Unpopular opinion: The current Tundra interior is better than everyone else's.

I think he still owns that Tundra too . Right now he has a Tocoma , Honda and a Gladiator on his Chanel .

 

Soooooo long story short no one really knows for sure why they got rid of it. Haha

 

This could 100% be false but I remember someone telling me that pulling on a steering wheel repetitively is bad for it. So I’ve just never used it for that.

 

Correct. Toyota's never revealed their motivation on the matter. Still, tons of people have been so ingrained with the "big corporation is evil" mentality that they have know problem assuming the absolute worst.

 

What % ?

 

Same reason people star at their phones when driving- Why do people do such a thing and you answer your own question-

 

Purely conjecture on my part but I can't fathom that the majority of Tundra owners do anything with their factory stereo or nav other than turn it on....

 

Speculation is Moot-

 

100% false

 

"Everything is within reach without leaning away from or adjusting your driving position."

If "everything" excludes the side mirror adjustments then maybe. Being tall I have the seat pretty far back. I have to lean forward to get to the mirror control button. And in the position I am never sure it is set how I want it...might take a couple iterations of leaning forward/back to get it right. So much appreciated my Honda where that control was on the armrest by the power windows.

As for the steering wheel...just the physics of it tells me the steering wheel makes for a better grab handle (vs pillar mounted grab handle) when getting into the truck.

 

You'd think that there'd be thousands of used Tundra pull off HU's on Craigslist nationwide. I see one or two occasionally on Denver Craigslist. Lots of Tundras sold here over the years. I take it you think the majority of Tundra owners swap out their HU's??? Logical thinking isn't moot.......

 

Yes, we're both speculating. It's fun, but we're getting to the point of going in circles.

This is my final speculative point on that front: Each mold can make over 150k units per year. If they made 3 new molds for handleless drivers side A pillars molds at a cost of $50k each, that's $150,000 spent to manufacture 800k handle-less drivers side A pillars. Without making those new molds, they still would have been making 800k drivers side A pillars anyway. It would just be the old style that had the handle bracket. Either way, a driver's side A pillar is being made. What's not being made either way is the handle itself. Over the last 8 production years ('14-'21) they just made over 800,000+ fewer of those big, heavy duty plastic handles that can support a 300lb Tundra driver hoisting himself into his badass truck. Toyota's MSRP on those handles (part #74610-0C082-B0) is $70.54, which leads me to believe that $20 each is a fairly conservative estimate for how much it actually costs to manufacture each one. $20 x 800k trucks made with one less handle = $16M saved.

$150k spent in new molds to tweak the pillar vs $16M saved in not making the driver's side handle itself. Say the molds cost twice that, and the handle itself only cost $10 to make. That's $300k spent vs $8M saved. Granted, these are speculative estimates, but if my estimates are anywhere near reality, which I think they are, it was a very profitable move to delete the handle.

I don't think Toyota is evil. If I ever implied that, then I was wrong. They're a business. They exist to make money. They are very good at it. Better than everyone else in their field, from what I've heard. I'm glad they do what they do. There are just a few things they have said that I don't take at face value.

Lastly, I looked up the crash ratings themselves.
2007-2009. Head/neck injury for moderate overlap front is "Acceptable", which is less than "Good". These ratings stay the same for these 3 years:


2010-2013. We still have the driver's grab handle. Head/neck improves to "Good". These ratings stay the same for these 4 years:


2014-2021, our years with no driver's side grab handle. We appear to have a more extensive test. It appears the standard for safety has increased. These ratings stay the same to the current '21 model:


Since 2010, the Tundra has had a "Good" rating for head/neck injury in all reported seating positions. They deleted a grab handle on the driver's side in 2014. Kept the grab handle on the passenger side ever since 2007. Whatever changed to make the head/neck rating increase from "Acceptable" to "Good" happened in the 2010 model year, which was not the year they deleted the grab handle. Notice the head/neck injury rating is "Good" for the passenger despite there being a grab handle to bang their head on for 2014+ years. The poor ratings for injuries are all related to leg injuries.

 

No- just the opposite, I'm with you as believing that the vast majority keep stock

 

I agree and think it is a really tiny group that change anything this forum not really representing a cross section of Tundra owners either.

 

Very few now that modern vehicles have better headunits. Those of us with old trucks still do, but I don't personally know of anyone with a 2012 or newer vehicle that has done it.

 

Ya my 2018 is great why fuck with it

 

My non JBL does have some serious limitations but so does my old fart hearing. What???

 

I was going to update my 07's HU to include NAV but traded it in. My 14 has the Entune + with NAV. I like it. Good enough for me. My 07 rear view camera sucked bigtime. Almost unusable due to the angle although I think Yota changed that in 08 or 09. It was pretty bad......

 

Yep. Most Tundras I see are stock with no lift or leveling too. Most upgrades I see are tonneau covers, caps, Yak/canoe racks and the like. Tires of course depending on use.

 

Of note... .what's interesting is the lower leg small overlap rating results. This is usually the tire getting pushed back into the lower cab firewall area, collapsing , and causing these severe leg injuries. Not too long ago a member here showed a mod to move back the front cab mounts. I called that out to be unwise before proceeding any further due to liability. Moving the cab mount backs seems like a great idea. No more cab mount chop up. But.....moving the cab mounts back and getting a small overlap hit will put that tire further into the cab potentially causing catastrophic leg injuries or worse. Never heard back from that member if the fab shop went ahead with that bad idea.....

 

Yes, it is produced. It is still used in the Sequoia. That's my point, the new handle causes an increase in cost that takes time to recoup. If money were the motivation leaving the handles alone is the highest profit scenario.

 

side view mirror placement is poor. As compared to the '13 suburban i owned briefly it's less handy. actually seating position in general is somewhat lacking.

and seats belong in abu grabe as torture devices.

 

Spend the money for a awesome sound system and call it a day. That’s if you like your music. This is my first tundra. All my other Toyota’s were Tacoma’s and 4runners. If I wanted all the new updated tundra stuff I would have waited.

 

It's not a new handle. It's a new drivers side A pillar without the handle mount.

2007-2013: (2) pieces on the driver's side A pillar: (1) interior A pillar trim with handle mount + (1) handle.
2014-2021: (1) simplified interior A pillar trim, no mounting location for the handle, and no handle itself.

They went from two parts to manufacture to one part. That is, creating the new handle-less pillar trim in 2014 allowed them to stop making a handle to go in that spot.

Yes, I know the handle they previously put in that spot is still being made. Every Tundra from 2014 on still has one of them in it on the passenger side (It's the same part # for both sides of the vehicle). This doesn't change the fact that they made 800,000+ fewer handles for the '14-'21 Tundras, as they went from putting two handles in each truck to putting one handle in each truck, all because they slightly tweaked the A pillar trim design.

Retooling the drivers' side A pillar to not need a handle (at the tune of $150k? $300k?) allowed them to save production costs on that many fewer handles. How much does each of those heavy duty handles cost Toyota to make – is it $10? Then they saved $8Million not producing those handles. Is it $20? Then they saved $16Million not producing those handles. It cost them $150k-$300k in retooling to save somewhere between $8million and $16million. I don't care who you are–your board members and stockholders love to see moves like that.

How many of these exact handles they still make for other vehicles or for the Tundra in other locations is irrelevant.

 

Dang..we need a new special grab handle thread. Seriously....all good stuff!

 

The handle itself in no way would cost 10 dollars to make. I put up the cost of injection mold plastic pellets and it's a couple bucks per pound at it's most. That handle doesn't weight more than a pound or so, and the only savings are going to be for the actual plastic materials saved. They still have to have the same labor (or more now that they are making to variations of the a pillar), they are still going to have to ship in bulk, etc. The only savings is going to be the plastic not used, and that's not going to be as huge as implied, IMO.

Google plastic grab handles, and you can see a variety of products for RVs, cars, etc. that are being sold for 10-20 dollars. With Toyota's bulk buying power, even higher quality plastics for those handles are not going to cost them what small rip off companies charge retail for similar products. They're saving pennies on the dollar production cost by removing the handle. Did they save money over time on it? Sure, but I don't think it was enough to offset the added production costs for running a second set of molds.


BTW, loving the discussion and fun. Thank you.

 

I know I like my driver side grab handle. And so do others. Lol. At least it’s easy to install.

 

My bad , I was just going off of what I’ve been reading on here . I get that this is only a percentage of all owners .

 

I get what you’re saying . If most people stare at their phones while driving for texting then the new screen should help because it’ll read the text message and you just tell it what to reply and it sends it . There are a few benefits to them . That being said though I get that they won’t be for everyone .

 

That's why it's called the "OH SHIT" handle.

I can use the present tense because my Tundra is old enough to have one.

I definitely use it getting in my truck every time because it's lifted - even though I have step rails. Not a fan of using using the steering wheel because it's designed to just steer the truck. And not break your face off in a collision.