One of My Tow Eyelet Covers Fell Off

NathanF · Oct 22, 2009

Bah!

I just noticed today that one of the little plastic squares on the front of my 3 month old RAV4 must have fell off while I was driving. According to the manual, they are what covers the place where you would attach tow eyelets. Has anyone else had this happen to them?

I called a local parts department and they said a replacement costs $17, but they come unpainted - so who knows how much extra to paint, probably some ungodly amount.

I'm kind of pissed off, given that this car is only 87 days old. I'm going to call the dealership once I muster up the strength to deal with their BS - hopefully they will offer to replace it for free, or eventually give in with enough complaining. I do have the extended warranty, but body panels are specifically excluded. (So, apparently an entire body panel could fall off while you drive away your new car from the lot, and Toyota wouldn't be responsible.)

The really unfortunate thing is the person who handles my maintenance / repairs is a woman. I know technically this is a bit sexist, but I have a much easier time being a first class pain in the ass with men, rather than with women. I think it is a psychological ploy on the dealership's part to make it more difficult to argue with them.

JuneBug · Oct 22, 2009

NathanF said:
Bah!

I just noticed today that one of the little plastic squares on the front of my 3 month old RAV4 must have fell off while I was driving. According to the manual, they are what covers the place where you would attach tow eyelets. Has anyone else had this happen to them?

Yes, this happened to me. A kid ran a red light, hit me, and the cover popped out. But as you can see from the picture, the cover stayed attached by it's little tether. It's hard to believe that yours just popped out on it's own and the tether broke as well. More than likely, some lowlife needed one and "borrowed" yours.

NathanF · Oct 22, 2009

junebug1701 said:
NathanF said:

Bah!

I just noticed today that one of the little plastic squares on the front of my 3 month old RAV4 must have fell off while I was driving. According to the manual, they are what covers the place where you would attach tow eyelets. Has anyone else had this happen to them?

Click to expand...

Yes, this happened to me. A kid ran a red light, hit me, and the cover popped out. But as you can see from the picture, the cover stayed attached by it's little tether. It's hard to believe that yours just popped out on it's own and the tether broke as well. More than likely, some lowlife needed one and "borrowed" yours.

Interesting, I didn't know there was a tether.

I did consider the possibility that someone stole it, but there isn't a single pry mark or scratch around the area where it came out. I have a hard time believing someone stealing the cover would be bothered with using a plastic pry bar to get it out, leaving absolutely zero damage to the car.

ellocovg · Oct 24, 2009

yeah I was going to say someone stole yours. Easy enough to pry with your hand or a knife without scratching your bumper. No way the dealers replacing that under warranty. If your handy with a spray can I'd say go to a paint supply store and buy a can of the factory paint in a can to try and save some $$$ and if you screw up you can always strip it or spend another $17

Carbon · Oct 24, 2009

Silver is a common enough color that maybe a junk yard would have one. It would be nice to have a thread where people who find a RAV4.3 in a junkyard list the contact info for that junkyard.

NathanF · Nov 22, 2009

Bit of an update: I've been super busy, so I sort of forgot about this for a few weeks, but I finally got the chance to take off the remaining eyelet cover. There was indeed a tether....but the other end of it wasn't attached to anything!

It's basically a little plastic arrow that goes through a slit on the bottom right inside of the hole, but mine was just in there floating around - in fact, the plastic square just fell right onto the ground as I slowly nudged it out.

That being the case, I'm pretty damn sure someone at the factory was just too lazy to connect the tabs, and my other one fell out from vibrations / bumps in the road over the past few months.

As I said before, given that there wasn't so much as a single scratch on the outside of the perimeter of the hole, I find it extremely unlikely that someone stole it, and cared enough about my car not to scratch it in the removal process. So hopefully I can talk the dealer into paying for this. The part is only $8, but the paint job will be a different matter.

RAVMAN · Nov 22, 2009

NathanF said:
I'm pretty damn sure someone at the factory was just too lazy to connect the tabs, and my other one fell out from vibrations / bumps in the road over the past few months.

FWIW.... these bumper plugs are installed at the US port of entry (after the tow hooks are removed).

NathanF · Dec 1, 2009

RAVMAN said:
NathanF said:

I'm pretty damn sure someone at the factory was just too lazy to connect the tabs, and my other one fell out from vibrations / bumps in the road over the past few months.

Click to expand...

FWIW.... these bumper plugs are installed at the US port of entry (after the tow hooks are removed).

Interesting, I did not know that.

So, I took it into the dealership, and they are going to cover it, thankfully. So, happy ending.

guttermanster · Dec 2, 2009

I had this problem as well. I had verified (due to my own curiousity) that these covers were properly affixed using the tether. This was prior to taking a 15 hour drive from New York to South Carolina.

On the way, a portion of a vehicle's mud flap tore off, came back and hit the front of my car directly where the aforementioned cover is.

Sure, 75+ MPH and 5-10 ft. of seperation between me and the vehicle could certainly be considered "more than average" force to knock one of these out. But I was relatively surprised that it took the tether and all pretty cleanly.

I called Toyota the day after it happened. The part came in the following week (for $17, as mentioned) and it was unpainted. I sporadically called for updates on the status of the paint job. This went on for about 2 1/2 - 3 weeks. I expected to pay 30-40 in the end with the paint job. However Toyota was kind enough to give me the part for free. I assume it was due to the extreme delay on the paint job.

Hopefully my experience gives you some insight. It sounds like you're looking at 30-40. I would argue if its much more than that. Its a small part and the labor rate would have to be substantial for it to be much more. Perhaps if you make a big enough stink about the tether not being properly affixed, you may be get a break. Good luck and let us know!

NathanF · Dec 30, 2009

guttermanster said:
I had this problem as well. I had verified (due to my own curiousity) that these covers were properly affixed using the tether. This was prior to taking a 15 hour drive from New York to South Carolina.

On the way, a portion of a vehicle's mud flap tore off, came back and hit the front of my car directly where the aforementioned cover is.

Sure, 75+ MPH and 5-10 ft. of seperation between me and the vehicle could certainly be considered "more than average" force to knock one of these out. But I was relatively surprised that it took the tether and all pretty cleanly.

I called Toyota the day after it happened. The part came in the following week (for $17, as mentioned) and it was unpainted. I sporadically called for updates on the status of the paint job. This went on for about 2 1/2 - 3 weeks. I expected to pay 30-40 in the end with the paint job. However Toyota was kind enough to give me the part for free. I assume it was due to the extreme delay on the paint job.

Hopefully my experience gives you some insight. It sounds like you're looking at 30-40. I would argue if its much more than that. Its a small part and the labor rate would have to be substantial for it to be much more. Perhaps if you make a big enough stink about the tether not being properly affixed, you may be get a break. Good luck and let us know!

Yikes! Good thing your front didn't get dented in the process.

In any event, the dealership covered everything. I did have to make one pointless trip out there, though: they called and said it was ready, I arrived, and they handed me a flat black piece of plastic. No big deal. a week later they had it painted, I picked it up and popped it in, and now all is well.

Thus far, Gladstone Toyota (of the Portland, Oregon area) has served me well.

.33900 · Dec 19, 2010

I did consider the possibility that someone stole it, but there isn't a single pry mark or scratch around the area where it came out. I have a hard time believing someone stealing the cover would be bothered with using a plastic pry bar to get it out, leaving absolutely zero damage to the car.

I lost mine when I drove down a flooded street at normal speed.
Water flowed up inside the front bumper and pushed the cover out from the inside.
First time it happened the tether held onto it. Drove down it again a couple days later and tether broke.

pdpnitro · Jan 18, 2011

Someone hit my car while i was parked and it came loose... so i poped it back on and it was fine for 3 months. now it's missing -_-
i called the dealership and they said the part was 20 bucks and 25 dollars to paint.... $45 dollars for a piece of plastic... GREAT!

let me know if you guys have any other ideas -_-

and what's the name of the part? "tow eyelet cover"?

advance1209 · Feb 18, 2011

Stupid tow hook covers

I had the exact same thing happen as one of the previous posters (guttermaster) - except it was a chunk of tire that the car in front of me threw up into my bumper. I was on the way to the bank in the next town so that I could get a cashier's check... to pay for the Rav4. It happened within 5 days of me driving off the lot. FML. Knocked out my driver's side foglight too. The light didn't bust, but the bracket did, and the bracket it part of the bumper, so glue is the only hope there. Thanks Toyota for that one.

Back to the tow hook cover, I called the local dealership and they said it was the typical $17 for the part, but then to mix up the paint they'd have to charge me an hour of labor, which at a dealership is like $80. Or I could wait and get lucky for the next time another flint mica Rav4 is getting painted. I said screw it and went to Walmart. I bought 2 cans of spray paint, one that is a glossy dark gray and then a dark blue with some sparkle to it. The result looks impeccably like the paint on the rest of the car, minus the real metallic shine that I could probably add with some urethane if I really cared to.

But there will still be days where I find the covers popped off and barely hanging by the tethers. They'll just do it randomly without being hit or anything.

Nola Susan · Apr 17, 2023

JuneBug said:
Yes, this happened to me. A kid ran a red light, hit me, and the cover popped out. But as you can see from the picture, the cover stayed attached by it's little tether. It's hard to believe that yours just popped out on it's own and the tether broke as well. More than likely, some lowlife needed one and "borrowed" yours.

Nola Susan · Apr 17, 2023

They fall off easily, especially in car washes. Replacement ones either fit or are hit & miss in fit. The ‘tether’ you speak of doesn’t work. It’s flimsy at best. I never had this problem until I had my bumper replaced. Now, it happens all the time. I have resorted to applying some clear 3M film to keep them in place.

One of My Tow Eyelet Covers Fell Off

NathanF

JuneBug

NathanF

ellocovg

Carbon

NathanF

RAVMAN

NathanF

guttermanster

NathanF

.33900

pdpnitro

advance1209

Nola Susan

Nola Susan

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