Rx400h Trunk Door

[gitar]

i just got my new rx400h last week. i parked it in my garage . i opened the garage door and then opened the trunk door to put some stuff. the trunk door opened very high and hit the garage door and got stuck. now i have dents and scratch in my new suv. my salesperson didn't warn me about about this. i don't think i can ever open the trunk door in my garage. did anyone have this issue.? maybe my garage is too small. i still haven't measured how high the trunk door opens .

[bv2]

I feel your pain..

I did this to my Rx300 years ago only a few days after I got it-- only it didn't get stuck (ouch!!). It hit the metal bar which hangs low when the garage door is open.

Anyway, when I got my rx400h, I was perfectly aware of the garage door thing. Here I some things I discovered.

1. I can open the backdoor if the garage door is closed. The metal bar which hangs low when the garage door is open isn't there for it to hit. THe car door opens almost straight up so it won't hit the closed garage door. I have just enough room behind my car to remove groceries, etc.

2. If I have to have the garage door open-- I open it manually (not with the auto button!) and let it come to gently rest against the bar and then use a towel to go between the garage door and the back door at the point of contact.

Now, of course, this is my garage/garage door-- it may not work for yours.

When this happened to my 300, I had them buff out the scratches and it made them much less prominent without having to get an expensive repair (hope your car isn't black!!)

Sorry, dude, but this isn't your dealers fault. But I do feel your frustration, been there-- done that!!

[lexus411]

in the glove there is a override switch. Then you can open it manually and have some control over it

[RolandB]

You might consider driving your car further in; then open the cargo door and measure how far back you may safely go. Suspend a tennis ball by a string/heavy nylon line/etc. from the ceiling at a point where the ball will touch the windshield at a precise location (such as inspection sticker). Now, measure back the 'safe' distance and make the ball/string connection to the ceiling for precise guidance. I monitored the opening the first time and was ready to 'block the upward' motion and move the car before damage was done! If you want to get fancy, you can do this in a manner that the ball will go up and down as the door goes up and down. Some math and a screw eye and you're done!

Roland B

[patt]

If you put in garage for a key word, you should find a thread on this issue from back when the 400H's were starting to ship.

I thought about the solution of only openning the RX400H door when the garage door is closed and quickly discarded it. There is more than one person in my family who opens the garage door. Sooner or later someone would be in the garage with the RX back open and someone outside would activate the garage door.

The first solution we tried was backing into the garage. The garage roof is high enough - just the garage door is too low. That was okay, but my husband was concerned that one of us would have some time when we didn't pay enough attention and we would scrape the side on something in the garage.

The second solution was to clean out some of the stuff that was stored on the floor of the garage in front of the car. Now we can pull in far enough that the RX door is clear of the garage door. If your garage is deep enough, I think that is the easiest solution.

[LexRexBlue]

The RX300 is actually lower and the door is lower. I could open it with no problem. My only mistake was that one day I backed out of the garage with the trunk door open. I did get a couple of thin scratches near the wiper. So I knew it would be close with the 400h. I can just open the car back door with the garage door closed, but not if the garage door is open. I actually had the garage door raised on the brackets! Forget backing the car in, it's too tight to take a chance!

[RX400h]

I not only mentioned this issue to Lexus while filling out my satisfaction/comments form they sent me, but I also told the Lexus rep. who called me, shortly after we picked up our RX400h. Audi has an adjustable-height hatch in one of their newest vehicles, so I imagine it won't be long before Lexus does the same. We have to park our RX outside of the garage after grocery shopping and then drive it in after unloading; luckily, we get very little rain here in Southern Cali.

Still, they should've done a bit more homework before deciding how high the hatch would reach. Clearly, the majority of us are having a problem.....

[gitar]

Thanks for all the reply. It looks like some of you share my pain. I took my SUV to the dealer. The salesperson said he is going to check to see what he can do for me. will wait and see .

[BillT]

We observed the possibility of the interferance when we first parked the 400h

in the garage. A full size van, which the 400h replaced, had already made us aware

of this possibility. We fixed the problem by cleaning the garage to

remove some 4 feet of clutter in front of the 400H. Now we drive the 400h

all the way to then end of the garage, which puts it beyond the reach of the

door.