Seat belt was wet but no water visible in cab

I had the factory roof rack installed on my 2023 Trail Special Edition ( dealer installed). No problems, even going through a car wash. However after the last storm with strong wind and rain, when I got in the drivers side seat belt was wet - enough that water was dripping off the first several inches that came out of the side molding, with the remainder damp. There was no water visible in the cab, the carpet and roof liner were dry. Took it into the dealer Tuesday. They were finally able to get it to leak by spraying it with a hose ( it only leaked when sprayed at a specific angle). They have called in a factory rep who will look at it on Friday. To their credit, they gave me a rental car until they can get it resolved. I'll post updates.

 

Happened to mine a few years ago. They took it in and did something to make it stop. Not sure if they just put silicone on the threads or something else, but it hasn't leaked since.

 

That's what I suspect they will do. from what I have seen on the net, the seals for the bolts seem to be a weak spot. Interestingly, I had a 2004 that developed a leak where the drivers seat belt would get wet ( no rack on it). It was out of warranty at that time. I was never able to find out where it was coming in, so when I expected rain, I would just pull out the belt and wrap it around the headrest.

 

When it happened to me the seat belt was sopping wet and dripping all over, so I drove directly to the dealer. The advisor was like "do you have an appointment, we can get you in next week, etc..", so I took him out to the truck and showed him how wet it was and told him it needed to be looked at now. He agreed, and immediately took it back for me.

 

Picked up my truck today from the Toyota dealer. After having the factory rep look at the truck, the official fix was to replace the seals on the roof rack bolts and add sealant.

 

Did the bolt pierce the roof or do they just have seals around the bolt hole? I’m just thinking back to my last roof rack install and I don’t think it would have been possible unless I overtorqued enough to rip the roof. My first thought was you had water running down the channel and leaking through the door seam, but it’s a bit more concerning reading this.

 

While I did not see the truck with the rack off, the impression I get from what I have read about it and looking at parts diagrams, I think that they do go through the roof and there is a seal included with the rack to seal the bolt. It looks like they are there on all Tacoma's from the factory and sealed with some kind of tape seal when there is no rack. Which would also explain why I have had 2 previous Tacoma's with leaks that caused a wet driver's seat belt, but I was never able to locate the leak. I never thought to pull up the trim strip on the roof and look there on either one. I suspect on my 2 other Tacoma's, whatever they sealed the bolt hole with failed (neither one of them had roof racks). Per the Tech, it was leaking at the middle bolt. They had removed the seat belt and trim panel so they could reproduce the leak and determine where the water was entering. It would only leak when water was sprayed from a specific angle.

 

Butyl tape all around the screws helps

 

Same issue on my truck except no roof rack and 2nd gen 2014… looking for answers. I’ve seen sun roof drains clog on other vehicles but my truck doesn’t have a sun roof

 

Pull off the rubber trim strips on the roof. Underneath are the holes for mounting a roof rack. Chances are the sealant the put on those holes has failed.

 

Well when I actually took the time to look at it instead of posting I realized the obvious, it’s an access cab and the seatbelt is in the rear door not connected to roof. The rubber gasket around the door lost its seal, so I put a bead of silicone over the top before it rained again. So far so good!