I think I finally figured it out. So nice of Land Rover to put a Boot Puller on their doors. Now I can get help pulling off my boots as I relax on the ride home. Or is there another use for this thing?

 

Good to see something realistic come from it.

I believe its design purpose is to disable the ability to mistakenly open the hood while driving the vehicle. Not sure if that's a regulation somewhere in the world or just an abundance of caution.

 

I don't know why they tacked that thing on the door. Obviously it prevents opening the hood / bonnet with the driver door shut, but why? Has there been a recent epidemic of morons suddenly pulling the hood release lever while driving at full speed down the highway? I wonder if they install it on RH drive vehicles too, or if it's yet another North American mandated "safety device" only.

 

Yes, I have seen it on right hand drive driver doors, as well.

 

Ha!! Well that's an old-tech solution to a very high-tech vehicle. In fact, in the '80's we had an old beater CJ-5 Jeep. It was lifted, trashed and we ran the heck out of it. Anyway, I was driving to the town over from us and just as I got it up to 55mph the hood popped up on me. My idiot brother didn't put back on the hood latches when he worked on it. It had the side latches, not the under hood "modern" thing. Anyway, it was with great excitement that I tried to rapidly slow it down with drum breaks and a very top-heavy sway from the lift kit. It was the first time in my young life I ever thought about mortality.

I'm going to now rest easy that JLR has that covered for me.

 

Wranglers still have the side latches. But sometime between the CJ and present day, probably long ago I'm thinking maybe 70's give or take, a safety catch was added (like on all autos).

Said catch would presumably hold the Defender hood as well even if you released it at the lever in the cabin.

 

My high school beater was a 1976 red and yellow (due to replacing rusted panels), VW Dasher, 1.5 L four speed with mechanical lifters, rusted out floor panels, body panels, roof and hood (bonnet) hinges. I so loved that vehicle !! Unfortunately, VW had not yet figured out how to rust proof it. They soon after departed the U.S. market to figure out how to do that.

I must say that when the hood safety latch let go at speed, my question of whether or not it would come through the front window and land in my lap was answered.

NO. Instead it flew 15 feet into the air and landed 30 feet or so behind the vehicle. No damage at all -- put it back on and kept driving. Fun Times !!!

Enjoy !!

 

My dad had an old pee yellow Vega. It had one brown door which was a replacement when it got torn off at a gas station. The deal was each son drove it a year. If nothing happened, we would get our own used car. Three boys drive it like a nun. Then Alejandro came along. He was an exchange student from Spain. He was wild about the thought of driving because there they didn’t drive until 21. Two months later Alejandro walked home. He totaled the Vega. My dad asked what the hell happened. In a thick Spanish accent he said: “I was driving to school. I waved at the cheerleaders. And I didn’t see de bus!” He ran right into the back of the bus and totaled the Vega. Not a scratch on the bus. My dad angrily left the house to get a cup of coffee. As a kid I thought: wow, so mad he left. The older I get the more I realize it was so he wouldnt laugh in front of us…