Well disaster struck on Monday. I just finished making a brand new ez-slider on sunday. It was oak with 2" wheels.
My wife took the truck with my daughter on a school field trip Monday. After the trip I called to see how they were doing. My wife says she just heard a loud thunk in the rear.She asked me if I though it was the new ez-slide. I told her that I though it must be. ( I had not finished it with carpet and rubber stops yet) Well fifty miles later the wife arrives home goes to the back of the truck sees the tailgate gone and nothing in the back of the truck. The slider slid away to some unknown place. I had someone go look at the area where the wife heard the thunk. They were unable to spot anything. (A 4x 5 blue slider should be easy to spot)
when I arrived home I took a look at the truck.There was no damage to the truck so the slider must have slid easily away. What struck me is that the tailgate has such a light release. Someone can actually pull up on the handle and release the gate without lowering it. One of the other mothers placed a car seat on the back of the truck for my wife to cart her child home. My guess is that in doing so they grabbed the rear handle and pulled it up unaware that they released the gate. I tested this theory and it is extreemly easy to just flick the handle and release the gate without lowering it.
This is a MAJOR issue in my book. I have not seen any discussions specifically on this point. Does anyone know how to make this heavier. The Autolock on the tailgate would not work if the truck was unlocked when this happened. The gate would just be locked but still in a released position upon autolock. What we need is a way to hook up the rear gate to the door ajar light. This would bother somepeople that drive with the gate down. However we could hook up and overide as well.
Sorry for the long post. I just want others to be aware of the likely cause for sudden tailgate drop.
My wife took the truck with my daughter on a school field trip Monday. After the trip I called to see how they were doing. My wife says she just heard a loud thunk in the rear.She asked me if I though it was the new ez-slide. I told her that I though it must be. ( I had not finished it with carpet and rubber stops yet) Well fifty miles later the wife arrives home goes to the back of the truck sees the tailgate gone and nothing in the back of the truck. The slider slid away to some unknown place. I had someone go look at the area where the wife heard the thunk. They were unable to spot anything. (A 4x 5 blue slider should be easy to spot)
when I arrived home I took a look at the truck.There was no damage to the truck so the slider must have slid easily away. What struck me is that the tailgate has such a light release. Someone can actually pull up on the handle and release the gate without lowering it. One of the other mothers placed a car seat on the back of the truck for my wife to cart her child home. My guess is that in doing so they grabbed the rear handle and pulled it up unaware that they released the gate. I tested this theory and it is extreemly easy to just flick the handle and release the gate without lowering it.
This is a MAJOR issue in my book. I have not seen any discussions specifically on this point. Does anyone know how to make this heavier. The Autolock on the tailgate would not work if the truck was unlocked when this happened. The gate would just be locked but still in a released position upon autolock. What we need is a way to hook up the rear gate to the door ajar light. This would bother somepeople that drive with the gate down. However we could hook up and overide as well.
Sorry for the long post. I just want others to be aware of the likely cause for sudden tailgate drop.
