Truck is 5 months old with 3,000 miles. Wind noise at ear level began after 2-3 months of ownership and continues to get worse. EXTREMELY ANNOYING. Returned for warranty repair 6/29 with description of "Excessive wind noise ... appears to have to components. Window not sealing properly and door seal. Upon opening window fully and closing, wind noise exists which can usually be eliminated by opening an inch and re-closing. The second more problematic sound appears to be door seal and is somewhat speed dependent". After nearly 5 hours at the dealership they report that the sound was caused by a defective windshield track diagnosed by taping the window to the door and test driving. The window track was replaced (apparently a common problem as they stock the part). Upon driving home, immediately the sound was noted and the dealer contacted.
The following day I test drove it on the highway. I then taped the driver's side window to the body, also bagged and taped the door mirror and ran up and repeated the highway test. No change.. better or worse. In desperation, I stopped at Lowes and bought a package of MD brand Auto & Marine Rubber Weatherseal, P/N 01025 which has a "D" profile and 5/16" thick and 23/64 (~3/8) wide. I stuck it on the body at the center of where the door mounted gasket touches. I did not apply it around the very bottom of the door as the strip was ~8 feet long (I went from just above the door stop bracket on the front to the base of the door on the latch side). Time for another test drive.... SUCCESS.... wind noise was reduced significantly (70%?) and has remained so for the last week. The dealer has been informed, a complaint filed with "Toyota Cares" (their disgruntled owner hotline) and a web search made on the issue.... only to discover this is a common issue. Toyota has issued a bulletin for earlier years of the same and earlier generation Tacoma but the identical vehicle sold to me as a 2018 is not currently listed.
The Reference Service Bulletin is T-SB-0170-16
TIME TO VENT --- "TOYOTA.... THIS HAS BEEN AN ISSUE FOR MULTIPLE YEARS.... IF I CAN ADD OVER A 1/4" OF ADDITIONAL GASKET THICKNESS AND IT BARELY CHANGES HOW THE DOOR LATCHES..... PERHAPS YOUR STOCK GASKET IS TOO THIN... AND COMPRESSES WITH TIME AND TEMPERATURE.... SO F*CKING PUT A THICKER GASKET ON THE DOOR!!!!!"
To the nice people at my dealer and "Toyota Cares"..... I'm tired of your calls and desire to waste a day... and come back for 'another look' if you refuse to acknowledge a systemic problem and only have the same wimpy replacement gasket that will fail in 4 months.
Update from Oct 9, 2018: Trip # 2 (spoiler alert. doesn't solve problem)... Dealer replaces door gasket with a new modified gasket that adds a 1/4" tube glued to the top front section of the gasket to make it firmer. This is now part of a TSB 0170-16 that covers 2012-2017 Tacoma with this problem. Repair worked initially but like the original gasket, the problem re-surfaces in a month. (perhaps gasket relaxes or takes a set??).
Trip #3 Dealer out of ideas... calls in Toyota Service Engineer. Like a company employee.... they claim the wind noise is "normal" and within design parameters. (i.e. The customer is too picky)
Truck is 5 months old with 3,000 miles. Wind noise at ear level began after 2-3 months of ownership and continues to get worse. EXTREMELY ANNOYING. Returned for warranty repair 6/29 with description of "Excessive wind noise ... appears to have to components. Window not sealing properly and door seal. Upon opening window fully and closing, wind noise exists which can usually be eliminated by opening an inch and re-closing. The second more problematic sound appears to be door seal and is somewhat speed dependent". After nearly 5 hours at the dealership they report that the sound was caused by a defective windshield track diagnosed by taping the window to the door and test driving. The window track was replaced (apparently a common problem as they stock the part). Upon driving home, immediately the sound was noted and the dealer contacted. The following day I test drove it on the highway. I then taped the driver's side window to the body, also bagged and taped the door mirror and ran up and repeated the highway test. No change.. better or worse. In desperation, I stopped at Lowes and bought a package of MD brand Auto & Marine Rubber Weatherseal, P/N 01025 which has a "D" profile and 5/16" thick and 23/64 (~3/8) wide. I stuck it on the body at the center of where the door mounted gasket touches. I did not apply it around the very bottom of the door as the strip was ~8 feet long (I went from just above the door stop bracket on the front to the base of the door on the latch side). Time for another test drive.... SUCCESS.... wind noise was reduced significantly (70%?) and has remained so for the last week. The dealer has been informed, a complaint filed with "Toyota Cares" (their disgruntled owner hotline) and a web search made on the issue.... only to discover this is a common issue. Toyota has issued a bulletin for earlier years of the same and earlier generation Tacoma but the identical vehicle sold to me as a 2018 is not currently listed. The Reference Service Bulletin is T-SB-0170-16
TIME TO VENT --- "TOYOTA.... THIS HAS BEEN AN ISSUE FOR MULTIPLE YEARS.... IF I CAN ADD OVER A 1/4" OF ADDITIONAL GASKET THICKNESS AND IT BARELY CHANGES HOW THE DOOR LATCHES..... PERHAPS YOUR STOCK GASKET IS TOO THIN... AND COMPRESSES WITH TIME AND TEMPERATURE.... SO F*CKING PUT A THICKER GASKET ON THE DOOR!!!!!"
To the nice people at my dealer and "Toyota Cares"..... I'm tired of your calls and desire to waste a day... and come back for 'another look' if you refuse to acknowledge a systemic problem and only have the same wimpy replacement gasket that will fail in 4 months.
Update from Oct 9, 2018: Trip # 2 (spoiler alert. doesn't solve problem)... Dealer replaces door gasket with a new modified gasket that adds a 1/4" tube glued to the top front section of the gasket to make it firmer. This is now part of a TSB 0170-16 that covers 2012-2017 Tacoma with this problem. Repair worked initially but like the original gasket, the problem re-surfaces in a month. (perhaps gasket relaxes or takes a set??).
Trip #3 Dealer out of ideas... calls in Toyota Service Engineer. Like a company employee.... they claim the wind noise is "normal" and within design parameters. (i.e. The customer is too picky)
- Dan H., Austin, tx, US