Random hood separation

I did some offroading yesterday without any issues. Ran several errands in the Tundra afterward. This morning, opened up the garage door to take my son to school, and I see this in the photo. WTH?? No front end damage, everything looks normal under the hood. I was able to pop it back in with some muscle at the top, and it looks fine now.

Can anyone explain this? This is my 2nd Tundra and I've never seen a piece randomly separate. I can't even imagine how. I could see the tabs underneath that were not in the proper openings. I should also mention that I have never removed this piece (nor do I even know how). Also, it was not touched by the garage door - there is about 8 inches of clearance, and I was standing next to the truck as the garage door opened.

 

Only thing I can think of, but you said you had plenty of room, is the metal bar that goes horizontally across your garage door. To me the bar would hit your truck exactly where you have the separation and push it down.

 

Are any clips broken? Some others have had a similar problem.
https://www.tundras.com/threads/hood-bulge-problem.39676/#post-1009105

 

Thanks for the link. I could see the tabs were out of the "sockets" or whatever you call them, and I was able to force them back in and now it looks perfect again. I couldn't see anything broken, but I couldn't see further in. The bizarre part of it is that it happened while parked in my garage, not while driving. I park in the same spot every day - never contact with my garage door.

 

The grille looked perfect - except for a ton of bugs. I took a photo of it as well, though not posted.

 

Was it particularly hot when this happened. Possible that plastic and metal stretch or shrink differently? Maybe one cooled off faster than the other causing misalignment?

 

Well, this is Arizona where it's always hot. It did cool off from about 90 to 70 overnight, but not unusual for AZ.

 

Gremlins at the very least.

 

Or get them wet?

 

Looks to me like the hood bulge part of the grille warped. Shouldn't have that peak in the center.

 

Damn Russians.....

 

When you get out of the truck and walk into your house, do you walk around the front of the truck?

Is it possible someone was trying to slide between the inside of the door and the truck, and pressed up hard against the bulge pushing it out of position?

 

It was deformed while out of position - but once i snapped it back into place it looks normal again.

 

I back it up within 1 inch of the wall in the rear, so yes, I walk around the front of the truck. But I walk around and then close my garage door, because there is only about 8 inches of space. Nowhere to go in the garage on the driver's side of my truck unless you are getting in the driver's seat - therefore the garage door is opened beforehand (and nobody drives the truck but me, plus my son is 8 and my wife could blow away in a strong wind - in other words, neither one would have the body weight to pop that bulge out). But thanks for brainstorming ideas for me. I simply have no clue at this point. It is bizarre!

 

I have figured this out, but unsure how to prevent it. It happens when highway driving at 80 MPH+ when there is a strong crosswind - particularly I have seen it pop up with the air blast while passing a semi. Since I do a lot of highway driving, It has happened now about a dozen times. I can always snap it back in with some mild force.

Jim