zes

Every time I closed the front door of the drivers side on my 300h, I noticed that the outer door panel (lower section, bottom 1/2 of the door) just behind the side mirror vibrates (I can crudely say that it is like how side of a tend would flap in the wind). I was curious so I pressed that part of the door with my index finger and it deforms inward easily by 1/8". My wife's 2011 Altima was parked right next to it and there is no deformation as all if I press on the Altima door. If I press the 300h door at mid height it is rigid as presumably it has a beam inside.
I am surprised at how thin the metal is. This explains how a Camry drivetrain works well on such a large car and how light the ES feels, but man those doors are thin! It does well on a crash test so I suppose it is OK but I wonder how it will hold up against dings and other abuse such as weather on the long run.
Thoughts?

SLH

Try not to touch other cars with the lower part of your door. Particularly, at high speed. Damage may result.

Seriously -- Every manufacturer looks for ways to make their cars lighter in weight. Less weight allows increased fuel economy.

TechNut

I share your concerns in general, although I don't think I would be worried about the minor surface blemishes being any worse as a result of this. Lexus seems to have done a nice job with this, and has kept the exterior noise dampened quite well. We know weight is the enemy in terms of fuel consumption. So it makes me nervous, but I'm not sure why it should...

Now take a look at the rocker panels. They appear to be plastic. There is a LOT of plastic on a new Lexus. To quote my grandfather, "they sure don't make em like they used to".

Modern passenger cars are little more than thinly skinned cages and are designed to absorb impacts rather than be so thick and heavy as to defend or push back against impacts. I'm sure that also accounts for more expensive repairs, but in minor repairs it may be better. I had someone back into a door on a previous car and they just replaced the door skin and repainted it. That would have never been possible back in the days of the big thick doors.

Nelexus88

One option is to add factory side moldings to your doors. This will stiffen the door panels and protect them from some door dings too. I got mine for about $100 on-line.

bc6152

lesz

There is no question that Lexus (and other manufacturers) are using thinner sheet metal, but there are at least a couple of advantages to the thinner sheet besides maximizing fuel economy.

Note that part of the reason why you see flexing of the sheet metal at the bottom of the doors when you shut the door is that the vehicle is built with very effective air seals, and, when a door is shut, the sheet metal needs to flex slightly to offset the increase in air pressure in the cabin caused by the closing of the door. But it is that excellent air sealing that also aids in reducing wind and road noise when the vehicle is being driven.

Also, while the thinner sheet metal might well mean that body panels are (marginally) more susceptible to door dings and other small dents, most often, the paint will flex with the small dent, and those small dents can be removed with minimal cost with paintless dent removal. On the other hand, thicker sheet metal may be (somewhat) more resistant to door dings and other small dents, but, when another vehicles door or other object does strike the sheet metal, something still has to give, and it is more likely that, even though there is no dent, the paint can be broken. When that happens, the two options are to do an ugly touch-up repair or to have the panel refinished at considerable cost (and with the hope that the refinished panel will have a good paint match). For me, I'd rather pay a small price for a PDR than to have the paint broken resulting in the need for a more expensive repair.

Thus, when I consider the better fuel economy and the other potential advantages of having thinner sheet metal, I'm okay with the decision by Lexus (and other manufacturers) to use thinner sheet metal.

zes

All, thank you for responding. I guess this is good engineering as even a thicker panel will not offer much more protection from side T bone impacts. That protection now comes from the beams inside the doors the center post and the airbags. So the car, does what it is supposed to, i.e. protect occupants with minimum weight.
BTW I rented a Ford Taurus for a week long trip from Ohio to Florida and although the interior volume is the same, that thing feels like a tank! The passenger cage does not feel as light and rigid as that of the 300h. Ford seems to have gone with the old, throw in the steel philosophy while Lexus has engineered the cage in a much more sophisticated manner. Compared to the Ford, the Lexus body cage feels light, airy and much more rigid, almost like an eggshell (hopefully much stronger!).