Gen3 - 2012 Prius III water leak in rear hatch

We have a 2012 Prius III that developed a water leak in the upper part of the rear hatch. The water would collect into the upper trim and then would leak into the car when we opened the rear hatch.

After looking at the issue for a while I discovered that the window washer nozzle on the upper part of the rear hatch had been pressed in slightly and it deformed the metal around it. So I removed the nozzle, pushed the metal back up, and put some silicon caulk around the inside and outside of the washer nozzle.

It's been months now and no more water leaks. Just posting this in case anyone else had this issue.

It seems like the metal around the rear washer nozzle can bend easily and the factory rubber seal doesn't always making a good seal. This is a viable fix for anyone else with this issue.

 

That would be my guess also. I'm not the original owner so my guess is that the previous owner took the vehicle through an automatic car wash and the upper wash agitator/roller was a bit too aggressive. And when it hit the rear washer nozzle it bent inward just enough to start leaking.

The metal on a Prius isn't very rigid so I could see that applying too much pressure to any one spot can easily deform the metal.