Has anyone experienced a rust problem with a 2006/different year, same body style at the corner of the license plate chrome on the rear tailgate? I noticed a rust spot and I only have 10k miles on the thing...

Thanks!

Mind posting a picture for us?

I have to find my digital camera but here is a stock photo with an arrow if it helps. My 4R is gold/light brown and that piece with the emblem over the license plate is chrome.

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9,000 miles and i have the same problem. on the bottom corners of the chrome (sr5) housing that holds the lights above the license plate. i kept it washed and waxed but in Feb. there was 21 days it did not get above freezing, so I didn't get it washed. when it warmed up I found the rust. I went back to L&S toyota in Beckley. the service manager said it isn't covered because it hasn't rusted a hole thru. She showed me her own camry and several others on the lot doing the same. I felt there should be a gasket in there but she said no. can anyone tell me how to get the back of the hatch off. I think the part unbolts from the back (inside the hatch). I've tried cleaning it up the outside but I'm worried what's underneth. any suggestions????

Odd, because I could have sworn the chrome-looking thing on the back was plastic, but I don't have that so I wouldn't know. It could just be left over contaminants from the factory and boat ride and they washed away when you got your car wash.

Did the guy just give you an answer straight from the hip or did he go check it out? I am sure that toyota people aren't versed in rust problems for new vehicles.

I am getting kind of pissed just thinking about it...it obviously is a mfg design flaw...am I wrong here?

I am in Denver, CO

it's not the chrome piece that is rusting, it is the hatch door rusting right at the edges of the chrome piece. I'm very picky about keeping it clean and waxed. this was not there until we had 3 weeks of below freezing temps and I couldn't keep it cleaned off. The service manager came out and looked at it. Said it was on properly but that water was setting in the groove causing it to rust. It only seems to be happening to the ones with the chrome. They were nice to me but said there is nothing Toyota will do until it rusts all the way thru, then they will take care of it. I believe the chrome piece bolts off from the inside so I need to inside panel off the hatch to get to it.

I just looked am mine and I have the rust on the right side.
I'm going to take it in to my local dealer and see what (if anything) they will do about it. I'll let you know what they say

Have any of you guy's looked at the rear axle right were the control arm hooks up from the chasse to the axle, I was doing my brakes last week and noticed that the black coating was coming of and there was rust below it. I also had a friend of mine tell me about his 05 having lots of rust above the rear axle, i wish I would of looked @ mines then.
i called toyota today and they told me I was out of warranty (76K) easy way for them to get out of it ........ let me know if anyone has the same problem

On my 4Runner which is garaged, I have rust on the welds on the lower control arms up front, some rust on the rear axle housing, rust on the frame welds, running board brackets, etc. IMO, I think it's inevitable that there will be rust. Probably the only way to avoid any rust is to have all the parts powdercoated.

My Taco that lives outside has rust all over the rear housing after a year and in six months the drums are completely covered. Need to find some time and repaint the drums.

I wonder if this is the sort of thing that Toyota would do a recall on? How on earth can this even be fixed? I suppose they could cut it out?

Wait until it rusts through? That will probably be after the warranty runs out then they will tell me there is nothing they can do and I should have brought it to them sooner!

I would love to hear the other dealer says. Where are you folks having the rust issues on the tailgate located?

I'm in Northern California. Not much rain and no snow where I live, and the car is in the garage most of the time.

On Edit:
I took my truck into the dealership this morning and showed them the rust, it turns out it is on the chrome. they are going to replace the chrome unit above the license plate under warranty. They did say that they don't replace too many of those, they don't see much rust on 4 runners I took my truck to Autowest Toyota in Roseville, CA

On Edit: PART 2
I just picked up the truck, they replaced the chrome piece and they said that the chrome was too tight against the door and it had pinched the foam that goes between them and the two metals were touching. They replaced both the chrome and the foam and hopefully that fixes everything, the good news is that they fixed it AND it is now documented that it was repaired under warranty once already. Not that I expect it to happen again, but better safe than MAD (uh, I mean sorry)

Thanks, that is awesome news. Now I have a point of reference when I take mine in!! Thank you for being the guinea pig my dear!

Cheers!