40 Fun Facts About Toyota Tundra

A stock Toyota Tundra towed which retired NASA space shuttle across a Los Angeles freeway bridge in 2012?

Endeavour was too heavy for its robotic transporters to cross the Interstate 405 bridge, so the pickup pulled it over on a lighter dolly.

Toyota took back Victor Sheppard's well-used 2007 Tundra in 2016 after it passed which odometer mark?

1 million miles came from averaging about 125,000 a year, and Toyota gave Sheppard a new truck so its engineers could take the old one apart and study it.

A 2003 special-edition Toyota Tundra tied in with which Arnold Schwarzenegger film that featured the truck on screen?

Terminator 3 gave its name to the T3 Special Edition with its own badging, and in the film's main chase the lead characters take the wheel of a Tundra.

Toyota Tundra show trucks carried which name until a rival pickup maker sued over its likeness to a best-seller?

T150 sat too close to the Ford F-150, the market leader, so after Ford's lawsuit the production truck was renamed before its 1999 launch.

Since 2008, every Toyota Tundra has been assembled in which Texas city?

San Antonio beat sites in four other states for the plant, which then stood idle for three months in 2008 when truck sales slumped.

Which two-time NASCAR Cup champion, nicknamed 'Rowdy', owned a Truck Series team that ran Toyota Tundras until 2022?

Kyle Busch Motorsports ran Tundras from its 2010 debut, then switched to Chevrolet Silverados for 2023 when its owner left Toyota's Cup team.

Which full-size Toyota SUV, launched for 2001, was derived from the Tundra and shares its engines and chassis?

Sequoia was the name chosen after rumors that the big SUV would be called Highlander, a badge that went to a Camry-based crossover instead.

On the roomiest four-door Toyota Tundra, the entire rear window can do what at the push of a button?

The glass can roll down completely into the cab wall behind the rear seats, which Toyota pitches as a way to air out the cabin at camp.

Toyota's concept for the 2015 SEMA show stretched a Tundra pickup to over 26 feet as what kind of vehicle?

A limousine with eight doors was the result, named the Tundrasine, its brown leather cabin modeled on the cockpits and passenger compartments of private jets.

Toyota recalled 2000–2003 Tundras in 2009, starting in 20 cold-weather states, to fix which problem?

Frame rust could eat through a rear crossmember until the spare tire dropped off, so dealers treated sound frames and Toyota replaced the corroded ones.

Which magazine named the Toyota Tundra its Truck of the Year for both 2000 and 2008?

Motor Trend gave the 2008 award after the Tundra beat heavy-duty rivals from Chevrolet, GMC and Ford in that year's contest.

Which Japanese rival followed the Toyota Tundra into full-size pickups with the Mississippi-built Titan?

Nissan built the Titan in Canton, Mississippi, for 21 years before ending production in November 2024.

What kind of powertrain does Toyota sell in the Tundra as the i-Force Max, standard on the TRD Pro?

A gas-electric hybrid, it sandwiches an electric motor between the engine and the 10-speed automatic for 437 horsepower and 583 lb-ft of torque.

Which engine type powers every third-generation Toyota Tundra, the first without a V8 option?

Twin-turbo V6 power replaced the old 5.7-liter V8, yet the truck tows more: its maximum rating rose to 12,000 pounds.

The 2007 Toyota Tundra's head restraints were shaped to fit construction workers wearing which piece of gear?

A hard hat fits because Toyota designed that Tundra around building crews, also giving it extra-large door handles and a built-in tow hitch.

Toyota began selling the Tundra in 2024 in which country, where each truck is rebuilt with right-hand drive?

Australia gets US-built trucks that the Walkinshaw Group remanufactures in Victoria, after 300 were first leased to customers as a year-long test.

What do the letters TRD stand for on the Tundra's off-road Pro models and performance parts?

Toyota Racing Development is the company's in-house tuning shop, selling parts such as wheels and suspension kits through its dealers.

The Toyota Tundra shares its name with a treeless Arctic landscape; English borrowed that word from which language?

Russian passed the word on, probably having taken it from the Sami of the far north, for whom it meant a hill or an elevated plain.

Terra, Mudbath and Wave Maker are Toyota's names for which kind of Tundra TRD Pro exclusive?

Paint colors are a TRD Pro calling card: each of those three launched only on that trim, and an earlier shade, Quicksand, paid tribute to the FJ40 Land Cruiser.

The Toyota Tundra's 1794 Edition trim is named for the founding year of what on its Texas factory's land?

A cattle ranch founded by Spanish colonist Juan Ignacio de Casanova sold Toyota the land for the plant, and the trim's saddle-brown leather plays up that Western past.

The first Toyota Tundras were built from 1999 at a new plant near Princeton in which US state?

Indiana built the truck until 2008, when Toyota moved all production to Texas and gave the plant the Highlander crossover instead.

Which slightly smaller Toyota pickup, sold from 1993 to 1998, did the Tundra replace in the United States?

T100 buyers never got a V8, and its best year brought sales in the mid-40,000s; the Tundra topped 100,000 in its first full year.

Which NASCAR Hall of Famer and Fox broadcaster had a 2006 special-edition Toyota Tundra named for him?

Darrell Waltrip was honored for his part in the NASCAR Truck Series, and only 2,000 of the Double Cab trucks were built.

Off-road racer Ivan Stewart, honored with a 2008 signature-series Toyota Tundra, is known by which nickname?

Ironman suits a driver who won the Baja 500 a record 17 times and took the Baja 1000 overall while driving solo.

Which US crash-test body made the Toyota Tundra the first full-size pickup to earn its Top Safety Pick award?

IIHS testers had already rated the first-generation Tundra Good in their frontal offset crash, when rival trucks scored Poor or Marginal.

What name does Toyota give the Tundra's largest four-door cab, introduced with the 2007 redesign?

CrewMax became the crew cab's new name, the old Double Cab badge moved to the smaller cab, and the big one was soon 46 percent of sales.

Which luxury-oriented trim was newly added to the Toyota Tundra range with the third generation for 2022?

Capstone trucks come only with the range's most powerful drivetrain, and four-wheel drive is standard too.

In which US city did Toyota unveil both the larger 2007 Tundra and its 2014 restyling, each time in February?

Chicago saw the bigger truck in February 2006 and the restyled one in February 2013, where only the cab and doors carried over.

Toyota dealers once fitted a bolt-on kit that lifted the 5.7-liter Tundra to 504 horsepower by adding what?

A supercharger from TRD added 123 horsepower, and the factory warranty stayed intact when a dealer installed it.

The third-generation Toyota Tundra dropped which traditional rear suspension parts in favor of a multi-link coil setup?

Leaf springs gave way to coils on a multi-link axle, which also let engineers offer rear air suspension that raises or lowers the truck.

Instead of steel, the third-generation Toyota Tundra's cargo bed uses which material to resist dents and corrosion?

Molded composite panels, braced by aluminum cross members, shrug off dings better than a steel deck, and the tailgate is 20 percent lighter than the old one.

Engines for the Toyota Tundra are built at a dedicated Toyota engine plant in which southern US state?

Alabama's plant near Huntsville, completed in 2003, built the Tundra's 5.7-liter V8 and now its successor, turning out more than 895,000 engines in 2024.

The Toyota Tundra that towed a space shuttle in 2012 was donated to which Los Angeles museum for a leverage exhibit?

California Science Center was the shuttle's final stop after a 12-mile crawl through city streets, and Toyota turned footage of the tow into a television commercial.

Which audio brand supplies the premium sound systems in luxury Toyota Tundra trims such as the Platinum?

JBL sound was part of the 2010 Platinum package, alongside heated and ventilated leather seats and a power moonroof.

Which driver, nicknamed 'the Onion' for his bald head, won the 2006 NASCAR Truck Series title in a Toyota Tundra?

Todd Bodine's title was Toyota's first drivers' championship in one of NASCAR's national series, and he added a second in 2010.

Which name did Toyota give the Tundra's 2009 TRD off-road package, first sold only in black or white?

Rock Warrior trucks came only with four-wheel drive, riding on Bilstein shocks, forged 17-inch wheels and BF Goodrich all-terrain tires.

Which Toyota concept truck, shown at the 2004 Detroit auto show, previewed the look of the 2007 Tundra?

FTX styling came from designer Craig Kember, and the production truck that followed could tow more than 10,000 pounds.

Travis Kvapil gave Toyota its first NASCAR national-series win in a Tundra in 2004 at a speedway in which state?

Michigan, home state of Detroit's Big Three, staged the breakthrough on July 31, in the Tundra's first season in the Truck Series.

Which magazine questioned a Toyota Tundra safety award because stability control shut off in four-wheel drive?

Consumer Reports objected that the system switched off whenever four-wheel drive was engaged; from the 2010 model year it stayed active in 4x4 High.

Which alternative fuel could 5.7-liter Toyota Tundras burn as standard in some US regions from the 2009 model year?

E85 ethanol capability was limited to select regions at first, and two-wheel-drive trucks could not have it until the 2016 model year.