While driving today my 2016 Sienna’s check engine light came on and the display said “traction control off”. I’ve had issues with the blind spot detector malfunctioning but when I turn the car off and start it again that issue goes away. Unfortunately that didn’t work with the traction control issue. The button to turn it off and on doesn’t seem to be working at all.

Anyone here have a similar issue with their Sienna?

Find and fix the problem that turned on your engine light first, and 99.9% of the time the traction control light will go back off. Engine malfunctions, even for reasons you would think aren't related, will turn on the traction control light as well.

faulty knock sensor is what I've seen on another forum.

At least it isn't a Subaru, which annoyingly flashes the cruise control indicator in addition to the engine light. You'd think a missile had a lock on you or something.

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The button to turn it off and on doesn’t seem to be working at all.

It won't.

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Originally posted by egregore:
Find and fix the problem that turned on your engine light first, and 99.9% of the time the traction control light will go back off. Engine malfunctions, even for reasons you would think aren't related, will turn on the traction control light as well.

This. Go to an auto parts store and have them read the check engine code for free. But first make sure your gas cap is tightened.

My ‘15 RAV4 did this recently and it was a flash update to the ECU...

My Juke had that problem and it was only low brake fluid.

Seems when the brakes wear and the fluid drops, the traction control shuts off to avoid using the brakes.

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Originally posted by egregore:
Find and fix the problem that turned on your engine light first, and 99.9% of the time the traction control light will go back off. Engine malfunctions, even for reasons you would think aren't related, will turn on the traction control light as well.

I think this might be an EPA thing. Many people were ignoring check engine lights (leading to extra pollution) so it now makes your car such a pain in the ass to use that you will get it fixed.

This is not an EPA thing. And all mfg. do it in a variety of ways for reasons that seem odd. Subaru as was noted above kills the cruise control for totally unrelated things (example mine once killed the cruise control for a fault in the climate system??). Ford kills traction control for many reasons unrelated. Since I don't have a Toyota I can't comment on their strategy. But in any case you will have to fix the underlying cause to determine the fault. read the code and proceed.

My Odyssey did it. Ended up being a bad spark plug.

I went to autozone and the scan read

Exhaust (B) camshaft position timing - over retarded (bank 1)

Hmmm

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Exhaust (B) camshaft position timing - over retarded (bank 1)

Mighty soon for a Toyota to be having that kind of problem. How many miles?

It has variable valve timing on all four camshafts (one exhaust and one intake per bank). Any of them sticking will cause all the cylinders on that bank to misfire and it won't run for shit. If it just does it momentarily you might not notice. With the VVT solenoids working constantly, it doesn't take much to stop one up. And you are keeping up on oil changes, right? VVT operates off engine oil pressure. If the oil is low, dirty, or thicker than standard viscosity it will get all fouled up.

It only has 76k miles. Way too soon for a sensor or something to fail.

I opened and closed the gas tank and the issue appears to have vanished. Fingers crossed it doesn’t come back.

Check engine oil level. Low oil level can cause some VVT issues.

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Originally posted by stickman428:
It only has 76k miles. Way too soon for a sensor or something to fail.

Machines break.

I checked the oil level, it is perfect. The Sienna seems to be fine now. Maybe it didn’t like the gas I filled up with in Virginia? I’ve driven it four times today and so far so good.

Yeah, trac light is a domino light. It can go off because there is an issue somehwere else.