Victory Roof Rack Safety Warning (please read if you have an over-cab rack)

Hey all -

I have benefitted from all the info shared here for a few years. I decided to join recently due to a serious (imo) safety issue associated with the Victory roof rack. This might affect others with similar mounting designs, but I'm not aware of them.

I was excited to top my cab with the Victory rack. When it arrived, I was impressed with the quality of the materials and the design. Victory's customer service was also helpful, responsive, and friendly through the sales and delivery process.

The installation calls for rivnuts (also called nut-certs) to secure the rack to the roof in the rain channel. As an aviation guy, I'm familiar with rivnuts and their applications. I was surprised when I saw the rivnuts and how short the grip was, but hey...everything else looked great so I forged on.

I followed the excellent install video, drilled a pilot hole, and then drilled each of the 8 mounting holes with the supplied 23/64 bit. I was surprised at how difficult it was to drill these holes. It took a LONG time to drill clean holes without dulling the bit. The U-channel on the roof has several layers and is quite thick. I could see after the first hole that there was no way the grip on the rivnuts was appropriate for that thickness of material...but I continued.

In the video - it is stated specifically that these holes are in "safe zones" and far away from airbags. It also says that you should take care to only penetrate the roof by 1/2".

So, I can tell you the first statement is not accurate and the second statement was not possible in my experience.

I made my best effort to keep the bit from sinking after penetrating the roof. Due to the sheet metal and bit design combo, the instant you penetrate the roof the bit is driven deep. It takes a decent amount of force to penetrate the roof (if you have done this job...you know).

So after drilling all of the holes, I sealed and inserted the rivnuts per the instructions. I used the supplied tool to tighten the grip. Unfortunately, my concerns were realized and the rivnuts were not squeezing on the back side of the channel as the fastener is designed. They were "tight" but not secure as I could continue to twist the rivnut. I experimented with continuing to tighten and it simply squeezed that rivnut completely out of the hole. There was no way I was going to secure a roofrack this way.

I spoke with Victory, and they said they have sold thousands of these and had only heard that issue a few times. I decided I would drop the headliner and just bolt up the rack from the back side. That would give me an opportunity to add Hushmat anyway.

So I did. I found a great thread on the forum on how to drop the headliner, I ordered some trim tools and hushmat, and when the day came I tackled the job. I took lots of pics and had the truck all back together that night with a quiet cab and a SECURE roof rack that I would feel confident strapping cargo to.


THE SERIOUS PROBLEM


That night I'm laying in bed admiring the photos of my work on my phone...and I noticed something that made my heart sink. As you can see in the third attached photo, the sheath that the side-curtain airbag was hanging in had a small, circular defect just below where I had drilled the roof. Lets just say I did not sleep well that night.

The next morning I raced to my hangar and grabbed by borescope. I came home and dropped the edges of the headliner and started inspecting. The articulating tip of the scope allows you to look forward, or flip and look back 180 degrees. On ALL 8 holes, the drill bit had "touched" the sheath of the side curtain airbag. Some had wear marks, some of them had damaged the outer bag, and some had put holes in it.

I became more confident as I got to hole number 7 and so far none of the damage had actually affected the airbag material...just the outer bag (sheath) that the actual airbag hangs in.

Sadly on hole number 8, you could see that the bit had reached the actual airbag and damaged it.

I had tried my absolute best to keep the drill from going deep. I wasn't worried at all about the airbags (per the video "safe zone" comment), rather I was afraid I would ruin the headliner. So even my best effort didn't keep the airbags safe.

I called Victory, explained what happened, and they said they weren't willing to do anything about it. I had asked them to pay for my airbag (just the part) and asked them to notify their customers. Nada.

I reviewed their install video. I have attached a screenshot of THEIR video showing THEIR drill going all the way in when the installer penetrates the hole. They had the same problem I did. They say only go 1/2", but thats not possible and if you slow down the video you can see why.



THE CONCERNING PART


The ONLY reason I discovered that I no longer have conforming side-curtain airbags is because I was picky about the rivnut fastener. Had I said "good enough" I would have never dropped the headliner and I would have never discovered the damaged airbags.

This issue could potentially impact some (all?) other installs of these racks, and the owners would have no idea they (potentially) have damaged airbags, because they have never dropped the headliner.

I couldn't live with myself if I didn't get the word out. I asked Victory to do it, but they were not interested...I'm sharing with you guys. I drive my kids in this thing, and I'm sure many of you do as well.

Best,








MOD EDIT. SEE QUOTE BELOW.

 

When I was installing "Brand X" rack, I had the same concerns, so I made a drill stop out of a piece of steel tubing I had, allowing 3/8 inch of drill bit to be used. I think I missed everything.

 

It would be a simple to address during install (your idea is a great one). Unfortunately, everyone who has previously installed a rack doesn't really know if they have properly-functioning airbags without inspecting. They can be checked by carefully dropping the edges of the headliner and using a borescope. Not impossible, but will take some effort.

 

Thank you for sharing this. I experienced every issue that you mentioned on your post. I watched every second of V4x4’s installation repeatedly to make sure I was doing it right. You are absolutely right on that it was impossible to stop the drill bit as shown in their video.

I was concerned with the RivNut security then but am now more concerned about the airbags. I can live with it if the roof rack flies off but the possibility of my family being injured because of this is absolutely unacceptable. I’ll have to open up the headliner and do a thorough check. I bought this Tundra for the safety of my family and it seems Victory 4x4 has compromised that and they are not willing to acknowledge it. I hope it doesn’t take someone’s health or even life before they take this seriously.

Thanks again for sharing and I will definitely give this a look and post some photos.

 

I would like @brimy311 to publicly respond to this safety concern. If they don’t step up, maybe the next move is to contact Toyota Corporate and mention the fact that the safety of their vehicles are being compromised by this company. I am sure they will be very interested since they can also be held liable if the airbags fail to deploy if and when an accident occurs.

 

Toyota won’t be liable if their safety features don’t work because of damage caused by aftermarket products.

 

If V4x4 doesn’t acknowledge it and somehow TRY to make it right, blast your story all over the web. Google review, yelp review, anything else you can find. And put it in their “prototype” thread on this site and any other thread you can find by them. Get the word out far & wide. I don’t stand by any company that doesn’t stand by their products and especially their customers.

 

Ultimately I do agree with you but I am sure that they will be very interested to know that a product is out in the market compromising the functionality of their safety airbags. You know how lawyers can easily spin things. They’d rather nip it in the bud than deal with it in the courtroom after hundreds of thousands spent in legal fees defending themselves on an injury claim saying they aren’t liable.

 

Thanks for sharing

 

Ooooo I have a feeling this thread is going to be worth watching...consumer vs. manufacturer in a public forum...front row seat to see how a vendor handles situations like this, especially since it concerns safety...

 

Would this be the case for the prinsu rack as well? Viewing the video on prinsu site they suggest using a step drill bit marked off with tape so not to puncture any airbags. I'm asking because I was looking at both racks and leaning towards prinsu. Thanks for the post and heads up seems like a lot of things can go wrong during install. I might just have my body shop install for me.

 

Yeah...but the body shop wouldn't know if they snagged the airbag either unless they drop the headliner and check...and then it takes an honest installer to step up to a $700 per bag expense.

 

The instructions say to not penetrate more than 1/2” into the rail. It is in fact possible to keep from jamming a drill bit into the airbags. There are several ways to do this.

They have no liability or responsibility to replace the airbag you damaged. My unprofessional opinion of course.

 

No offense but this looks like installer error, not a product defect. In your pics, the part of the airbag that was hit by the drill appears to be a couple inches below where the bolts come through. If they tell you to only drill 1/2" deep and you run the drill bit in a couple inches, that's not their fault. Using a drill stop, drilling slower, using a step bit or a shorter bit, or not putting so much pressure on the drill that you can't stop it from over penetrating when it breaks through would all have prevented this.

 

So it’s V4x4’s fault you couldn’t control your drilling to be within less of 1/2”?

 

Did you note the last pic I attached? Its a screenshot of the V4x4's install video. You can see that they couldn't keep their drill from going full-depth either. Its very difficult, and while you may think you kept it from penetrating deep...their video (and my airbags) show otherwise.

I am not a novice mechanically. As the other poster said above, penetrating the roof with this drill per the instructions is not easy and keeping the drill from going further than 1/2" by hand was apparently not possible for me, even though I was concerned about damaging my headliner and took care. One second you are gently drilling, and the next second the drill drives in as it threads itself onto the roof.

I'm not out to get Victory, rather, I'm letting other owners know that they may have holes in their airbags. I'm certainly not the only installer who could have done this...I'm just the one who dropped the headliner and noticed it. Again - V4x4 also went in full-depth in their install video. In addition, they say the holes are in "safe zones" away from airbags. I'm just clearing my conscience and letting others know of the issue they may have lurking. V4x4 responded clearly to me, so I have nothing to gain personally.

Watch the video if you are curious. Start @ 10:22...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sj35Bm7i6z8&feature=emb_title

 

I agree. I did end up using several drills to work up to the 23/64. Unfortunately, the drill stop wasn't recommended as it would have prevented this. Hopefully that is a change manufacturers will make to their installation instructions as a result of this. I also would recommend changing the video to state that the holes are NOT in safe zones and it is quite easy to damage the airbags if a drill stop is not used.

The point of the thread is to notify others of the situation and they can decide for themselves if they'd like to inspect their airbags.

 

Thats a matter of opinion and customer service. I'm not upset with them regarding either issue. Life is too short. They made their position clear and they agree with you.

For $700, its not worth the effort...but I would hate to read about somebody being hurt when I knew the problem and said nothing...thus, the point of the thread.

I actually expected them to thank me for discovering and reporting the issue.

 

Wow..

 

For what it's worth, relatively decent Borescopes/Endoscopes can be had on Amazon for around $100 give or take. We use them at work although the one's we use run around $1K. For inspection use as mentioned here....the one's found on Amazon are quite sufficient. I do have some concerns with Victory's vid. Many of us here know how to improvise when install directions are not up to snuff, but the novice attempting the Victory rack install could easily f^^k up with that vid. It is was it is...

 

All I can say is kudos to you guys for drilling in the roof of a 50k truck. Your balls are much bigger than mine. Hell it took me a case of beer to get the cojones to cut out the carpet and padding to install the ESP storage under the rear seat.

 

Looking back, I should have studied where the airbags were before blindly following their directions. Shame on me there...

Its a VERY nice rack, and Extremely solid when bolted on. It looks great too! Simply adding a drill stop will fix the issue going forward.

My disappointment is that they forced my hand here. I had hoped they would feel compelled to notify their own customers of the potential risk.

I told them I felt I would have to share the problem publicly if they didn’t...then I waited a couple of weeks hoping they would reconsider and address it themselves.

I am a champion of small biz, especially of quality products made here. They were very helpful to this point. Oh well.

 

You should save that video

i bet v4x4 takes it down

 

Downloaded and saved! Thanks

 

I will second the OP that this is a safety issue FIRST then financial second. I will not carry the family in the truck until it is fully inspected. I actually made an appointment with my Toyota dealership next week so they can open it and properly document the problem (if there is one).

This is absolutely not a product defect. It is in fact an awesome product and I absolutely love it. However, the manufacturer did publish an install instruction video for DIYers that clearly stated that we are drilling in a “safe zone”. We use these product specific videos as a bible when doing our installs.

 

Sorry but bit stops are cheap and for what roof racks go for a manufacturer could easily provide a bit that was only fluted to only go to the required depth.

I have passed on Victory as the majority of their designs look only half thought out. Like there blitz bumper. Why would you cut up part of the center bumper? Instead of just carrying the bumper out to the end caps?

 

Lets hope there is no issue.

On 7 of 8, I could see where the drill lightly contacted the outer bag but the actual inner airbag material was fine.

I did speak with a Toyota tech. He told me their guidance from the manufacturer states if the airbag light is not illuminated, then the system is fine. It obviously wasn’t designed to sense this kind of issue though.

Are you going to have them bolt the rack while they are in there?

 

Good points. I hope Victory 4x4 acts as you suggested.

 

Sorry we didn't respond to this sooner, just saw the tags today. The side curtains on the Tundra installs we've done here are about 2-3" below the pinch welds in this location and offset a bit, hence Brian's comments in the video while also recommending only drilling as much as necessary (a half-inch.) Your point above about using a drill stop as an additional safety device is a good one that we can easily add to the video and digital instructions. If a 64th step bit was readily available that would be great as well, but not something we've seen.