The interior was meant to retain that “Technical Muscle” motif. Calty chose a horizontal layout theme as a departure from the vertical layout on most other trucks in the market. This complemented the design goal to integrate the instrument panel and center stack to flow with the interior layout. Premium materials were also a must for a truck with a strong pedigree like Tundra’s, especially in high-contact areas, which is why wrapped armrests, pads across the dash, doors and other areas are employed on most trims.
Calty’s design teams crafted an exterior and interior balance of angular lines and muscular refinement. Visually the truck needed to represent its capability that lives under the sheet metal.
“We took a fresh, transformational approach to our truck development and had to rethink many things we’d previously done,” said Mike Sweers, senior vice president, Product Development Office, and F1 Platform chief engineer. “Not only did we improve the performance and enhance the capability of this new Tundra, at the same time, we were certain to retain the strong quality, durability and reliability for which Toyota trucks are known.”
Research and development for this truck was conducted at Toyota Technical Centers in Michigan, Arizona and California. The key themes atop the whiteboard for Tundra chassis engineers included improve capability and ride comfort compared to the competition. The team found great benefit in moving to a fully boxed frame, which improved rigidity significantly compared to current generation and offered overall improvement in capability.
The frame structure itself is an example of innovative thinking. The rear frame member is widened to improve stability and towing capability. This foundation also helped ensure excellent ride comfort and polished handling dynamics, particularly on grades Limited and above where the cabin is mounted to the frame with hydraulic cab mounts.
High-strength steel is employed throughout the chassis to increase rigidity considerably over the previous generation, while aluminum is used in key areas to help reduce weight. Frame crossmembers are more than doubled in size to provide additional reinforcement and rigidity. A new front cross member was constructed for the steering gear box, which adds rigidity via additional cross member support while enhancing steering input for the driver and handling dynamics.
The truck bed is lightweight and extremely strong thanks to the new Sheet-Molded Compound (SMC) construction and the use of reinforcing aluminum cross members in the bed. The new SMC bed offers added protection against dents, impact dings and rust compared to traditional steel decks. Even the tailgate uses lightweight construction techniques to reduce weight by 20% compared to the outgoing model. Speaking of the tailgate, one of the coolest features is the tailgate release on the key fob that is standard on all models.
#Toyota #Tundra
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