so here is a first.... my wife was driving the car to lunch today (and I will warn you that she is not the most perceptive when it comes to rattles or noises) and she said everything was normal when the front right passanger door popped open. She said the alarm went off, lights came in the car. Naturally as she kept moving forward it shut and hasn't opened since.

I drove the car this afternoon trying to replicate (lock on, lock off) pulling the door, turning left quickly, etc and nothing.

because my wife is not very perceptive, I do believe there is a small possibility that the door might have been not shut correctly but she says she didn't notice any of the noises or pre indicators that it was the case.

my question is, are these vehicles equipped with any safety feature that would result in door opening if say the car was in an accident? If not, has anybody experienced anything similar? Anything I can check on the door to see if it is operating and locking correctly?

i wouldn't be as concerned for this if I didn't have a dog that sits in the right front seat a lot of the time and could just fly out if this happens again. I will bring it up to the service guys when I go in for the next service but after all the testing today I just think it's one of those things that is impossible to replicate.

Im puzzled.

 

after further "investigation " she says it didn't fly open, it just stayed on the second latch, but the alarm did come on and the lights did turn on. Still not ok, but def not as "dramatic"

 

If I was giving odds, I would say its 99% someone didn't properly close the door, 1% odds the latch is malfunctioning.

But there is no function that "pushes" the doors open in an accident, you would need electric solenoids to do that and the GX doesn't have those. There might be some sort of "unlock" that happens in accident, but the door does not automatically open.



I will say this, SEVERAL times on my 2017 GX, I've had problems closing the door. It's almost like the seals are "too tight" and you have to put some force behind it.

 

Thanks for the insight. I am leaning towards the door not being shut correctly. I lubricated all the parts yesterday just to make sure everything is moving correctly but yes, to your point the car is very well sealed.

 

This happen to me to. Only this was lx570. I think that is because the door wasn't properly shot. Now I shot the door a little harder, and so far this hasn't happened again.

 

One of the things I really liked on my '94 Acura Legend coupe was the door closing. Gently close the big coupe door and it had an electric closer like this for the rear GX door.
http://slamstop.com/en/gx460/slamsto...er-lexus-gx460

 

GX may have minimal or small air baffles in the rear. Most of the cars I have had with these allow easy closing of doors. I suppose this would limit water intrusion though in markets where Prados often swim...even though those air baffles are effectively one-way.

 

I laughed when i saw this thread. I had my left rear door "open" on the highway a couple weeks ago. Like the OP, just released to the first catch on the latch, but still. I've noticed the doors do take more effort to close properly than most.

 

I can't tell you how many times I have "shut" the GX door only to find that, even though I gave it a good shove, it didn't close all the way.

 

Well its good to hear that it is likely the door not being shut. I have told my wife "the forum has spoken - you left the door open" so if you guys don't hear from me again, you will know why.