The Heartbreaking Struggle of Short People with The 2023 Toyota RAV4 Hybrid's Manual Trunk

If you get the 2023 Toyota RAV4 Hybrid without the power liftgate. If you are a little short of stature, you may have problems with opening it.

Let’s face it, people who may be a little short might have a little hard time with closing their liftgate in the 2023 Toyota RAV4 Hybrid. If you have a RAV4 Hybrid with the power automatic liftgate, you will not have this problem as you can simply use the sensor. However, I remember as a kid not being able to reach the top and close the liftgate on my mother’s car. What should you really do if you cannot reach the tailgate on your 2023 Toyota RAV4 Hybrid.

It turns out, this is a major problem. Recently, on Facebook’s Toyota RAV4 Hybrid group, Minh Ngo said, “Those without power liftgate, how hard/heavy is it to open the trunk? Would it be a concern if you are short?” Certainly, this is a big problem if you suffer from short stature. Now I did the math anyone over 4’11 can comfortably do a mini jump and close the lift gate. People under that height may have trouble Now if you don’t want to do a little jump, you can certainly tie a little rag or some sort of handle to the inner door handle of the trunk and use it like that have them on the old DeLorean’s.

Certainly if you do not wish to do either, and you still cannot reach the trunk, I would suggest making the investment and going with the power tailgate. A lot of the shorter people who commented on that post said indeed it was difficult to reach the trunk, so they just went ahead and made sure their 2023 Toyota RAV4 Hybrid came with the automatic electric tailgate.

I think this is something Toyota needs to think about in the future. As the disablist movement going around becomes bigger, tech and car companies are going to be forced to cater to the people of short stature. I think so far the aftermarket products offered for shorter people not just for trunk openings but also little booster seats and pedal extensions significantly help that community not suffer as much and be able to drive just about any car out there. Just yesterday before writing this article I was at Walmart and saw a guy who was about half my height climb out of a lifted truck which was 5x his height.

It just goes to show how the automotive industry is shaping themselves to be more inclusive of other communities. In fact, a lot of companies like Toyota themselves make products which pertain to their vehicles that cater to the more disabled community like hand accelerators and braking systems. Of course, sooner or later none of this will matter since everything will be electric and self-operated within the next few decades as human fate saw it but until then it’s good to see that people come together and find solutions for such inconveniences.

Harutiun Hareyan is reporting Toyota news at Torque News. His automotive interests and vast experience test-riding new cars give his stories a sense of authenticity and unique insights. Follow Harutiun on Twitter at @HareyanHarutiun and on YouTube at Toyota Time for daily Toyota news.