Toyota Lowers Tundra Tow Ratings, Gains Credibility
Contradicting a trend that's gained momentum in the past decade, Toyota has reduced the maximum trailer-towing rating of the Tundra half-ton for 2011, in one case up to 1,100 pounds.
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Source: Toyota Lowers Tundra Tow Ratings, Gains Credibility
Quote from the article:
Toyota is one of the first manufacturers to test and certify its trucks against a draft trailer-towing standard known as “Performance Requirements for Determining Tow Vehicle Gross Combination Weight Ratings and Trailer Weight Ratings,” or simply Society of Automotive Engineers standard J2807. Those dry terms don't do justice to an important selling feature for manufacturers and a passionate bragging point for owners. Until now, each manufacturer was free to test using proprietary conditions ideally suited to a truck’s towing strengths and decide their own max trailering rating. But an industry alliance that includes Ford, General Motors, Chrysler, Toyota and Honda and several leading trailer and hitch makers has been working on setting a unified standard with SAE for nearly three years in response to large recent hikes in claimed maximum tow ratings that have pushed some half-tons into formerly three-quarter-ton towing territory. Once J2807 is implemented, truck buyers will finally have an apples-to-apples way to compare the trailer-towing capacity of all light-duty pickups. All manufacturers are expected to follow it starting with the 2013 model year. J2807 establishes tow-vehicle performance requirements against the following criteria to establish max ratings: timed acceleration on level ground and up a 12 percent incline; maintaining speed on a real-world grade; understeer; trailer-sway response; braking and park brake at GCWR; and tow-vehicle hitch/attachment structure. To minimize test variations, it provides standard test trailer specifications and requirements for their use in these tests. |
Source: Toyota Lowers Tundra Tow Ratings, Gains Credibility
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