What looked like small rust spots on the outside of the hatch/tailgate turned out to be much worse than I could have imagined. The hatch is rusting from the inside out, thanks to Toyota putting a sound deadening “sticker” on before they painted the inside of the hatch! Water was able to enter through the license plate bolt holes and collect behind the “sticker” and the rust was able to spread across the entire width of the hatch. Hopefully I caught mine in time, might want to spend the 20 minutes to look inside tour hatch before you’re next!

Did you take the sticker off? Mine is doing this as well. Have a spare hatch waiting to get painted just haven’t had it done yet. I had the rust fixed a few years ago but it came right back.


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I’m in the process of scraping off the sticker and rust. The plan is to patch the small rust holes and grind the inside down to clean metal. I’ll post pictures once I’m back at my computer

This is where the hatch was rusting through, didn’t look bad till I started scraping the “sticker”...

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I started scraping the “sticker” with a screw driver before finishing with a flap disc on an angle grinder. Looks like I’ll have to cut out part of the metal and patch it. Damn Toyota for not painting the inside of the gate before putting the sound deadening piece on!

I can’t believe how rusted it is for a 4Runner that spent it’s entire life in a dry climate. Folks in the rust belt might want to keep an eye on their hatches!

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Unfortunately this is a common problem with 4th Gens. I too have rust bubbles on the hatch. Planning to scrape the factory sound deadening soon and assess the rust.

yeah...im in MA and had a bit of rust on the bottom edge of hatch looking from the outside. i sanded it and painted with white rust reforming paint. i know its prob worse inside (ive been insude and behind the sticker and wasnt taken back by rust while putting in new hatch motor now that i think about it) and this issue is common via the hatch design with scrolling window etc. my truck is in great shape otherwise, rust isnt bad on undercarriage for MA standards and i garage my truck...i think id source a new hatch down the road if need be on top of my minor fix for it for now...have to pick your battles, i bet this one is tough to truly cure or get ahead of.

Oh great... I have a really small (maybe 1/8” diameter) spot to the right of my license plate on that recessed area where the plate is mounted. I thought it was from a rock chip, but now I’m worried it originating from the inside like yours. Thanks for the heads up though! I guess it will give me an excuse to go in there and lube the latch and stuff while it’s apart.

At least its quick and easy to take off the plastic trim to take a look at the inside of the hatch. A screw driver easily scrapes off the "sticker" so you can look for rust.

It looks like a replacement hatch is the best option, but at this point I don't want to spend $1,000 for a hatch. I'll see how long a band-aid "fix" will last.

Do you think a fiberglass/Bondo method or using something like a sheet metal patch with Plio Grip panel adhesive would be a better option?

I would think regarding that repair option, that a combo of both would be best. Sheet metal (properly coated both sides) glued from inside, then fiberglass/bondo to fill the hole(s) from the outside. This is of course assuming you grind away ALL traces of rust, or even better, sandblast the affected area to ensure it never returns. Like cancer, any trace will grow back eventually...

I had the exact same issue on my '08 a couple of years ago...saw some rust bubbles and went scraping around on the inside of the rear hatch, grinding away the sound deadening material. At the end of the scraping/sanding, I was left with a dime sized hole just south-east of the license plate along with several pin holes in the same area long the crease.

I thought I did a decent job...grinded and sanded down to shiny metal, applied a fiberglass backing on the rear side of the hatch and hit the exterior with a light cover of bondo...enough to hold some paint. It wasn't pretty, but it stopped the rust, so I thought. I looked in the spring and it appears the rust is coming back. Guess I didn't get rid of all of it at the time.

Time to think of something else.

That stinks, but as I mentioned, it is like cancer, and ultimately can be nearly impossible to eradicate completely.

These are the bubbles or blisters on my hatch. Wondering whether there will be holes if I scrape the sticker thing and rust on the inside hatch surface. Opinions please, based on your experience?

Pull off the trim and plastic sheet that covers the inside of the hatch- its only one screw and very easy to pop the tabs with a plastic trim tool. Well worth the 5 minutes to check since its a known issue with the hatch!

Yours doesn't look too bad so maybe you caught it in time. Let us know what you find.

I already did that and everything looks fine, but another member said they got fooled the same way and found the rust only after scraping off the factory sound deadener. I plan to scrape mine but the odds of ending up with holes will dictate when I take that on. Obviously it’s impossible to precisely predict but I was hoping a few people could tell me whether theirs looked better or worse and what they found underneath the sticker thing.