One of the quietest Siennas on record — but it's the first year with no help on the doors.

The UA80 eight-speed in a 2019 is the revised unit — Toyota changed its internals and software during 2018 — and our mechanic source says he sees no problems from mid-2018 through 2020. The federal file is quieter here, but not silent, and what remains is a high-mileage pattern rather than an early-life one: a 2019 whining 'at the final gear' at 77,000 miles per the dealer; another with severe whine from 138,000; one transmission failed and replaced with the owner writing that it is 'part of issues from 2017 to 2020'; one owner told Toyota would not cover it. Toyota's Customer Support Program for the transmission covers 2017 and 2018 only, so a 2019 with this fault is unlikely to find factory help. That does not make it a bad van — 45 complaints across every system is genuinely low — but it does make the test drive non-optional. Listen for a rising whine on acceleration and on lift-off, and feel for hesitation from a stop.

Specific to the 2019 Sienna and nothing else. Toyota found that 'the passenger front door may have incorrect welds inside, possibly affecting the air bag sensor readings for the passenger side front seat and curtain shield air bags' — which means those airbags could fire when they should not, or fail to fire when they should. The remedy is not a small one: dealers replace the entire passenger-side front door sub-assembly, free. Toyota's internal codes are K1G and K0G and repairs began in June 2019. Verify this against the VIN. If a 2019 has had accident repair to the front passenger door, ask harder about whether the recall was performed and whether the replacement door was the recall part.

Both halves of Toyota's low-pressure fuel-pump campaign reach this year: 20V-012 and the expansion 20V-682, which names 2017–2020 Sienna directly (Toyota code 20TA02). The pump inside the tank can quit and, in Toyota's words, 'if the fuel pump fails, the engine can stall while driving'. Dealers fit an improved pump free. What makes this worth reading on a 2019 specifically is the aftermath in the complaint file: owners who had the recall done and whose vans still stall or hesitate, and owners who could not get the repair performed at all. A federal court approved a settlement on 20 December 2022 requiring Toyota to run a Customer Support Program for certain 2014–2020 vehicles repaired under this recall; its terms are not stated in the bulletin summary, so verify them in the bulletin PDF. Ask about it if the van you are considering has a stalling history.

The 2019 uses the direct-injection 3.5-litre V6 — direct injection means fuel is sprayed straight into the cylinder rather than into the intake. Toyota has an open-ended bulletin for an oil leak from the No. 2 oil pan on 2017–2020 Sienna and 2017–2022 Highlander, narrowed in a later revision to engines whose serial number begins with F or G; Toyota lists it as 'currently under investigation' and asks technicians to photograph the leak before repairing it. Our mechanic source adds the water pump, which he says still leaks on this engine despite an updated part: 'I've replaced a bunch of them already on 17, 18, 19s.' The more expensive third-generation leaks — the front timing cover and an external head-gasket coolant leak — he scopes mainly to 2011–2016 vans, but a lift inspection for both oil and coolant is still the right move on any van this age.

Front struts leaking is closer to a running cost than a fault on this van; our mechanic source says it is 'almost every other one I get in the shop' and explains that water running off the windscreen collects in the cowl and rots the strut mount from above. He also flags front lower control-arm bushings wearing quickly, with a physical test: at low speed, hands resting lightly on the wheel, brake hard — a sharp jump to one side means they are worn. Toyota has four bulletins covering the Entune 3.0 infotainment system on 2018–2020 vans for apps failing to download, Bluetooth not connecting and reboots. Also in this year's file: hood paint peeling and cracking two years from new, a jammed second-row seat belt, a liftgate that would not lower on the remote, and flickering LED daytime running lights. Three of the seven recalls are Braun and Vantage mobility-conversion recalls that apply only to wheelchair-converted vans; two more are load-capacity label corrections.