Do your doors shut hard?

[zirconx]

On my 97, both the driver and passenger doors take a good slam to make them shut. At best this is an annoyance, at worst it ends up leaving my dome and/or courtesy lights on, giving me a dead battery the next day.

Do you have to slam your doors to get them to latch all the way? Mine bounces a bit and then latches at half way. I can't for the life if me figure out what its hitting. Once its latched half way, I can push on the door and it moves in and out, but I can't push it hard enough to latch it all the way, you have to slam it to get it to do that.

The door sagged quite a bit when I got it, so I figured thats why it shut hard. But now I've fixed that, and it lines up perfectly. But its still hard to shut.

On a related note, I'm surprised the Avalon will allow the battery to go dead because a door isn't shut all the way. Wasn't the Avalon supposed to be their 'luxury' car? Anyone know where I could tap in to add a timer that will turn off all the interior lights if they are on for more than N minutes? I'm thinking it would have to be at the fusebox, and then its going to affect whatever else is on that circuit.

[gjp220]

You Bettcha!! I have to slam mine also. I bought my'99 Platinum ed. used from my sister in law. She was aval about it and had it back to the dealer several times....to no avail...I guess just live with it !!

[KeepItSimple]

The same thing happens with my '95 Avalon with the windows up on the passenger side. Windows down no prob. but that's usually not the case.

I know to slam it way hard enough now but most passengers don't.

I remember a similar thing with our 1960 VW when I was a kid -- if the windows were up and someone slammed the door it would also slam your brains against the window if you were inside. That thing would float if the windows were up.

[mitch2264]

I have a 96 and you have to slam the driver's door pretty hard to get it to shut completely! I am a little relieved to see other saying the same thing! I have noticed if a window id down it closes with no problem--also on mine if the trunk is open the door shuts much better. These cars must seal like a bank vault

[AvalonMan96]

The only time the doors on my 96 Avalon don't fully latch is when I just lightly push the door closed. However, if I close with normal strength, it has no problem latching fullway.

What's really an annoyance, however, is that the door is a bitch to close if latched halfway. You just can't "bump" it shut, you have to reopen and close again. I've never had this problem with my old gen 2 Camry or my truck, a simple push securely closed the doors on both vehicles. I guess it might have something to do with thicker door seals as this is a luxury car.

As far as the dome light remaining on, I am quite anal about double checking to see if all my electrical items are off before/after exiting the car (as well as making sure the windows/moonroof are closed before leaving the car). It's because this behavior why I've never had a dead battery (that, and the auto-off headlights ).

Also, if you have a Toyota security system, the door will not lock and the alarm will not arm if the door is left ajar.

--AvMan96

[aigochamaloh]

95 xls here, also no problems shutting the doors. i don't believe i ever had to slam it shut...

[BigLuigi11889]

yo i got the same shit happening to me, its a REAL ANNOYANCE!!! how can i fix that?

[fmalone]

Yeah I have the same problem right here too.

[zirconx]

Take it to a body shop and ask. I'll do the same and we'll see what we come up with.

It is a real pain.