Hole in the bed of 22 Tundra

A rock flung up from our shop's 2022 Tundra and pierced a hole through the composite bed. We all think this is ridiculous. This truck is completely stock suspension & tire wise - what would happen if we put larger AT or MT tires on? Fling up a larger rock and puncture a larger hole in the bed?

Repairing the bed is going to be $$$ and might be tough to even find someone skilled in fiberglass repair. We're thinking that we might have to visit a boat repair shop vs. auto repair.

Interested to hear your guys' feedback on this and if this has happened to you. You can also see in the pictures that something else hit the upper wheel well liner just to the right side of the bed hole but didn't pierce through. We're thinking of developing a form of liner extension to cover the rest of the bed. Would anyone be interested?

 

I prefer a big boy metal bed

Ditched a 2021 tacoma due to the plastic bed

 

Same here, insane. However I haven't had any issues with my 19 Tacoma's bed yet and I do not treat it lightly

 

Yes, looking underneath, there seems to be way too much open space compared to the 2nd gen. Also heard of rocks taking out the tails from underneath ...no bueno.

Interested in what you come up with !

 

WTF, yeah no, that shouldn't be a thing. Like I've gotten dent's from big rocks and aggressive tires on previous trucks, but not if they we're bedlined and definitely no holes. Thats ridiculous, way to go Toyota for "fixing" another issue.

 

Yeah, or you're on a trail out in the middle of nowhere and a rock takes out one of these important wiring harnesses? No thanks.

 

From that image, the damage is in front of the tire? If so, the object followed the tire around? Considering the large damage area in the image, much have made a heck of a noise and heavy.

 

I wasn't driving it so I can't vouch for the sound, but a rock probably got trapped in the tire tread and flung up.

 

Or the damage happened while in reverse-

 

Definitely sucks, but this seems to be the first report of a hole being created in the wheel well of a 3rd gen. Could just be bad luck but there could be a market to add some additional protection

 

There is other damage in that wheel well that looks to line up well with the hole. Like there are holes in the plastic fender liner as well.

To me that seems like it was something really big (not just a rock) or more likely based on how they line up, someone jammed something in from the outside and just happened to get lucky and stab it into the fender.

Those beds are SMC. Anything that would poke a hole like that would have badly dented a steel bed. I don't think that it was a rock.

 

Seems to me it might have been something lodged in the tread and released at a high rate of speed.

My 2006 Tacoma has a plastic bed and it has been much stronger than the paper thin metal beds that dent when you drop a screw driver.

I had a transmission fall off a chain and drop about a foot into that Tacoma bed and it just took a scar, but did not fail.

I see you are from Stillen. Was this truck being rowdied out in the dessert?

 

That's impressive! And this truck was taken in the desert during the Tundras to Parker trip but it was not offroaded heavily.

 

We just spoke with a top guy at Caliber Collision and he said Toyota doesn't allow for repairs on the SMC beds, and if you go to a body shop that follows manufacturers' guidelines, you have to replace the whole bed.

 

Get some job weld putty stick - should hold pretty good.

 

It's also entirely possible and probable that since 2006, the choice of materials have become lighter and less robust. It's a shame to hear of this failure.

If it were my truck, I would just come up with a creative patch and maybe line the exposed/vulnerable underside of the bed with some rubber matting to deflect the energy of subsequent impacts.

 

Metal I can hammer back flat and MIG weld easily. Good as new.

 

Yeah! I hinted to this in the original post, but this has led us to think about making a urethane shield like an extension of the original fender liner. Just an idea right now.

 

dont think that was a rock

 

looks like something you would see happen if you were driving with chains on and it broke loose. Agree - not a rock. Wheel weight maybe. Use some JB Weld to patch it and move along.

 

Could have been a lug nut or something else, but something on the road

 

It still seems so weird to me for a truck bed not to be made of metal.

 

Page 4,679,204 of the owners manual under this section: (Items that will just break for no reason at all).

Always clean rocks and other objects from tires before driving. This may require that you jack up the truck and rotate the tires to ensure that you remove all the rocks and debris. Do this before putting the vehicle in "D" or "R" or "S".

Be sure to use jacks stands to prevent the truck from falling off the jack and crushing you.

If this is not followed, you can experience damage to truck bed, tail lights, head lights, intercoolers, seat panels, door seals, mirror cameras and rocker panels.

Thank you for shopping at Toyota and have a nice day!