Tailgate Latch Problems of Toyota Sequoia

The back hatch has broken 5 times in the last 5 years. It will not last more than 12 months at a time. Very costly to repair and very disappointing not to be able to use the hatch when broken.

See all problems of the 2001 Toyota Sequoia 🔎.

Drive interior door handle cracked making it impossible to open door from the inside of the vehicle. I called motor imports in honolulu, hawaii and they informed me that they would not cover the defective part. About one year earlier, the handle for the latch tailgate snapped. I had to go to a repair shop to replace both these parts because the dealer refused to replace for free. I am seriously concerned about safety. The tailgate may be the only escape route for rear passengers and there is no interior latch to open the tailgate. If the rear exterior latch breaks off, there is no way to open the tailgate. When my driver interior door handle snapped, I realize how dangerous this vehicle can be in an accident especially where exiting the vehicle is important such as a fire or in the water.

See all problems of the 2002 Toyota Sequoia 🔎.

Rear door (hatch) will not open when door is unlocked. I have spoken with 3 other individuals who own the same vehicle and it appears to be a common complaint. All of the individuals have had to have their locking mechanisms replaced at a cost of $450+. Based on the fact that the rear hatch door locks break without warning causes a safety concern for the vehicle passengers and pets.

First occurence of lift gate failure was Feb 2005. Lift gate unable to be opened, rear window inoperable, and rear windshield wiper worked only sporadically. Took car to the dealer who said that water had gone down window into lift gate and had rusted out liftgate door lock, handle and cabling components and would cost approx. $500 to fix with no guarantee that same failure would not occur in the future. We had repair done and it worked fine until July 1, 2005 and we are having the exact same problem again and of course this is something that the dealer says is not covered by our warranty.

I own a 2002 Toyota Sequoia and have had three instances of the back hatch latch assembly breaking and becoming unlatched while the vehicle was in operation. The latch assembly became unlatched after the rear window was rolled down. In each case the rear hatch would not relatch and to be tied shut. The latch assembly had to be replaced by a dealer in order to restore the hatch to operation in each case. During the third replacement of the rear hatch latch assembly the dealer technician noticed that the latch operating cable harness was routed incorrectly inside the rear hatch which is why the rear window was putting stress on it and damaging the latch assembly. The latch broke twice in 08/2002, and again in 06/2005.