Tailgate failure and injury?

In a recent futile exchange with Desert Toyota of Las Vegas and the Toyota representative I expressed a concern that a tailgate failure could possibly create an imbalance resulting in an accident while loading a motorcycle onto the truck. The Toyota representative indicated that Toyota did not consider the weak tailgate as a safety issue and will not replace it as a preventative measure.
Does anyone else have this concern? Has anyone been injured due to a tailgate failure?

 

there is a tsb for the tailgate. not sure of saftey concerns, which im sure is very possible. the tsb says the tail gate has to be bent before toyota will fix it/reinforce it, which is goofy. they should just fix it since they know there is a definite problem with it.

 

I found myself thinking the very same thing the other day.

 

hmmm...
I am battling the same issue... not bent YET... tried to get them to fix it but they won't until it has a problem....

I might call them again and raise this issue about SAFETY!!!

 

Yeah, a guy sure has to make a point of not trusting the gate to stand on. Boy it feels like it's gonna go every time I step on it.
I always try and stay to the side.

My old GM Sierra had the cables replaced on the gate because they were failing for some folks. Sure hope the Tacoma cables are stronger than the gate itself.

Eventually someone will get hurt and start up a class action.

 

sounds like you been thinking about it for quite some time!!

 

lol

 

Just thought I'd throw this out there. It shows the vin. #'s on the affected trucks and where they fixed the problem in production.

http://mafmaps.fileave.com/NewTailgateTSB.pdf

 

They would not preventatively replace my gate either. I first tried this, then when Sethmark started making his gater-savers again, I bought one of those. Mine is now for sale.

http://www.toyotanation.com/forum/showthread.php?t=244805

 

I have an 08 that according to the VIN has the tailgate issue addressed. The tailgate feels light/weak and I don't trust it to hold any serious weight. Anyone have good pictures of the older tailgates with the cap and cover off so I can see the difference with mine or anyone know what the difference is.

 

I'm the same way with the truck I bought last Saturday. I'm afraid to push my Honda CRF450R up onto the tailgate to load it.

 

Bummer, I still have the crappy tailgate. Maybe I should have Hubby jump up and down on it or something. Glad we didn't have to load the bike onto the truck the day we picked it (the bike) up--I'd forgotten about the bent tailgate TSB. I need to have my VIN# tattooed on my hand or something for ease of access....

 

I've loaded my motorcycle in the bed quite a few times without any problems. I'm 225 lbs. and the bike is 420 lbs.