All Entries Tagged With: "towing"

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:

2011 Tundra Will Feature Trailer Sway Control

Toyota quietly announced some updates to the 2011 Tundra last week, one of which included a veritable bomb-shell: the 2011 Tundra will include a trailer sway control system as a standard feature. Obviously, this is big news for anyone who intends to tow with the Tundra.

Other changes for 2011 include:

• A smart throttle / brake throttle override system that we described a few months back
• A new dual VVT-i system for the 4.0L V6 Tundra
• Some minor interior changes – the cigarette lighter and ashtray are gone, and the headrests have been slightly modified (NOTE: The 12V power outlet is still there, just no lighter)
• Likely (yet still unconfirmed), the 2011 Tundra’s tow ratings will be reduced 300-500 lbs across the board. This is because Toyota has decided to adopt a new trailer tow rating standard developed by the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE). This new standard will help to equalize the tow ratings that all manufacturers advertise (you can learn more about the new tow rating standard here).
• A small price increase on some models – no more than $500.

We’ll publish interior pics just as soon as we can. Hopefully, we’ll get our hands on some sales info soon.

2011 Tundra To Adopt New Trailer Towing Standards

During the last 20 years, the manufacturer-stated maximum tow capacity of the typical half-ton pickup truck has skyrocketed. Take a look at the increase in maximum tow rating for America’s best-selling pickup, the Ford F-150:

As you can see, the F-150’s towing power has increased by 66% over the last 20 years…or at least that’s what Ford says. If you think about all the electronics and improved efficiency – not to mention dramatic improvements in transmissions – it certainly seems plausible that today’s F-150 is 66% better at pulling than it was 20 years ago.

However, there are a couple of reasons to doubt these numbers: