Plastic running boards? Seriously???

If I can safely assume you have a 'street truck', or light duty off pavement, your boards should be fine.

'04 Sienna in the family with the same thing. 190k on it, 2 little curtain climbers, 2 adults, lots of stepping on the boards in and out.

No problems.

 

The hilux I had came with factory running boards made of metal. They were not sliders but just a simple running board.

It looked like an aluminum based metal and did get bent while offroading. But was easy enough to straighten by hand (and wood blocks)

 

i have the same ones no problems so far. im sure they have taken a few door hits too

 

was thinking this when I saw the thread title

 

I have a set of double cab running boards on my access cab...and couldn't be happier.

You complain about the plastic...but the metal frame is pretty damn heavy duty. There's about a 12" overhang at the end that isn't bolted (on the end). I step on this often when I wash the truck and they hold up surprisingly well.

I bought mine used....and they've been on the truck ever since for many many years.

This is a picture of the frame (without the plastic).

 

Necro thread revival week!

 

I'm not defending toyota. But... alot of "running boards" are plastic. Intact, the concept is "plastic" in a sense. Running boards are cheap aluminum plastic confabs that attach to your body to help grama in the truck. Rock sliders are made from metal. And are terrible to amazing. But they bolt to your frame. All serious off road trucks have "sliders" in the west where we have rocks we pitch them at 20 degrees or 5. Flat Rock sliders with no pitch are also "sliders" but personally I don't understand how they "slide" with zero pitch. That's just me.. so a bunch of guys have metal sliders now with zero pitch. Which in my mind is a confusing idiot thing. Your step bars are stronger then they look. Are super easy to remove


My wifes 4runner has similar "step bars" to your new truck. They exist in cold snow environment. They look amazing. My powdercoated "sliders " need painted every spring because the metal you want chips. Trust it, try it out. If it doesn't workut get "sliders"

 

The bed definitely holds up better than steel!

I've thrown concrete rifraf in it and that definitely dings up a steel bed. Not one dent in the composite.

Toyota should have made the tailgate composite as thick at the rest of the bed...

 

So what? Running boards are decorative, cosmetic, items. Steel is for frame mounted sliders and for winners.

 

Better to have the wife steps break away than f up the body where they mount!
Plus they shouldn’t rust out just the frame inside and mounts?

 

Great idea, nothing beats darkened head and taillights.