2018 Prime - Rust on Hatch Handle

Just checked mine and it is also rusting. Will talk with dealer.

Only flaw on car in 22,000 miles.

 

Well, this has been dormant long enough!

I went to the Toyota body shop across the road from us last Friday. They said they would check with Toyota. Today I found out that Toyota will fix it and they are ordering the part. Yippee!!

Next week is not a good week for us to do that, so we'll schedule it for the week of July 15 assuming they get the part next week.

 

Let us know if your fix is actually the replacement of the rusted part or just paint job like I received. Rust on rear hatch handle | Page 4 | PriusChat I thought I was going to get the parts replaced, but as I found out, replacing the part is extremely difficult unless swapping the whole hatch. Thus I ended up with just a touch-up paint job by the order of Toyota corporate headquarter.

 

Will do. They did specifically say they were getting the part from a warehouse somewhere in FL. When I schedule it, I'll see if they'll let me peek. I wouldn't mind a paint job if they treated all the rust and painted it properly. Just so it's taken care of so it won't come back.

 

I'm the OP from the original thread.....I'm still waiting since August 2018 ...no news. All I hear is different stories about paint and parts being ordered ...no ones has reported a real and official fix from toyota

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

That's a LONG wait!! So they just left you hanging??

 

Lol I don't see the dealer often ... last time they ordered a plastic part and later said that it wasn't the right one ....another story about the part not replaceable because it part of the carbon fiber ..yada yada yada ...so...let me know your story

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

Heading over to the Toyota body shop later this morning. They ordered in two parts because they weren't sure which they needed. I'm going to ask if they will let me at least take before & after pictures. I'll let you know what happens.

Also, I'll include this on the other thread I found: Rust on rear hatch handle | Page 5 | PriusChat

 

Thanks Jerry. Let us know the parts information if you find out what they ordered.

 

I'll try. Thanks for reminding me. Hopefully, it'll be on some sort of warranty "receipt."

 

I wonder if the replacement part is identical, and will be rusting out again soon? They need to smarten up, galvanize it or something.

 

Apparently, there are some PRIMEs of the same model years in snow belt showing no rust on this hatch door part. Maybe bad batch of sub-standard parts ended up in some production models but not all.

 

Manufacturing defects happen.
Something likely went wrong during the rust proofing process, whatever it is.

If this was a Tom Clancy novel, it would have been the gas tank, and the US would be at war with Japan.

 

I'm back. I can confirm the reports from a few others that it's not a small job to replace the rusted part. The parts they ordered were not the right ones. It's all one big piece that would have to be replaced after removing all the plastic, glass, carbon fiber, trim, wiring, etc. Just not worth it unless it actually fails.

They did let me see it, so now I understand a little of the structure and it's about what I was guessing. They took off the plastic inner cover of the hatch, but there's another cover that's sandwiched right up against the metal. It looks crazy-complicated to me compared to the gen 2 hatch I've been inside of. They didn't take off that inside piece so I can't tell if there's any rust there, but it didn't look like it had spread on the outer side of the metal. There really wasn't even any way to take a picture of it that I could see because everything is so hidden.

I'm not happy with the design, but I'm satisfied that the shop did all that I could reasonably expect.

Edit to add: Oops! Forgot to say they did as I've heard others report. Sanded and painted all that they could access. I'll edit my previous post to include this.

 

Wait, so, did the shop do anything to remedy the rust problem? Or they just gave up?

 

Oops! Forgot to say that. They did as I've heard others report. Sanded and painted all that they could access. I'll edit my previous post to include this.

 

I have a bit of rust on mine, and I cleaned it and Fluid Film'd it for protection. I'll have to mention this on my next warranty service and ensure I have the claim established during the warranty period.

 

Yeah. I'm not sure what will happen if the thing rusts through 10 years from now or something like that. But at least it'll be on record.

 

Just sending along my $0.02 regarding my 2017 Prime Advanced. My car has the same rust issue on the rear hatch handle. Prior to reaching 36k miles I had my local dealer order a new part TWICE, and both times they received the part, failed to call me to tell me that it was in, and then subsequently sent the part back to Toyota. I now have 47k miles but I do have a 100k mile Platinum extended warranty. Regardless, they told me last week that rust is not covered under the extended warranty (???). They did say however that they will make an exception and make the repair for me as a goodwill service. I then come to find this morning when I called to make the appointment that there's a TSB on the issue, whereas the TSB states they will NOT replace the handle, but rather tale apart the hatch to remove, strip and repaint the handle. I'm pissed that this is how Toyota is choosing to handle this, but I'm even more pissed that it seems as if the dealer has no idea what the deal is with the TSB. One minute I'm getting a goodwill service, the next minute it's covered via TSB.

BTW - can anyone tell me if the Platinum warranty covers rust ? I always thought that the basic warranty covered rust for a period longer than the 3/36k mile period.

 

Standard warranty only covers "rust-through" for 60 months, regardless of mileage. No surface rust is covered.

BTW, whatever the parts your dealer have ordered for you that was not installed on your car, it is very likely that they did not have correct parts. Replacement handle parts do not include the rusted part of backing metal in question. From what we have figured out through others commenting on this problem, it seems "replacing" just the rusted piece is very difficult if not impossible. Only solution would be to replace entire hutch, which I can understand Toyota is not willing to do.