Liftgate, tailgate or trunk failure on the 2011 Toyota Highlander
When liftgate, tailgate or trunk failure gets reported
Owners of the 2011 Toyota Highlander report liftgate, tailgate or trunk failure at a median of 45,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 30,000 miles and a quarter after 55,000 miles, from 11 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 82,000 miles. It is the 6th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 20,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 55,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 36,000 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
A window that narrow is the signature of a part that fails on its own schedule rather than on how the car is driven — which is usually a design or supplier problem rather than wear and tear.
27% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20,000 miles | 32,000 miles | 46,000 miles | 55,000 miles | 56,000 miles |
Read the 10th percentile as “one report in ten arrived this early”. Exact figures are shown in this table because it is the table of record; everywhere else on the site they are rounded to the precision the sample can carry.
What a percentile can and cannot tell you here
These five numbers describe the readings owners gave, in order. The median is the middle one: half the reports arrived below it. The 10th and 90th are the edges of the bulk of the distribution, and the distance between them is the part worth reading. A tight spread — say 70,000 to 95,000 miles — points at something that wears out on a schedule, and the schedule is knowable. A wide one, 20,000 to 190,000, points at a fault that hits some cars and never troubles others, which means the mileage on the listing in front of you tells you very little about your odds.
What these figures are not is a survival curve. Every reading here comes from a car whose owner filed a complaint, so the sample contains only failures: it cannot say what share of the fleet made it past 150,000 miles untouched, because those owners had nothing to report. Nor is the mileage the moment of failure — it is the odometer reading as recalled at the time of filing, which may be weeks later and is sometimes rounded to the nearest ten thousand by the person typing it.
Percentiles are shown at all only once 8 readings exist for the vehicle and mode. Below that the middle of a handful of numbers is noise wearing a decimal point, so the figures are withheld rather than dressed up.
What happens, and what it costs
Putting it right typically runs $250–$1,500 at an independent US shop. That range is an editorial estimate held in this site's failure-mode catalogue, not a figure from NHTSA, and it is a repair cost rather than a diagnosis cost.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 8 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2015, at a median of 5,000 miles, and latest on the 2010 at 85,000 miles.
By volume the 2014 carries the most reports, with 17; the 2011 has 11. A mode that appears across most years of a model is usually a design choice rather than a bad batch.
If one year stands out to the left, that is the year to avoid; if the whole line sits at a similar mileage, this is wear rather than a defect in one production run.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
What owners wrote
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The mileage is the one the owner gave.
Tl* the contact owns a 2011 toyota highlander. The contact stated that the hinges on the driver side of his hatchback was bent. The vehicle was taken to a dealer and was informed of technical service bulletin under NHTSA item number : 10041651 (structure:body:hatchback/liftgate:support device). The vehicle was not repaired. The failure and current mileage was 15,000.
I purchase my car from carmax on november 20, 2010. Approximately fourteen months after the purchase of this vehicle, I began having trouble with the rear liftgate door not completely closing properly. I took my car back to the dealer on to have this corrected but to date, the dealer has been unable to do so. Thus far, my trucks? Automatic liftgate door has been inoperable for over 120 days and the dealer ship has reviewed the issue, took pictures of the affected area and filed a report to toyota headquarters. The service manager at the dealership also advised me to contact a customer service representative and file a complaint. On june 15, 2012, I called your customer service department and spoke with a toyota customer service representative. The representative stated that he submitted my complaint (case # 1206150405) and that toyota is aware of the issue and is working on a fix for the problem and as soon as they were able to determine the fix, they would contact me. It has been over 2 months since I last spoke with someone from your company and I haven?t received any resolution. Attached are copies of the repair order that…
I have a 2011 toyota highlander. The arm of the automatic lift gate detached from the body of the car. On feb 5, the toyota dealer informed me that not only was the end of the arm stripped and would need to be replaced but that the motor had burned out and would need to be replaced as well. I rarely use the auto lift gate, so I was shocked to hear this.of course it's out of warranty by 3,000 miles. I called toyota and they said there are no known problems but after doing some investigating, there have been quite a few complaints filed over this issue. *tr
Also reported on the 2011 Toyota Highlander
Other visibility problem
Other body or interior problem
Other steering problem
Other electrical problem
Other engine problem
Other powertrain problem
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 11 is a floor and not a count of affected cars. Mileages are typed in by owners and cluster on round numbers. And the mode itself is assigned by software reading the complaint text, which is reliable in bulk and fallible one report at a time.
Questions this page answers
At what mileage does liftgate, tailgate or trunk failure happen on the 2011 Toyota Highlander?
Across 11 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 45,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 30,000 miles and a quarter after 55,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is liftgate, tailgate or trunk failure on the 2011 Toyota Highlander?
11 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.3 per 1,000 vehicles. Complaints are voluntary, so this is a floor rather than a count of affected cars.
What this is and is not. These are the mileages at which owners chose to complain to a federal agency, which is not the same as the mileage at which the part fails on every car. It skews toward failures that happened outside warranty, cost real money, or frightened someone. It is still the only public dataset that carries failure mileage at all, and the shape of a few hundred readings is informative even when a single one is not. Methodology · JSON · this failure on other cars
Source Owner complaints and recall records published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, model years 1996–2027 Figures rebuilt Published by AtWhatMileage How every figure is computed