Hatchback/liftgate Support Device problems of the 2009 Toyota Highlander

Liftgate will not close or open when automatic button is pushed either on the dash or the button on the liftgate itself. Stays open and have to force the liftgate down manually. At times liftgate will open by itself while stationary or vehicle is moving. Closing or opening the liftgate automatically problem has be ongoing for about 6 months. Brought to dealership and they could not repair, but I could take to body shop for repair. Currently a service bulletin has been issued, but should be a safety recall.

The power back door/liftgate does not close properly. The read door of the Highlander would come within an inch of closing when you operated the powered close function and stop, requiring a physical nudge to completely engage the lock and close. This went on for about a year until one day there was a loud crunching noise when it was closed and would not open. After searching the internet for solutions and finding this is an extremely common problem (even several websites dedicated to forming class action lawsuits) including Toyota issuing t-sb-0091-12, I called Toyota's help line where I was very rudely told that since the warrantee was over, they would not cover any of it. We have a 1 year old baby and we got this car with that in mind. We currently have no access to the trunk and cannot fit her stroller in through the window. We are now faced with a several thousand dollar repair! I disassembled the part myself to find out that the metal gear about 1/2 an inch thick had sheared off and broken - exactly as shown in figure 2 of their official bulletin. Toyota tried to blame us for the failure saying we probably tried to close the door on cargo (we did not) and that this is not a known issue (why would they issue a TSB if this was not a frequent issue?). From research on the internet, there appears to be many many people with this problem and unfortunately for us, our occurred outside of the warrantee period so we are left with little recourse. I think it would be appropriate for Toyota to extend coverage for this common issue since its failure makes the trunk unusable and because it has such a common occurrence. . Read more...

Liftgate does will not open. Schaumburg Toyota reported the following on their service report the following: "found auto open & close motor seized. Need: to go to bodyshop - replace l/hinge, motor-door". Toyota schaumburg is speculating (pure speculation) that the car was bumped into and therefore therefore the distances (which distances ?) are skewed. We (owners) believe that no such incidence happened. We e-mailed Toyota (case # 1404300093, walter c. ) who referred us back to joanne joern. Miss joern did call but offered no proof of their speculation (that the car was bumped into), neither did miss joern provide the misalignment numbers. Miss joern did mention that Toyota has known about this problem but they will honor the problem only within 3 months/36,000 miles. The power to my liftgate is now disabled and I would like for Toyota to acknowledge that they have known about this problem and therefore make the liftgate fully functional (power connected) for me. We (owners) are honest when we say that the care was not bumped into from rear-side and we should not be paying for these repairs. I have tried my best to work it out with Toyota corporation and schaumburg Toyota, however, both are trying to deflect the responsibility away from themselves.

The power arm broke off of the rear power lift gate when closing. The driver side hinge on the rear power liftgate is bowed.