NHTSA Complaint #11449358 — 2012 TOYOTA AVALON

There is a rear windshield shade that comes up automatically during a bright or hot day. It has a button to manually bring it up or down also. Just last month the gear inside the shade is broken and it does not come down. If I manually put it down it will come up automatically when driving, causing a loud noise distracting the driver even though, the driver has not pressed the button to pull it up. Now it is stuck in up position causing loud noise when reversing. And the biggest safety issue that I see is the night driving. Since the shade is up and I cannot make it go down, the visibility in the rear view mirror is very poor or nothing. There is no way for the driver to let it stay in the down position and driving on overcast days or night time is a challenge with no visibility of vehicles behind you.