Toyota learned from Tundra with 1.6 million on the clock

You can learn a lot by looking at the past. Things that went well then can inspire you to make the right choices in the present. At least that is what Toyota must have thought when it examined a 2007 Tundra during the development of the current Tundra.

Not just any Tundra, but one with an extremely impressive mileage. Victor Sheppard’s Tundra, like the one in the photo above, had traveled at least a million miles (1.6 million kilometers). At 999,999 miles, the odometer is stuck. Toyota USA chief engineer Mike Sweers took a closer look at Sheppard’s Tundra to see what could be improved on the new Tundra.

In 2016, Victor Sheppard got a new Toyota Tundra and his old one was taken by Toyota for research.

Sweers looked at the materials that were used and the wear and tear that these materials show. According to Sweers, the previous Tundra turned out to have an important ‘weakness’ point. The body is in fact quite pockmarked, because Sheppard has transported heavy machinery in it for years. Furthermore, only small things are broken, such as the lock of the sun visor. However, the body could be better and that is why a new composite was used, instead of the too weak steel of the previous Tundra. In total, almost 1,000 kilos of cargo was dumped in the back to test whether everything would remain intact. Everything remained intact. According to Sweers, that would almost certainly not have been the case with the previous Tundra.

According to the Toyota engineer, no major defects were found in Sheppard’s experienced pick-up and Toyota was on the right track with the previous Tundra. That is of course a bit of preaching to our own parish, but we’ll take it from him for a while. In any case, Sheppard just made that million. We are curious whether there will be copies of the current Tundra that will make it.