row has TT in the passenger & middle seats, but not the driver side..... it's near impossible to fit 2 tethered seats next to each other, but if the outside seats both had TT I could very easily fit a Turbobooster in the middle. Otr than tat, I love my Sienna!!

 

I

isabelkathrynsmom

New member

• Sep 25, 2010

• #11

Do you think tether points can be added after market? I'd love to have the new Sienna..... don't really need room for 7... but of course tether points would be nice just in case I'm hauling other small ones.

 

Cryssy Jane

New member

• Sep 27, 2010

• #12

isabelkathrynsmom said:

Do you think tether points can be added after market? I'd love to have the new Sienna..... don't really need room for 7... but of course tether points would be nice just in case I'm hauling other small ones.

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No. To my knowledge if there are already tether anchors you can not retrofit to make more.