Southern California can get quite windy from time to time. This past Saturday through the Agua Dulce Canyon was no exception. As I made my way the grade, I was hit by a fierce headwind. Being shaped like a brick, the Jeep was rocked and buffeted the whole time.
What had me concerned the most was that I saw the hood slapping up and down. Most of the time it was chattering as if it got the cold shivers. But a few times I was hit by gusts of such force that I could see the rubber fasteners stretch a good distance then slam the hood back down with a loud thud. I was worried that another good gust like this might loosen a fastener and throw the hood back at the windshield.
Maybe I was freaked about something that was very unlikely, but just in case I pulled in behind a truck lumbering up the hill as a shield. Though the hood still chattered, it didn't pop up and slam down any longer. It made me wonder if a metal fastener would be better than a rubber one.
Am I too paranoid, or would you want metal too?
Scott Jacobs, Sr. Mgr, Photography
canadaphant says:
03:48 PM, 01/30/12
I'm pretty sure it does have a metal hook at the front, just like any other modern vehicle. Not that I don't appreciate what you're talking about, that's really disconcerting. Most vehicle need extreme winds to experience hood movement (try an air dryer in an automatic car wash, for example) and one weird thing I love about my Jag is the way the hood never budges-wonder how much engineering was put into that idiosyncratic little detail.
lautomobile says:
04:56 PM, 01/30/12
canadaphant is correct, there is a metal hook as a backup. (I purposely examined the hood release on a 2012 Wrangler just this past weekend to verify this.)
heidis says:
05:31 PM, 01/30/12
Early in the current gen's run, there was hideous problems with hood lifting at speed given the stretchy tendencies of those hood stays. My 2012 hasn't seen any problems so I'd assumed Chrysler had improved on the materials. But perhaps with the heat down there in Socal versus Norcal, you are seeing the problem more readily. If this becomes an issue, check out Daystar's hood latch replacements that are made of reportedly stiffer materials. It's just an easy replacement part for the rubber pieces.
carchatter1 says:
09:35 PM, 01/30/12
WOW! That must have been some serious headwinds! I recall the Car and Driver article about how the Corvette's side windows would start to pull away from the seals at high speed. Not really likely to blow out, but yeah that is disconcerting. I would do the metal latch replacement, but would that put too much stress on the rest of the attachment?
dinobot666 says:
06:28 AM, 01/31/12
I've seen wobbly hoods in crazy headwinds in the Great Plains on all sorts of vehicles. I can see why it may look exaggerated with the rubber clamps, but this is still about the best way to keep a hood like this secured on a vehicle like the Wrangler. Don't worry about it, it won't pop open on you.
dmos says:
07:27 AM, 01/31/12
My '08 Jeep was the same. Driving across the open plains of Saskatchewan heading west means piling straight into the wind. My hood did the same dance you describe, but never left the closed position. The catch at the front is metal, and Jeep has been using rubber for this purpose since at least the YJ (my first Jeep experience).
Instead think of the silver lining - Free Cold Air Induction.
greenpony says:
10:22 AM, 01/31/12
I have to assume that the design engineers did their jobs, so I wouldn't worry too much about it.
jdbosmaus says:
04:03 PM, 01/31/12
A secondary hood latch, which can only be released manually from outside the car, has been part of FMVSS since the mid or late 1960s... don't know the exact year. Certainly it has been universal for a long time.
Accidents involving the hood opening were not uncommon before the regulation. Either due to hood latch failure or simply forgetting to close the hood completely at a service stop, the car would get up to highway speed and the hood would fly up in front of the driver. Sometimes the driver's view would be blocked, except for a small gap along the bottom of the open hood. Sometimes the heavy steel hood would break loose and land in front of following traffic. Not good either way.
Can you imagine the slavering among product liability lawyers if this detail had been overlooked in a modern vehicle? It would also undoubtedly be grounds for an instant recall, and probably a sales moratorium as well.