Mud flap just fell off...is this common?

I was just driving down the road at lunch, when I heard some thumping around. I pulled over and driver side front mud flap was just barely hanging on by a small piece of rubber.

I've read of a few people losing theirs while off-roading, but has anyone lost theirs just driving down the road. I've done no off-roading.

 

It's hard to believe that 3 screws and 3 snap fasteners just came out. I think someone was trying to steal your flaps!

 

fasteners are still there...the thing just broke off, almost perfectly along the fender almost like it was cut off.

 

I guess the way they flap in the wind I can understand that happening. Fatigue must had took it's toll on it.

 

true...I'll at least take the other front one off. undecided on the rears.

 

My passenger side front one did the same thing. I drilled some small holes in it and zip-tied it back on. I also trimmed about 3" off of the front flaps. I basically took a compass and scribed a line 3" up that matches the factory shape, then took some snips to cut the plastic, then smoothed it with some sandpaper. I wanted to keep the mudflaps because they really cut down on rock chips and keep mud and dirt from slinging all over the side of my truck. Its easier to rinse off a mudflap than the whole side of the truck.

 

I believe the wind might have broke them off or a high speed bump, toyota used cheap plastic that break so easy. I did the same thing and drilled holes and ziptied them back together.

 

This is from another forum, but looks like a comparable yet shorter and much cheaper option.

"Same thing with me. I went with the pro-fits from pep boys, look great. See post #10 here: http://www.toyotanation.com/forum/sh...d.php?t=351091"

 

Yep, I took my front flaps off for a while and then put them back on because 1) they'd rubbed a section of paint off of my flare and it looked shitty, and 2) My tires kept throwing road debris down the side of my truck and getting it a lot dirtier faster.

 

Probably the wind. I notice before I trimmed mine, on the highway they would bend backwards in the wind. I would imagine the bending back and forth causes them to weaken and eventually break. Since I trimmed mine, they don't flex in the wind anymore.