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TundraGeneral discussion forum for the 2007 and later Toyota Tundra.
This is a discussion thread titled "Tundra Tailgate Failures!!! I am in the Club.", within the Tundra forum, part of the Truck Forums category.
I don't get the whole Toyota considers the tailgate a door. Most issues have come from people with ATVs or other heavy items being rolled across the tailgate into the bed. Show me a Toyota engineer who can lift a 600lb ATV up and over a tailgate into the bed and I'll personally pay him $100.00 everytime I need my quad loaded or unloaded. Now I'm afraid to load my Honda Foreman 450 into the bed and I'm going riding next weekend. I had a piece of 1/8" aluminum mounted over the inside of the tailgate on my 94 Toyota PU, I wonder if something like this would help the Tundra, it would definately make it more rigid.
If they recommend taking the tailgait off when loading heavy objects they should have designed it to open like the Honda Ridgeline. My tailgate appears to have a gap and I have never loaded anything heavier than myself (200#) onto the tailgait. I'm wonder if this a manufacturing problem and a design flaw combined.
The more I was looking at AKCub's pics, it appears that the inside of sheetmetallip at the top of the tailgate is where the problem lies, aside from thin sheetmetal of course. I think when the ramp top rests on the raised portion of the lip under the plastic rail it causes the weight of the ramp and thus the ATV to rest solely on the lip and not be distributed across the entire tailgate. I'm no engineer, but I'm thinking that if we could put something such as plywood in front of this lip for the ramp to sit on the weight from the ramp would not push down on the edge of the sheetmetal and bend the outer skin of the tailgate down, not sure though.
The tailgate was a bad design in general. I dont know what they were after. The shnazzy little spring loaded tailgate was to appeal to who? Housewives loading groceries. A man doesn't need a fluffy feather tailgate, he needs a solid tailgate. Something you slam shut without breaking it. This 2 skin overlapping (not even connected to make one piece on the lip) 20lb tailgate will make them money in parts sales but thats about it. Theres no excuse for this to me. I have loaded that Honda Foreman 450 hundreds of times in my older Tacomas and T-100 with no problem and now I have this tailgate that weighs half what the others did and I cant? If your gonna make bad azz commercials you better make a bad azz truck, tailgate included. The thinner metals they (all vehicle manufacturers) are using for the beds and doors is not just a Toyota issue, we had a discussion about this over a year ago when a buddy bought a Z-71 Suburban and we were leaning against his truck and the body panels were flexing in and out with the push of a hand. But a high traffic use component like a tailgate has to be made better than this current one is.
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07 Tundra DC TRD 4WD 5.7L Desert Mica
I agree, it's a joke that is not one bit funny. I may look into the diamond plate sheet on top of my Rhino Liner on the inside of the tailgate like I did on my 94, which may bring it up just enough to take the weight off that lip.
Last edited by highway74; 10-20-2007 at 05:42 PM.
Reason: spelling
Posting here is good, but calling the customer service center and logging an official case number is going to do a whole lot more to get Toyota's attention.
Support from some of the biggest dealers would be a very good thing too.
I actually looked at the tailgate on my 03 since I regularly run an 800 to 1000 lb garden tractor up ramps into the back. The 03 tailgate is very similar in design, but I do think it is a little heavier. Anyway, my 03 also has small separation at the same spots you guys with the new trucks have posting. It's very small though, more of a crack in the paint on each side.
-Bri
So how much weight is the tailgate made to support? Does anyone have a page number in the manual where this is discussed?
That's a good point. If Toyota wants to argue that overloading causes the damage then make them show you the spot in the owners manual telling you exactly what the tailgate capacity is. If they don't define the capacity, they can't acuse you of overloading it.
I was looking at an old post and noticed the bed extender only extends out to where the cables attach to the gate suggesting Toyota did not design the tailgate to have weight all the way on the end. Also I just looked at the gate on my 95 T100 and man is that little gate stout to spite its thin profile (fully welded seams). I've had my 400 Eiger in and out of the T100 about 50 times and no damage was done.
I'm year 2K Tundra Owner that persevered through many TSBs and major defects. My advice is to document the failure, complain to dealer, and sit this thing out for a year or two. Get some press if Toy gives you lip. Toyota will try to fix it quicky but ultimately will end up redesigning the tailgate and those of you who will be past the warranty when the redesigned gate is available will be screwed just like the early 1Gen Tundra owners were after Toyota took 2.5 years to fix the brake problem.
The attachment of the restraint cables to the center of the tailgate strikes me as strange. This makes ramp loading bad for the gate as the load is not at the restraint.
If my tailgate was this weak, I would have destroyed it many years ago several times over. I routinely put several hundred pounds of brick on the gate.
I believe people and corporations need to have the proper incentives to perform.
My life’s experience tells me that sometimes people (and organization/corporations) are highly motivated to do the right thing for one of two reasons; “It Feels Good, or it Hurts.”
My six-week old 2007 Tundra Double Cab is having issues with the tailgate, much like other's have reported.
Yesterday my tailgate fell off (It was in the down position) as I backed out of my driveway with the trash in the bed. I was traveling under 20 MPH.
There is a 2-inch tall concrete bump at the mouth of my driveway that has been there for 15 years and has never knocked any other tailgate off of any other truck I have ever owned.
I really do not think this is acceptable, but perhaps Toyota does.If so then I am sure they will not have any problem with everyone else knowing about it.
I can’t imagine the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, or Consumers Reports would have any issues with this if Toyota says they designed it that way either. But what do I know. I’ll have to wait and see how they respond to know for sure.
Below are web links to the various businesses and organizations I have emailed about this issue. Most of these organizations hide their email ID, so you have to send email from their web sites if you want to contact them. (I did a lot of cut and paste, and editing of my own words to fit them in on some sites.)
My letter was nice, honest and as unemotional as I could be giving this issue.
My bottom line is simple, Tailgates should not fall off, even if open, when backing up a driveway and hitting a two-inch bump.
This is more then a poor design, it is a major safety issue.
Nor should they crack, buckle or rip when an ATV is loaded in the bed.
I like my Tundra very much, however, I believe any reasonable person would conclude that the tailgate is of poor design, and questionable strength for “The Truck That Is Changing It All”.
Bringing your issues and my issue with the tailgate to this forum is a good thing in that it makes others aware of the problem, but it’s not enough.
If you feel as I do, that the proper incentives to performed need to be applied, then write your own letter (in your own words) to each of these organizations and business.
Describe your problem. Be honest and factual about the problem you have. Be unemotional, evenhanded, and fair-minded. There is no need for, nor is there any value in exaggerating. If you have pictures, make sure you can make them available if requested.
My guess is you won’t be getting any silly letter back from Toyota stating that you that you are exceeding the design limitations of “The Truck That is Changing It All.”
Your intent, and mine should be to apply the necessary incentives to Toyota to get these tailgate issues resolved; not just hope that they will get resolved out of the goodness of someone’s heart. Anything less is nothing more then an interesting conversation while sitting on the broken tailgate.
Perhaps once this problem has received the attention it needs, Toyota will have a wonderful opportunity to fix this design flaw and feel really really good that they did!
Now that’s a positive thing!
Here are the places I wrote to. If you feel up to it perhaps you will do the same. I would think the more detail reported about the individual problems we are having with the Tundra tailgate, the sooner this collective issue will be resolved.
Re: Tundra Tailate Failures!!! I am in the Club.
Re: Tundra Tailate Failures!!! I am in the Club.
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