CarComplaints.com Notes: The Toyota Matrix is the mechanical twin of the Pontiac Vibe.
Both models were a joint GM-Toyota venture, manufactured together at a NUMMI production facility in Fremont, CA. Only the heating & A/C systems are different.
I bought this car used in 2017 with one partially cracked handle I expected to need replacing and did so when it broke through. Over the next two years I have had to replace all of the other three handles at least once. Last one I replaced I didn’t get something connected right inside the door so it looks good but doesn’t work... and still need to redo that one when it cools off outside. After replacing all four door handles with new parts I now have two more handles break through this year.
I can still open the doors with the nub of what remains but am fed up with this issue. The door handles arrive in an even colored flat black but within months during the summer the color started to lighten to varying degrees of gray or lighter shades of black, and winter also seems to affect the deterioration as well. The material used is obviously NOT expropriate or engineered for extended out door exposure. There has GOT to be another option to make these handles out of or some kind of hack user can do to the replacement handle to make them last more than two years. I have seen many complaints across the web and many people selling replacement parts but found no solutions or alternative replacement parts that will last more than two years. Help!
I reached out to pull my door handle on the rear driver side door and the handle just cracked right off. It was very brittle. Just to note, the door handles on my car were not painted when I bought it or coated with any protective layer as far as I can see (I'm the second owner, so I don't know if it was originally painted). I assume it was due to the exposure of the plastic door handle to the sun that wore it out and made it brittle. I looked up the replacement handle online and it will probably cost between $20-$30 for a replacement. I don't think it'll be too hard to change it out myself...but I'm still pissed off that it broke off so easy. I wonder how long the other handles will last.
the back door handle on the passenger side cracked all the way through first. then May 25, 2012 the front pasenger door handles cracked in the same area.
- Donna B.,
New Braunfels, TX, US
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A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
I bought this car used in 2017 with one partially cracked handle I expected to need replacing and did so when it broke through. Over the next two years I have had to replace all of the other three handles at least once. Last one I replaced I didn’t get something connected right inside the door so it looks good but doesn’t work... and still need to redo that one when it cools off outside. After replacing all four door handles with new parts I now have two more handles break through this year.
I can still open the doors with the nub of what remains but am fed up with this issue. The door handles arrive in an even colored flat black but within months during the summer the color started to lighten to varying degrees of gray or lighter shades of black, and winter also seems to affect the deterioration as well. The material used is obviously NOT expropriate or engineered for extended out door exposure. There has GOT to be another option to make these handles out of or some kind of hack user can do to the replacement handle to make them last more than two years. I have seen many complaints across the web and many people selling replacement parts but found no solutions or alternative replacement parts that will last more than two years. Help!
- Jeffrey B., Edmond, US