door panel differences

Are the rear door panels the same?

 

Hell yeah man!

 

Nope; new molds, design time and qa eat away any profit there. Probably had something to do with safety and items in side pocket affecting the side impact crash tests in some amazingly impossible way. Loss of space is stupid, but who knows.

 

I doubt QA and DEV ate majority of profit from savings at this point. Somewhere in that company, there's a manager that got that corporate pat-on-the-back from saving $X in materials. When you want to show your bosses and their management what a difference you make in your company, show them in a dollar amount. "I saved the company $X by doing this..." - GOLD

 

Sounds good, but there is styrofoam behind that area to support it. So I gather that the $$$ saved from the little bit of plastic was patially lost in styrofoam; yeiding a lower money savings. So MR "Good Idea," probably got a pat on the back instead of a raise...

 

No doubt it saved money and that happens at my work all the time. No one cares or sees how much they wasted getting it implemented and done though. Almost always costs more. Everyone has heard of the "it looks great on paper" situations. This seems like one of them. The point here is they took away something that was functional and added foam, so I'm going with the side impact safety route.

 

Agreed! Everything looks better on paper!

Back on topic, I wonder if those '08 panels would fit in an '09-12...

After reading this, I wouldn't even try it. If there was a parts truck sitting in a yard and the door panels were cheap, I'd jump on them.

 

I find my door pockets useful even though I don't use maps. I put a small bag in there to use as a garbage bag

 

The change was probably for improved side-impact protection, then. Styrofoam is used pretty often in car bumpers as an energy absorber.

 

I work in a tool and die shop (mold shop) that does mostly automotive work and a mold that size would be closer to 100K per side. As for why they changed them have no clue, but I would guess not to save plastic. Either way I would rather have the pockets.

 

Wtf! I have a 2011 without the big pockets.. I feel like I got ripped off! There's a million things I would have used that pocket for too

 

Its a side air bag vs. No side air bag thing, no? Which even 2011 regular cabs don't have, do they? I like the bigger pockets; bottles of sunscreen and bug repellant in the front, a knife and gloves in the back.

 

Regular cabs can definitely use the extra storage space. Maybe regular cabs can meet the side-impact requirements without the extra foam, because the door is better supported (B-pillar is the cab corner)?

Yep, expensive enough to warrant buying insurance for the molds. The savings in plastic material is trivial. Side-impact protection is the more likely reason. Toyota probably would to choose to rework the mold (perhaps by adding a plug) instead of machining a new one if possible.

 

Interesting. The 09 regular cab that I drive at work has the same panel as my 06. Must be a mid year change.

 

I believe all 09 and up Tacomas have side air bags. My work truck (09 regular cab) has them.

 

I'm not a big fan of the " Mega Pockets ".

I like mine small and tight.

 

Yep. My buddy works in a factory that does door panels and such for semi trucks. He was quick to point out that they do not own the molds, their customers supply them. Serious money tied up in those.

If anyone gets a chance to tour a factory that does injection molding, DO IT! You don't quite get it until you see it done. Everything is much BIGGER than you would imagine, just to create a relatively small part.

 

Well, there goes that theory.

 

Yes, but depending on quantity, per-part cost becomes trivial. Over 5 years, Toyota makes about 600,000 Tacos, so each interior door panel costs Toyota about 16 cents in tooling and maybe $10 in plastic materials. The dealer parts dept. sells the door panel for over $500. I think cocaine is less profitable. Semi trucks are a different story of course.

 

I still use a map. To cheap for a GPS.