G3 Onyx Toe Pin Breakage – Rare but Real

I’d heard about a few of these G3 toe pin breaks over past couple of seasons. It is uncommon enough to term as “rare,” but still a concern as toe pin failure on a tech binding causes instant and total ejection. Sources at G3 say the problem is limited to earlier manufacturing runs. Word is that later this week they’ll publish a tech bulletin that explains how to ID bindings with the possible problem (we’ll do an addendum with that, or perhaps another post). They’ll have optional swap parts available soon as well (sometime mid January or February). According to G3, they’ll require the binding parts install to be done by their dealers. A WildSnow reader sent the following photos:

G3 Onyx toe pin breakage. Intact pin indicated by left arrow, broken pin indicated by right arrow. Click images to enlarge.

G3 Onyx pin break, detail view.

Again, this is a rare problem that only affects earlier manufacturing runs. I felt it worth reporting and am impressed with the way G3 is dealing with it. If you’re an Onyx owner my advice would be to wait till they come out with their tech bulletin later this week. Once you have that in hand, you’ll be able to ID which vintage binding you have. If your bindings fall in the range of ones that may have the problem, I’d advise getting the parts swap done at a dealer. If your bindings are newer ones that don’t need the swap, please don’t let this blog post cause any concern.

Here is the basic info from G3, as of January 11, 2012, describing how to identify bindings that could be prone to this.

If consumers can see small slits in the toe pins of their Onyx binding (see photo below), then they have a more recent version of the binding, and do not need to replace their toe pins. As mentioned above, the number of instances of toe pins breaking in early versions of the Onyx binding is extremely small. Nonetheless, G3 takes any issue involving any of its products very seriously, which is why we are sending this note and technical bulletin.

Here is what G3 is doing:

G3 is making new toe pins available to dealers and consumers who have older versions of theOnyx binding. The technical bulletin shows how to identify which version of Onyx binding a dealer or consumers has, so that it can be determined whether a toe-pin replacement should even be considered. These toe pins will be available on February 1, 2012 and are available by contacting G3 customer service or your G3 sales rep. The attached technical bulletin addresses how to change them out, which is a very straightforward process.

For any dealers who have Onyx bindings older than the 2011/12 production season, G3 will change out that dealer’s existing new unused Onyx binding inventory to current production-season models. Any used demo bindings will be addressed by the technical bulletin and replacement parts. This ensures that all models sold in the marketplace moving forward will be the latest versions of the Onyx binding.

Here at WildSnow we don't have any Onyx bindings with the slit in the toe pin, so we took this photo of another brand tech binding that has the slit, it is virtually the same as the Onyx slit and easy to see. Obvious if your bindings have it or not. Purpose of the slit is to act as a cutter to clean out the boot toe sockets once you have the bindings on your feet.