Yakima Products, Inc.Reviews of yakima.com

Added a new Yakima Base Line rack to my 2022 Toyota Camry. I followed all required dimensions and triple checked all fasteners. When I first installed it, the rubber facing on the clips tore loose and the rack came off the car. I epoxied the rubber material back on. This flaw on the other clips caused me to loose the rack with bike on it on the highway. Damaged my car, the rack and tore up the bike. I have owned several Yakima racks over the years and never had one come off. Called Yakima right away, so far not much has been resolved. I now have an expensive damaged rack that should not be used.

Crappy quality control! One tower comes with a bolt head too big to allow the outer clip to install. Same tower and one other have flanges to narrow to allow the clips to sit properly. Seating the clips properly in the flange is something the instructions expressly require users to do! What an expensive piece of crap!!

Skyline roof rack tower failed. The cast part of one of my towers broke while half way to my destination, delaying my trip two days while locating a new replacement tower. I provided pictures I had taken prior to my trip of my vehicle with my canoe loaded on Yakima’s system. I provided pictures of the broken tower and receipts of my purchase for the part that broke and for the replacement part. (I was required to purchase a full set of 4 skyline towers for $289.00). My request was that they provide a replacement for the one tower that broke. I suspected I was in trouble when their 1st response was to ask for the make, model and year of my of my vehicle, although I already provided them with a picture that showed my 2021 Honda Pilot with my 50 lb. canoe mounted on the the center of the rack on gunwale brackets and tied securely to to the two round bars and two lines tied to the front of my vehicle, one on the drivers side and one on the passenger side. After supplying them with the information requested, they requested that I give them the number located on the inside of the broken skyline towers even though I already supplied them with a receipt. I sent them the number along with a picture of the bar code above the number. Next, they asked how I secured the back of the canoe which extended a couple feet beyond the tailgate. I told them there was no need to tie down the back, the canoe was immovable. Explaining that the back tie would have only put more pressure/weight on the towers. I was then sent a picture of the “correct”, (and required), way to tie my canoe to the vehicle, showing the additional rear tie down pulling the boat down downward toward the rear bumper. The customer service lady asking me if that made sense? I responded that it did not make sense. The boat was already fastened tightly to the cross bars and pulling tighter would have only increased the pressure on the towers, as it turned out could not withstand the load already put on the from tying the boat to the snugly against the crossbars. Then James, (Yakima’s Warranty Service Specialist), came into the conversation, notifying me that it is “absolutely crucial” that the rear of the boat be tied down. Claim denied!! I’m leaving off my response to James as would likely violate the rules I had agreed to abide by.

We purchased a fold click 2 bike rack (in itself a very practical product) however it failed on multiple occasions therefore does not perform per the product statements. When Yakima warranty was contacted every problem was made to be ours, the story goes: We originally purchased the product in May 2022 for a long trip in the Australian outback in our campervan/small motorhome, we had 2 x Leitner foldable eBikes and loaded them (without the batteries) as per instructions, weight was well under specs, we also had a cover over them. We traveled from Sydney heading for Queensland and when we reached Roma some 1000klm into our trip noticed the bikes were moving on the rack, inspection revealed that both the "Grabs were missing and the bikes had been moving around and caused considerable damage to the bikes and the attachment bar had begun to crack around the base. Skip to the warranty issues, of course apparently we hadn't tightened the grabs sufficiently or had overtightened them, as they were gone we couldn't prove one way or the other what happened so that turned out to be a Yakima way out, had to be our fault, there were numerous accusations made about the loss, including that the vehicle was not suitable for the product and that we should have noted that restriction on their web site (could not locate the alleged notation anywhere on the web site). Ultimately after some months Yakima, as a 'good will' gesture gave us the replacement parts to repair the rack but would not approve the damage to the bikes (which was substantial). It goes on, we had not used the rack since replacing the parts and planed another trip this time with different eBikes, loaded (without batteries) and as per instructions, well under weight. Given the issues we had had on the previous trip we made sure that everything was as per instructions. We traveled from Sydney to outback NSW, covered approximately 800klms and at one of our stops for coffee noted a familiar part on the road just behind the car, so picked it up and checked the Rack to see if it belonged, affirmative, it was the rack side of the grab, the grab had gone, so (with the original failure firmly still in mind) we retraced the last 5 kilometers of our travels and got lucky, we found the other parts of the grab on the roadway. The parts retrieved proved the problem was a broken grab shaft which then allowed the rest of the Grab to fall onto the roadway, De'ja'vu, it happened again but this time we could prove the problem was Yakima's. When we returned home we made the warranty claim and again the same blame game, same warranty manager with all the accusations that the problem was caused by us. Ultimately after some 2 months we were able to get replacement parts for the missing Grab and compensation for the subsequent damage to the bikes. We travelled exclusively on sealed roads on these trips. Both Warranty experiences were appalling, it was only that we had retrieved the faulty part that they had approved the claim, but they fort hard to prove it was something we did that caused it to break, the previous time we had no proof so were at the mercy of the Warranty manager. Yakima Australia should be ashamed of their customer warranty treatment, its like we are criminals trying on a scam. We will never buy another Yakima product nor would we recommend the company as their customer experience values are non existent.

Ordered sweet roll kit. Yakima sent me the wrong parts…Yakima couldn’t load a bag of groceries let alone a Yakima customer order…..how much pot do you folks smoke before clocking in?

I just purchased my first set of Yakima roofbars, always bought Thule previously. The rubber feet do not stay on the footkit, they keep falling off. So I raised a ticket asking for advice. Their auto-reply states they are very busy and should get back to me in 14-21 business days. Great customer service, NOT. Maybe I should have bought Thule instead. UPDATE. Well, their timescale has just expired and ZERO contact from Yakima. How do they stay in business?

I have purchased many Yakima products in the past and I just purchased their HD rack for my truck. I have called 11 times in 10 days and after 30 minutes listening to hold music, hung up. Their chat bot is the worse that i have ever used. What happened, they had the best customer service years ago, know they are the worse!

After decades of owning Yakima racks,I don't think I'll ever buy another Yakima product again. In June of 2023 I bought a specific-fit roof rack for my 2020 Chevy Bolt directly from Yakima.com for $741. A few months into the summer, I decided to go a different route. All of the items are in the original packaging, boxes, etc, and most of the items have never been touched. I believe that if I had purchased this item through, say, REI, I could have easily returned this item. However, Yakima's policy is 30-day returns. So now I have this $741 worth of Yakima stuff that I'm trying to sell online, and I'll be lucky to get 1/2 of what I paid.