2019 Toyota RAV4

The rear power liftgate metal hinges are peeling away from the body of the vehicle. My liftgate doesn't close properly and is out of alignment to stay safely latched closed and has become 100% unusable. There is a 1.5 inch gap (you can see light and water can enter) on rear pass. side and the door is tightly jammed closed on the rear driver side. After speaking with a Toyota service manager, he casually let me know he sees this frequently. I have learned this is a very known issue yet Toyota will do nothing to prevent these defective hinges from being installed or cover repairs. The service manager told to take it to the collision center to get quoted on a repair. I did and my out of pocket cost (because Toyota won't take responsibility for this defect) is between $700 and $2700, depending how much damage occurred to other components caused by the defective hinges (the collision company has also stated they've done many of these repairs). My vehicle showed no visible sign of failure prior to breaking. It would occasionally fail to close, as if an object was in the way, but upon re-trying to power liftgate button, it would close. Sometimes it would take 3 to 4 times to be successful. But, it never appeared as if it was out of alignment or damaged until last weekend when I tried to close it and it forced closed itself VERY incorrectly. Considering my vehicle was purchased less than 5 years ago, brand new, this shouldn't be happening. It definitely shouldn't be showing this kind of wear on a vehicle I haven't even had to change brakes, tires or a simple headlight on the ENTIRE ownership of the vehicle. When I use those items every single day. My liftgate is used 1 time or less a week. The cost of this repair is half what I still owe on it and I didn't even do anything to cause it, it happened due to faulty hinges that are NOT safe. How do I know my hatch won't open while driving? Or that it won't break opposite and my liftgate becomes unsecured from my suv altogeth

For a long time, lift gate was not functioning correctly, when trying to close the liftgate does not close. In peak winters it was a lot of frustration to close the lift gate. Showed it dealership many times, later that issue worsened to hinge tear. Now it shows like falling apart. Requested to Toyota to repairs, repair is not done yet. Assistance in this regards would be highly appreciated.

The hinges on the rear power lift gate are tearing off of the vehicle. This is the second time they have failed. The first time I was told it was due to a manufacturing defect in the hinges, but now they (the Toyota dealership) are saying it is because the gate struts are not strong enough to support the door. Toyota is refusing to fix the issue calling it "wear and tear". The issue began when my car had around 45,000 miles. It now has 100,000 miles, but I started noticing the symptoms of the issue at 85,000 (the dealership "couldn't reproduce" at that time). The initial symptoms were the door giving a loud, long beep and refusing to open more than 3 inches or to close. Then, it started to thump as it closed. Sometimes it simply wouldn't open or close. Now, the door sits askew, with a large gap on one side as there is a significant tear in one hinge with a smaller tear on the other.. This is a safety issue because the hinges could break, causing the door to collapse on a person or fall off the car while in motion, with items in the rear of the vehicle also potentially flying out. The weak struts could also fail and collapse the door, causing injury. There are hundreds of similar complaints on Reddit and in RAV4 forums.

The contact owns a 2019 Toyota Rav4. The contact stated that while the vehicle was parked, the two brackets that connect the rear automatic door cracked three-quarters of the way horizontally. The contact stated that the door was jiggled in place to remain closed. The vehicle was taken to a body shop where it was determined that both rear hinges needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 68,000.

The back hatch was misaligned and over time became unusable. Upon inspection from the body shop the hinge the keeps the hatch attached to the vehicle at the top had pulled lose- the power hatch had essentially pulled away from the frame causing the misalignment. The manager at the body shop did some investigation and found that this was an issue that resulted in a recall for the same RAV 4 for the 2013-2017 models but had yet to be applied to our model year. After contacting the toyota dealership it was confirmed that this has been an issue that they are seeing- in fact, after paying for the repairs (since toyota refused to do so)- the body shop manager said she has had another customer with the same problem in the last 48 hours. This is absolutely not related to any accident of any kind- there wasn't one- this is clearly a manufacturer's problem.

Have had issues with the power gate to the hatchback since the first year of ownership. Dealer could not replicate after numerous complaints. On Jan 1, 2024 the hatch would only ho partially up or down and would not close. Upon looking, the hinges holding the hatch were pulling away from the vehicle. No accident, no abuse, nothing done other than using the electronic open/shut. Googled for info and found MANY similar/same complaints. Body shop estimate to replace hinges around $700 plus more for a rental. Toyota says it's not warranteed but I intend this is a definite structural problem with the vehicle. In the meantime the issue of the problems with electronic hatch lift cant be addressed due to hinge issue. Im concerned driving car --will hatch fall off in traffic??Recall should be issued imo.

The available component that failed would be the liftgate hinge. My safety is put at risk because the powerlift gate is leaning toward the left side heavily and limiting away from the frame of the vehicle. Although this is latched down, others are a risk because if the liftgate detached from the vehicle, others could be seriously injured. The problem has been confirmed by the dealer. The vehicle has been reviewed by the dealer, as well as, a body shop. There were no warning lamps or messages for this problem. The problem was initially noticed when the trunk was gapping on one side and rubbing aggressively on the opposite side. The dealer said that it was with the hinge after I brought it to their attention. Toyota is not covering cost to have it repaired because they deemed it a “wear and tear” and a body shop deemed it a manufacturing issue. I am paying for said repair out of my own pocket which is not morally correct for a manufacturer issue.