i have the same issue and they're fighting me on it. Snow builds up in the hatch area and the struts / motors are too overpowered for it. I believe any manual open / closing is causing this issue. In either case, there are likely hundreds of people with this issue. Going to another dealership this week to try and open a claim again (ECP Coverage) The body / build quality of the Gen5 is not amazing...

 

Rear Liftgate Hinge

Just purchased a 2020 RAV4 and within the first 400 miles of ownership... the passenger side Liftgate hinge broke... the body shop says they've never seen or heard of this happening. They're convinced that something was put in the car that was too big or kept the door from shutting... I...

www.rav4world.com

 

I own a 2020 Rav 4 TRD off road and had this same issue. When I took it in to the dealership I purchased from, oregon, they said they had 3 other cars being repaired for the same hinge issue. Luckily I didn't have to fight them on the issue, they said they'd take care of it with no charge. My liftgate was shifted so far towards the driver side that it was rubbing the tail light whenever you opened it. Long story short, my whole trunk had to be replaced so the repairs took over month since there were so many backorders. I've had the car back since July, and haven't had any issues with it since.

 

Is it a quality control problem? Trim level doesn’t seem to matter.

 

I hit my hinges with some white lithium grease spray last night in hopes it might help prevent this from happening. Wonder if lack of lube in there could be contributing? But ultimately I think cheap material and undersized hinges are probably the main culprit.

 

I had the same thing happen! I posted my pictures on here too. We’re you able to get yours fixed?

 

Looks like a defect in design or strengthening.

 

2020 Rav 4 hybrid here, Toyota says $6500 to fix it! Says

it's caused by "outside influence". First Toyota said covered under warranty, then $6500 like it was our fault. Total BS it's a known problem.

 

If you look at the geometry between the liftgate hinges and struts there is a tremendous amount of force applied to the hinges, especially when just opening.

 

Its simple weld is breaking. The only reason this would happen is if there is more force exerted on it than its designed for under use.

Hatch should be designed to be lifted or closed manually with no issues. Also if you need to manually stop it.


This would all be normal use.

Obviously there is a issue with design.



Unless you add accessories onto your hatch, would be the only out.

 

I don't think it's a weld, the hinges are through bolted and caulked before painting. What you are seeing is the caulking cracking, pulling away when the hinges are
bending under pressure.

 

I don't think it's a weld, the hinges are through bolted and caulked before painting. What you are seeing is the caulking cracking, pulling away when the hinges are
bending under pressure.

Then the hinge is not strong enough for the force exerted on it or thru it causing it to bend.

Still would come down to a design issue.

 

It's mostly struts issue, they are not able to handle the heavy liftgate, altho looking at the hinge is low quality garbage as well.
I at first thought they welded all around the hinge and knowing that it would be susceptible to this issue but I'll have to look at it more closely and see if it is indeed just caulking, but nonetheless the hen should have four bolts in the bottom part instead of just two.

 

I have a 2019 and had the same problem. Toyota does try to blame the consumer. It is well known that this is an ongoing problem I was told this bay a Toyota employee. I had to fight to have mine fixed it went on for almost 2 months. Finally my sales man who I bought 8 vehicles from spoke to the sales manager and got it fixed. Not the service department they were not helpful! I just had mine fixed and it did not cost that much and my lift gate couldn’t even shut because of this issue. It is the struts from what I was told and then the hinge pulls out too. Good luck but way over priced on the estimate to repair!

 

What do you mean "it did not cost that much". I thought you meant they covered it all for you. Some people here have been quoted over $6k to fix this issue.

 

I would ask that they put hefty flat washers both underneath and on top of the fasteners. Should help.

 

I'm guessing once hinges are off it'll look like typical beer can thickness/material those hinges screw down into the roof area. It's a damn heavy liftgate for safety in hard tear end collisions and the liftgate struts are garbage.

 

How is everyone opening and closing their liftgate? I tried closing our RAV 4 Hybrid liftgate a couple times manually and it just seemed too heavy to overpower the motors to push it down. From now on I will use the buttons (or just kick my foot under the car for the automatic opening).

In comparison I would switch between manually closing or using the liftgate motor on our Highlander for almost 10 years with no problems.

 

You should be able to turn off the PBD (power back door) by going to vehicle settings and simply turning it off. This should allow you to simply use it in manual mode.

 

I believe in manual mode pulling liftgate closed puts tremendous stress on the hinges and they break. The liftgate is designed with the struts to handle the opening and closing of the lift gate, the opening is not a big deal that puts no stress on the hinges at all it's the closing that trashes the hinges if in manual mode, probably even in auto as the OEM struts can't handle the weight.

 

The strut to hinge geometry is such that the force of the opening is not equal through the arc of the opening. The highest force on the hinge is at the beginning of the lift gate opening where the struts have to push away from the hinge to start lifting. You can see this in the photos where the hinges are bent down and towards the latch.
In any case this is poor engineering and quality control on Toyota's part. All we can do as owners is to avoid putting undue stress on the lift gate by making sure there aren't obstructions such as snow, ice or luggage in the way and not operating it manually.
One thing you might consider doing is re-initilizing the lift gate and programming it to stop before reaching the full open position.
None of this is something that we, as owners should have to do with a new vehicle.

 

I think a build up of snow and ice between the spoiler and roof is a major contributing factor during opening. But this would not be the case in warmer climates. Hinge seems very light in design compared to other vehicles I’ve owned.

 

I have the hinges on order to be replaced. I have asked if they are just replacing with the same hinges as obviously they are not high quality material. They said they are 'upgraded'. I have to pay 40% of the cost to have them changed out, even though i have tried to fight them on this for over a month now, they won't budge and are trying to imply i am lucky that they are even covering that amount. This is a defect/design issue and in no way the customers fault. I am pretty disappointed with Toyota for not standing behind this.

 

Taking our to a body shop as we're told $600 to fix and NOT Toyota even though this dealership and the other two local Toyota dealerships farm all their body workout to one specific local body shop but still Toyota is involved and that I do not want.

 

Another thing to consider is that it could be a safety issue if the hinges bend enough allowing exhaust gasses to enter the cabin. This whole issue may end in a recall.

 

A recall covering so many years of the Rav4's for this would cost Toyota hundreds of millions, there is low probability this will ever happen.

 

True, however they replaced frames on thousands of Tacomas so who knows. My '04 in the pic cost them 13k.

 

This is a bit confusing. If I search on 688100R30 which you say is the new part number I find the opposite. According to this image and text, 688100R31 replaces 688100R30.

 

No no, i said the NEW part number they have on order for me is 68810-0R032. The dealership is telling me the part i have on my car now (the original one) is 68810-0R030. I haven't gotten the part replaced yet. It's just on order.

 

So the question is what VIN# did the change to the new part# take place?

 

My 2020 Rav4 is now having the liftgate problem. Toyota dealership is saying it is my fault, that I must have had something in there so it wouldn't close. That is a bunch of BS. I am also very disappointed in Toyota right now. I should have stuck with my Honda CRV. I tried calling them but of course they are closed. They need to take care of this problem. I even have the complete extended warranty but that doesn't cover it.