Originally Posted by R90esses

DO NOT BUY THIS 4RUNNER LIFTGATE KIT!!!!

I installed one last month (November). Autoease stopped responding to my emails after I discovered a FLAW in their system for 4Runners. As you all know, 4Runners have a retractable rear window. The instructions and the wiring harness for the liftgate product dictate that the electronic controller for the liftgate must be installed inside the liftgate. Well, the liftgate is not sealed from weather. Rain can and does flow through the liftgate and drain out weep holes in the bottom of the liftgate. After completing my installation I had everything working well for about two weeks until we got multiple days of constant rain. My problems began after driving just a few miles in the rain. I was sitting in a parking lot talking on my phone via the 4Runner bluetooth while my wife was in a store shopping. The installed liftgate beeper, which normally only beeps on and off briefly, began with a constant tone. I pressed the dash button to open the liftgate and IT DID NOT WORK!!! I tried to open the liftgate from the outside by using the key remote and the liftgate factory latch, still nothing. All the while the constant tone of the beeper continued. To stop the tone I had to pull open the footwell cover next to the parking brake to get to the power connection so I could unplug the liftgate.

Leading up to this time I had multiple correspondences with Autoease during the installation and they had been quite responsive - responding within the 24 hour period stated on their website. So, that evening (November 27th) I emailed Autoease stating what had just happened to me. NO RESPONSE! I emailed again the next day. NO RESPONSE! I emailed again December 1st. Today is December 3rd. STILL NO RESPONSE!

My only recourse now is to dispute the purchase with my credit card company. I submitted that dispute this morning.

I wanted this liftgate because my wife has physical challenges and the factory liftgate is challenging for her to close. Consequently, I am severely disappointed with Autoease. The existing instructions are terrible. Between the instructions and the inherent delays in dealing with replies from their tech support in China (typically an email reply came after 10pm local time to me), the whole installation took me two weeks. I even offered to work with them to rewrite their instructions as I have significant technical writing experience. They were interested and even offered to work out a payment for doing so. Honestly, I'm not too interested in this anymore.

The other Autoease liftgates are probably fine because those liftgates are sealed from the weather. The 4Runner is an anomaly with the retractable rear window. So, until a redesign takes place that relocates the controller to a protected area of the 4Runner (and I did suggest a new location to Autoease), DO NOT PURCHASE THIS 4RUNNER LIFTGATE KIT!!!