minor design flaw and my solution

**FJ FunJunkie** · 12-22-2006, 06:10 AM

Ok this may not be the biggest thing but it does bother me a bit.
I have only had my Kobuta for about a week now and only 360 miles on her but I noticed a minor problem with the door panel. Every time I take off my seatbelt and let it go, it slings into the back of the door panel on the plastic part that sticks out just aft of the color panel insert on the driver side door. Like I said it's only been about a week but I already have about 30 or so Knicks on it. I can only imagine after a year. I know I am going to scratch and ding my rig on occasion having fun and all but if this keeps going at the rate it is, there will be a hole in there soon enough.
Now on with my solution, I got a roll of some 8 inch wide clear rubberized semi adhesive tape(same as the 3m clear material) and cut out a square to fit this area and rounded out the corners, slapped it on and hit it with a hair dryer to get a better form around the angle. once it cooled off it stiffened up like plastic.
I dont know if anyone else noticed this but take a look if you care to and mabey some other ideas may come of this (besides not letting go of your belt, it's just a habit). If anyone really cares I will post pics, if not please no flaming, I just would like my interior to stay nice for a while.
Aloha

renderit · 12-22-2006, 06:42 AM

This is not the only vehicle where this is a problem. Good Idea!

Ospreyguy · 12-22-2006, 06:58 AM

I was concerned with this as well. Then I realized the rest of the interior is going to be all f'ed up as it scratches easily, so I just deal with it. I also freak out on my wife when she does the same thing (makes me feel better anyway)!

cinch · 12-22-2006, 08:39 AM

Where's the pics?

benmonnin · 12-22-2006, 08:43 AM

I've had 4 Toyotas and it seems they all have this problem. There isn't enough tension on the belt when you release it so it spools back up. On my Tundra, my belt used to come to rest right in the door panel, so I got a nice "clang" and scratched paint. Dealer replaced that belt and repainted the doorjam twice. FJ has scratches all over the panel you're talking about. I'm less anal about that stuff now, I consider it beauty marks now.