What's with the Yaris hoods?

[BennyLava]

Originally Posted by Gogogordy

That gap is of NO consequence whatsoever.

Toyota didn't "overlook" it....thats not their M.O., there's probably a very good engineering or manufacturing rationale behind it. I doubt it's an "issue" or a deficiency...it's the way the car is and *somewhere* somebody knows why. Exactly why. That's engineering.

Perfection is unattainable no matter how much you spend on a car and "value" is where it's at.

In the big scheme, it's one of the finest, yet lowest priced cars around and that (seemingly) large gap between the hood and front fascia doesn't change that one iota.

Some of these replies... LOL. As an engineering student, I can tell you that's not even close to being true. Toyota (like all automakers) can and does make mistakes. You forget the "Moving you forward, even when you don't want to" bug? In most cases everyone likes to blame engineers but they're only human, they make mistakes just like everyone else. On top of that, they're dealing with a set budget and they can't go over it without permission from corporate. You sound like you just want to think that your Yaris is a flawless car and maintain your fanboyism with toyota. Well, (and this goes back to my engineering point) the Yaris is just an entry level car. It is THE entry level car in toyota's whole lineup.

So of course there are going to be overall quality and "fit 'n finish" items, that will arise. That for example, you simply would not see on an $80k Mercedes or BMW or whatever. Its going to happen, its called getting what you pay for.

Originally Posted by yougojay

Like I said, that sounds like a disaster...welding on extra metal to fix gaps? Never heard of that...and would NEVER try to fix gaps on a 15,000 + dollar car...never. I am perfectly fine with this 1/4'' gap. The car panels line up excellent. It is like night & day versus an American made car.

You're not very familiar with automotive restoration then. I promise you its going on all over the country in autobody shops, as we speak. I'll see if I can dig up a link about the process, although I don't see why you couldn't imagine that it would work great. You have a gap, and you tack weld on a few small welds to hold it on. You use filler to get it all evened up and smooth, then you sand, primer and paint. What exactly is hard to understand about how that would seal up a gap, and look like it came that way? You familiar with what they do in wood working? Or masonry? Or other metal working?

Also I have 2 other american cars, besides my Yaris. While I won't disagree that some american cars may share the type of fitment problems as the yaris hood, mine don't. Neither of my other two cars have anything even close to the problem the Yaris hood has, that's part of the reason I started this thread. (2008 F-150, 2010 Dodge Challenger)

http://www.antiquecar.com/bodyshop_door_buildup.php

You'll have to scroll down a bit to get to the gap welding part. Absolutely no reason you couldn't do this to a yaris hood to fix that awful gap. There is also a video of the process from Powerblock TV, I will see if I can find later on when I have time.