Bent Back Strap

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The drivers door started making a clicking noise and wasnt as easy to open and then when the window was wound all the way down it sounded like it was hitting on something. I took it to my Toyota Dealer and they checked it out and said it has a bent back strap and has maybe even bent the whole door. The service guy said he has only seen this once before and was caused by the wind catching the door and hyper extending it. 2 points here: 1/ it has never been caught by wind and 2/ i have had numerous and i mean numerous cars over the years and have had that happen but has never caused any damage. The Toyota dealer is going to pull it all to bits and take pics and write a report for Toyota to see if they will cover it under warranty or at least come to the party and so i have to wait and see. I feel this has to be some sort of Manufacturing fault for a door to be that weak. I WILL POINT OUT THAT THIS DOOR HAS NOT BEEN CAUGHT BY A WIND GUST. This car has never been off road, has only done 31,000 kms and been fully serviced when needed and is well cared for. Has anyone else had this problem or can offer any advice. Thanks

[damonat Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close damonat]

firstly can you put your location in ya profile!!
i have only heard of this once before when working their. (don't anymore)
a part does bend by itself, so something has happened.
most commonly wind gust, but there are plenty of other things that can do it.
facing the car down hill and the door opens fully with no help to stop it.
opening/swinging the doors quickly (rushing) and same thing.
the vehicle are made for the masses, not for every occasion.
how old is the vehicle (guessing 06 from your nick).
if the part was faulty from the start, why has it only shown up now.
if a part is faulty, it's faulty from the start.
this part is also called a 'door check strap'.

[sparksy Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close sparksy]

Hi 2006prado
yesterday I posted with exactly the same problem with my 04 prado. Mine was definitly the wind blowing the door open but what it also did was bend the running track for the passenger window. Managed to straighten out the keeper but will need to replace it or make a stronger unit as it is obviously a design error by toyota , one that it is too weak and 2 that when it does straighten it destroys the track.

Regards
Wayne

[Donk Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Donk]

What happens when the wind catches the door (havent seen one bend that hasn 't been caught by the wind) is the front face of the door where the check strap is mounted bends out of shape & causes the check strap mounting to be misaligned & when this happens the check strap fouls on the door glass channel as described when the door is closed

The way we fix them is to remove the check strap from the door & put a bit of timber in the opening & close the door against it & bend the front of the door back to the original position (trail & error)

A little bit of bending makes a major difference to the clearance of the check strap on the glass channel

Replacing the check strap will not normally fix the problem without bending the door face back to the correct shape

This is not a warrantable repair as it normally only happens when the door is blown open by the wind

Regards Don

[Waynenren Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close Waynenren]

Re: Bent Back Strap

Hi all,

Was there any resolution or new findings with the window? I have a similar problem in that when you wind the front passenger side window down it makes a large bang when it reaches about half way down. However if you wind the window up and down again imediately it is fine. This confuses me because if the track was bent it should make the banging sound every time.

Any thoughts/comments on this issue would be appreciated.

Wayne.

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Re: Bent Back Strap

Sounds like it is catching on something.

Whip the door trim off and watch it as it goes thru its cycle. the bang if it appears should be evident on what it is catching on?

[Waynenren Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close Waynenren]

Re: Bent Back Strap

Hi Team Piggy,

Have already pulled the door skin off and it did not catch which is frustrating as I could not pinpoint the fault. Thought it may be one of the screws however they do not appear to be long enough to reach the window mechanism.

Regards,
Wayne.