Anyone have this happen?

[Larry Gamble]

I'm cruising about 80 on the I-road and BOOM! The whole truck shudders once and shakes for a moment! It feels like I just ran over a VW Bug or something. But, it doesn't happen any more.



I'm looking all over the place and not seeing any problems. Gauges are all OK, nothing bouncing in the road behind me, steering still feels right, but the guy who was right behind me is now in another lane and about four car lengths back. Nothing seems wrong, but it sounded like my Trac just exploded.



Finally, I see it. The front half of my factory hard cover is folded over! It was secure the other day and I don't normally use the front half. But, a latch failed and that caused the whole thing to blow open with a LOUD BOOM. :unsure:

 

[Nelson Atwell]

For that to happen, TWO latches have to fail. Always make sure both latches on the front are snugly latched in place. I usually have to turn the key to get one of them to latch. To check, try pulling up on each corner of the tonneau. If the corner lifts up, then that corner is not properly latched.

 

[Richard L]

It's happened to several members here. I'm not sure that the latch fails as much as they did not latch correctly (possibly need adjusting) The slight bouncing up and down causes a partially secured latch to release and they wind catches to cover and flips it back over.



Check your cover for damage. One person had their cover crack when theirs flipped open.



...Rich

 

[Todd Z]

I have had the locks stay open after opening it with the key. The cables do not spring back to the lock position...



ALLWAYS check to see if the cover is locked after dropping it closed...

Todd Z

 

[J Ellsworth]

Happened to me once... went over a bump on the highway... BIG BANG... and a mini heart attack... looked in the rear view mirror to see half of toneau on the other half... got off the next exit and resecured it....



Only happened once... could of been my fault for improperly latching it back.. who knows... luckily no damage done...

 

[dimas C]

You bet I have. Mine was with the advance cover. My wife was with me and made that soound only a woman can when she inhales all of the air inside of a confined space in one backwards gasp. Had to wipe afterwards. Now, I have a bungie cord across the front.



dimasc

 

[Kevin Palmer]

As noted several have had the issue. Rich L (Post a few above mine) is a site sponsor. At one point he sold a cable to prevent the cover from flipping all the way over when this happened.



I suggest emailing him to see if he still stocks the product.



Rich, if you read this re-post if you still make the cable.



Just curious as you did not mention it in your post.

 

[Heather Rueckert]

I had my front latch replaced under warranty last year. Only reason I discovered it was I bought the Leverlift kit from Rich L. and went to install the front shocks and the latch wouldn't release at all. -Heather

 

[Bill Ellis]

Never happens with a soft cover. Also, to get full use of bed don't have to remove cover, just roll it up. Hard covers look nice.....but, I prefer the functionallity of the soft cover. Looks are secondary.

 

[Larry Gamble]

It was a very bumpy, crap for I-road expansion joints. I checked and there is no damage to the cover. One of the latches doesn't engage very easily and it appeared secure. But, when you try to lift the pax side, it will raise slight thus giving away the faulty latch.



It made for a tense moment or two until I figured out the problem then I took the next exit and fixed it. I bet the guy who was tailgatting me thought it was going to depart my ST and embed itself in his windsheild.



LG

 

[Mike Dziubina]

i had my front latches replaced a couple days after i bought the cover. the whole front assembly was jsut screwed up. the ford dealer said this problem is not too uncommon. they should replace it.