Door handle death

So, my passenger side door handle died. I can open it from the inside no problem.

It became a problem though when my driver side stopped working from the outside too! I had it fixed at a garage. They charged me $225.36 for parts, and $420.00 for labor, for a whopping total of $645.36! This was February last year (2019), and the door handle just frigging broke as I was pulling on it to open the door. It always felt a little fragile to be honest, I could feel it twisting and straining before it engaged the latch and never felt solid.

So, I brought it back to the same garage. Should they fix it for free on the labor or something? This just seems like shotty work.

Attached is the the original fix invoice with a description of the labor:

 

Welcome aboard new member

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNprmUQhqRw&feature=emb_logo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUx49lSqwc4

$83 Genuine Toyota Parts 69220-35020 Exterior Driver Side Front Door Handle

https://www.amazon.com/Genuine-Toyota-69220-35020-Exterior-Driver/dp/B005VWRP82

Don't contact them and do it yourself.

 

cool, thanks. I'll try doing the passenger side one on my own!

Let me know if you have thoughts on the driver's side. Since I spent so much money on it last year, I want to see if they'll give me a break on fixing it. Maybe just charge for parts or something. I'm waiting on AAA right now since both door handles are broken. I won't have time of my own this week to fix it either and I need to be able to use it soon before I could get to it for one of the handles...

Interesting though that they had to remove my car seat to do this when the youtube videos you don't

 

That shop has no business charging basically 4 hours labor. I wouldn't associate with them ever again if it were me, but if you want to see if their work comes with a warranty then you could call and ask.

 

Door handles are easy peasy, take it from me...I'm not a mechanic by any means and I've broken/replaced a half dozen of them.

That shop robbed you, sorry to say...it's a 30 minute job at most once you know how it's done. OEM handles are expensive but the aftermarket ones can be had for $20 and work just fine.

Get some replacement door panel clips because they do break easily when you pop the inner door panel off. The video @Dalandser posted is a good one to go by

 

My gawd, I’ll do it for 1/3 the cost. You provide the part.

 

I've broken mostly OEM handles, I've had good luck with the cheap Dorman ones or the T/A ones from Amazon.

The handle design in general just lends itself to being fragile after a certain number of years/miles/being abused. My last one broke after a weekend of my 7 year old nephew going in/out my truck on the passenger side while we were camping.

 

happens to the best of us, the first time I needed a CV axle replaced I provided the axle and the shop still charged me $400 for it, lol. For one side.

That was what convinced me to do it myself after that and thank god I did, cause I've replaced probably a half dozen by now.

 

Shop prices have forced me to learn a lot haha

 

Yeah, it makes no sense that they said that they removed your seat to fix a door handle.

 

I just saw this part, if the handle was twisting when being opened then that means they did not clip it into place when they installed it. The handle sort of snaps/clips into place when it's perfectly aligned and installed, if that step isn't done then it will have some play to it. They definitely messed up

 

That's exactly what happened!

btw, here is my door...just fyi

 

jesus CHRIST 600 dollars in labor?!

mate I would run a smear campaign on that shop.

 

This tread discusses the exterior door handles and how they break. I've changed mine out a few times.

A few months ago the passenger side broke and I found the T1A metal handles. They are solid. The handle seems to be cast aluminum while the frame is plastic. I replaced the passenger side but will wait for the driver's side to break before replacing it. The passenger door opens very solidly with no felt flex of the handle.

This is what I bought, but now they say out of stock. They are probably found elsewhere.

$63 T1A Metal Upgrade Left Driver and Right Passenger Side Black Exterior Door Handle Pair Replacement for 1995-2004 Tacoma 69220-35020 69210-35020 Metal

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07YQBPHS9/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Here is one for the passenger side. They now seem difficult to find.

$32 T1A Metal Upgrade Black Exterior Outside Front Right Passenger Side Door Handle Replacement for 1995-2004 Tacoma T1A-69210-35020-METAL

https://www.amazon.com/T1A-Passenge...al+Upgrade&qid=1609518233&s=automotive&sr=1-1

It seems T1A also sells plastic versions of the same so make sure you select the Metal Upgrade option.

Hopefully I will never again have to replace them.

 

These are the ones I used just last month, they seem pretty solid

 

So I'm kind of digging this one up but did anyone read the work order? they list a new door latch along with the handle.

When door latches fail they stick closed, like completely closed, not responding at either inside or outside handle. Id be willing to bet that's what happened here. You have to remove the door panel frim the inside (with the door still closed) and get inside the door to release the latch.

Thats not easy! The seat is in the way, the steering wheel is in the way, you're crawling across the car from the other side. He specifically mentions having to remove the driver seat and manually force the latch off the striker to get the door open. A lot more involved than just "throwing a new door handle in it"

 

I wanted to communicate the nice door handles I found and instead of starting a new thread I picked this one after doing a search. Perhaps I should have just started a new thread, but I meant no harm. I agree the OP had a greater problem then just the broken exterior door handle.
I think I'll go ahead and swap out my driver's side latch. The plastic one will fail, just don't know when and it might be sometime that it's real inconvenient to me.