I discovered this by accident tonight and I am not sure I understand the point on this trunk lid design. I had it on a 1992 Cadillac where it made some sense because the trunk lid was cantilevered and moved smoothly along the hinge, thus popping ALL the way up when you hit the trunk switch. The thinking was you could give the trunk lid a nice "flick" and the trunk closer would "catch" it just before the lid popped back up.

However, once you have the LS trunk lid down to a certain level, the struts seem to take it the rest of the way with quite a bit of their own force. It actually worries me that I am going to damage the trunk closer mechanism unless I make a point not to put too much pressure on the lid as I close it.

Anyone ever had the pull down fail prematurely?

 

I've also driven those older Cadillacs and I agree with you 100%. The trunk lid pulldown was useful on those cars and I missed it when GM decontented the cars. The feature seems rather unnecessary on the LS430 implementation of the trunk lid. Maybe Toyota had planned for a power open / close feature that wasn't fully implemented until the LS460.

 

Once I had the pistons replaced on the trunk, it stopped slamming down and closes gently. Prior to changing those, the trunk slammed down by itself....scary if your finger was in the way!
Same issue now with the hood, I'm having those replaced now too.
All that being said, I have the biggest trunk of all my friends including new Mercedes and BMW's.

 

If you have new/functional struts on the trunk, then you want to let the car do its thing. Forcing the trunk closed just stresses the struts.

 

mine has malfunctioned, but it's a weird situation. my trunk would not shut. it's like the latch would not secure/lock into place. i purchased a used latch assembly and the same thing was going on. i started messing with the latch & actuator, and somehow i was able to get it to close, but the only way i can get the trunk to close is to push the trunk lid down, and hit the smart button so the motor pulls it down. it will not open using the switch inside, smart button, or the key fob. i have to slide the key out and manually open it. since then, i have purchased 2 more used latch assemblies (on the trunk lid) and one brand new striker (on the body) b/c i thought that electrical switch might have went bad. but still no luck. one of the last replacements was worst where it wouldn't close and the smart button procedure i do wouldn't pull the trunk lid down to secure it. so now i have to deal with using the key. i definitely don't use the trunk as much as i would if it were easier to open.

 

This is pure guessing on my part here, but have you tried unplugging the battery for a bit to reset the computer? Sounds like you have to bypass the computer that control the opening of the trunk lid by using the key (mechanical).

 

yeah, battery was unhooked when i replaced the clockspring. unfortunately no change in the trunk actuator.

 

I have this problem too. I replaced the latch motor and that didn't help. Next I replaced the trunk JB computer and that didn't help either. My latch motor would go totally wonky, firing over and over, when I started to close the trunk and sometimes it would close and sometimes it wouldn't. At this point I've disconnected the motor and I have to use the key to open the trunk which is pretty annoying. Also, if I forget to unlock it before using the key the alarm will go off until I hit unlock on the keyfob. If anyone has figured this one out I'd love to hear about it.

 

Absolute wild guessing here, apologies if you have already looked at this. I would check out condition of sensor(s) that tell the motor that the trunk is in position to close the latching mechanism. Not even sure if there is a sensor.

 

your struts may be shot. less than $17 from amazon for 2 and 5 minutes to replace (struts do not pull down the deck lid, gravity does, the deck lid struts are designed to help open and resist when closing offsetting some gravity)