Mobtown hidden hitch failure. Need suggestions

Yeah..... You clearly don't run a business.

B: they fixed OPs for free.
C: they said they'd fix anyone elses that broke for free under warranty.
D: they fixed the design so all new ones made after the fix was implemented will have the updated design.

 

My solution to the customer complaint in question has been stated. I’ll no longer be answering anymore questions on this topic. We have reasons on why things are done and we settle on them because we feel they’re the correct one. The customer can call us if they choose for further discussion.

I mean this in no disrespect to you. But there are more ways than one to skin a cat and with TW, members versus vendors can quickly go down a rabbit hole leading to nothing.

 

Fair enough.

 

That’s funny. I run a commercial construction business. We have averaged over 11 million dollars in work every year except in 2009 for the 23 years I’ve ran the business. I know all the in and outs of running a business.

I have no problem with your B and C points. But D? Mobtown admitted they had a new design implemented in the middle of October but yet sent this guy the old design about two months after coming out with the redesigned hitch? These are built to order and that is why they have the long lead times and this guy had to wait three months to get his. They could have sent him the redesigned hitch at a minimal cost to them but chose not too. That is the problem I have with all this. But what do I know? Shipping out a hitch with a design that you know has failed and that you have already redesigned just seems wrong in my book.

 

It's not about going back in time dude. It's about realizing there's an issue, and fixing past orders. Also, a failure in a couple hundred units is a horrible failure rate for that type of item.

 

It's really not when you consider their lack of volume compared to say, actual auto manufacturers.

1 failure in 500? A 0.2% failure rate? Not horrendous. Obviously you'd want it much closer to 0, but they've already explained what happened multiple times and you people just whine and bitch and complain, even when Joe explained and showed that they would replace any that broke.

Geeze.

 

Math is fun.
Most people clearly aren't using the product to quickly get themselves unstuck, as advertised. That number would be insanely higher, you know thattttt.

 

Also? Hope you're having a fantastic holiday.

 

Lol perhaps it would. Good thing the design has been updated....

 

Still, my main point was in reference to not giving a customer the new version. Just tossed in the failure rate because it's santa day.

 

Theorizing here: I suspect Toyota built both the aluminum bumper and its amazingly thin mounts to fail during collision, to provide (among other things) a fuse for the shock to yaw inertia that an offset collision can produce. That is, the bumper and mounts would be designed to prevent an offset collision from violently turning the truck sideways, possibly flipping the truck.

And perhaps a hypothetically stronger bumper might leverage the distal frame rail forward in an offset hit, using the front of the engine block as a fulcrum. Aside from spinning the truck, a forward force on the front of the distal rail interferes with the function of that crumple zone if the far side of the truck is subject to a secondary impact. The effect would be like jumping off a loading dock with one knee locked, your legs being the frame rails.

Bottom line and most importantly, Toyota needs both rails to crumple independently for safety, so they need the aluminum bumper to do a good wet noodle impression in anything more than a "fender bender".

This might also explain why the front cross member under the radiator hangs so low: so it cannot act as a bridge across the front of the engine block, preventing the crumple zones from doing their jobs. Worse, a bridge across the engine block might be more likely to push engine compartment components through the firewall. Look where the aluminum bumper ends up at 0:23 of a moderate offset impact:

https://www.youtube.com/embed/PgOJZmvYu7A

Looking at the available Class III tow hitches that mount under the front bumper (for purposes other than offroad recovery), they all avoid moving or repositioning the aluminum bumper or altering its mounts. These hitch receivers tie into sides of the frame in three places, as required for Class III.

But none of the offroad bumpers or winch mounts I have seen spare alteration, relocation, or deletion of the aluminum bumper and its mounts. Those designs like the hidden hitch here move the bumper forward so that it seems like it might still function somewhat the same, but the hitch receiver itself becomes the potential bridge or lever across the engine block. And full offroad bumpers totally replace the crash bar with something a lot stiffer, radically altering the collision dynamics of the front end.

 

Yes, but I don’t believe for a second that they avoid repositioning the aluminum bar because of crash data. They go around it because they know their customer base doesn’t need the ground clearance and doesn’t want the extra headache of modifying the plastic bumper to have the hitch come through the grille.

 

It's still coming. It's been a busy year. I think I have committed to designing my own front hitch receiver for this truck, so that's taking longer. On the bright side, it's raining a lot here now, so I can probably find some mud to sink it to the frame when I get around to making the video.

Looking at the bigger picture, I want to do a build thread and the front end with video will be part. But the wife also wants a powered overland water system, so I am doing that simultaneously, and I have front and rear differentials sitting in the barn waiting to be installed too.

 

loks like leverage at work... not a bad design, but not one I like.. it's why i went with the hybrid bumper design, and I liked that SSO has the option to add the stage 2 later on.

 

1000% agree. It's also not lost on me that a lot of what we do to 4x4 trucks willingly sacrifices some safety to gain something else.

Now that I'm married and over 40, I think my safety calculus has changed somewhat from the days when I drove my 2000 Tacoma over a low-rider Acura on I-40 at night in a thunderstorm, pushed from behind by my loaded tool trailer, after the Acura had flat-spun across three lanes and came to a stop facing me, and my first thought was "what a great opportunity to upgrade the front bumper"! So I upgraded it then immediately creamed a Cadillac. (Neither wreck was my fault, but could have been avoided in a different vehicle.) Steel bumpers are amazing for sub 15-mph collisions, but now I have anti-lock brakes for those, and I have a wife who I want not to be intimidated by how heavy the front end feels with extra weight and without the sway bar – also a modification that trades an incremental amount of safety for offroad usability.

(And no, I don't mean to relegate the use of steel bumpers to just smashing other cars. Approach angles, jacking and recovery points, and imperviousness to general abuse are all lovely.)

 

It'd be nice if you provided an update in that thread instead of ignoring it.

 

Wow so much to catch up on. Some of you have been quarantining too hard or really suck at reading comprehension. I'm not a techno nerd so I don't know how to link up all my conversations with mobtown via email so I'll write it all down.

Ordered 9/7/20

First inquiry 10/25/20, asked about the redesign in the email.
10/26/20 "order is in production" will email tracking when available.

Second inquiry 11/12/20, asked for an update.
11/12/20, In production, behind on all orders. "Shouldn't be to much longer." No time frame on shipping

Third inquiry 11/30/20 asked for an update, again questioned if this was going to be updated, received no reply.

Fourth inquiry 12/14/20 Asked for an update.
12/14/20 Waiting to ship, backed up in shipping dept.
12/16/20 tracking number provided
12/22/20 item delivered
(7) days for those of you who think it takes three months to ship something in todays "crisis".

Mobtown says they are made in big batches, how many are in these batches and how many were made from 9/7/20 until 12/14/20? I would guess less than a dozen.
The middle of October completion of testing should have allowed plenty of time for mine to be completed with the upgrades, given the fact that is two months from when mine was received.

"Your part can be installed and if you manage to bend it, I’ll replace it." That's not my point, even if you only had one failure, no more should have went through your doors until rectified.

 

Please tell me how you think this was already built in September but I didn't receive it until the end of December?

 

You were contacted at least twice asking if this was going to be the updated version.

See no reply here?

They can't go back in time because it wasn't even built yet.

See above.

 

You're hilarious. Did you read any of the posts after that where the discussion moved forward with clarity?