hi, funny thing...guess what ..that happened to me today...i have an egg on my head for easter and its not from a chicken..the hatch started coming down after a beep while i was loading stuff into it today..i am so over the the tailgate on this car..its now sitting at the dealers shop..finally screamed loud enough for them to take the car in to have it checked before it decapitated me..its got 3000 MILES on it..glad i can still move fast enough to almost get out of the way..
honestly i am glad someone else had the problem so i can tell them that when i go get the car thats less than one year old and they say theres nothing wrong..i hope they dont say that..will keep you posted..

 

There was a service bulletin sent to the dealers about this problem. The problem is generally weak struts. The service bulletin even says that it could be mis-diagnosed as the motor. So basically everything they said is correct. It will be a lot cheaper to do the struts than the motor...So start with that.

 

She posted to the wrong forum. Has a 2014.

 

Noticed the problem on our RX330 2006 AWD a few weeks ago: tailgate will reach its highest point on opening and then would just start closing on its own! What's more, it would start closing in a jerking motion. On manual operation, when letting it go to close it would just slam down very hard!

Last week I went on RockAuto's site and bough a pair of Monroe struts, http://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo.php?pk=4646118&cc=1432806&jsn=404. They are direct fit. Now the tail gate works like a champ!

Just my two cents here, lubricating them won't really do much. They are gas filled and once they start leaking you just need to replace them.

 

Yep. In my experience, lubricating the struts made the problem much worse. Easier to open also meant MUCH easier to close (mine initially had trouble lifting on its own, which is why I tried lubricating them).

 

I had the motor of my 2007 RX350 replaced for $1600 at a Lexus dealer, but it only worked for a month. I'm back with the same problem and $1600 poorer. I'll try replacing the struts.

 

Was it out of warranty? Your warranty should take care of it. Check it out.

 

Warranty doesn't fix cars. If I bring it back, they'll say I also need to replace the struts. Another $1200 bill. Their way of making me buy also what's not needed. I ordered struts from Parts Geek for only $18 each. It will probably take me 10 minutes to replace them myself.

 

A lot of us have spares so when they start acting up, we replace them, easy pop out and pop in. Otherwise a bump in the head or other accidents can happen. A cheap insurance item.

 

The hatch started closing automatically every time I open it. I replaced the struts the other day, and right away the problem went away. Tested it over 20 times. If you have this problem and want to replace the struts yourself, here's what I did. It took me less than ten minutes using only a screwdriver. 1. Open the hatch all the way and use a piece of wood to keep it from closing. 2. Pry out the collar springs that lock the strut to the door/body with a screwdriver And push it out of the ball connector that is attached to the door/body. There are 2 slots on each end of the strut 180 degrees apart where you can insert the screwdriver. 3. Attach the strut to the ball connector on both ends by just pushing it in. If not oriented properly, just rotate the piston rod with a pair of pliers or by hand. You can stretch or compress the strut to where the ball connectors are.