tacoma tailgate! (bending)

o ok thanks!

 

mine was weak. bent it from a snowmobile. then i straightened and reinforced it with angle iron. do a search for tailgate reinforcement and you should be able to find it if needed

 

Mine makes scary noises when I stand or sit on it. But it's still straight. I don't really haul anything beyond camping gear and the occasional Home Depot run. Previous owner had a dirt bike and the tailgate cover is all scratched up from the ramps he used, but it appears that he loaded from the left side, not the middle. I think that's why it's still straight.

 

I have almost 100k on mine, 2005, and mine is ok... guess im not working it hard enough




but thats what she said!!

 

my tail gate bent on the hinge side (closest to the bed) a little while hauling my 600rr and then bent a lot while hauling a 848 race bike. i bent it back and reinforced it with some 1 1/4" x 1 1/4" x 1/4" angle iron. seems to be all good now.

 

what is the tailgate weight limit? (tailgate alone)

 

Never had a problem with mine loading my bikes but after reading a few threads I went ahead and added some reinforcement.

Also added a piece of aluminum angle all the way across the top that you can't see (the little piece left over is what is sitting on the edge).

 

AWESOME! did you rivet those in? or use sheet metal screws?

 

Thanks!
Sheet metal screws.

 

Great job. How much trouble was it to get that angle stock in that runs along the top edge?

 

If I remember right I had to take out the linkage for the tailgate handle and pry up on some of the sheetmetal cross memebers on the inside of the tailgate. That along with a fair amount of cussing to get it wiggled in without hitting the outside skin.
Might have had to take the handle off completely... it's been a few years since I did it so I don't remember exactly.

 

2011 DC 4x4,

bent the tail gate first time I used it, moved from Fl to Ut and loaded bags etc in the back. Just from me and a friend stepping up and down (in the center toward the cab) it bent about 1/2 an inch. taking it to the dealer next week to have the service manager look at it. TSB or not this shouldn't happen, it's a truck!!

 

just bent mine today loading a pallet in the bed. Only thing on the pallet was 4 34" nitto trail grapplers and 4 18" KMC Addicts.

Pretty pissed at the moment and having toyota look at it tomorrow.

2010 DCSB.

 

I just bent the hell out of mine loading a motorcycle - so the 2009's don't seem to have fixed the problem. Pretty po'd about it.

Planning to make an issue out of it too. If you have a similar problem on an 09 or newer, post up in here. And call your dealer and Toyota Customer Service at 800 331 4331, register a complaint, ask them to extend the TSB to all model years.

Still waiting to hear back from Customer Service manager, but if no help, I will be emailing their VP of product communications (and many other if that doesn't work), letting him know that customer service is a dead end, that if you advertise your trucks as being capable of carrying motorcycles (which they do on Tacoma homepage), then they damn well better be able to carry a motorcycle w/out caving in the gate!

At the VP-level, they won't like hearing my plan - and maybe when they do, they'll make things right.

The plan is to try to get as many people w/ this problem as possible to start reporting it to Toyota, BBB, and Dept of Transportation - because it is a safety issue - can let cargo come loose and possibly fall off on the highway.

Then to make as many potential Toyota customers aware of the shoddy product, the poor warranty coverage, and the indifference to their customers.

Toyota has got to be concerned about the potential bad publicity (they got hammered on accelleration issue recently) and maybe extend the TSB to all years!

If still no action, next level will be to start posting about it in every forum I'm a member of, motorcycles, snowmobiles, pwc's and letting everyone know what a crap product Toyota sells and then doesn't truly warranty. And I'll email every VP I can find at Toyota w/ the links to these threads.

If still no action, I'll try to get it hot on Reddit, Youtube, Facebook and Digg. And send links to the VPs again.

If any of it goes viral, they are sure to have to address the issue. At this point, it's not even really about the money - it's the principle that they should stand behind their product and fix it when it's not working correctly. Best I can tell, they've known about this since 2005 and still not fixed it.

 

Almost four years later and it is still an issue. Seems like Toyota told this kid to go pound sand.

 

I will say I feel like its going to break when a friend and I sit on it lol

 

Here's how you make sure this never happens to you

http://www.relentlessfabrication.us...ate-reinforcement/p/14437186/category=3368787

 

The dealer did tell me to pound sand. So I found the emails for 11 Toyota VP's and sent them all an email telling them what happened and what I intended to do about it - basically make a huge PR / Social Media mess for them.

My dealer's customer service manager called me at 8AM the next day - which was a Sunday - and said, "I don't know what you did, but I got a call last night at 10PM from a VP who said to get your truck in here and fix your tail gate immediately"

3 keys to success:
1. They were already in the news for safety/manufacturing defects and extra sensitive
2. Knowing how corporations work - you get 11 VPs all on the same email expressing a problem that you intend to turn into a bigger problem for all of them and whoever is responsible for that problem is going to feel huge pressure to resolve it.
3. Knowing how social media works. I started a "Suck it Toyota" FB page and linked to it in my email, posted in here and linked to it in my email and let them know my plans for Youtube videos and other places I would be sharing my story.

BTW, I'm not a "kid". Which is why I got a new tail gate installed at no charge.

 

Did they color match it for you?

 

I just happened to be standing by a Subaru Baja, the other day, and, of course, I banged on the tailgate by hand to get an idea of how sturdy it was.

How do you think it compares to ours....?!!?
Hint: I does NOT sound like they use the stick-on rib assembly technique... LOL