Author Archive for Jason Lancaster
Jason Lancaster is the editor and founder of TundraHeadquarters.com. He has nearly a decade of experience on the retail side of the auto industry, and another decade of experience of the part and accessory side of the industry.
2011 Tundra Tow Ratings Decrease
A few weeks ago, we mentioned that the 2011 Tundra was going to adopt the new SAE J2807 towing rating standards. This new standard – which likely won’t be adopted by most manufacturers until 2013 – will force all manufacturers to use the exact same tests and criteria to come up with an official tow rating.
Last Friday, PickupTrucks.com published the new Tundra tow ratings. As you can see in the table below, they’ve dropped as much as 11% on some configurations:
Summarizing The HD Truck Comparison From PickupTrucks.com
If you haven’t already seen it, on Monday PickupTrucks.com published a massive, comprehensive test of HD trucks from GM, Ford, and Ram. The goal of this comparison was to find out who made the best 3/4 ton gas truck, 3/4 ton diesel, and 1 ton dually diesel.
You can read the full comparison here, and if you have the time I highly recommend it. It’s a great insight into all three trucks as well as a fantastic example of what it takes to complete a true, exact comparison.
It also raises an interesting question: If all the trucks are essentially equivalent, how do you pick the right truck?
$7500 On F150, Toyota Leads Reliability Survey, and Tragic Off-Road Racing Accident
Racing Accident Kills 8
First, my heart goes out to the friends and family of dozens of people today that were either killed, injured, or witness to a really awful racing accident. The video below tells the story:
The driver, according to a few opinions I trust, was doing what he was supposed to be doing (racing) and his truck got away from him. There are people trying to find someone to blame right now – the BLM, for example, has said that their use permit required drivers to slow to 15mph when they were within 50′ of spectators – but anyone who watches these races will tell you that’s a rule that is not followed. The fans were too close, and there are no easy answers as to how to solve this problem. Frankly, it’s a little surprising something like this hasn’t happened before.
Toyota Marketing Smartly Shifting
If you ask the average person what words come to mind when they think “Toyota,” there’s a pretty good chance they’ll say “quality and reliability.” Since the 1970’s, Toyota has garnered a strong reputation for building quality, reliable vehicles. While some would argue that this reputation is undeserved, that’s not what we’re talking about here. What we’re talking about is popular perception.
NHTSA Finally Acknowledges Finding No Fault With Toyota Throttles
After nearly a month of denials and anonymous statements, a NHTSA official reported to congress yesterday. From Automotive News (subscription required):
Brakes weren’t applied by drivers of Toyota vehicles in at least 35 of 58 crashes blamed on unintended acceleration, U.S. auto-safety regulators said after studying data recorders.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration also saw no evidence of electronics-related causes for the accidents in reviewing the vehicle recorders, known as black boxes, the agency said today in a report to lawmakers.
…“At this early point in its investigation, NHTSA officials have drawn no conclusions about additional causes of unintended acceleration in Toyotas beyond the two defects already known — pedal entrapment and sticking gas pedals,”
Finally, the truth comes out, and we know who was lying about this data three weeks ago, and we know that Toyota’s throttles – as we have said all along – are just fine. Driver error is to blame.
