Quick, Affordable, and Secure Fix for Broken Lift Gate Garnish

Maybe just post the pics in this thread? And did you take any pics of the repair process? You removed the piece and applied two-part epoxy from the back? Any reinforcement, say Fiberglas mesh, or?

 

I suppose that's one way of doing it. More than one way to get the job done!
I've never seen a rearview camera fail or the hatch release button fail, so those likely wont be a problem. The license plate bulbs? That could be a future issue if your local po-po is strict on those. Did you install new bulbs before epoxying? or are they still accesible? Been a year or so since I've swapped any.

 

I made a similar repair on my 2006 Prius lift gate garnish twice over the last 15 years. The garnish has 4 metal bolts which are held captive by plastic bosses. Usually the plastic boss cracks and the bolt is no longer held captive. The first time I used JB Weld Plastic Weld and the second time I used the Steelstick product for the repair. The first repair, I used the epoxy to hold the cracked plastic pieces back in place. The second repair, I put the bolts in position and then molded the epoxy around them and the plastic boss. I would suggest putting masking tape around the threads of the bolts so you don't get epoxy in the threads of the bolt.

 

My liftgate was fine but I just realised that it corroded so badly. The front struts are also corroded but I was sure that I can scrub it because the steel is much thicker on the front suspension struts.

It is the original Stabilus ZF/Sachs struts. Only one side is badly corroded but they work perfectly. Should I worry about it or just replace it for $35 for the same ZF struts.

Other brands are much cheaper. Range from $8 unknown brands to $15 Monroe brands. In the past, I used Monroe, the mechanism is similar with some damping near the end of the extension. Other brands such as strongarms, etc. do not have damping mechanism. It cause the hatch bounching.