Anyone here seen this before????

Glad to hear your dealer is taking care of you but I must add that you might want to move your parking spot. Once might be a fluke but for it to happen twice is crazy.

 

This is definitely focused sun damage.

I had a Suzuki Vstrom with a nice Givi windshield that would focus the sun at certain times of day and melt a quarter sized spot on the dash. It was a known issue and the only solution was to put a bag over the windshield when leaving it parked out in the sun.

 

UV Reflective energy efficient windows is my guess.

I have some on my house, and there are some times of day when the reflections are crazy powerful.

 

No windows in the garage. Got the call this morning and Toyota is covering it. Parts ordered.

 

For everyone who said take the TRD grille out because they would blame it on that. I did not take it out. They also said that the grille insert is a warrantable part as well...just FYI

I think I got lucky is what I think. Thanks for all of the input.

 

Update...The piece has been replaced under warranty. However the passenger mirror has the same type of thing happening to it. The part for that was ordered yesterday and I got a call today saying it is in. Does Toyota have a surplus of Quicksand mirror housings in a warehouse? I think they know there is a problem.

 

How is this happening to multiple parts on your truck. You are the only person I've seen on here that had this happen to them and now it is happening on the mirror housing as well?? I would be amazed if there isn't some weird external influence apart from a defective part(s).

 

I agree with your statement. But there has been no hassle what so ever from the dealer. As I stated earlier in this post. The Service Manager made the comment that he imagined they would be seeing more of this.

 

Is your Wife/GF his Ex that you stole from him? Maybe he hates you and is doing it...Should find out if he lives near by or knows someone who lives near by. These kind of repeated isolated incidents usually end up being the work of someone you pissed off earlier in life...

Or you just have super shitty luck with new Toyota's. Either way glad the dealer is being cool about it and getting you covered.

 

I have been married to the same woman for 23 years. I live in a gated community. I am quite certain it is not vandalism. But appreciate your input.

 

my recommendation is follow your habits, when you are at work, or when your car is parked outside at home, do you park in the same spot? does your truck face the same direction? etc.

Reason being, is that it's clear that the angle the melting goes, it's from drivers side to passenger side. Now you mention that your passenger side mirror is doing the same. that is in line with angled direction from the grill. There has to be somewhere where your truck is at the right time of day getting reflection of the sun off of a Low E rated window.

This happened on my house, my vinyl siding was melting because my neighbors windows were reflecting the sun off of them. Same exact thing, there was an angled track up the side of my house. The fun part was it became somewhat of a seasonal sun dial as you could track the suns movement from the front of my house to the back based on the season.... The only way to fix it was to replace their windows with non-low E windows. (issue has been resolved for over a year now). Essentially what happened was that over the years their windows had settled and slightly cupped inwards. This made the sun reflection off the Low E finish to be focused rather than spread. almost like burning ants with a magnifying glass

This is honestly the only thing that makes sense. It's just to coincidental that it looks like my plastic siding, and follows an angle perfectly. Obviously there would be no melting along the way as the material changes to metal from plastic.

Here are some pictures.

In this one you can see how the sun's reflection is focused from the cupping Low E windows:



In this picture you can see the temperature of the reflections



In this picture you can see the melting. It is slow enough heat that it causes plastic to more "bubble" than sink. At least in my experience

 

This!

 

Wasn't there another 3rd-gen thread with the same problem?

// edit - not the thread I was thinking of, but here's one for a 2nd gen w/ melting side mirrors: https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/melting-side-rear-view-mirrors.262658/

 

http://www.wral.com/news/local/wral_investigates/video/13620284/

Related to the topic.

 

I was going to say the same thing but you clearly had pictures to back up what you and others are telling him even though he is clearly still trying to make it seem like it's an issue with his truck when it's clearly not

 

I see alot of helpful clues to why the damage was caused. OP lucked out that the dealer was willing to replace the parts under warranty, however, it still doesnt get to the root cause of the warping. If it isn't resolved, then I am sure that Toyota will NOT replace the parts should they warp again.

 

I am now having the same problem with my grill surround. I see now that it may also happen to the mirrors. What gives? This is not cool. Will you please post pics of the mirrors or the mirror it happened to?

 

Have you had any other issues with the grill surround?

Here's a link to my grill surround problem/issue: MY GRILL SURROUND DEFORMITY

 

Knock on wood...I have had no more issues. I had it all repaired under warranty. Good luck with yours.