— A Toyota RAV4 liftgate hinge replacement lawsuit alleges a customer may pay a few thousand dollars to replace the rear liftgates because the hinges fail.
The Toyota RAV4 power liftgates are mostly attached by hinges and struts (actuators), but the lawsuit alleges defective hinges cause the liftgates to fail.
The RAV4 liftgate hinge replacement class action lawsuit was originally filed by one owner, but now the class action includes four customers:
Plaintiffs Zach Hughes, Zach Armstrong, Audie Murphy and Karl Vinola. The vehicles were purchased at Toyota dealerships located in California (Hughes), Minnesota (Armstrong), Maryland (Murphy), and Florida (Vinola).
The plaintiffs argue the vehicles are equipped with liftgate hinges that can't handle the weight and force of opening and closing the power liftgates. This causes problems when loading and unloading cargo.
Once the hinge fails, the liftgate might not close correctly which will cause warnings about open liftgates.
The plaintiffs contend Toyota should have warned them about the tailgate hinges when the RAV4s were first sold.
In addition, the lawsuit says dealers are unable or unwilling to properly repair the liftgate hinges which decreases the value of the vehicles.
The class action lawsuit further alleges Toyota dealers replace the liftgate hinges with equally defective replacement hinges.
Motion to Dismiss the Toyota RAV4 Liftgate Hinge Lawsuit
Toyota denies there are defects with the hinges and told the judge the owners who sued all own 2019 RAV4 SUVs, yet the plaintiffs claim to represent a "sprawling nationwide class of owners or lessees of 2014-2021 Toyota RAV4 vehicles."
According to Toyota's motion to dismiss the lawsuit, none of the four plaintiffs claim the tailgate hinges have impacted their ability to safely drive their vehicles, and no physical injuries are alleged.
The plaintiffs also allegedly make their claims on the belief Toyota had an ongoing unlimited duty to provide free liftgate repairs forever, even if the warranties had expired.
In addition, Toyota argues its warranties do not cover the type of design defects alleged by the plaintiffs in the hinge replacement lawsuit.
And while the plaintiffs assert allegations that Toyota knew about some supposed "common" defect before the plaintiffs purchased their vehicles, Toyota says the fraud-based claims are "only threadbare allegations."
"Indeed, Plaintiffs plead that Defendants somehow should have known that all RAV4 liftgates were defective based upon the alleged experiences of three unnamed customers who submitted complaints to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) over a five-year period prior to Plaintiffs’ purchases." — Toyota
According to the automaker:
"They claim these uncorroborated complaints should have imputed knowledge to Defendants even though 'hundreds of thousands of each model of Class Vehicles' were sold nationwide during this same timeframe."
Toyota also told the judge the entire RAV4 liftgate hinge lawsuit should be thrown out because the plaintiffs claim Toyota knew about alleged hinge replacement problems based on a technical service bulletin issued to dealers.
But according to Toyota, the TSB referenced by the plaintiffs referred to Toyota Highlander vehicles which have nothing to do with RAV4 SUVs. Then another bulletin referenced by the plaintiffs talks about corrosion issues that none of the plaintiffs experienced.
In its motion, Toyota argues "this flimsy pastiche of irrelevant information" proves there is no plausible basis to conclude Toyota had any awareness of an alleged liftgate hinge defect before the plaintiffs purchased their RAV4 vehicles.
The Toyota RAV4 liftgate hinge replacement lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California: Zach Hughes, et al., v. Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc. et al.
The plaintiff is represented by Nye, Stirling, Hale, Miller & Sweet LLP, and Sauder Schelkopf.