Melted backseats

Those of you with this issue, do you use your rear defroster often?

I'm in Cali and I don't think I've ever had to turn on the rear defroster.

 

I live in souther Florida. My defroster has never been on

 

Checked mine, no issues. Don’t think I have ever turned on the rear defrost. Maybe once.

 

I live in the desert SW (New Mexico) never once have used the rear defroster. I am wondering if the rear glass is acting like a magnifying glass and the sun is baking/melting it?

 

to me that look like it was defective when it was installed

 

I am thinking heat from the sun too.

 

I'm starting to like this theory more than my original thought about the sun.

The only thing I can say that doesn't add up for me is my truck is a garage queen. Although yes when I drove it during the summer it was subjected to 100+ degree temps sitting in parking lots, it was never left out in the sun for extended amounts of time.

 

early build dates?

 

My build date was pretty early March of 2022, and actually yesterday was my 1 year anniversary with my truck.

 

lets see pics of what you did back there, did you remove everything?

 

Is this just happening to Crewmax models? My guess is that they did a little waterproofing of the back window using a small torch to heat up the sealant before applying the foam gaskets. Got a little too much heat near the carpet area of the seats.

Perhaps the best way to deal with it was to put the seats up and ignore it during the build process. This certainly can't be happening because of sun or defroster heat.

I am going to check mine and see if I got the same melted carpet. Outside temps have been below freezing or just above since we have had the truck. I haven't tried the rear defrost either.

 

I took a few pics of mine. The carpet is perfect. The back is a good distance from the rear defroster when locked up.

I does look like the lower seal on the back window is at a perfect height to hit the carpet if one was to use a heat source when working the gaskets, it could heat the seat back as well.

I have a heat gun that will run up to 700 degrees and easily blow holes in most materials.

 

Thanks for the pictures and run down. Do you know your build date by chance? All your info is helpful, cause you're not in a hot climate, and we all have not used the rear defrost.

 

Build date for my CrewMax Limited is 08/22. We drove it off the lot at the end of September.

 

thank you so much for sharing. This will help me with the dealership as well!! Keep me posted and thank you for the pictures

 

Sorry for the delay, we had a death in the family.

as for an update.
Still working with with the dealership and trying to rectify this. I am going to stop by today and follow up. I’ve included the window sticker and the date of assembly was 10/2022
Shot out to @Medic343, your pictures are a huge help. Part of the problem was that there has been no other reported issues like this. Now that I can prove a second case I am hoping for some more traction moving forward.

 

I know nothing about anything but is there a chance that at the manufacturing plant they use some type of heat gun or torch along the back window to heat up a seal or anything? Complete speculation.

 

The dealerships says they can see some minor warped areas but I didn’t really see it. Nothing that stands out like the seats

 

To the OP, so sorry to hear about your family

 

@Medic343 @pneffkell and for anyone else that comes acrossed this issue. Here is the contact information for the service tech looking into it. Have your service tech reach out directly to him. Kevin said when he looked it up in the computer, there was no other reported instances of the seats melting. But at least by contacting him directly that will help your service tech realize there’s more of an issue. At this point it can’t hurt.

 

That deserves a proper investigation by Toyota and NHTSA.

 

Mines going into the service department today. Anyone ever get a resolution on this?

 

So my dealer is saying that this is cause from "outside influences" and is not covered. If anyone else has something from their dealer please let me know

 

Wow

 

anybody know how to submit a case directly with Toyota?

 

Toyota Brand Engagement Center
Call 1-800-331-4331
Mon-Fri: 8:00 a.m. - 8:00 p.m. ET
Sat: 9:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m. ET

 

Well I submitted an email to the brand Engagement Center. We will see what happens. If anyone else has the same issue it would be great to get some more people to show the same problem

 

Just an update. Toyota came back and had me schedule it back with the dealer. Apparently the dealer didn't really to an inspection the first time. This time they have to do a full inspection with pictures and submit it to Toyota. I guess they are also going to put together an estimate of the cost to fix. No commitment yet on if its going to be covered but at least this time it will get pushed up to Toyota to review the case with some real facts

 

Just to confirm, it looks like there are 2 other confirmed cases on this thread. Did either of you ever get any response from your dealer on a resolution?

 

Figured I would just post photos of my seats. Its in Toyotas hands now