2007 Sienna interior lights flash now?

[freyma]

We've had our van for all of it's 3 years, 35k miles. Lately it's started doing 2 strange things:

1.) When I pull on the side sliding door, it doesn't open automatically like it used to; I have to pull and start the sliding, then it takes over.

2.) Concurrent to doing this, the interior rear lights now all flash a few times at me, whereas previously they just lit up and stayed lit up while I buckled our child in.

None of this is exactly traumatizing to me, but it's just plain weird. My husband thought maybe the battery is getting ready to die and this is the warning...thoughts?

So after thinking about it some more, maybe it's not a "light" problem, but rather a power sliding door issue? Thoughts?

[lucidgreen]

This just happened to my wife on our 2008 Sienna. I'm wondering if the flashing was a flicker (circuit problem) or a warning if the automatic door mechanism isn't failing.

[Noa]

Regarding the interior light, I have a similar issue. The switch in the rear quarter panel under the door is getting sticky and it's intermittent. For me, I have to figure out how to take the switch cover off and lubricate it so it slides smooth again. It's most evident on the right and just starting to happen on the left.