Hatchback/liftgate Support Device Problems of Toyota Highlander

Power rear liftgate inoperable. Power rear lift gate travels a couple inches, either opening or closing, and freezes. No longer responds with the power button and has to be closed manually. Disengaging the power button and using only as manual open and close, the door is extremely difficult to open or close.

See all problems of the 2014 Toyota Highlander 🔎.

Liftgate operates erratically, not staying open when button is pushed. Sometimes it opens all the way, only to close immediately. Most times it starts to open partially then closes. Twice it opened while driving. Most troubling is once it started to close down on me while I was getting things out of the trunk area. I would think, for safety reasons, there should be some type of sensor. Is that not the case with my Highlander? this has been happening periodically for about six months.

See all problems of the 2012 Toyota Highlander 🔎.

Power liftgate motor arm detached from the upper portion of the rear door. Upon repeated use and tightening it becomes stripped. Forums reports this is common for several model years - no recall. Hole to screw becomes stripped over time. No access to the back end to apply nut. Dealer recommends taking it to a body shop for door replacement at $3200 - $3900 dollars. Extremely bad design flaw. If liftgate seems weak in opening nand closing, this could be part of the problem. Showed weakness for weeks until I heard the pop and realized the power rod came out. When I went to screw it back in - it's stripped. Out of warranty period. No solution found other than replacing the rear liftgate.

See all problems of the 2011 Toyota Highlander 🔎.

Power liftgate on 2012 Toyota Highlander fails to full close and latch. 4 years old now, problem began 2 years ago at 12,000 miles, and now 1 year past 3/36 warranty and 47,000 miles. Liftgate has been completely manual for last 1-1/2 years. Using buttons to close power liftgate results in left side where motor is to be close to closed, while right side has an inch gap to d-pillar. No other reason for me to go to dealership, so I haven't scheduled an appointment. Finally took it in June 6, 2016. Over past 2 years dealer service described solution as simple adjustment. Have asked at least twice "are there any recalls or service bulletins for my Highlander?" answer is always no, including day I took it for "simple adjustment". However recent research finds two recalls and multiple service bulletins for 2008-2012 Highlanders. If they have had issues with power liftgates since 2008, why is there no recall on this? potential cause is powerful motor pulls too hard and bends hinges. New design uses pair of power struts to pull evenly. Estimate approaches $600 for new hinges and other parts ($253+tax), paint, and labor. Already paid $100+tax to diagnose this issue, which took all of 15 minutes, leading me to believe they already knew about this issue, and lied about recalls and bulletins. My wife's 2014 rav4 had 1 of 2 struts replaced, and other issues reported on newer Highlanders. Would like Toyota to fix this known issue without further cost.

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.

See all problems of the 2009 Toyota Highlander 🔎.

Rear liftgate arm detached from door. The bolt that attaches the liftgate arm to the door stripped. The pieces shot off from the vehicle wile the arm was attempting to close the gate.

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...

Rear liftgate will not stay open and has fallen on my wife. Toyota has issued a service bulletin but will not fix there problem est. Cost to repair $3000. Vehicle has never been in accident. Problem started about 10 months ago with 46000 miles vehicle now has 56000.

Liftgate power back door does not close completely. Before it closes, it beeps and opens again. Problem was repaired under warranty, and now it is happening again. You may think that the liftgate has been closed, but it is not.

See all problems of the 2013 Toyota Highlander 🔎.

I opened the power rear door by depressing the switch next to the steering wheel and the door began to open, made a clunking noise, and closed itself. I exited the vehicle and manually opened the rear door at which time I noticed the liftgate arm (with the screw and washer still attached to the exposed end) had become detached from the door. Despite having 55k+ miles, my Highlander is just over 2 years old and there has not been excessive usage of the power door. I'll be taking it to the nearest dealer for assessment.

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.

The contact owns a 2011 Toyota Highlander. The contact stated that the hinges on the driver side of his hatchback was bent. The vehicle was taken to a dealer and was informed of technical service bulletin under NHTSA item number : 10041651 (structure:body:hatchback/liftgate:support device). The vehicle was not repaired. The failure and current mileage was 15,000.