Engineer Points Out Quality Control Issues on His 2022 Tundra
Overall, this engineer is happy with his brand-new new Tundra TRD Pro, even if he found a couple of quality issues.
Around the world, Toyota is known for building quality vehicles that often set the bar for reliability. That said? Nothing can be perfect all the time, and from the looks of this video from AutomotivePress, the Tundra factory in Texas still has a few things to learn about screwing together the latest generation of the company’s big rig. Here, host and MIT-trained automotive engineer David Koichi Chao walks through some of the quality issues he found on his new 2022 TRD Pro — and some of them are glaring.
The biggest one is actually something you’d expect to see on a malaise-era GM product, or like, a Tesla. It’s so obvious, you have to wonder how this truck actually made it all the way to a customer without anyone noticing. Because this isn’t a matter of a panel gap being 1/16th of an inch off — as the passenger-side TRD Pro logo features a backwards D. To be clear, the factory did mange to get it right on the driver’s side, but with a $70,000 truck, one out of two isn’t great.
Another issue that Chao discovered was some mangled weather stripping on the around the top edge of the hood. And while that’s not something many consumers are going to notice, it’s not something that should make it off the assembly line either. What’s particularly interesting is how the Japan born and raised engineer noted that this kind of stuff you’ll almost never see on vehicles like the 4Runner, which is built in the Land of the Rising Sun.
Now, it’s worth pointing out that while Chao thinks the digital camo on the fender cladding looks somewhat unfinished, he’s overall quite happy with his truck. He’s pretty sure it’s the first 2022 Tundra TRD Pro in Canada, and remarks that as far as overall quality, it’s significantly better than the pre-production models he’s driven over the past few months. Paint quality, panel gaps, engine note, and wind noise are particular areas that he mentions here, which makes it seem like the crew in the Lonestar State got the big things right.
So this is hardly a hatchet job, and I found it a pretty fascinating watch. Check it out and let me know what you think!
Photos: Toyota