Bought a new 2019 RAV4 Adventure. Nice car. Love the two tone paint. Typical Toyota quality everywhere. I could see driving this car for a decade. But.

The rear power hatch has an annoying tendency to occasionally just not open. Hit the button and it tries to but only opens about 3 inches and stops. Hit it again, another 3 inches etc. Eventually it opens and then it’s good for rest of day and maybe the next couple days but then it starts all over again.

This started almost immediately upon purchase so I called and we talked and I decided to have them look it over at first of the Toyota Care visits. They did and couldn’t replicate the issue but it was noted. Ok. Six more months, more of the same and this time I get the manager involved because it’s getting annoying. Second Toyota Care visit. Can’t duplicate. Well this is when I explain what occasional means to the Toyota guys. I suggested they get me a loaner and keep it for a couple days because it will happen. Nope. They say I could rent a car from them and leave it but that’s the best they can do. Hmmm.

The general manger made the mistake of giving me his email though. So on his very vague “let us know if it continues” advice I start video taping every time I open the hatch and sending it to him when it balks. Which is becoming more frequent btw. They authorize a loaner.

They decide it’s a low battery voltage. They can’t tell me what the specs call for in terms of acceptable voltage range but, now hear this, they suggest I drive it a minimum of an hour a day or keep it on a trickle charger every night. What?

So I decide to drive it every day. Document and everything. Of course the malady continues as does my videography. I bring it in again. They replace the electronic control unit (ECU).

Christmas. Family. Etc. It’s still happening. My wife wants me to keep bugging them. Hit the lemon law process. I have to admit I’m tired of driving their loaner as they slowly and unenthusiastically replace my tailgate assembly piece by piece.

She just gave me the ok to trade it in on a 2021 Subaru and while financially it’s about a 3-4 thousand dollar hit I’m thinking about doing it. I’m rationalizing that that 3 grand was me leasing the Toyota for a year.

Well brain trust. Talk me into something. I’m open to suggestions. As long as it doesn’t involve a sleep tracking app. And no I don’t think that’s a click bait title. lol

My wife's 2019 RAV4 had a similar problem with the rear hatch. She mentioned it to the service writer when she had the vehicle in for an oil change.

They fixed it, told her that it was some sort of "setting" that is not accessible by the owner, service department only.

Same thing with front passenger door lock. All doors are supposed to lock automatically when the car is driven. Front passenger door did not lock. Again, the service department fixed it, told her it was a setting.

Well on mine they have adjusted all the settings back to factory at least twice. No change.

This is a nice car. Very well made. Quality oozes. Solid. It will probably drive for a decade or more fairly trouble free. Unless you want something in the back.

The feet dragging from the dealership is what is driving me to sell it. They just don’t seem motivated to even acknowledge the issue let alone fix it. Frustrating.

Take it to a different dealer or escalate it above the level of the dealership.

quote:

Originally posted by Green Highlander:

Take it to a different dealer or escalate it above the level of the dealership.

That was my thought. Communicate with regional staff. Let them know, diplomatically, that you like the vehicle and would prefer not to do the lemon law thing if they can solve the problem.

quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:
[QUOTE]Originally posted by Green Highlander:

Take it to a different dealer or escalate it above the level of the dealership.

That was my thought. Communicate with regional staff. Let them know, diplomatically, that you like the vehicle and would prefer not to do the lemon law thing if they can solve the problem.[/QUOTE
^^^^^^^^^^^^^
That worked for me. My youngest daughter's car headlights would periodically stop working at night. The dealership kept it for a week and could find nothing. I called another dealership and it spent three days there. They explained they had to call the corporate office because they had not seen the problem before. Well it had happened to four other vehicles of the same make and model in California,Wyoming and Illinois. It is a combination of laziness and incompetence.

You need to get ahold of Toyota Corporate (800-331-4331) and file a complaint with them.
Have all your documentation and videos queued up and ready to send. They will ask you to send them everything.
The incompetence and feet dragging of the dealership will be rectified rather quickly.
The dealerships can be a PITA, but corporate does handle complaints rather well, and swiftly.

Good luck.

Just invoking the use of the Lemon Law without the caveat that you want to keep it puts the whole thing into their lap including involving the factory rep right away.

Let them sweat a bit, don't agree to anything. Let them come to the table with a solution and possible something to sweeten the pot so to speak for your inconvenience. There is no excuse for them playing "swap a part" when they have the resources of the district manager and technical assistance at hand. All they are doing is stalling for time. Either time that you will give up and live with it or to trade it off for a new one. And before your old one will go on the lot I can about guarantee they will find a solution to the problem.

Personally I think it's BS when they expect you to rent a car when this is a documented warranty complaint. That and the "They decide it’s a low battery voltage. They can’t tell me what the specs call for in terms of acceptable voltage range but, now hear this, they suggest I drive it a minimum of an hour a day or keep it on a trickle charger every night." If I was told to put my car on a trickle charger each night right there and then I would have pulled out my cell phone and called Toyota Customer Service and ask them if it is required to put your vehicle on a battery charger each and every night and drive it a minimum of one hour a day.

In this case I think you would be better off not changing dealer service departments at this point especially when threatening a Lemon Law buyback. You may need to continue going to the same dealership that first tried to remedy your complaint or you may not, your state law will tell you how to proceed.

Have your information at hand when you meet with the District Service Manager and most likely the dealership service manager and general manager will be there too. Let them make the offers, they are of the mindset that you want out of the vehicle, they are of the mindset to keep you in it. You should have a better hand to play.

Sweetening the pot, for your time and inconvenience, let them extend the warranty, free normal maintenance, pay your car note if the vehicle is out of service for any length of time, whatever. I've seen these and others given to vehicle owners during my years in dealership fixed operations.

I have a 2020 RAV4, occasionally (2 or 3 times) mine will stop almost at the top if I accidentally touch the lift gate remote button as it is going up.

Possible you are riding the button or the button getting sticky ? Just a thought.

quote:

Originally posted by TomV:

I have a 2020 RAV4, occasionally (2 or 3 times) mine will stop almost at the top if I accidentally touch the lift gate remote button as it is going up.

Possible you are riding the button or the button getting sticky ? Just a thought.

That was not the case when my wife's 2019 RAV4 acted up. She told me about both problems: the rear hatch not opening all the way, and the front passenger side door not locking. Neither of these was intermittent, they failed to operate properly every time. Dealer service department verified that the problems were occurring, and they did fix each problem properly on the first attempt.

Nope. I touch the button and let it go. As for sticky, well it’s been garaged and just ticked over the seven thousand mile mark. If it’s sticky now I can’t wait till it’s actually getting old.

quote:

Originally posted by TomV:

Possible you are riding the button or the button getting sticky ?

The car is not here right now (wife is at work), but if memory is correct, there are five ways to control the door: Two remotes, one button inside the car, and two buttons on the hatchback door. When my wife's 2019 would only open part way, it was consistent. Every time, and it happened with whatever button was used.

T'was me, I'd have kicked this upstairs about 3 visits ago.

Dealer gets a couple shots to make it right, then regional/corporate gets involved.

Don't know if you have tried this yet. I wouldn't count on the service folks to know this although it would seem like they should.

https://www.wildetoyota.com/ho...highlander-liftgate/

Otherwise it sounds like a weak hydraulic strut that is close to strong enough but not quite there.

Find another dealer, tell them if they fix it you're their customer from now on.

Toyota doesn't care that you went back to the originating dealer or another for warranty work they pay whomever files the claim and does the work.

If that doesn't work, time to move up the ladder, or go lemon law and make the dealer take it back...

quote:

Originally posted by shovelhead:
Just invoking the use of the Lemon Law without the caveat that you want to keep it puts the whole thing into their lap including involving the factory rep right away.

Let them sweat a bit, don't agree to anything. Let them come to the table with a solution and possible something to sweeten the pot so to speak for your inconvenience.

This is FAR from my experience with a major car company. I got a call after responding to a satisfaction survey. Later in the process I sent a certified mail saying we were approaching the NC threshold triggering lemon law - didn't get a call, didn't get a suggestion - NOTHING from the manufacturer. Oh, except a certified mail response saying sorry - trigger for lemon law not met (basically pound sand).

The local dealer was great. Kept working the problem. We were just about ready to file suit (nice to have an attorney in the family) when the dealer got the problem to repeat. Was fixed the next day - had to wait on a part.

The dealers are the weak point in the chain. They can make pretty great vehicles, but since the dealers represent them, the ownership experience can turn to crap. Not really the manufacturers fault except they keep shoddy dealers. I'm guessing the owners don't want to lose their franchise, and don't want the bad publicity.


My story also involves Toyota, but just with a crummy dealer (Toyota of Florence, KY). Our problem didn't involve warranty. We went to the relocated dealer to buy a new one. We took the new one for a test drive and they wanted our keys to drive the trade in. It went pretty well, but my wife didn't like the colors they had. So we went back inside to give them their keys and get ours. Except they lost our keys.

So I asked the manager, who did get himself involved, what he was going to do. He basically had 2 choices, call a locksmith or give us a loaner. He didn't like either. So being the loudmouth I am I yelled so other customers could hear (he didn't like that) "why would anyone buy from a dealer that pulls this kind of crap? Yeah, my wife was crying because she wanted a new car. But in a moment of sanity I just suggested we go sit in the waiting area for a while.

But after a while the keys magically appeared in the managers hand. So we walked over to get them and he handed them toward me. But as I reached, he jerked them up and away. What an asshole! He laughed and said "what were you going to do, punch me? Then he laughed. So I said no. I was the punter in high school. I was going to kick you in the balls so hard you'd be on the floor for an hour. Then everyone laughed in the show room. As we were leaving, he asked if I was serious. You had better believe I was. He said "then you'd go to jail" and I said. "and You'd have gone to the ER". And probably lost his job for his stunt. I'd have taken my chances with a jury. This is KY. I'm pretty sure the jerk would have lost his job.

We then drove to a VW dealer and bought my wife a new car. I did get a phone call from the dealership. He told me I needed to learn to control my temper. I told them they needed to get a new manager. It was 1998, and I went back to kicking a football on weekends. My then 17 year old son and his friend shagged footballs for me. They were proud of the old mans threat, knowing it wasn't idle.

What a douchebag. That would sour me on Toyota for life. As it is I’m already getting there.

There must be a asshole test to become a Toyota dealer. rburg's story is similar to my experience at a Toyota dealer in 1991. They didn't lose the keys but wouldn't return them until I started speaking in my outside voice which disrupted other customers. It occurs to me that all my dealings with Toyota dealers have been painful. From sales guys with the attention span of a gnat and a decided lack of interest/knowledge to not having the car they confirmed was on the lot when I called an hour earlier (it wasn't sold since it didn't exist). I really like Toyotas but drive a Honda Pilot. The Honda sales guy bought a house from my wife so he treats us well.

Glad I'm not the only one that had to use my "outside voice" to get the car I was not longer going to trade back from a dealer I was no longer going to do business with. Summer of 2009 if memory serves....