Today I installed some mud guards on my Cross and I noticed some pretty big panel gaps. Most of it is around the headlights and the hood.
As you can see in the pictures, there's a big gap between the headlights and the center grille of the car. Yes, what you see there in the gap (I can poke my pinky finger through that gap) is the radiator.
Also, on the top of the headlights there's a big gap where they are supposed to meet the hood.
Also, on the side of the hood there's a big gap. In the pictures you see my pinky finger for scale (I did not have a banana o me at the time).
All these gaps let water from rain and dust go into the engine bay. And in the pictures you can see how dirty the engine compartment is, and not just the engine itself, but also the inside of the hood. This car has 3 months and 2000 miles of city use. In a year the engine bay will look like one from a farm tractor.
I had the hood fully closed, so this is the normal state of the car.
I went around the car and I also remembered to take some picture of the license plate lights so you can see how the light housing just sits there, not rubber gasket around it. This is on both sides of the hatch release button and camera. As you feel around to find the button for the hatch, you come across the license plate light and you press on it thinking it is the button. There's no rubber gasket or plastic trim. Nothing. If the car was not painted, I'm sure I would have cut my fingers on the sharp metal edge of the hood.
Unbelievable shoddy engineering from Toyota. What am I supposed to do now? Look around for self adhesive rubber tubing to fill in those gaps?
Either this is bad design from Toyota, or very bad assembly in Alabama, or some trim pieces are missing.
As you can see in the pictures, there's a big gap between the headlights and the center grille of the car. Yes, what you see there in the gap (I can poke my pinky finger through that gap) is the radiator.
Also, on the top of the headlights there's a big gap where they are supposed to meet the hood.
Also, on the side of the hood there's a big gap. In the pictures you see my pinky finger for scale (I did not have a banana o me at the time).
All these gaps let water from rain and dust go into the engine bay. And in the pictures you can see how dirty the engine compartment is, and not just the engine itself, but also the inside of the hood. This car has 3 months and 2000 miles of city use. In a year the engine bay will look like one from a farm tractor.
I had the hood fully closed, so this is the normal state of the car.
I went around the car and I also remembered to take some picture of the license plate lights so you can see how the light housing just sits there, not rubber gasket around it. This is on both sides of the hatch release button and camera. As you feel around to find the button for the hatch, you come across the license plate light and you press on it thinking it is the button. There's no rubber gasket or plastic trim. Nothing. If the car was not painted, I'm sure I would have cut my fingers on the sharp metal edge of the hood.
Unbelievable shoddy engineering from Toyota. What am I supposed to do now? Look around for self adhesive rubber tubing to fill in those gaps?
Either this is bad design from Toyota, or very bad assembly in Alabama, or some trim pieces are missing.