Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America, Inc.

Aisin Technical Center of America, Inc.

Alexander Wells

Eric Archambeau

Ryan Heins

Takashi Nishio

Norman Kerr, Iii

A vehicle tailgate structure of a vehicle is disclosed. The vehicle tailgate structure includes a tailgate located at the rear of the vehicle; a garnish covering a top surface of the tailgate and configured to deform when an external load applies on the garnish, the garnish including a plurality of rib structures along an interior surface of the garnish and a screw portion including the garnish around a screw of the screw portion; and a touch sensor extending along the top surface of the tailgate and covered by the garnish, the touch sensor configured to detect deformation of the garnish, the touch sensor including touch sensor wires connecting to a control system of the vehicle.

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Northville, MI, United States of America

Alexander Wells