Damp Seat Belts After Heavy Rain

I've got a 2016 SR5 Access Cab that just saw its first heavy rain...under my ownership. The rain happened last Saturday. I got in the truck Sunday morning, put seat belt on, it was damp/wet. WTF? Reach over to passenger side, pull that one out, damp/wet as well. (heavy sigh)

Not talking fully soaked, probably couldn't ring water out of it, but damp to the point of leaving a mark on the shirt after the drive.

No other water anywhere else. Doors were shut properly, seat belts were both fully retracted, no dumb monkey business on my end. Truck is bone stock. No lag screwed pepboys special roof racks, nor any LED light bars shimmied around the windshield...just a bare bones SR5 AC.

I found one other thread in the 3rd gen forum, but that had to do with faulty dealer installed roof racks.

Not really looking for pointers on where to apply copious amounts of RTV, just want to put the word out there and see if other AC owners have had this problem with their 3rd gen.

I don't like the fact a brand new (2016 is brand new to me) leaks during a rain. it does not leave a reassuring feeling that every other weather sealed joint in the truck is properly engineered/designed. First world problems...I know...

 

Your post is timely - I got in my 2017 today during a downpour and the seatbelt was wet. Interested to hear from others.

 

I had a 2013 access cab and my seatbelts got wet once in a while after a heavy rain. The doors were shut properly and not dripping wet but enough to wet your shirt.

 

If you want to figure out where is getting in ftom do a water test, garden hose in the are where water gets in and pull back the headliner as best you can to see what hole its getting in though. Sometimes it can take a good 10 minutes before you see water coming in so be patient

 

Had my rear seatbelts on my double cab short bed and my rear headliner soaked after rain or a car wash. Took it to the dealer, it ended up being the WHOLE back window. They replaced the entire rear window assembly and glass...everything. They initially thought it was the 3rd brakelight, because I guess that is a common problem on the 2016s.

 

Thank you all for the good info!

Ah, I hope it is not my whole rear window! :/

I plan on taking it in next week for more trans issues anyway. I am a little reluctant to have them start tearing into my truck trying to find the leak...don't want them causing more problems than they fix.

You'd think they'd learn things from 1st to 2nd to 3rd gen, and quirks like weather stripping/sealing issues would be all but solved. I guess you can never fully account for faulty manufacturing though...

Its raining again good today, on into tomorrow...I am curious if it will happen again...I'll keep you all posted

 

I recently had a leak due to improperly installed factory roof rack (they did not use any sealant). If you don't have a roof rack check your weather stripping along the top of your cab. The weather stripping is held on with clips and a small amount of double sided tape and it will pop right out. IF your truck is older you will need to clean the channel and replace the double sided tape after you pull your stripping up.

Under the stripping, there should be some tape covering a total of 5 bolt holes (DC) on each side, if the tape looks damaged or worn replace it but before you do ad a glob of silicon down in the bolt holes and you are good to go.

 

It may just be the 3rd brake light. Hopefully not the full rear window in my case.

 

Thanks again for the extra info guys.

I am hoping to have a look at it this weekend. I'll start with the 3rd brake light. Maybe it gives me an excuse to "upgrade" to the TRD pro light?

FWIW, it rained quite a bit yesterday, at one point I heard it hitting hard. This morning, seat belts were fine. That makes me feel a little better...

I will keep everyone informed as to the outcome/conclusion

 

There's no TRD Pro specific 3rd brake light.FYI

 

Huh, I thought I saw one that is "clear-ish"...maybe it was aftermarket...

 

I think you're thinking of the Tail lights.
Third brake light is above your rear window on the cab.

Third brake light is where some people have been experiencing water leaks.

**just noticed you have a access cab.
The TRD models I think have a different third brake light with clear lens. Sorry if I confused you.

 

No worries, I appreciate any info that could possibly help! Sounds like the easiest place to start.

 

I installed a factory roof rack last year and the supplied bolts had thread lock applied to the threads. Not only where they difficult to get in, but they leaked water thru the B pillars which got the seat belts wet. You likely have water under the carpet also. The roof has a black strip on each side that simply pop up and the bolt holes for a roof rack is under the strip. The bolt holes have a body colored piece of tape that covers the holes. I replaced the bolts and applied silicone to the threads which stopped the leaks.

 

Thank you for the info. I don't have any racks installed, but that is not to say that there couldn't be a leak from the same spot. I'll start by checking the brake light, if that appears good, I'll rip up those black strips next and check the tape covering the holes. Since I am the second owner, god only know what happened to my poor truck prior. Maybe somebody messed with that stuff :/

 

This happened to me, but only during a torrential downpour with my truck parked at a particular angle. I was very careful when I installed my roofrack, but evidently not careful enough. So far its only happened one time.

 

That's interesting you bring up "parked at a particular angle." My driveway has a slight slope to it, maybe 5 degrees. I park with the nose facing up the slope. I wonder if that had something to do with it? When I had my 07 Mustang, I parked with the trunk facing up the slope, and after any rain I would have to clear all the water that pooled up around the trunk lip. It didn't like that orientation...

It's been raining off and on all week so far. Last night it hit hard at one point. This morning I got into the truck and seat belts were slightly damp, not as bad as the first time though. So it does seem to be only very heavy rain...and now maybe it has something to do with the angle of my driveway. Sigh...but at least it sounds like we're narrowing down the causes.

I am starting to really wonder if the previous owner had some form of rack installed on the truck? It has nothing on it now, so maybe they did a crap job removing it. Judging by how beat up the bed liner is, it definitely seems like it was used for work/construction.

Radar says this weekend should be clear/sunny. Hopefully I get a chance to figure it out then.

 

You have an access cab, so the third brake light shouldn’t be the issue. Access cab has different third brake light than the double cabs, the double cabs have leak issues. Also, your truck doesn’t come with predrilled holes in the roof for a roof rack, so if the previous owner drilled holes, that could be your problem.
Another possibility is door seals not keeping out water correctly or perhaps even the shark fin antenna on the roof not sealed.
Hope you get it fixed quickly.

 

This is excellent info, thank you! Old roof rack holes, shark fin, then door weather strip will be my game plan.

 

I might have missed something, but if this is access cab then seatbelts are in rear door. If front seatbelts are wet then it is likely a leak past the door weatherstrip. If roof leak then a lot more should be wet than just seatbelts. Unless you're talking about rear seatbelts.