Soooo my liftgate garnish broke off as I tried lifting the trunk up...

So, I tried lifting my gen 2 Prius's trunk today, and *snap*, off goes the entire latch assembly:



Ordered a replacement (the one on Amazon with the carbon fiber design so I don't have to re-paint it).

Now, this is my 2nd bit of maintenance on this part. The first one was replacing the rubber on the button, because, as I'm sure everyone here knows by now, that rubber tends to melt.



So, with that out of the way, I have a couple questions that I'd be very grateful to get answers to:

1. Will my trunk stay closed with that entire assembly removed? I'd rather not risk it opening on the freeway. I figured it was safe, what with the button that opens the rear basically removed, but wanted to make sure. I can hold off driving until Friday if there's a chance of it opening.
2. Is the breakage something that just happens after a decade of ownership (and daily trunk openings), or was this something I potentially messed up when I re-attached it to my car the first time? It broke at 4 distinct points so I hope it's the former but I'm not sure.

Also, I took the emblem off with the help of some plastic prying tools and my hair dryer. Is there any easy way to get rid of the extra adhesive that's still on it, and is this an okay way to transfer it, or should I save myself the grief and order a new emblem? I've got some "3M Scotch 4011 Exterior Mounting Tape" on the way to my place. It should arrive on Friday along with the new liftgate garnish.

This might be my first thread on the forum, so please let me know if I messed up on any major user etiquette.


edit: Here's the points where it broke:

 

Thank you! Yeah, most of the adhesive came off with some elbow grease, a small plastic prying tool (basically a soft plastic flathead end), and a smidgen of rubbing alcohol. It should be okay for when the 3M stuff arrives.

Thanks for answering those questions! I guess I'll drive to work tomorrow and install the new back piece when I get home.

 

Thanks again for your help! It turned out great with the new part:



Only issues I had were:

1. Making sure that rubber part above it stayed above it; I had to use the plastic prying tools to keep the rubber from slipping underneath the plastic.

2. I forgot to screw the button latch's rubber overlay in, so I had to uninstall and reinstall the whole thing all over again =_=