2009 Yaris Hatchback Trunk leak

[YarisX]

I wanted to post my discovery somewhere since I have been trying to resolve a leak in the trunk of my Yaris for about two months. I tried everything I could find only to discover water still getting in the vehicle. I managed to plug a few minor leaks along the way but wasn't able to find the king of the leaks till today.

I removed the bumper cover from my car thinking that I was still dealing the a hatch seal issue. As I was spraying the back end of the car under the bumper I noticed a ridiculous amount of water getting in even though the water wasn't hitting the hatch seal. Turns out there is a seam a few inches below the tail light that had separated a lot on mine.

I haven't seen any information anywhere on the internet so I wanted to throw the problem up on here. If you have a mystery leak that you can't seem to pinpoint this might be your issue. I'll keep an eye on this post in case anyone runs into the same problem. I don't want anyone to ride the struggle bus I've been on for two months. I'll post pictures if anyone needs help locating the suspect area. I'll also be keeping an eye on this because I think I now know every possible leak in the back of 2009 Yaris Hatchback.

Closing thoughts, Toyota did a horrible job on the back end of this car.

"A Wizard should know better!"

[NYC-SE]

Yes please post a pic so we can see exactly where you are talking about. Thanks.

[YarisX]

Photos as requested

[seatech30]

Fender bender? I'm sure some kind of flexible sealant should do the trick.

[YarisX]

Not ruling it out, car looks super straight though so I'm thinking it was just age and poor design. The seem seal in a lot of other places looks similar, just cracked and aged. If I didn't know what I was looking for I wouldn't have even noticed it. The issue is that the bottom plate overlaps the inner one so any break causes any water that runs down the back of the car to go straight into the trunk behind another sheet of metal that keeps you from getting a good look at it from the inside. I've read that the seam seal doing this is pretty common but it's usually in the rain gutters up top, I'm just extra lucky I guess.

[YarisX]

The black sealant is the actual repair btw.

[Ecefour]

So I removed my rear bumper last weekend and put sealer where you described. Now my car no longer leaks! Thank you SO MUCH for your help. I’ve been trying for two months to find the leak and now it’s finally fixed! I wouldn’t have figured it out without your post. Thank you, I was about to pull my hair out over my stupid car.

[zoidberg444]

Looks like this is not an uncommon experience. I also had a very bad leak in the boot of my car. In the end i slathered seam sealer over everything from the roof channel all the way down to the hatch seal. I think i noticed some cracks in the paint up by the roof channel. You can't believe how much water gets in from something that looks innocuous.