Today, after a very serious downpour, with local flooding in the area, I was going to take my 2019 Toyota Corolla SE Hatchback out to the store. When I closed the door, it sounded like someone doing a “cannonball dive into a kiddy pool.” The sound of water splashing was that loud when I closed the door. I opened the door and swung it back and forth and heard water slushing around, a lot of water…
I knelt down to check the drain holes and noticed that there were three rubber plugs along the bottom of the door where one might expect to find the drain holes. I removed the one closest to the hinges as it was the lowest and water poured out, a lot of water…
I checked the other three doors and none had any water in them, just the driver’s door.
I Googled “water in Toyota door” and found lots of links, but most important, I found a Toyota Technical Service Bulletin titled, “Sloshing or Splashing Noise Caused by Water Inside Doors”
https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/2020/MC-10187240-9999.pdf
It appears that some 2020 and 2021 model year Corolla and Corolla Hybrid vehicles, and some 2019 thru 2021 model year Corolla Hatchback vehicles have this problem.
From the bulletin, it appears that Toyota installed “dust plugs” into the drain holes and now if water leaks past the window seals, the door becomes your own private rainwater cistern.
Toyota’s solution if to remove the forward most dust plugs on the front doors and the rear most dust plugs on the rear doors.
This is a simple enough matter to do yourself, but the bulletin addresses that this work will be covered by the Basic Warranty for 36,000 or 36 Months, so I am going to bring the car in and have it documented while my car is still under warranty. Just in case I ultimately find my doors rust through or I experience moisture damage to the electric windows/electric door locks/etc…
This Web Page was posted in the Toyota Headquarters’ Forum.
Back in 1984, I bought a new Mercury Lynx. The dealer offered a special package performed by “Rusty Jones - Rust proofing and undercoating” that included a lifetime rust-through warranty. I took it since I was living in upstate New York with all that salt treatment on winter roads.
In 1988, I was then living in Omaha, Nebraska, and on this nice spring day, I was washing the car and as I wiped the lower part of the driver’s side rear door, the metal gave way, and my rag pushed through the door and rusty water started running out.
I pulled the inner panel and all the other doors and found the drain holes plugged with the spray from the rust proofing that was injected inside the door. The other three doors had almost suffered the same problem, near plugged drain holes.
I contacted Rusty Jones’ Business Headquarters and they informed me that I would need to take my car to the nearest Rusty Jones business for an evaluation and possible repair. I was in Omaha and they wanted me to take my car to Kentucky for evaluation… Not going to happen…
So, to preclude a “warranty war” with Toyota I am going to get it documented and repaired by Toyota. And I’m going check all my other vehicles and make sure their drain vents are open…
You should do the same…
