What are your honest thoughts on remote tailgate lock?

I think it’s got to be one of my top 3 favorite mods.

 

So newbie here with first post: I have a 2021 that's two weeks old. First thing I did was get the OEM tailgate lock kit. It was only about $140. Not so much concerned about tailgate getting stolen, but the security of the gear in the bed. As for hands full...set it down (junk you're carrying), put you hand on door handle to unlock doors, open tailgate and put your junk in. yes it's about 15 seconds longer and I might have to lift stuff twice, but then again if my hands are full I have to put the stuff down to open the tailgate anyways...It's personal preference but my crap is a little more secure.
DZM

 

The thing I wish it encompassed was auto re-lock. IE when I walk away from the truck, the doors autolock after 30 or 60 seconds of door closing. My wife's car does that and wish Toyotas would as well.
DZM

 

Those tail gates cost 5-9k to replace so really how bad do you need a step?

 

Added it to mine and very glad I did (the OEM Toyota power lock). Coupled with my Bakflip cover, makes it easy to secure my things in the bed of the truck, plus I don't have to bother fiddling with the key every time I want to lock/unlock the tailgate. Living in a city, it gives me peace of mind and makes one less thing to worry about. I bought the kit and installed it myself and altogether, it wasn't to terrible difficult to get done.

 

It just sounds like something that is going to break and cost ya a lot of $$ to fix somewhere down the line.
Call me 'Old School' ... But the day I need an automatic tailgate that opens/closes by itself, or that opens up, folds up, like some sort of origami puzzle ... I might as well just drive a minivan...

 

Got it! Thanks. Dealer price is $100 to install + parts.

 

You can install an oem kit yourself if you want to save $100. No special tools required.

 

Yeah I think it may be too inconvinient for me. I think I will give it more thought, before I tell the dealer to install. I have another week time to think it through.

 

Thing is my bed wont have a cover, because I hvae farm stuff or home depot stuff in it daily few times a day. Thus I was curious how inconvinience the truck bed lock might be. Since I back the truck in, at home, and lets say throw bikes on it. I can't do it, without having to unlock first.

Thus was curious for those of you who live with it day to day and use the truck as a truck.

Love the backflip cover, just not practical for me.

 

I think if you lived in small town america where everyone has their front doors unlocked, you wouldn't need a tailgate lock. But I live in a town with many meth heads so I need mine locked.

 

Yes, I live in a small town, but we also have meth heads. My truck sleeps at night in the barn, during the day, it works at the farm, and goes to the big box stores when needed.

Maybe, best solution for me is get the truck home, use it for few weeks, and think about if its more inconvenient to have it or not. I love the LOCK feature (as security), BUT I dislike having to unlock truck first before using the bed, I suppose. If the rear tail had a touch open unlock - like most toyota/lexus do for trunk - that would be ideal for me.

Appreciate your thoughts.

IF ONE has OR with the premium package but doesn't have auto tail lock - is there a metal key you take out of the fob and use that to lock it?

 

Yes. For trucks after model year 2017 the little physical door key unlocks the tailgate. It will come with a normal looking key also.

 

Thanks @Rock Lobster

 

I feel quite strongly that you should self install this one. It requires the bare minimum of tools. I will personally walk you through it. Heck, if you ever come out to the beach I'll install it for you, it's seriously that much fun. I would never pay the dealer for the labor, it's trivial. And there is like a 20 page pdf with all of the instructions down to each numbered zip tie of the 25+ it suggests you use.

I don't consider it inconvenient in any way. But with MT we have H key and no option for smart key. I do like how convenient the smart key system is and I can see how someone who might keep their smart key in a purse or larger pack rather than just a pocket might find it annoying to fish the fob out to click unlock.

With my 2013 prius, in early days of covid when we couldn't use our own shopping bags, I used to fill my hands from the grocery store with milk and eggs, approach the car, touch the handle to unlock, then go to the trunk to load it up in my bags/basket.

I am curious what you are buying at home depot where you aren't using a cart but can't lift it and put it directly in the bed without first opening the tailgate. I'm guessing it's mostly that you think it'd be inconvenient to have to touch the handle to unlock?

NOTE that the OEM kit has a connector between the tailgate harness and the body harness. One quick disconnect at that junction and the power lock is disabled. One reconnect and it's back. So you can experiment with it however you wish.

Also, note you can configure all doors to unlock with the first unlock pulse/click which I _think_ would mean passenger door (and therefore tailgate) unlocks if you touch driver handle and have the smart key setup? That might be something you prefer.

 

That is an excellent OFFER. I would LOVE to take you up on it, as we are in SD often.

Our most often purchase are lumber, long pipes (sprinkler system for farm). I guess the way I see is, say I have two bags of stuff walking to my car, usually I can put it down if needed on ground, open the tail gate. If I had a locking one, I would have to put the stuff down (no problem), fish out my remote, and unlock, and then open tailgate. OR walk to the front of truck, put stuff down. touch door handle. Go to back.

Maybe I am making it more complicated than it is.

But with your offer, I feel confident to tell the dealer no. Live with the truck a month or so, and then pick it up from a online parts store, and show up at your house

 

You could always huck it over the rail. Opening the tailgate is for unloading stuff, not loading.

 

LOL

At the farm, I open tailgate get on the bed, then two packagers (on ground) give me boxes, and I load it up. Yup my bed gets loaded up heavier than the Taliban Hilux...but thats ok...there are no lawyers or toyota corporate to look at the weight that goes in my bed. We look at GVWR as suggestions that we don't follow. LOL. (if you can picture what a truck look likes in vietnam, you can picture my truck)

 

So, those bags, you can't just place them in the bed without opening the tailgate? Shoulder surgery? These are plastic bags? Or 50 lb bags of quickrete which you're carrying like a surfboard instead of on your shoulder?

I can see how LB is a longer walk than SB though

OEM tailgate lock thread is here, note DCLB is a different part number than DCSB. Maybe your dealer will throw it in for cheaper than you can get online, worth asking. It's definitely one of my favorite mods.

I did my mountain hatch at the same time as the tailgate lock. Just in case you like sitting on the tailgate. There are cheaper solutions than MH though, but it's worth thinking about that as you'd have the OEM panel off and if you want to do that you might prefer doing this before you beat up the OEM plastic.

Attached are the instructions. I do think it'd probably be significantly faster for me (or anyone else) doing this a second time than the first time when there's a little bit of confusion but for sure you can do this yourself in less time than the drive out here.

 

I like it because I have a tri fold hard top and I could totally secure anything in the bed. I'm considering getting one.