Rear door won't stay OPEN in power OR manual - Toyota Nation Forum : Toyota Car and Truck Forums

hrbl · 01-13-2013, 03:27 PM

I've looked at the forums for this problem and didn't find a thread on this, so I apologize if it's a common issue

Today, we had a scary moment in the parking lot. We opened the door automatically to put the groceries in the car. When the door reached the top of the open position, it began to shudder, bump, and shake its way back down at about 3 inches per second until my body held it open long enough for our kid to get out of the way. When I stepped aside, the door free fell closed with a thud.

I came home and duplicated this a couple of times. Then I turned off the power feature with the button in the glove box and raised the door. It won't stay open in manual mode either. It will fall back down if I don't support it. And, it feels much heavier than it should. It feels like the struts are actually pulling closed rather than help support open.

The door worked perfectly just the day before. This car is two weeks old, so I'll be taking it into the dealer to have it looked at.

Has anyone heard of this happening?

***sweeneyp*** · 01-13-2013, 06:34 PM

So when you were describing it ealier, did it sound like the power tailgate motor was making it shake?

I know the struts will lose their effectiveness as it gets colder, but that usually just amounts to it not going up all the way. Sounds like the struts just failed and the gas has escaped.

hrbl · 01-13-2013, 06:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sweeneyp

So when you were describing it ealier, did it sound like the power tailgate motor was making it shake?

I know the struts will lose their effectiveness as it gets colder, but that usually just amounts to it not going up all the way. Sounds like the struts just failed and the gas has escaped.

It sounds like the motor is causing it to shake. The shake isn't there when it comes down manually. The motor seems to work just fine going up, but then it doesn't stay up and the motor continues to run as it jumps and shudders on the way down.

The mounts and hinges don't look bent and the door shuts properly.

If the struts have failed, I can only figure that what's going on with the motor caused it.

Chunger · 01-16-2013, 03:11 PM

If you haven't resolved this yet...

Even on non-motorized rear hatch models, the struts should support the weight of the door in the open position. If the hatch reaches the "fully open" position the motor should stop. Mine won't re-engage to close unless I activate it or if I pull it down manually nearly closed at which point it pulls the last inch or so closed/shut.

Let the dealer take care of it since it sounds like your car is NEW. It's their headache.

dallen3737 · 01-16-2013, 05:21 PM

I had a similar situation. They dealer had to replace both struts. The colder is was, the worst it was. You need to have 2 good struts to hold the lift gate up. The shuttering is probably because one strut is stronger than the other.