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Anybody have any ideas on how i could fix this?

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by Delane, May 20, 2017.

  1. Delane

    Delane Junior Member

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    So the piece above the license plate that contains the trunk latch and the back up camerakeeps coming off. It was this way when we got the car., I have tried to repair it, but every time I do.. My wife rips hard on it and breaks it off when she goes to open the trunk. She keeps forgetting lol. I have tried using epoxy, JB Weld, You name it and it seems i have tried it. I noticed it wont stay on because when we got the car, i noticed there were broken pieces inside of it.

    I am out of ideas guys! Any help would be appreciated!
     

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  2. valde3

    valde3 Senior Member

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    There are ways to repair it to just as strong as it originally was. But as you already have used a lot’s of different stuff on it and it has broken many times it’s a lot harder now. So maybe just get a new one?
     
  3. Mavi

    Mavi Active Member

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    Your trim piece has two broken plastic tabs, it's a gonner. The 4 bolts that keep it secure seem to not be there anymore. You'll need a new trim, and the 4 grommets that the bolt screws into. You'll have to disable that hatch area to fix it. You're best bet is to go to a junk yard and source a new one, buy the missing grommets for the bolt from toyota, or ebay if you don't want to do the drive: 2007 prius hatch handle | eBay
     
  4. TMR-JWAP

    TMR-JWAP Senior Member

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    I couldn't understand why these are such hot sellers on ebay. Tug a bit too hard when the weather seal sticks a bit and crack off the mounting studs. Sounds like I'll be tugging a little more gently from now on.
     
  5. srellim234

    srellim234 Senior Member

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    We recently replaced the same piece on ours. No matter how you replace it, stress to her it's $400 for a mechanic to put a new one on. She'll get in the habit of lifting from the bottom of the hatch in a hurry. The new piece did seem to be a little better reinforced than the original but I still wouldn't trust it to lift the hatch all the time.

    You may find some assistance in this thread:
    Options for Broken Rear Garnish Fasteners? | PriusChat
     
  6. Prius_Angie

    Prius_Angie Active Member

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    This reminds me to do a post on a "trunk latch jerry-rig".

    Ok, I had the same problem with my broke trunk latch lever. Former owner put on many layers of rigger tape. I recall 3 plastic tabs keep that piece attached. Bad Toyota design to connect metal and hard plastic. In my world there are many levels of broken, this was already broken but you can make it worse-broken; thus can be fixed for short term but later will require a good functioning part; quoting $150 Amazon. Consider going through the trunk plastic and affixing 2 bolts. You will have to I integrate some soft bushings, but I just recycled some clear rubber from a hose. Its been functioning & weather proof now for 2.months.

    Warning. it may not endure your wife "heave-ho-ing" on the latch though. Need to start opening it with both hands; one initiating the mechanism & other hand lifting the trunk from the lower lip.

    Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
     
  7. Prius_Angie

    Prius_Angie Active Member

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  8. Prius_Angie

    Prius_Angie Active Member

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    If you accept that the latch is ALREADY broken, then you will have no qualms with drilling 2 holes into it.

    *sorry, im posting with my cell phone and cannot make the images smaller. Pics are posting huge.

    Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
     
    #8 Prius_Angie, May 20, 2017
    Last edited: May 20, 2017
  9. Mavi

    Mavi Active Member

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    Lol, that has to be the smartest way to fix a jacked up hatch trim yet. You can make it less visible by painting the bolts if you so desired as well.
     
  10. Prius_Angie

    Prius_Angie Active Member

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    Problem now is that mischievous-pedestrians now have access to mess with your bolts. But as you mentioned coloring/subduing them could make them look much less visible/attractive. I looked into using round-headed bolts but couldn't find any at the 3" length. The bushing allows for expansion/contraction with the weather and not forcing you to constantly make bolt adjustments with screw driver. Good luck.