2003 TOYOTA SEQUOIA SR5 — Complaint #1557950
Open-data reference.
NHTSA Complaint about STEERING filed April 15, 2019
NHTSA complaint #1557950 (ODI reference 11196223) concerns a 2003 TOYOTA SEQUOIA SR5 and was filed on April 15, 2019. The owner reports the failure occurred on April 15, 2019. The vehicle had 210,000 miles on the odometer at the time of the incident. The report was geocoded to Michigan based on the filer's self-reported location. The affected component is categorized as steering, one of NHTSA's standardized taxonomy codes used to group defect patterns across make, model, and year.
The filer flagged the following severity indicators: crash: yes, fire: no, injuries: 0, fatalities: 0. A complaint that flags a crash, fire, or fatality is escalated on NHTSA's internal review queue and factors more heavily into any Preliminary Evaluation decision on this make and model. Because a VIN was supplied, this complaint is tied to a specific vehicle and not just a model-year cohort.
Individual complaints are consumer-submitted and unverified by NHTSA engineers — the agency's role at this stage is to collect, index, and make them searchable. What matters for federal action is the pattern: when many owners of the same TOYOTA SEQUOIA SR5 cohort independently describe similar steering failures, defect investigators have grounds to open a PE and request manufacturer data. Related filings for the same vehicle and component appear below, and the detail page for the full 2003 TOYOTA SEQUOIA SR5 shows the complete component-level complaint distribution alongside any active investigations or recalls.
Complaint Description
"BALL JOINT FAILURE" WHILE TRAVELLING DOWN FREEWAY AT 35-40 MPH THE PASSENGER FRONT TIRE HAD COME OFF AND CAUSED THE VEHICLE TO DROP. LOST STEERING, BRAKES AND ANY CONTROL OF THE VEHICLE AT THIS TIME. THE VEHICLE SKID INTO THE GUARD RAIL SPINNING IT AROUND AND SLIDING UNTIL IT CAME TO A STOP. THE ARM CAME DIRECTLY OFF THE VEHICLE AND IS STILL ATTACHED TO THE WHEEL.
Complaint Details
| NHTSA Complaint ID | 1557950 |
| ODI Number | 11196223 |
| Date Filed | April 15, 2019 |
| Failure Date | April 15, 2019 |
| VIN | 5TDZT34AX3S |
Similar STEERING Complaints for 2003 TOYOTA SEQUOIA SR5
Source: NHTSA Vehicle Complaints Database. Component taxonomy and severity codes are standardized by NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation.
Read our methodology — how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.