It seems that you have one problem with your 13-year-old 4Runner, based on what you've told us, and this one problem is so disappointing that it may end up being the reason you sell it. I say go for it. No sense in being unhappy with a whole vehicle. Get something you're happy with.

BUT, before you make a rash decision, I encourage you to identify the brand, make, and model of vehicle that has zero problems after 13 years. When you find it, buy it. And by all means, please let us know what it is. I'm pretty sure a lot of folks here would at least consider buying a vehicle that will go 13+ years with no problems at all.

Reminds me of a book - "I Had Trouble In Getting To Solla Sollew."

Dallas gets a snow storm and your hatch freezes and now you want to write off Toyota..

Can't even count how many sub zero temp days I've experienced while loading groceries in the 4Runner. Did I want to write off Toyota when my key fob wasn't working? No. Manually opened the door, unlocked the truck, loaded said truck and went about my day.

Its an easy fix. Fix it or get rid of your cursed 4Runner.

I don't think anyone should judge anything by my 13 year old 4Runner as it only has been driven 8,000 city and highway miles.

Do have another auto a 98 Nission Maxima se it's really been a great car, only has around 36,000 on it today, it had a little run in with a quick flooding from a street being flooded from an over flow just happened quickly trapped me.

Cost $1,500 to get it back running, the idle control motor Nissan uses a motor to control the idle, this item alone was $600, all the rest was the drying out Labor was lucky to find someone to take it on many just said junk it out this was about 8 years ago.

Besides the airbag not ready for real time it's light is on, they could not or did not want to try fixing it i always had a check engine light before the flood i never worried about it because car ran fine gas mileage never dropped, just lately after buying the check engine light scanner found it was a air control problem, just needs to be removed and the small piston cleaned and lub applied might do it this summer.


I am thinking of a Subaru to replace 4Runner but have not really looked into one.

Definitely not with you on that one haha. In no way, shape, or form is Toyota still not the best automobile manufacture in the world. Particularly the 4Runner, despite the 4th gen hatch being an awful re-invention of the wheel.

Getting a Subaru over a 4Runner sounds like a bad time

I made my hatch be controlled by a toggle switch because I don't want to spend the money on a new latch. My previous SUV's (Jeeps) all had manual latches that didn't work very well. Good luck opening them in icy conditions and you always needed 2 hands to get them open. In this case, age has more to do with the issue than mileage and low mileage could actually hurt as it may mean the latch isn't cycled often. My 2 cents.

If yours really only has 8000 miles, you could get a great price for it if you sell it.

I gotcha. I hate that it's come down to that mechanism for you. I bought my '06 on 8/30/2012 with 48,007 miles on it (just looked - happened to have my file handy) and last year it just did hit 100k. Full disclosure, it has had to have a water pump replaced, and the steering rack developed a slow leak and I chose to replace it rather than living with the drip (that never made it out of the rubber boot - I just noticed the fluid level in the reservoir dropping), but other than that, it has been all routine maintenance. The steering rack could have stayed and I could have just topped off the PS fluid every 6 months or so, but I went ahead and replaced it with a lifetime warranty rebuilt one. No biggie, and no spots on my driveway.

One set of five tires, two batteries, a set of shocks, a set of brake pads, and a few wiper blades in addition to oil changes, filter changes, and then all of the fluid changes/flushes greasing, etc. at 100k. Not bad for almost nine years of service.

Previously, as far as domestic vehicles are concerned, I had a '94 Chevy S10 V6 that I bought "gently used" with extremely low miles - I figured out why the previous owner got rid of it soon enough - it spent more time in the shop in the year I owned it than any one-year-old vehicle ought to. It would just bog down at idle, and then when I gave it gas to revive it, it would backfire and scare the bejesus out of any cars next to me. I know I had it in the dealer where I bought it about 6 times for extended stays - they even had an engineer from GM look at it, and they never could figure it out. So dumbass me ordered a brand new '96 black-on-black GMC Sonoma step-side 4.3L V6 with a 5-speed manual transmission, bucket seats, and the ZQ8 sport suspension that came with those Camaro wheels and traded the POS S-10 in on it. The GMC's transmission came from the factory missing some sort of bearing or something that made the stick shift vibrate badly and they had to replace that under warranty right off of the delivery truck. Though the engine ran strong and didn't backfire, it cracked its intake manifold at 40k miles (of course right after the 36k mile powertrain warranty ran out), the AC compressor went out at 50-something thousand, then it threw a rod at 112k which sent me, rattling and clanking, to the Toyota dealer for my first Tundra.

My dad has a V6 Dakota that had to have its engine replaced because of some kind of catastrophic internal damage and he didn't want to get another truck.

My best buddy just had to replace the valve seats in his Expedition that has the 5.4L Triton V8 because it smoked like he was fogging for mosquitoes when he cranked it, which had also blown a spark plug right out of the block back in 2019.

My wife had a Dodge Intrepid V6 back in the day that would simply die going down the road. The service techs could never figure that one out either. She would just have to pull off to the side of the road and crank it up again and it would run fine until some random time in the future. Can you imagine her fear of interstate on-ramps? She replaced it with a brand-new Pontiac Grand Prix GTP that had issues with the air conditioning, the front suspension, and I don't even remember what all else there was so much wrong with it, followed by a Mini Cooper S-type. Never buy or lease a Mini Cooper unless you plan to trade it before the warranty runs out. They're almost as bad as Land Rovers when it comes to the cost of maintenance.

My wife is on her second Camry V6 with not so much as a warranty claim since. I had a new '04 Tundra 4.7 V8 with 0 warranty claims, that I traded for a new '07 Tundra 5.7 V8 with 0 warranty claims that I traded in on my '06 4Runner in 2012, because life.

I don't "defend" Toyota. Toyota has defended itself against a backdrop of automotive disasters in my experience. We don't "defend" Toyota because we drive Toyotas. We drive Toyotas because of the experience that we have had with them so far, as have members of our families. My buddy, who has had no end of grief out of his Expedition? He also drives a Lexus GS350. Guess how many times he's had to have that car repaired?

I'm not saying that there's nothing else out there that's any good, I just know, that silly electric latch notwithstanding, my 4th gen does all I ask of it and does so to the extreme for a 15-year-old vehicle. I'm sure it won't be my last vehicle, but unless something happens to it, I don't plan on ever getting rid of it. Let me put it this way: I will never trade it in on another car. If I need another vehicle for one reason or another, I'll just buy it.

If the latch bothers you that much, I'm sure you can get at least twice for your 4Runner what you could for an Explorer of the same year/condition/mileage, so you do have that going for you!

I had a 78 Cordoba with the 400 V8 what a long running problem auto years of paying to keep it running sold it as junk for $25 sold the hub caps for $40.
bought a 82 Ford Bronco with 351 and the worst carburetor Ford ever had the variable venture carb. after Ford quit trying to fix it under warranty they tried making me buy a new computer $3,500 i had a local shop mess with it over and over at $150 a time, found what i thought was a shop that could get it fixed they installed just another new Ford Carb. with the exact same problems that was $1,600 for nothing parked it for years put add in paper sold it for $3.400 this made me hate Ford and will never buy a Ford product again.

Bought a 89 Nissan Maxima had to have all four power windows fixed at $175 a fix each time ex wanted to trade it for a 2003 Sorento every item like horn that quit working and cracked radiator plastic overflow always told me was not covered under warranty, kept reading about all the engine and drive train problems, when radiator plastic overflow cracked a $15 part told them fix it paid $180 and told Kia service you will never see me again good bye.

That very day i traded it for the 08 4Runner and still have it as you already know.

Some where in this time frame think it was before the Kia i bought a 98 Nissan Maxima still have it.

If Toyota ownership has your head exploding, I can't wait to read about your Subaru ownership.

Having had owned a 2009 Outback for 186,000 miles it was very expensive to own. Downright painful actually. I'll take Toyota quirks anyday.

Hey brah - if you get a Subie, I can't wait to see your posts about the inevitable condensation in one or both of the taillights, having to put a quart or two of oil in the thing between oil changes, transmission shimmies, differential whine, and parasitic battery drain. Hey Trumpet - would you concur on any of these comments?

That said, my wife had a Scion FR-S which as I'm sure you know is the same as a Subaru BR-Z, which Toyota and Subaru developed together, the Toyota half now known as the Toyota 86, and has the Subaru boxer engine in it. It was a fun little road-legal go-kart but wouldn't you know it, came with the cursed Subaru taillight condensation "feature" and the midrange-rpm torque hole. Her Camry can dust one at a redlight, and it's hilarious.

What in the world is this person trying to explain? i have zero idea what all this it's not a Subaru it's a something named something else, and Toyota developed them together with Subaru.

This is a wonderful forum so many funny posters with so much information that is so helpful, thankyou Toyota 4Runner Forum.

Cha mon!

6 sets of front axles, 2 sets front struts, 1 rear, head gaskets, condensation in the headlights, inadequate sway bars, annual sway bar links, oil consumption (1qt every 500 miles) lousy fuel economy. That's off the top of my head, there's more.

I'll take Toyota quirks any day.

Heres a serious one for ya...your EX WIFE IS ONE LUCKY WOMAN....somethings wrong with you for sure....WHINE ..WHINE WHINE...OOPS HERE COMES THE ATOMIC BOMB THIS TIME....

Well the wife in 2003 wanted the Kia Sorento today she is the EX wife and am i happy she is the EX wife.

Burning one quart of oil every 500 miles. That's almost as bad as a Mustang GT 350! LOLOL

Lest I anger the thread topic police (not that I'm going to devote a post to cyberbullying with threatening pics of potentially injurious and/or deadly lawn, garden and forestry paraphernalia), I'd better clarify our little chain of how we ended up at this point in the conversation before this whole thread gets modded off of here.

- OP moaning about what could potentially be resolved with a less than $30 fix for a failing part on a 13 y/o vehicle due to a questionable design choice on Toyota's part
- People suggesting helpful solutions to said issue
- Continued moaning, railing against a globally acknowledged source of high-quality vehicles, decision being made to never buy any Toyota ever again because of an experience with a latch release mechanism on one generation of one model
- People providing links to inexpensive parts
- OP continues moaning, hurling insults at others who inquired teasingly about check engine lights
- More links provided for even less expensive repair options (aren't we a kind and forgiving community?)
- First promise that this is as far as OP is going to go (ostensibly in this thread)
- More suggestions for easy fixes with little to no monetary commitment
- Uncharacteristic show of appreciation for a member's contribution to help OP in his plight
- Observation by a member that a hatch release switch in the glove box would have been nice (sounds like a nice mod opportunity!)
- Suggestion by a member to contact another t4r.org member about a camping mod kit he makes that might help out
- General weather banter
- Astute member's observation that OP's root desire is to find fault with anything Toyota and bandy it about in the face of the rest of the community
- Another member states his true and undying love for bespoke latch mechanism and all it touches, and also notes its capabilties for holding others against their will
- Yet another member shows concern that the latch lover might indeed be Hannibal Lechter reincarnated
- Random sarcasm from others reigns supreme
- A helpful member provides information regarding adding easy access to manual release of tailgate latch by adding cord/string/cable to the mechanism in case of loss of power or failure of latch
- More moaning by OP about early 2000s engineering of electric latch, second promise that this is "all he intends to say"
- Suggestion to tighten gas cap. Priceless.
- Discussion of ramifications of having a cutoff switch installed to disable the latch and whether or not that would increase security, accompanied by a picture of an ornate sceen door
- Despite his claim that he had spoken his last for the second time, OP reiterates his embarrassment and the overall chilliness of the weather at the food mart when he could not gain direct access to the cargo area of his 4Runner
- Another member agrees with the OP that from a design standpoint, this latch is less than ideal
- OP is glad to have company, and declared about Toyota that "Maybe they just don't understand a "good Designed [sic] and Engineered [sic] product"?"
- Another member asked the OP for examples of what he considers to be good designed and engineered products
- OP replies with mechanically simple devices not prone to electrical failure, and finishes his statements with an admonishment "Be Kind", one word separated from the word "chainsawing"
- Another member commiserates with OP about his latch, would have had it snatch his wallet empty had he let the mechanics at the dealership repair it for him, and has since been unable to open his tailgate
- Another member expresses apprehension over the perceived delicacy of the aforementioned latch, and finds its electrification to be entirely unnecessary
- OP is glad to have been joined by so many like-minded folks with hatred in their hearts for the evil that is the 4th gen power tailgate latch, and declares Toyota a failure for not taking all of the 4th gen electric latches back and replacing them with mechanical ones instead
- Much too much bickering to enumerate here ensues
- The author states his case that he agrees in principle with the OP, points out that the 5th gen and Landcruiser do not suffer from such questionable design choices, but points out that the majority of people who are happy with something don't go online to point it out, but that the ones who are disgruntled do, and can make it seem like everyone suffers the same fate as they do, even though they do not
- OP posts what appears to be a threatening picture of chainsaws quoting my post
- Member who was initially insulted by OP and had attempted emojii of an AK47 pointed at him quoted that insult/attempted emojii as well as the chainsaw comment along with a statement regarding the nature of his "terroristic comments"
- OP casually owns it
- Author attempts sarcasm / humor
- OP flexes equipment, all-caps an off-topic warning, threatens that those posts are a warning to "give people something to think about, while trying to think of ways to defend Toyota."
- Author sincerely inquires why OP obtained his 4Runner
- OP explains and then says basically that his 4Runner has been a really good truck, all except for that time with the latch
- Other members observe that OP is blaming his hatred for Toyota on a part on a 13-year-old vehicle (that in all likeleyhood could be fixed with a less than $30 part obtainable by following a link provided), that maybe he should just sell it, and that the bright side is that it is worth double what other vehicles the same age/condition/mileage are
- OP responds with how he repaired a flood-damaged Maxima 10 years older than his 4Runner for $1,500.00, and that the only thing wrong with it is the airbag and check engine lights are on, so he bought a scan tool (the author wonders if he bought a scan tool that can read airbag and manufacturer make- and model-specific codes as well as generic OBDII codes) and that he might fix it this summer
- OP is considering replacing the 4Runner that has the bad potentially $10 part with a Subaru, because of the part
- Another member declares his undying love and devotion to Toyota, particularly the 4Runner, bad latch design on the 4th gen notwithstanding, and violently disagrees with the Subaru consideration
- The author explains his long history with mostly domestic brands of vehicles, one German, and the abysmal failure rate and things that needed to be repaired on vehicle after vehicle after vehicle, many of them brand new including the German one, and how no Toyota in his immediate family has had so much as a warranty claim
- OP shares his issues with domestic brands as well as with Kia
- Member responding to OP's comment about replacing the 4Runner with a Subaru notes how expensive maintenance was for him while he owned his Subaru
- The author explained how he can't wait to see OP's comments on the issues he'll see on that vehicle, and gave several examples, and asked for the previous Subaru owner's corroboration
- The OP didn't understand what the author had said regarding corroboration between his wife's Subaru experience and the previous member's post as real-life examples of what to expect from a Subaru in regards to things like oil consumption, condensation in light housings, etc.
- The member that the author sought corroboration from detailed many issues that he had to deal with that aligned perfectly with what the author had predicted
- Aspersions were cast, and we arrive here