I am very surprised that Toyota designed something with this type of flaw. It makes the car look dirty when you open the door and it's embarrassing. Also you can hear rocks and water when you are driving and it hits the doors. I am really disappointed and hope they figure it out and fix it asap. I have to literally wipe the door frames of all four doors after it rains or long road trips or even after driving in a puddle.
Snow, salt and sand build up along bottom of the door. When you open the door the bottom inside has a build up snow salt and sand that may, over time, cause corrosion issues.
Got this 2014 Rav4 new LN "cheap equipped model ,real cheap equipped " but no so cheap in price . From day one dirt has kicked up inside the doors , but stops at the rubber gasket , so its a mess on the rocker paint and on the door cheap plastic inside cover . No dirt should ever be getting up under the door on any car or truck . Since the L cheap model had no mud flaps ,fog lights ,and door sill covers (now badly needed) ,I got the Toyota OEM mud guards from the dealer costing a lot more than web priced ones, thinking It would at least cut down some of the mess and they might be made right. The Factory mud guards make little difference if any but the look good when its dry outside and you don't drive the car anyplace and get then dirty .
Mostly my wife drives the Rav4 and she really hates seeing the dirt & mud just under the door gasket on the rockers . I wonder if installing a solid from front to rear door step would help . The OEM one is priced out of sight and its PLASTIC ( Plastic running board step, Cheap! ) as well as the front Factory front mud flap then will not fit . I have not seen many running boards Rav4 Mounted in person. Some after market ones are painted steel that will look like crap in less than a year when the rust sets in and others are Chrome so poorly done their are like Walmart cheap kids bike wheels, and painted Alloy will never looked rusted but paint flakes off nice. Anyhow Its a very poor design, the design group should all be pink slipped and be selling fast food or cleaning floors in their own offices .
had a 1999 Camry CE Cheap Edition ,that's what CE stands for and It was the trade in for the Rav4 .From 1999 to 2014 I had only one issue with the Camry. The Little wimp 4 cylinder had no power from day one and the Cam was driven by a stinking EZ bust hard to install belt . Other than that it was a very good car , Fare on Gas use and did well in a minor road crash . I hated the handling and lack of power, but it was just a soft ride car not a Sport Car. As far as the Rav4 Its not a real SUV not a Station Wagon Car, and far from the old days of Really well built and well Designed Cars and Trucks .
Update from Feb 17, 2015: So far between the door edge and the body sill just below the rubber gasket is still filling up with Mud Snow Ice and looks like crap . A close fit running board step might work as a fix ,but for now I don't have the good weather or time to install one . Wheel well mud flaps don't work at all and are not worth buying . If you have a running board and it works ,stopping the mud on the door bottom let me know ,
We just purchased a new 2014 Toyota RAV4. We had to drive it home in the rain the day we purchased it. The roads still had some sand on them from winter even though they looked pretty clean. When we got home we noticed sand on the inside bottom of the doors. The design allows sand, salt and even snow to enter the opening at the bottom of the doors since there are no rocker panels. Going thru a car wash will not wash this area and will have to be cleaned by hand. Really a bad design.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
THE DOORS DO NOT SEAL ON THE BOTTOM ! IF YOU FIT A SEAL, JUST LOWER, IT WILL SEAL AND THE MUD CAN'T GET IN.
- tinusmarais, Worcester, South Africa