Can anyone tell me what this is?

I was looking at 2010 Tacoma with 155,000 miles and saw this and wondering what this is.
Dealer didn't know either, he said it was already done when they got the vehicle.

 

Air intake?

I think the sensor does double duty, MAF and intake air temp.

 

Hot air intake.

 

Its an aftermarket Cold air intake with the MAF sensor as stated above.

 

Stock intake pulls "hot" air from the wheel well - that pulls "cold" air from the engine bay. Quotes for backwards things the marketing team wants you believe.

 

What does it do? If you don't mind me asking..

 

What is the benefit of having this?

 

It’s used to bring relatively cool air into a car's internal-combustion engine.

 

you get a marginal increase in horsepower by less effectively filtering the air. something like $100 per 2 horsepower depending on the brand of this intake system.

I personally prefer stock as paper filters are easier to replace and aren't that expensive.

 

Your wallet is lighter and it looks cool.

 

If someone selling you a vehicle doesn't know what that is, run.

 

It makes the engine sound a little louder while allowing more silicates to enter the combustion chamber and abrade very expensive close tolerance moving parts. It accomplishes all this while reducing your account balance.
I would never touch a used vehicle with a CAI on it.

 

Winner! Run.

It's a cold air intake, OP. Not too popular on TW for reasons already stated.

The horsepower equivalent of adding a cheap aftermarket stereo head unit because it looks cool.

 

I see, that's why it was really loud when I was test driving it. It was unusually loud and I was like, is this normal?

 

I don't think it's a dealer I'd want to do business with.

 

look how shiny that bad boy is. easy 50hp gain

 

I remember the first time I spoke with a car salesman after I had begun learning just a little about cars in general (this was waaay back in the "old days", i.e. the '90s). Their level of ignorance about what they were trying to sell was surprising to me then. Now, not so much...

 

"Dealer didn't know either"
Outstanding

 

The guy I talked to, I think is the owner and I met him after hour because of my work schedule and he said he has a mechanic who does all the work and stuff. He would be the one to ask questions but he is already gone, was, I think what he was trying to say.