Future of the Extra Cab?

I got rid of my '18 Access Cab SR 2WD because the 2.7L was a slow-revving slug (even in a lighter 2WD with 4.30 gears) but I also wasn't fond of the rear doors also being the de facto "B" pillars. I've seen it around. The new owner tricked it out with big fender flares and Raptor grill lights. 4WD look at a 2WD price.

 

Forgive my ignorance. What is B pillars?

 

gen1 or just go home...

 

Not sure if it's mentioned elsewhere, but the newest offset frontal collision crash testing also puts a smaller dummy (equivalent to a twelve year old boy or smaller woman) in the rear seat behind the driver.
No way to pass that test with a tiny seat space, so the seats had to go from the extracab. The cost to provide a second door to the storage space behind the driver AND meet side impact requirements likely wasn't worth it for the (perceived) number of people who don't want to flip the seat forward once in a while.

I have one of the last access cabs, and I would never put a person in that rear area....getting rid of the seats and doors in the new generation means no one else can either.

 

As a prior owner of both an "Xtra cab" (1997) and "Access cab" (2021) I have lamented, multiple times in this forum, about the demise of the access cab long bed. Once you have an access cab with fully opening doors, you cannot go back to an older (IMO) inferior design with an Xtra cab. While I do not know for sure about where all the xtra cab Tacomas go, I think the pest control industry is purchasing multiples of them. I have a friend who works for Orkin. She has an Xtra cab SR-5 as a company service vehicle. I have also seen a couple of other pest control companies with the same configuration. I wonder if there is a way to see how many of the Xtra cabs are sold for commercial use, and what those uses are?

 

The upright supports that hold up a vehicle's passenger compartment roof are lettered front to rear starting with "A". Four door passenger compartments typically have A, B, and C pillars whereas something like a limo would have more.

 

The A pillar is the forward structure at the windshield, the B pillar is the structure behind the front doors, with the Clamshell Doors you don't have a fixed B pillar and lose a bit of strength and rigidity.

 

Gen 0 or just go home.

 

Thanks

 

I was ready to pull the trigger on a '25 Access Cab until ... NO DOORS ... wth? 14 years with 2 ACs ... seats taken out the first day on both ... had a nice carpeted bench made. I went with the Double Cab and am adjusting to it. One month in ... time will tell.