I have to respectively beg to differ on this issue. For us, it's never the passenger side, always the driver side - probably just frequency of open/close cycles. Drivers open the door with gale force winds blowing directly from the rear to the front of the van and the door promptly rips out of the driver's hand and slams open. It typically dents the front fender, separates the door skin from the door and causes binding between the fender and door. I've replaced three driver side doors and have another two that are tweaked that we are just living with. This happens typically in the winter, when we have blizzards with high wind. It is very frustrating. I've personally had it happen when a car was parked next to the van and the door ripped open and slammed into the car next to me. That event really brought home to me how the door tweaks happen in an instant and it's really hard to prevent. I yelled at a driver about having it happen a few months earlier and really felt bad about it after that. There's not much an employee can do short of rolling down the window and doing a death grip on the door EVERY time they open it just in case the wind is there - highly unreasonable.

We purchase junkyard doors for like $250 or something and I put them on myself, but $900 doesn't surprise me if you are going to a body shop that is bringing it back to "perfect".

As far as avoiding the problem, the only thing I can think of is to watch the weather and issue warnings to drivers about carefully opening doors when wind is high.

 

just make a strap and be done with it

 

Not for a moment do I think this doesn't happen to any vehicle owner---I had a co-worker suffer a slight concussion from an older full-framed VW front door catching his head between the door and roof.

My skepticism with this OP seems justified because so far he's never returned to discuss or update this thread since its inception.

 

That IS odd

 

Please describe. I'm not seeing where a strap could go to prevent this and not hamper door/driver use.

 

I live in West Texas, and yep....its windy here, and yep, sometimes that door gets blown open as you're trying to get into or out of the vehicle.


With all the safety crap on new vehicles its a wonder that someone hasnt sued the car-makers for making doors that are subject to injure the owners, bystanders, and damage property.

I can see it now:


A wind sensor on the vehicle roof and a warning light/buzzer on the dash that tells you the door is likely to cause injury or death if opened!

And more $$$ for the mandated technology installed on on all new cars...and of course we pay for that.

Most class 8 truck/tractors have a simple door check, made of something like webbed safety straps, or other material, and its always installed in one or two places next to, or inside the door hinge, that makes this event much less damaging.


Here is a link to one:

Peterbilt Door Check Kit Pair - 1ADRK00084 at 1A Auto.com

 

put it near the hinges
out of the way and simple

 

I'm a body shop and we get this type of damage often, and making the repairs is good for business and all, but lately the new 2010 up Ford trucks have been in for this damage all to often! Very small weak hinges & a weak check strap for such a truck? so as I studied the problem on these new trucks it's in the hinge mounting flange & general design & mounting, only two bolts per hinge upper & lower on the door shell and they are all in line with each other this creates a easy flex problem on the door shell! it needs a third bolt or fastener to create a triangle mount effect.

The check strap scenario is suppose to solve this problem and allow for lighter hinges to be used. As on smaller import cars it works because less weight and smaller surface area to catch wind & so on. Also with no real bump stops built into the hinge the check strap is all on it's own to prevent the heavy door from hyper extending, every thing to lighten the weight of the truck! Well the doors are still pretty good size & heavy and if the wind catches it well there is a lot of force on that check strap plus it is in close alignment with the hinges so there is not much of a triangulated area to add strength to prevent the door from over flexing and crashing into the hinge frame on the A pillar, therefor causing 4 dimples in the door skin and or damaging and folding the outer skin breaking it away from the door frame, and then needing expensive repairs to be made.

So being a repair guy & body shop owner I decided to make a couple brks to solve this problem, and it has and work great and is easy to install by the average truck owner or a shop tech. I'm looking for a few other truck owners who might have had this problem and looking for a solution basically I'm looking to do some testing of my new brk kit to see how it works for others and get some good feedback all the while helping solve a problem that many will have down the road. Well I just realized this topic was on the Econolines my post refers to the F series trucks 2009 up

 

Despite the OP never posting follow up replies this thread is pretty much unnecessary, mostly because its simply not that big a problem.

I too have been in and out of the body shop business so I'll add that in my experience its nearly impossible for auto manufacturers to design in features that prevent every mishap that might befall their vehicles. We all complain about new vehicle costs yet have an unending list of things "they should have thought about...........". Which do we want; disaster- & idiot-proof vehicles or those we can call affordable? If its the former I suggest a decommissioned extreme duty military vehicle.

Not to pull the cranky old man card but since first driving in the late 1950's that encompasses over 100 vehicles door issues not related to normal wear and tear from normal operation have ever happened to me. That's not conclusive proof of anything but it does go to show that in general door issues aren't an epidemic situation that needs extensive investigation or retro-fitting.

Just my opinion ya know-----do as you personally feel is best for your own vehicles.

 

The only doors I've seen "hyper open" were results of operator error , not that other things don't happen.

 

Yeah---that's what I was saying----only not quite so directly!

I'll repeat the OP with his imaginary "poll" was probably trying to prime us for some sort of new device, soon to be for sale no doubt yet not one follow up post since all this first appeared.

 

That could be because of the climate and environment you drive in. If you park in garages often and don't live in a high wind area, that could be the reason you feel that way. I would actually rank the door-wind problem as at least worthy of menton and discussion. It's an expensive fix, and happens around once a year to our operation of 8 vans. I'd be interested in a fix, but I doubt there is anything practical. A warning sensor sounds cool to me, in spite of the op's sarcasm about it. But yeah, not practical.

BTW, I'm still not seeing where a strap would go where you could anchor it to the door and frame and have nearly enough leverage to stop a flying door. It would just rip out of the sheet metal if you put it on with a couple screws near the hinges IMHO.

 

This explains the issue or at least the results for me -
Replacing the upper hinge with a lower style hinge with detentes might slow down the door.

Something like this damper hinge - NHN, MICOM, Automatic Door, Door Closer, Sliding Door, Glass Door, Motion Detector, Door Hardware, Daihatsu - could attach with wimpy screws. It's job is to limit how fast the door swings, not to limit how much it swings. I don't know if as designed it will slow the door or try to close it.



Sixto
93 E150 Chateau 5.8 190K miles

 

I'm certainly willing to believe that this could happen in a stiff wind. I have not had messed up van doors but have had multiple home screen doors that ripped any and all check straps or hydraulics out of the wood--including really thick and long wood screws. I would wonder why it's the passenger door that the OP mentions unless that door is opened more often for some reason. If the vans are used in some kind of delivery biz for example, the door could be opened 20 or 50 or 100 times per day and that would cause more likelihood of catching the right wind gust at the right time...

I don't think a check strap (or an additional sprung hinge) added at the door jamb would help. There is simply not the leverage available on such small areas on the door or A pillar.

Maybe a 3 foot long steel chain or cable mounted on reinforced plates at the top corner of the door and the body behind it would work. That would give max leverage and the least shock when the door hit the limit. But it would be kind of silly and likely to cause other problems...

George

 

The guy in the video is being pretty dramatic but that's close to what we see. I think his issue happened over time rather than a single catastrophic event, which is more what we have. I have not seen what he is showing on the upper hinge where the body side sheet metal is cracking, but I have seen that cracking on the door side.

I didn't see it on that door, but we also see an issue with the folded over lip of the outside door skin which wraps around and makes a lip with the inside sheet where the hinges mount. There's a tack welded seam there that pulls apart and adds to the flex that happens at hinges and contributes to cracking.

The video guy talks like you need to call the junk yard to come haul your van away the moment you see a crack at the hinge, however I think with his van if he got a new door and then drilled holes at the ends of the body-side cracks, then had a skilled welder TIG weld along the length of the cracks that his problem would be solved for quite some time.

I managed a half *** MIG weld job on some door side cracking and skin seam separation and I got an additional year out of that door. I'm no professional welder.