Dear Toyota: Stop Selling Ghost Parts

To the Toyota team,

I'm sharing this publicly because after nearly a year of trying to get a straight answer through the proper channels, I’m no closer to understanding what’s going on with the TRD 3” Lift Kit stop sale. And frankly, the way this has been handled is baffling.

I’m posting here with the hope that someone—who knows someone, who knows someone else, whose cousin, neighbor, or old pen pal works at Toyota—can pass along this small bit of free consulting advice: communicate.

Here’s the reality:

• I negotiated the OEM TRD 3” lift kit as part of my 2024 Tundra Platinum TRD Off-Road purchase.
  
  
• Shortly after, I was informed that the kit was under a stop sale.
  
  
• No one—not my dealership, not Toyota customer service, and apparently not even Toyota HQ—has been able to give me a real answer about why.
  
  
• The lift kit is still listed on Toyota’s official website as a dealer-installed option and part of the MOAB package.
  
  
• Toyota dealers are still offering it in good faith—because Toyota hasn’t made any formal announcement that it’s unavailable.
  
  
• Meanwhile, I've been told Toyota has inventory in stock but won’t release it to any dealers.
  
  
• Every attempt to get clarity is met with the same loop:
  
  "Check with your dealer."
  "We don’t have that information."
  "We’ve documented your feedback."
  

Let’s be blunt:
Toyota HQ put a stop sale on a product manufactured by Toyota, distributed by Toyota, and actively advertised on Toyota’s own website—yet Toyota HQ claims it doesn’t know why the stop sale exists, when it will end, or what caused it.

How is that even possible?

If this were an aftermarket part or a third-party vendor, sure—I’d expect a little runaround. But this is a Toyota-engineered, Toyota-branded product. The decision to halt it was clearly made internally. That means Toyota knows why this product is frozen—but won’t say.

This leaves customers like me in a no-win situation:

• We can’t get the product we were promised.
  
  
• We can’t get an answer about why it’s unavailable.
  
  
• We can’t even get confirmation that it’s canceled or being reworked.
  
  
• And meanwhile, the product is still being promoted and sold as if nothing’s wrong.
  

Why This Matters:

1. Buyers are still being misled — because the product is still advertised and dealers are left out of the loop.
   
   
2. Dealers can’t update customers — because Toyota has provided them with no official bulletins or statements.
   
   
3. Toyota's silence is eroding trust — especially for those of us who negotiated this kit in good faith as part of our purchase.
   

On a Personal Note:
Writing this has honestly been cathartic—because I just can’t wrap my head around how a company as large and respected as Toyota can put its customers into this kind of response loop. It’s not just frustrating—it makes you feel like your loyalty doesn’t count for much.

A Simple Ask:
If this kit is permanently canceled, say so.
If it’s being reengineered, tell us why.
If it's coming back, give us an ETA.

But please—stop telling customers to go ask the dealership, when the dealership is just as in the dark as we are.

To put it bluntly, it’s very disheartening.

 

Welcome! Sounds like I'm not the only one who has been teleported to this alien land of irrationality against my wishes. At this point, I feel like I have served almost 3 decades of my sentence!