Cracked my 05 Tacoma composite bed...

[TundrastruckDave]

Originally Posted by croussel

I keep thinking there's a secret message in your posts. Maybe is I string together all the words that are italicized, I can deciper it.

I could tell ya' the secret message... but then I'd have to kill ya'!

[BT-22]

You know who started all this mess right! GM!!!!!!!!!! That's right GM and it's damn plastic toys started all this mess. I especially like it when I see one of those GMC or Chevy Stepsides with a chunck of wheel well missing.

Don't get me wrong, I feel for the poor owners but damn! Who's bright idea was this? Especially making the plastic CAT yellow. Is there no way to die it black so that it doesn't stand out so much when it happens. There is no way in any world that the Toy bed or any other plastic bed will withstand the abuse one puts on a steel bed.

I know and have seen it first hand. Most ranchers down here in So. Texas, my dad is a foreman at a ranch, drive HDs or Superdutys with big arse steel beds and even those bend outta shape. Even some of the Chevy HDs have plastic beds. You should see the punishment these things go through. There is no way a plastic bed could withstand that.

[wylcat]

Originally Posted by Ryone

Toyota has gone backwards in bed structure/integrity since 1989.

where did this come from? actually the bed design prior to the 88 toy's box was not coated with any type of anti-corrosive base, and consiquintly rusted out in half the time. the bed was still made of the same grade of steel all the way up to the present 04 steel beds. So that said then Toyota has IMPROVED their bed design since 88 til now with the interduction of this comp. bed....In my own opinion, the comp. bed has its place in things like the sport trac and other MINI duty SUV's but NOT in a truck. By the way, to those who said it cracked due to the shell pushing outward, think about this: If the adjustable D-ring channel is strong enough to tie down a 500+ lb. ATV or M/C, how is a little latteral movement going to crack it.

Here is another thing to think about: If toyota does abandon the composite bed, then what about the ones out there already, the older beds will not fit the new taco, so toyota would have to come up with a suitable replacement for litterally thousands of trucks!

[aaronfiftyone]

TundraV8Georgia is right; Toyota went to the composite bed for the same reasons they went to a "plastic protector" instead of a steel skidplate on the gas tank---namely to keep weight down and to save $. Also because they think their loyal truck buyers will follow them to the new model like lemmings. Maybe Toyota's right on all this, but both changes (among others) are wrong, IMHO.

Change is not always good nor for the better. Toyota is beginning to stray too far off the Reservation to suit me . . . .

Aaron

[GaryODS]

Originally Posted by longwoodklon

You know what's even scarier. I've hauled dirt bikes in many toyota's and the front of the bed always bows where the front wheel of the bike is. /Mike

There is no good place to tie down to in the front of the 05 Taco, in the back there are 2 d rings rated at 440 lbs

[wylcat]

Originally Posted by GaryODS

There is no good place to tie down to in the front of the 05 Taco, in the back there are 2 d rings rated at 440 lbs

the Drings are adjustable, just un hook them and move them where ever you want to tie up

[GaryODS]

Originally Posted by wylcat

the Drings are adjustable, just un hook them and move them where ever you want to tie up

Actually I was talking about the 2 d-rings on the floor of the bed, the side rail tiedowns are only rated at 220 lbs each. The 2 rear floor tiedowns are mounted through the SMC and steel cross member, they really needed to provide a couple of good tiedown points in the front. A lot of loads just won't rise to the level of the side rail tiedowns.

[wylcat]

Originally Posted by GaryODS

Actually I was talking about the 2 d-rings on the floor of the bed, the side rail tiedowns are only rated at 220 lbs each. The 2 rear floor tiedowns are mounted through the SMC and steel cross member, they really needed to provide a couple of good tiedown points in the front. A lot of loads just won't rise to the level of the side rail tiedowns.

My Bad, I forgot about those in the floor. but they do advertise the side rails being able to tie down a bike or atv

[Tundrav8yamaha]

Originally Posted by wylcat

My Bad, I forgot about those in the floor. but they do advertise the side rails being able to tie down a bike or atv

problem is do those rail's hold up ?????? sorry Toyota we dont care for your shortchanging your customer's on bed design clearly hear it was cust cutting.
Wylcat you think the siderail's can be intergated to the tundra bed?

[Tundra2UZ]

Originally Posted by BT-22

You know who started all this mess right! GM!!!!!!!!!! That's right GM and it's damn plastic toys started all this mess. I especially like it when I see one of those GMC or Chevy Stepsides with a chunck of wheel well missing.

Don't get me wrong, I feel for the poor owners but damn! Who's bright idea was this? Especially making the plastic CAT yellow. Is there no way to die it black so that it doesn't stand out so much when it happens. There is no way in any world that the Toy bed or any other plastic bed will withstand the abuse one puts on a steel bed.

I agree with this. When the 2003 4Runner first debuted, nearly all of them had the sloppy looking plasic "Chevy Avalance" body panels on them. Toyota quickly did away with the plastic panels. Obviously not too many people liked the plastic body cladding on the 4Runner. If the composite/plastic bed turns out to be flawed hopefully Toyota will do the same for the Tacoma and quickly come up with a steel bed. 15 years ago Toyota would have never considered "domesticating" their vehicles so much.

I think Toyota might be responding to critisism that they are way too conservative. But being conservative might have been one major key ingredient to their success. Quality, durability, and reliability should continue to be Toyota's top priority, IMO, not following the latest fads and gimicks of the domestic automakers.

[yrainsage]

Lots of speculation on this thread. Most of it about stuff none of us really knows too much about, for sure. All we have is our logical speculation.

Like the guy blaming GM? I guess because they tried a composite bed that failed in the market? That bed was a lot MORE expensive than the steel one that came standard, right? I heard it failed exactly because it was an expensive option, not due to any performance issue.

And all the posts saying that Toyota went to the composite material to save money? Can Toyota get a better price than GM could? Plus Toyota is really advertising the hell out of the bed.....So that tells me that the composite bed costs more than the steel. You don't brag about something unless you think its valuable, and you don't think its valuable unless you paid more for it!

Also the people that think the steel bed is easier to repair than the composite? SMC has been around for decades, and so have repair kits. Scratch, crack, gouge, hole...all repairable, and cheaply.

Next, while ya'll are comparing steel to composite, please don't forget about that steel bed companion, the plastic bedliner. Dealers love the bedliner, don't they? Easy buck, easy swap on the used truck to hide the rust beneath.

Only real answer is the Line-X guy...if you can afford him !

But then if any water gets beneath that stuff....

My questions: Is Chris getting a replacement bed? Is Toyota following up close? That's the important thing here.

I read his post about some Japanese techs came to his dealership to inspect his truck. Not a whole lot of "techs" speaking Japanese over here. I bet those guys were engineers from Japan, and not just picture takers. And they were there how soon after the issue was raised? Chris should ask his dealer to describe the visitors. Any guys wearing suit jackets and acting important? Or did they all have mechanic's coveralls?

New applications are going to have bugs, that's the unfortunate truth. Looks like Toyota didn't find this one. Looks like Chris did. Toyota should not only replace the bed, they should give him an award or honorary evaluation job!

I don't care that he took off the c-channels to mount his long bracket, Toyota should thank him for the important market research!

I agree with the post about this crack probably happening again. I also have to believe that Toyota is going to fix this problem.

Toyota's taking a big risk with this application, but maybe, just maybe, they really think composite is better for the vast majority of users, all things considered.

Finally, that guy on another thread who traded his 05 in after just a few weeks mainly for purist offroading performance issues? Gotta love that True offroading dedication. And he has a valid point...With the 05 Taco, Toyota went more mainstream. My guess is they will please more customers than they will lose, and take more sales from the competition. But it is a sad day for the 1% of us that loved the old super hard-core offroading Taco

[cheg]

Originally Posted by yrainsage

Finally, that guy on another thread who traded his 05 in after just a few weeks mainly for purist offroading performance issues? Gotta love that True offroading dedication. And he has a valid point...With the 05 Taco, Toyota went more mainstream. My guess is they will please more customers than they will lose, and take more sales from the competition. But it is a sad day for the 1% of us that loved the old super hard-core offroading Taco

The older trucks are still there, you can't kill the bastards.

[KAuss]

How many cracked beds do you guys think we'll see in a year's time?

I should start a thread poll (not going to because it's stupid ) and ask how many cracks should it take before Toyota should revert back to the old beds...

I'll start the crack counts...

O - N - E...

I think people should drop this topic, let Chris report back about the new bed, WAIT for a 2nd incident, THEN flame away...

It's getting boring reading a while bunch of people's opinion about how the bed broke, how Toyota is cheap (where is the proof the SMC cost less?) and calling this bed PLASTIC...

SMC is a composite!!! Just like metals can be ALLOY... Are your rims steel? or Alloy?

Steel beds are NOT perfect and you people will just have to come to that fact and start thinking "out of the box"...

Facts so far about the SMC bed...

They saved weight in every truck they put it in...
They are dent resistance compared to steel bed in every truck they put it in...

One of these beds ended up cracking under load...
One of these beds ended up with a huge gash from a stove scraping against it...

I don't kow if I'm the only one that's been really paying attention, but man, hopfully everyone will start using the facts instead of speculations the next time a post come up I keep checking back to see if Chris has news but it just turns into more of a "I think" post...

[Tundrav8yamaha]

Originally Posted by KAuss

How many cracked beds do you guys think we'll see in a year's time?

I should start a thread poll (not going to because it's stupid ) and ask how many cracks should it take before Toyota should revert back to the old beds...

I'll start the crack counts...

O - N - E...

I think people should drop this topic, let Chris report back about the new bed, WAIT for a 2nd incident, THEN flame away...

It's getting boring reading a while bunch of people's opinion about how the bed broke, how Toyota is cheap (where is the proof the SMC cost less?) and calling this bed PLASTIC...

SMC is a composite!!! Just like metals can be ALLOY... Are your rims steel? or Alloy?

Steel beds are NOT perfect and you people will just have to come to that fact and start thinking "out of the box"...

Facts so far about the SMC bed...

They saved weight in every truck they put it in...
They are dent resistance compared to steel bed in every truck they put it in...

One of these beds ended up cracking under load...
One of these beds ended up with a huge gash from a stove scraping against it...

I don't kow if I'm the only one that's been really paying attention, but man, hopfully everyone will start using the facts instead of speculations the next time a post come up I keep checking back to see if Chris has news but it just turns into more of a "I think" post...

Fact one toyota has gotten rather cheap on some stuff in the year's but this really top's it and chris isnt the only one i've been of a few tacoma board's and the finding's will surprise you.A plastic bed period is just plain wrong on all level's not only is this material a bad choice but from a lot of truck people's logic it doesnt last on real truck's use.Fact one should you receive a gash from a colemen stove? If it was me i would raising hell within Toyota and demand for a new truck and not go with Tacoma.It really doesnt surprise me that toyota is short changing there customer's esp in the lower end Tacoma they will try do some cost cutting to save money problem problem is there shortcut's are not worth my time why reason why I didn't purchase one as my daily driver..I really sort of liked the new Tacoma a vast improvment on the older truck which i really didn't care for but after reading a few owners concern's and reading on other board's the truck really isn't what it's cracked up to be and Toyota customer's will see that in the end and trade to the tundra or something else.Tacoma in general is a ok truck dont get me wrong but as i see Toyota compact truck doesn't make up in term's of overall refinement still wished it had a v8 and still wished the seat's were of better grade material's and the overall handling has improvement (very little body roll like the pasted 04 tacoma's) but overall many will find the strenghs and negitive side's(pro's and con's ) of the smaller Tacoma.

[cheg]

Originally Posted by TUNDRAV8GEORGIA

chris isnt the only one i've been of a few tacoma board's and the finding's will surprise you.

How about some links?