HILUX ISSUES
I own a Toyota Hilux DC 2,8 GD-6 auto, purchased from Mccarthy Toyota Pietermaritzburg in April 2016, and it’s been a nightmare in terms of dust ingress on the farm. Months later, Toyota eventually admitted there was a problem and installed a “dust fix”, which reduces dust entry. Now I have a new problem, which I’ve noticed only on longer journeys: there’s a pressure build-up in the cabin to such an extent that I get headaches (I know the condition, as I am a commercial pilot).
I am still on Toyota’s case about the problem, as I am reluctant to drive the vehicle. Can you assist in the pressure testing in the cabin to strengthen my case? Has Toyota tested and passed the “dust fix” from a safety point of view? LANE REYNOLDS Via email Unfortunately, we don’t have the equipment to measure pressure build-up, although we are puzzled that a cabin can retain pressure that’s high enough to cause a headache. A possible reason is the “dust fix” has altered the characteristics of the sound waves inside the cabin (essentially small pressure waves), which may lead to the symptoms you mentioned. Have you tried another, similar-spec Hilux to compare with yours?
We asked Toyota South Africa Motors (TSAM) to answer the following questions: 1. Does the Hilux have a dust problem? 2. What is a “dust fix”? 3. Could a side effect of the “fix” be higher cabin pressure?
Senior manager of corporate communications at TSAM, Clynton Yon, responds: “1. We have received a few requests from customers who operate their vehicles in inordinately dusty conditions. 2. The service action involves upgraded sealing of the cabin; enhanced control of air flow through the cab; and a computer reset to ensure that the fan defaults to ‘fresh’ instead of ‘recirculate’. 3. The purpose of the upgrade is to ensure that the cabin operates fractionally above ambient atmospheric pressure. This results in a positive pressure being maintained within the cabin to eliminate the possibility of dust ingress. Tested at our Product Research Centre in Johannesburg, we measured an increase in cabin pressure of 1,7 millibars. This equates to an approximate 0,2% increase in cabin pressure, a negligible difference which would not be discernible.”