[cnred034]

I have a 2014 Rave4 Limited. The vehicle is equiped with an automatic opening and closing rear lift gate. The lift gate has rattled since the day we bought the car. It has been back to the dealership several times, but it seems that they don't know how to remedy this issue.
The first time back to the service department theytighten the spare tire and called it good, had no effect on the problem. The dealer was pretty adiment that something in the spare tire well was rattling. I remove everything, the spare and all the tools, still rattled.
The problem is very annoying. I finally bought some feldt circle spots with adhesive on the back and placed them on the body of the vehicle where the rubber bumpers on the lift gate come into contact with the body. This has lessened the rattleing but it is still there.
Anyone else had this problem, if so how was it fixed so I can "clue-in" my dealer's service department, I'm getting tired of taking it back for this problem.

 

[RobertN]

There are some things you can do to try to locate the rattle. Have someone ride back there and listen for the rattle source to narrow down where where it is coming from. Pound on the lift gate and area around it with your fist to see if it will rattle, be careful you can make dents. Take off the inner tailgate liner and poke around in there for something rattling, something may be in the bottom of the tailgate that shouldn't be there. Same thing for the inner fenders, something could have dropped down there. The carpet and other pieces have to be removed to see into the inner fender cavities. Years ago my brother had his 4 year old son crawling around in the back of his station wagon chasing down a noise, once the kid got the idea, he was able to point right to where the noise came from.

 

[Blogson]

If the vehicle is driven for a short distance with the lift gate partially open along a route where the rattling normally occurs and the rattle vanishes that would indicate that the problem is where the closed lift gate contacts the RAV's body. With another vehicle I had a very annoying rattle as is described and the dealership couldn't resolve the problem. I finally did by inserting enough shims where the lift gate came into contact with the vehicle's body to stop the rattling but with enough weather strip contact to still exclude water - some experimentation was required.

 

[cnred034]

If the vehicle is driven for a short distance with the lift gate partially open along a route where the rattling normally occurs and the rattle vanishes that would indicate that the problem is where the closed lift gate contacts the RAV's body. With another vehicle I had a very annoying rattle as is described and the dealership couldn't resolve the problem. I finally did by inserting enough shims where the lift gate came into contact with the vehicle's body to stop the rattling but with enough weather strip contact to still exclude water - some experimentation was required.

That's what I have done with the felt pads where the rubber bumpers from the lift gate come in contact with the Rav's body.
It had eliminated about 90% of the rattle.
My mechanical mind tells me there must be some sort of adjustment on the lift gate hinges or latch to either tighten or loosen the fit of the gate to the body. The pads have a positive effect on the problem, but it seems to me that I shouldn't have to resort to this type of "fix" with an almost new car (10,000 miles).
I'm sure I am not the only one experiencing this annoyng situation, and if I am I'd like to give Toyota a hint as to how to take care of this problem so we can remain "friends".

 

[Mikey D.]

How about the latch piece - the part attached to the RAV that the door latches on to and locks?

Check the fasteners for any play/looseness.

 

[dansflhti]

My wifes 15 LE AWD had an annoying rattle when she first bought it last January.I eventually discovered that the center rear shoulder belt wasn't fully seated into its stow position in the roof.

 

[Blogson]

That's what I have done with the felt pads where the rubber bumpers from the lift gate come in contact with the Rav's body.
It had eliminated about 90% of the rattle.
.

I had to experiment with shims of different sizes and materials until I found what would resolve the rattle. There was no way to adjust the latching mechanism further. In my case what finally worked was shims made of layers of rubber strips with the layers glued together with adhesives. I began with one layer and added to them until I resolved the problem. If I recall the final tally was four layers. Later I showed my solution to the dealer's service dept. manager. Obviously they weren't prepared to experiment with non-factory fixes.