Pop and Lock Corrosion Durability

I went with the manual version of the pop and lock and it was easy to install, owned it for about two years and it’s worked ok up till now. First winter I started having issues (hard to open) even with regular oiling.

Unfortunately I can honestly tell you that I have never seen steel corrode like this before. Like I said I sprayed it numerous times with penetrating oil over the two years I owned it, obviously did not help much. After two winters the lock is complete corroded (disintegrated is a better word) and it no longer works. In fact it’s so degraded I can’t even push the key in, the tumbler is just falling apart.

The short story is the GD thing was locked and I have a Trifecta folding Tonneau cover so I had to break into my own truck LOL. Trying to get those spring loaded hooks to release while the Tonneau cover was down was a 4 beer intensive cursing operation *****FYI for those that have to do this you can get at the screws for the front panel of the gate while it’s closed. You can pry open that panel enough to disengage the lock while the gate is still up******

After looking inside at the handle assemble every metal part of the lock is corroded, very disappointing although I’m not surprised. Soon as I saw the whitish metal that made up the assembly when I took it out of the package I knew this was going to happen.

I can still open and close the gate but of course the lock option does not work. Sent off a nice letter to pop and lock and they were very quick to respond initially when they received my e-mail. I guess I will see what the long term resolution will be, I have not heard anything else back from them but I expect too.

Pop and lock might be great in California or a warm climate but here on the East Coast of Canada it’s got a limited lifespan because of the steel used in the assembly, expect to replace after one-two years.

As a comparison I had the original factory handle assembly in the gate for my first year of ownership, it went through a winter and was just as clean as the day it came off the production line when I took it out. Obviously with better materials corrosion is not such an immediate issue. Long term everything sub comes to corrosion, but two years for a product like this pop and lock that is designed to be outdoors is not good workmanship IMO.

It’s disappointing that Toyota does not make an OEM lock for the Tacoma, I’m really hoping the 2016 lock will fit the 2012 gate.

Oh yes, don’t lock the GD pop and lock in the winter, it’s a fair weather lock LOL .