Rear tailgate won’t close right

My 2023 with 28k miles has this issue: When I press the button to close the rear door, it moves an inch, then stops, jumps back up, and beeps a few times. Sometimes it works if I press the button again, but other times it takes several tries. Any ideas what might be causing this?

This usually happens if the car thinks there’s something in the way of the tailgate while it’s closing. The struts or dampers might be acting up, causing enough resistance to trigger the obstruction sensor. You might want to have those checked out to see if that’s the issue.

Sorry you’re dealing with this! I’m not sure what the issue is, but here’s a tip: If it’s under warranty, take a video of the problem happening on three different days. Show the videos to the dealer. When I’ve just told them about issues, they usually say, ‘It works fine for us.’ But with video proof, they’ve fixed it for me before.

@Jason
That’s really smart advice. I’ll remember that!

I’ve had a similar problem with my 2020 off and on for years. I’ve never figured out the exact cause. Opening and closing it a few times seems to work temporarily. The dealer has tried resetting the software limits, but they always end up saying, ‘It works fine for us.’ If you figure out a real fix, please update here!

Could there be something near the back of the car that’s messing with the sensors? It doesn’t have to be directly behind it—it could be something behind and above the car. The Highlander might be detecting it as an obstruction and stopping.