2021 Optional Bed Cooler spotted

Today I was at the dealership getting my fuel pump replaced. In the lot was a 2021 SR5 with a Trail Edition option. It has off road wheels, a limited grill and various other parts bin additions. The main thing of note are the large storage compartments on each side of the bed. The driver’s side storage compartment is insulated.

 

Wow, yuck!

Put a Bedrug in one of those and it'll look like a coffin!

 

Between the shortened bed and the oversized wheel wells/coolers you lost the whole bed. How does that make any sense? That seems like a waste to me.

 

This feels like the result of design-by-committee and a focus group full tailgaters.

 

I seriously feel like the person that designed that has never used a pickup before. Small bed made even smaller.

Maybe I'm wrong, but looking at the lids to the bins, it appears they open INTO the bed center space so if there were any cargo in the last usable bed space you can't access anything in the bins. Fantastic forward thinking on that design.

 

Doesn't look too bad. You can remove them easily if you need all the bed space again. I can see how you can benefit from those storage as well.

 

We said we wanted the bed storage compartments back and Toyota listened.

 

Toyota picked up a few ex John Deere engineers by the looks of it

 

That's pathetic before the cost is considered. As much as I think the bro-Yeti fad is overblown, this makes them look smart and affordable.

 

Looks like Bed Stiffeners will be out of the question, and that's just hideous.

 

Good eye!

But, they left room for the bed light and bed extender kits. Just crazy.

 

Absolutely ridiculous

 

That's an insolvable question because if they opened out then you couldn't access them from the side of the truck. These might be useful for putting recovery gear or tools in if you're a contractor.

From what I've read the bed extender will still fit with these so they might be useful to someone who's got a dirt bike in the bed or something.

They aren't permanent boxes so if they don't fit your need they come out. I'm of the opinion that a 7 foot bed regular cab is adequate and a 6 foot extended cab is barely long enough so none of the 4 door tiny bed makes sense to me but Toyota sells a shit load of Tacomas so they're doing something right.

 

This is great for the hipsters that want to roll around with beer cooler in the bed of the truck .. lol .. worst idea ever .

 

While I like your attempt at positive here, there's no way to tie down the forks. The side loops are hidden or gone and the bed bolt is covered unless someone makes a special D ring.

 

if they were to design in a handle into the top so you could lift the cooler out of a quick release mount it would be more useful to me.
i dont need a full time cooler,

 

I wonder if the locks will work with truck key, or if they make you carry a second key

 

Might as well buy a 4Runner and get a Free camper shell already installed

 

My issue with it is that it feels lazy. This is the OEM equivalent of strapping down a cooler in the bed - there is little here that is an improvement over just putting a cooler in the bed.

When something comes built into the vehicle, I really expect it to be more well thought out and integrated in ways that would be very difficult to do aftermarket. For a better implementation, look at how dodge does the toolboxes on the ram:

 

Just looking a this makes it seem like a gimmick.

The space between the wheel wells is the extra space. You need the width on top for hauling stuff.