Scion TC Broken Rear Hatch Handle Panel Repair Tutorial - Scion tC's are great little cars. Lots of fun to drive and very popular. Unfortunately, they seem to suffer from a common defect. With enough use, the rear hatch release panel will break off due to the flimsy plastic anchor points beneath the panel that get brittle with age and weakened with use. I've seen several tC's around my own town that have had the panels broken. New, color matched replacement panels are available online as of this posting for $108 plus shipping, but of course, you need to be able to disassemble the handle switch, logo, etc. and re-install on the new panel, which is not only throwing money down the tubes, but time consuming and a hassle.
I created this vid as a DIY tutorial if you want to repair it yourself for around $5 and about a half hour to hour of your time. A little more care with future use as described in the vid and the repair should hold indefinitely.
One thing I failed to mention in the vid is to be sure that the release switch wire that goes to the handle grip is tucked out of the way before refastening the panel. You don't want to pinch these wires for obvious reasons.
Update: In order for the simple repair shown in the video to work, you need to retrain yourself on how to open the rear hatch. If you have a spoiler, simply squeeze the handle release with one hand and use the other up under the spoiler to lift the rear hatch. Otherwise, reach underneath the hatch and lift the panel via the lower lip of the panel (as shown in the vid). If you don't open the hatch this way as a habit after the repair, you will probably want to reinforce the repair as shown in this vid with some plastic wire ties, to firmly hold the repaired release panel snug against the hatch panel. It's just extra insurance that your panel will STAY fixed. Good luck!
I hated that the only way to open the hatch was with that button under that crappy panel. Once it broke off, I had no option but to let it dangle while I drove home. There was a few tiny little clips that hold this panel on. How stupid! You have to put all that pressure on that panel to life the hatch open so no sh*t it's going to break! So annoying. I swear every Scion I see on the road has their panel taped on just like mine. This was obviously a poorly made piece.
I have a 2008 Scion TC & the back trunk latch ended up breaking & was dangling. Luckily, I had received a notice in the mail from Toyota that notified me that this may happen & all I had to do was call the number on the paperwork & they gave me a reference number & had me call the dealership. The dealership had to order the part, which took about a week to get in. Toyota ended up paying 100% of the cost to repair this. Now, I just need to find out why it had issues passing smog for the first time when my car only has 56-57k miles & was the first time it had to be smogged according to CA laws.
This is an extremely common complaint and conveniently Scion doesn't make replacement clips. The whole unit must be replaced and installed which costs around $300. This is a design flaw that they need to PAY to FIX. Cheap clips to hold on a handle that is used everyday is not okay. It is a scam to make money.
Scion needs to recall this as every single Scion TC owner encounters this problem. If you lift the trunk by the handle, the panel will break off with the same amount of force it would take to lift ANY OTHER VEHICLE'S TRUNK DOOR. The problem is that there are cheap plastic screws bearing the load of the force which show very poor design. I used to recommend Scion to everyone. Now, this is the first thing I tell them about. I have to either cough up $100's of dollars to fix this or DIY with tape which has to be reapplied every few weeks. Those are very sad options. I really just want to be a happy Scion owner, but that is impossible with an issue like this that is so prevalent and NOT corrected by the manufacturer. (this is my nice version)
When attempting to open the rear latch, the entire panel the latch is attached to snapped right off with little effort. I also noticed another Scion TC with the same part missing.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
I hated that the only way to open the hatch was with that button under that crappy panel. Once it broke off, I had no option but to let it dangle while I drove home. There was a few tiny little clips that hold this panel on. How stupid! You have to put all that pressure on that panel to life the hatch open so no sh*t it's going to break! So annoying. I swear every Scion I see on the road has their panel taped on just like mine. This was obviously a poorly made piece.
- Crystal T., Santa Cruz, CA, US