Tailgate Mess V3.0 Damage Pictures. Back from meet w/Toyota Rep - Toyota Nation Forum : Toyota Car and Truck Forums

adospeed · 12-12-2006, 11:26 PM

I could not believe this is what I saw when I took the plastic liner off the tailgate

4 of the 6 support brackets that sustain the vertical ribbing had completely dislodged from their placement!! Nothing more than some caulking or thick adhesive!! You can see the crack at the top of the tailgate that eventually resulted. Incredible........I'm just in awe that this is a Toyota design....

njmueller363 · 12-12-2006, 11:34 PM

Damn man..Those brackets should extend all the way across..

toysupra1 · 12-12-2006, 11:34 PM

that is definately some crappy craftsmanship on toyota's side. the metal looks paper thin too! time to forward these photos to toyota's customer relations.

mwebber78 · 12-12-2006, 11:56 PM

Coke called, they want Toyota to start paying royalties....Coke thinks they own the design for Aluminum cans

iaintdumb2 · 12-13-2006, 01:13 AM

That's amazing. I guess I should be surprised that mine hasn't failed yet. I've loaded my 600rr and my bf's 636 numerous times onto the tailgate. I've even ridden a giant Polaris quad onto it without it even bending. Thank goodness I have a trailer now.

edit: I don't browse this forum too much anymore.. Have you taken the truck to a dealership to see if Toyota will cover it?

coolcatmars · 12-13-2006, 02:04 AM

Is there anything we can do to reinforced the tail gate? Any suggestions.

JUNGLEMAN · 12-13-2006, 04:43 AM

It looks like it was designed to crush like that, probably some safety thing to reduce impact when hit by a logging truck.
Unfortunately they forgot to think about the fact that some of us would actually use the tailgate and it would also crush the other way if any weight was put on it.
Toyotas have always been lighter and for lack of a better word "tinnier" than the big trucks but I cringe every time some big boy sits on it in camp after reading all the posts about it bending.

cmoore99 · 12-13-2006, 06:12 AM

I came to my Tacoma from a '92 F150. The first thing I noticed was how light the tailgate is. The Ford had some serious heft to it. The Tacoma tailgate will not take much. If I do have to load anything heavy into my Tacoma I will be taking the tailgate off first.

dentalon · 12-13-2006, 08:22 AM

What about filling it with polyruethane foam like they fill the bumpers with on cars? The latch would be a bit tricky but could be worked out. Could also add some horizontal reinforcement to the top and bottom beforehand. The end result would be like an insulated stressed-skin OSB panel like they do for houses.

75cruiser · 12-13-2006, 08:29 AM

I can't believe that they did not even spot weld the supports at the very least. Toyota took the term "Very Least" to a whole nother level with this one. Talk about cutting corners.

The suckiest part is that when I bought this Double Cab I was thinking about my 83, and my two FJ40's. I knew that the Ranger I was driving at the time was crap, and that I wanted a truck that was truly universal and fit all of my needs. What a let down.

pointerDixie214 · 12-13-2006, 08:48 AM

I think I will reenforce the tailgate when I get a free day... I'll post picks of my idea and throughout progress...

06Sport · 12-13-2006, 08:49 AM

holey crap! thats the weakest looking thing ever. ??? surprised mine has not bent just by closing it. Looks like you could slike some square reinforced bars or somehing between it and weld it in? Damn

75cruiser · 12-13-2006, 10:37 AM

Adospeed,
What time do you meet with the Toyota Rep.???
Maybe you should have him look on this site and read the threads. Bad news always spreads quickly.

adospeed · 12-13-2006, 10:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 75cruiser

Adospeed,
What time do you meet with the Toyota Rep.???
Maybe you should have him look on this site and read the threads. Bad news always spreads quickly.

Going to call the dealership in a few minutes to confirm he is coming, but I'm in alignment with what youare saying. Here what I am taking with me.

- Pictures from their marketing campaign banners showing Dirt bikes and quads in the bed.
(these are recent pics from this past weekends LA Auto show in Los Angeles)

- Picture from Toyota Tacoma display vehicle @ the LA Auto show with a dirt bike in it and the tailgate already showing some slight bowing.

- Picture of the Tacoma Yamahauler with dirt bike in the back.

- Picture of Official Toyota brochures/images of the Bed Extender with items ON the tailgate

- Printed ALL pages on 3 SEPARATE threads on tailgate issues from this site, and printed up how many views each one has gotten. It must be like 70 pages between the 3 theads

- Printed up the 4 complaints on the NHTSA website

So thats what I got. Wish me luck, I'm trying to go to bat for ALL of us. Someone has too at some point. I just hope they recognize the magnitude of this problem and dont tell me to "Go Pound Sand".

PiercedTiger · 12-13-2006, 10:52 AM

Holy shit! That's a lot worse than I thought.

Your pics show what I saw when I popped the plastic off for my pop n lock. First thing I thought was "these supports SUCK! What are they? Glued down?" Damn things flexed when I pressed on them. I'm still thinking about add some epoxy, liquid nails or some other high-strength adhesive to them. Seems like mine didn't even touch the tailgate's outter sheet metal. So they could flex and bend before hitting any ressistance to hold the weight.

The pic below shows about were I put my angle iron. 3-4" piece dead center over where your's buckled. That should prevent damage like this, but now I wonder if the bottom could also buckle as your's did.

I'm still planning an jamming some angle iron down in the bottom along the hinge line and bonding it in somehow. What little bracing it DOES have gets in the way for most of my ideas tho. I'm half tempted to cut some of them out and weld in a frame of some sort.

Quote:

Originally Posted by adospeed