Hood can open if latches not latched.

    Folks if you close your hood and the latches fail to latch properly, then your hood can open. I have edited my original Video down to 8 min from about 13 min. I feel most folks only watched the hood opening part of the video and did not want to see any of my detailed explanation of my research into the issue. I know as my average watch time was 4 min. This information is to inform Slingshot owners of their responsibility of making sure the Latching system is totally latched as the Owners Manual States. I am not out to mislead anyone that the Extended Range Hood Hinge is unsafe or defective. My message is clearly stated in my video with the evidence of what can happen if you as the driver fail to make sure your latches are latched. I am showing you "Why". I spent a lot of time to make sure you understand how the Extended Range Hood Hinge works and why it has a Gas Lift Assist Device. All is explained in detail and I show how to close the hood and how to make sure it is latched. I want to make sure you are safe and do not get hurt or hurt someone else due to your neglect of not ensuring the Hood is latched before Driving. I want the people that don't understand these products to know the Why's. The hood Latching System is not 100 % all the time in latching, you have to check it. To all the folks with Factory Hinges, you will not have the hood to come up as it did in my video and stay in the upright position until you stop. If it does start to come up from unlatched latches, you can slow down and it will settle back down. Also I might add, Polaris has a warning category of different levels and explain the levels in the owners manual. Checking the latches is a Caution, one of the lowest levels. That is because they know the hood will not block your view of forward view and stay that way. Now it is show time, this can happen to you if you do not pay attention to the proper closing of your hood. The Extended Hinge Did not cause this to happen. The failed latches did and my neglect to double check.



    Edited 5 times, last by Samowens44: Changed the video ().

    Great information Sam.
    Just so everyone is clear, this doesn't just happen with the extended hinges. I made the mistake twice without the hinges. The hood will open and block your view entirely if it is not latched.
    Might be good to change the title so it doesn't paint a bad picture of just the extended hinges causing it.

    @Samowens44 , the exact same thing happened to us. I had @Dave@DDMWorks install the hinges on mine at SSITHC. He had all the DDM supercharger slings parked around his tent to take pictures and show them off the last night we were there. Well I didn't close the hood right for whatever reason. We left Kerrville and got on the interstate and was doing around 75 mph when ours lifted in heavy traffic. Lucky we had a good shoulder to drive on to. Now I check the hood before we leave the garage.

    :BLUESS:
    Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do.
    ~Mark Twain~

    Thank @Rob the Slob you so much for sharing that. It is a scary feeling for sure and yours would be worse. I don't know, I do mountain curvy roads and I hit over 60 a lot. There is no place to pull over and their are straight drops down the side. We have to be sure they are closed is my message.

    Edited once, last by Samowens44 ().

    Quote from Slingrazor

    Great information Sam.
    Just so everyone is clear, this doesn't just happen with the extended hinges. I made the mistake twice without the hinges. The hood will open and block your view entirely if it is not latched.
    Might be good to change the title so it doesn't paint a bad picture of just the extended hinges causing it.

    @Slingrazor, I do not feel the stock hinge could hold in an upright position. If it did start to come up, you could slow up and it would fall back down with gravity. The extended Hinge has a lift assit that will hold it there. Someone do a test of a stock hinge blocking the view as I show in my video. I would have to remove my hinge and reinstall the original to do it. I would like to see the video myself.

    Edited once, last by Samowens44 ().

    Quote from Samowens44

    Slingrazor, I do not feel the stock hinge could hold in an upright position. If it did start to come up, you could slow up and it would fall back down with gravity. The extended Hinge has a lift assit that will hold it there. Someone do a test of a stock hinge blocking the view as I show in my video. I would have to remove my hinge and reinstall the original to do it. I would like to see the video myself.

    The stock hood will open and lift to the full open position. As posted above, I have had it happen twice. I know of a couple other slings this has happened to.

    @SlingrazorI am going to test this, at what speed and how long will it stay open, will I be able to slow and have it close. I will produce the video, I am curious and need to know how this will affect safety. I did not think it could happen. Thanks for you input into my testing of the hood. I will make adustment to my notice if it proves out in a test. If anyone has video of this post please, this needs to be known.

    I did this on a test ride with no extensions on it. Since this was my first ride in one it scared the hebe gebees outta me. Good thing I got it on my gopro and I'm also glad it was one of the slower grey ones and not the faster red one that I ended up buying.


    RNJ12

    I had the hood pop up on me during a night ride, so I also lost fora\ward lighting since the hood blocked the headlights. Fortunately, it was a moonlit night and I was on a gentle left-sweeping curve, so I could see the right side/edge of the road enough to safely pull over and reshut the hood. At the time this happened, I was sometimes having to stop and relock the hood multiple times during a trip. For some reason, one of the hood latches kept popping, usually the rear passenger side latch, but this one time, all four latches released. I had been experimenting with some springs to help pop the rear of the hood loose once the latches were released, so I gave up on that experiment and haven't really had any problems since. Once was more than enough!

    The latches have up and down adjustment slots. You need to make sure the catch on the hood seats entirely into the bottom of the latch jaws. On all four latches. You could test this by using your phone camera to video each latch closing from under the hood.

    Quote from rickgi

    Just wondering if the same phenomenon will happen to the hood assist accessory as sold by meansling.com?

    as noted it is the hood latches that are at play here. The strut sits at a neutral position when closed and latched. Meaning that for the MeanSling hood assist to work it must be unlatched and pulled forward several inches before the compressed strut starts to lend assistance. If you were to unlatch the hood with the kit installed it would not move or go anywhere. It needs the extra motion to pull it forward past the assistance point.
    I will rework the instruction sheet to remind operators of the proper procedure spelled out by Polaris regarding the proper securing of their hoods.


    This same proper procedure spelled out by Polaris covers the other products on the market.

    Proud supporter of S.O.G.

    (Slingshot Owners Group)

    :thumbsup:

    Owner/operator: MeanSling LLC :thumbsup:

    Edited once, last by Ruptured Duck ().

    Quote from rnj12

    I did this on a test ride with no extensions on it. Since this was my first ride in one it scared the hebe gebees outta me. Good thing I got it on my gopro and I'm also glad it was one of the slower grey ones and not the faster red one that I ended up buying.


    RNJ12

    And yet you still pulled the trigger on the buy? Wow, my wife would have been running from that dealer.

    The trouble with bucket seats is not everyone has the same size 'bucket'.

    Quote from Ruptured Duck

    as noted it is the hood latches that are at play here. The strut sits at a neutral position when closed and latched. Meaning that for the MeanSling hood assist to work it must be unlatched and pulled forward several inches before the compressed strut starts to lend assistance. If you were to unlatch the hood with the kit installed it would not move or go anywhere. It needs the extra motion to pull it forward past the assistance point.I will rework the instruction sheet to remind operators of the proper procedure spelled out by Polaris regarding the proper securing of their hoods.


    This same proper procedure spelled out by Polaris covers the other products on the market.

    I think the point @Samowens44 is making regarding the assist strut is that once speed creates wind under the hood, and the hood rises, the strut helps keep the hood open, providing more resistance to the wind pushing the hood closed when its upright. Not being an engine gearhead, I don't often raise my hood other than to check fluid levels, admittedly every couple weeks. :whistling:


    EIther way, excellent pre-ride inspection tip for the walk-around, push on the latches!!

    The trouble with bucket seats is not everyone has the same size 'bucket'.

    I have to make this clear to everyone.


    IT IS NOT THE EXTENDER KITS THAT CAUSE THE HOOD TO GO FULL OPEN.


    As others have posted the hood will do this without a kit installed.
    The bottom line to the cause of this happening is the failure to ensure your hood is correctly latched.
    Those of us who were around from the beginning learned how to adjust our latches because they were horrible. The new slings hoods close a lot better than the original setups.

    On the rare occasion that we have failed to assure that the (stock) hood latches are secure, we have noticed that the hood does quite a bit of moving around, (like I see the hood in the video doing?), which should give plenty of warning to the observant driver? But, being conscious of what can happen is very helpful, thanks!


    Bill