2024+ Front Shock Top Hat Failure TALLY...

2024 + ONLY
Let's try to keep track of the shock top hat failures. I believe Toyota will fix this sooner but for now, lets see if we can get some better info on how common this is.
Lets get a poll going...


healthy shock on the left, blown top on the right.


Reinforced top hat

 

Can you post a pic of what it should look like?

 

If yours failed could you explain what you were doing at the time? I’ve seen a couple threads say they were onroad and some off-road. Mine hasn’t failed but it sure did bottom out going over a speed bump at like 5-10 mph. It’s very noticeable when it bottoms out

 

It clearly must be a manufacturing defect and not a design problem. These trucks were torture tested during the prototype phase

 

Completely agree with this. They would all be failing if it was a design issue. Everyone hits a pothole or hard a$$ suspension hit just driving on the road the first few hundred miles. I saw a youtube somewhere with the engineer when this was being video taped by all the youtubers that did almost a million miles on all the different pre-production models collectively.

 

We’ve opened it up and to me it looks like design…
But a manufacturing defect would definitely explain it as well
But that’s kind of why I wanted to start this poll.
Bad stuff tends to get more attention than the good so if this is a negligible defect. This should be a more objective indication of that than a few threads with opinions.

 

Repost -- Definitely a design flaw, you can see where the cap broke at each hole/indent. Also, looks like cheap cast aluminum pot material. A nice stainless steel or high alloy carbon steel cap would fix it.

 

Icon did a video on it there’s failed on a dirt road

 

That's were i copied the picture...

 

TBH it looks like it was intentionally made as the weak link in the chain; the engineers likely knew the insert would fail before the shock / other components did.

If the insert was stronger and the shock took a hard bottom out would it fail?
What driving scenario is worse? A shock that's floating around doing nothing, or suspension fluid dripping directly over your brake?
Would it be easier to replace the insert? Or replace the whole shock? Which is more expensive/costly on time?

I don't have the answers to these questions and I am just speculating; obviously, as I am an idiot, but I think ultimately it needs an external bump to help ease the energy before the built-in "bump zone" beefing up the insert just trickles the failure down the chain to something larger and likely more expensive.

 

looks like icon already offers a cheap and easy fix for this aswell.

 

Yep, but you would be better off with a warranty claim. Let Toyota fix it. The plate isn't a bad idea, but you really don't want to mask an existing defect.

 

id just buy the plate and not have to deal with toyota tbh. once my truck leaves the dealer it isnt going back unless absolutely needed

 

I will never own a 4th gen so I have no skin in this game but two issues I see here

one, most 4th gen owners will not know about this factory defect nor buy the plate so when they’re far from home and they get this catastrophic failure, they’re absolutely fucked. Imagine the tow bill in the middle of a trail

Secondly let’s say you buy the plate, I absolutely guarantee that voids your warranty because for years now Toyota goes out of their way not to cover anything warranty wise unless they got their hands caught in the cookie jar

 

This is the failure from a TRD Off Road being driven off road. The truck was in no way being abused when this happened. He was driving in a controlled area on a dry, dirt road with some bumps and potholes in it; hardly "off road" driving.

 

the top hat failure doesn't leave you stranded. just wont have any dampening on that side. also the icom plate can be removed in literally about 60 seconds if worried about voiding warranty. i bought a 23 over a 24 and yea not impressed with how these have been built so far.

 

You should make the poll results viewable without casting a vote otherwise you are gonna get a bunch of junk ballots from people who just want to see the results.

 

fixed

 

quite a change in design from my 2nd gen. The upper mount was basically one piece steel. Never heard of those failing in this manner.

How is that cap held on?? Is it mounted in from the bottom?