OEM 3rd Gen Tonneau, folded. Safe on the highway?

A buddy of mine has this ( image attached - Hard Tonneau OEM from Toyota.) tonneau cover on his truck. He folded it ( similar to the image ) and all of a sudden it flew off whilst driving a 100km on the highway. Albeit, during the time of driving - high winds were present.

Do you guys fold your Tonneau when hauling - say tires? Or do you guys just remove it completely when you need to use 3/4 of the bed?

 

I fold it. Makes sure the bolt is in and the clip straps are attached on both sides. Never had an issue so far.

 

I don't have an OEM, but a bakflip. If you fold it twice it has buckle straps, and if you fold it to the cab, it has rods that hold it in place. I wouldn't drive with it open without either of those, certainly not on the freeway

 

Did your friend have the cover secured at all in the “folded” position? First thought would be the wind is mostly to blame, not too familiar with the OEM cover, but per videos of other brands (Bakflip, Lomax), the “folded” cover doesn’t seem all that secure. Heavy winds could definitely nudge (ehh, rip) it loose.

 

Yeah, he had everything secured. My guess is because of the high winds + the driving winds. Since that area of the bed is hollow, air could have built up and had enough force to push it up.
I'll just skip the freeway. Haha.

 

So what exactly happened on the passenger side, where it bolts into the rail clip? I'm curious to know because its a steel bracket that's secured to the bed rail and the cover is held to it by a 12mm bolt.

 

The whole tonneau flew , along with the bolt. It destroyed the thread I believe.

 

Cat 5 hurricane?
Seriously though, something had to have failed.

 

I’ve driven at highway speeds numerous times with it folded and clipped and never had a problem. Freak wind gust possibly with your friends?

 

That's crazy man, I drive daily on the highway with mine folded but now I'm going to consider keeping it closed.

 

I wish I could make it up. But my guess is it's because of the wind build-up in the pocket?

 

I suspect that the left side latch wasn't fully closed. Then it's just held on by the single bolt. A sideways wind would torque it right off the truck.

 

Your buddy has some user error he's not telling you about.

 

Possibly, maybe a loose bolt

 

Like others mention, many times I’ve driven with it folded and buckled down. No issues. Have done this many times for 2-3 hour drives and haven’t even noticed it.