Frakkin' Bent Tailgate Rant!

I thought Toyota fixed this issue after the rash of bent tailgates on earlier models. Evidently I was wrong, because I just bent the gate on my 2009 Tacoma.

Thank God I didn't try to put my 1500cc Nomad in this "truck", because I bent that lame excuse for a tailgate by stepping on it with my foot.

Now at 220 lbs. I'm no lightweight but I'm not Hulk Hogan either. I think I should be able to climb in the bed of my truck and wash the roof without bending the dang thing.

 

Thanks for the heads up. I weigh more than you and I sit on my gate to change my golf shoes.

I think I would be having a spirited chat with my dealer. If you do let us know how it turns out.

Rick

 

That sucks, I was under the impression they had fixed this. I've got a few pounds on you too. I've sat on the tailgate without a problem, but I've never stepped on it. I guess all your weight in one small area did it in. I've heard the dealer will replace them and add additional support.. Good luck with it.

 

I hate to hear that..... I guess I have something to look forward to.

 

I'm 220 as well. After reading all the stuff about tailgates on TW, I always try to step up on the tailgate near the cables, and aviod the middle. It's weird to baby a truck like this after being able to do a triple lindy off the tailgate of my old s-10.

 

yeah they dont hold up to good to a cat 924 wheel loader either.that sucked.

 

I've sat on mine without any problems.....

Yesterday, my husband and I had to haul an old/heavy hot water heater to the dump. We would've had to lean the heater on the tailgate to get it in the bed. So...knowing these tailgates are weak, I removed it.

Sucks....having to 'think' about it everytime just to try and avoid it from being bent because I really don't want to go through the hassel of trying to get a new one from the dealer if I had to.

 

I'm going to use mine just like I have my last two trucks and if it bends/breaks/bows they'll fix it. i know that sounds a little jerkish but it's a truck.

 

^Nothing wrong with that at all. That's how it should be.

There's one thing I've noticed about Toyota that doesn't make me too happy: they don't seem to want to acknowledge their faults. Now, I understand recalls are EXTREMELY expensive and are usually only done for safety issues but I think there's cause enough for more than one recall on these trucks. I mean, how many things do I have worry about now? Between the weak tailgate and weak rear springs, that's bad enough.

Having said that, I haven't called my dealer yet to have either done so, for all I know, they would just go ahead and do it but we've seen enough people get crap from their dealership on these issues to know that it isn't always easy.

I don't know, I love my truck but this stuff reminds me of Nissan. At least my transmission still works (unlike my Altima's).

 

My biggest concern with a replacement would be getting the paint to match the original. Mine is Pyrite Mica and don't know how close they could match this metallic color.

 

what does the bent tailgate look like?

 

True, mine has metallic in it as well. I would hope that they could do a good job of matching there factory colors. It is hard to do though. I have a friend of mine that does paint and body work and he fixed my fiances explorer when she got rear ended. It's that tri sand metallic color and he said it was tough to match. He got it though.

 

I just bought my 09 Tacoma. Its posts like these that make me second guess myself. I came from a 97 dodge ram 1500 that took any kind of beating I dished out. I switched to toyota because of the reliablity and long lasting hype. Now, I have to worry about my tailgate bending under a lousy 220lbs. I guess it won't handle a quad. Then I need to get the 4 pack leaf springs, which should of came with the truck. I love the truck so far, but it seems like I am worrying about more and more each time I read posts from TW. I am not bashing anyone, just have enough to worry about besides my truck.

 

The spring issue and the tailgate seem to be the biggest issues. I am sure there are Ford and other truck forums like this one and I'll bet that there is more pissing and moaning about their models than you'll find here. My biggest beef is the lack of a tailgate lock and we have been waiting for the '09 Pop And Lock since October.

 

I stepped on the tailgate right in the middle, along the hinge line. It's not kinked, so I think it can be straightened, but it's bowed over 1/2" at the middle.

With the tailgate closed I can look down at the end of the bed and see lots of daylight at the mid-point.

I saw the pics of the Toyota fix for this, and I'm not sure I care for their method. It looks like a moisture/rust trap situation to me.

The paint is white & it's still OK, so if the dealer won't replace the gate I may straighten this out myself. In either event I'll sand inside the thing & fill the bottom edge (from the inside) with a steel bar or tube completely bedded in glass reinforced epoxy.

Hopefully I can do that without screwing up the camera wiring.

 

Give it another good step, and then take it over to the dealer to be replaced. It sure would drive me crazy knowing that I had a bent tailgate on my bran new truck.. I guess another upside would be the new and 'improved' tailgate.

 

i bent mine on my silver streak mica 07 DC it was coverd under the TSB and they replace it and painted it to match perfectly. you can hear the diffrence when closing it.to bad my taco is a lemon...now im gonna have to deal with a weak 09 tailgate..

 

Since I am closing in on the end of the factory warrenty for my '07, what do you all say to intentionally trying to bend my tailgate to get the TSB so I don't have to worry about this in the future?

 

I say that's fraud and it's wrong. I would ask the dealership about it and see if they'll do the TSB (is there still one out there?). If not, have them put it in writing in case of a future failure.

 

You got to do what you got to do. I don't think this is fraud if you jump on your tailgate because you just want to. And if you do jump on your tailgate it should be able to hold your weight. In the future having a reinforced tailgate will be a benefit because if you don't get it fixed and have to put something in your bed and the tailgate bends it will not be covered by toyota because your out of warranty.