Gap below rear door letting snow/mud inside — normal design or missing plug?

[OWW]

Hi everyone,

I noticed something on my 6th-gen 4Runner and wanted to check with other owners.

There is a small gap/opening below the rear door, right at the lower corner near the rocker/step area. After winter driving, I’m finding snow, slush, and mud packing into this area, as shown in the photos.

My questions:

1. Do other 6th-gen owners have the same gap/opening in this location?
2. Is this normal factory design (for drainage/venting), or
3. Am I missing a plastic plug, grommet, or trim piece that should be there?
   
   Any photos or confirmation from other owners would be greatly appreciated.
   
   Thanks in advance!

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[Tarekith]

My ORP came with the factory running boards, and even after driving and horsing around in the snow for hours this morning (pic below) I did not see any snow inside like your pics. The factory boards are great for this FWIW, I don't get any snow on the side of the truck with them. Maybe just a little bit on top of the running boards.

 

[OWW]

My sales guy said this gap is for water drain purpose

 

[Lamuncha]

That cavity, if I have the correct location, is in the front of the rear wheel.
There should be a rubber bulb looking seal attached to the inside of the door. That bulb fits into the cavity.
when the door closes. One pic shows the door closed into the cavity.

 

[OWW]

I just popped into my 4Runner to see if it got the same rubber piece as Lamuncha’s. It looks like I’m all set, but I’m wondering if the gap between the rubber piece and the body is big enough to let snow and mud in while I’m driving.

That cavity, if I have the correct location, is in the front of the rear wheel.
There should be a rubber bulb looking seal attached to the inside of the door. That bulb fits into the cavity.
when the door closes. One pic shows the door closed into the cavity.

 

[NotApplicable]

You'll notice that there are several seal boundaries between the outer sheet metal and the interior. The truth is I've seen many vehicles like this these days where there's an outer seal actually somewhat on the inside of the rear wheel well, where the rear door closes. I think that in particularly muddy or slushy environments, it's not all that unusual for some debris/mud/slush to get past this first seal.

That being said, moisture from rain and car washes etc also gets between those outer seals -- certainly past the outermost one. I think some of these seals are primarily for NVH and not for moisture/waterproofness. I'd only be concerned if I saw stuff getting in past the innermost seal, into the actual cabin.

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