Has Toyota Finally Starting Discontinuing Gen1 Parts?

Toyota has slowly stopped making parts for the 1st gen for awhile now,
Mostly interior items and some body parts, but there are plenty of aftermarket options for most parts but not all.
The most recently items that I was looking for but discontinued,
1) headlight side marker buckets with the lens.
2) Toyota logo for the front grill
3)seatbelts in blue
4) carpet in blue
5) carpet floor mats in blue
6) tilt steering wheel ball socket that went bad.
7) sun visors
8) hood liner
9) some speedo cables
10) interior plastic parts
11) driveshafts

 

I work in a Chevy parts dept. and GM is horrible when it comes to discontinued parts. I think it comes down to their bad relationships with the suppliers. We have a ton of back orders too. I’ve had a steering gear on order for a Traverse since October with no promise date from GM. The customer traded it in. She understandably couldn’t wait forever. One more reason I own two Toyotas.

 

Oh, I sure would! I’ve wanted a 79 or a 76 series forever.

 

Are you trying to say that Toyota sells enough pickup trucks in Europe or elsewhere than here in the States to make your previous statement about pickups being Toyota's "bread winners" sound true? Because they aren't, not even close. The Asian and European markets are *heavily* geared towards small cars. The US is the #1 pickup truck market by far. Australia, for example sold 47,000 Hiluxes (the #1 seller in Aus), the US sold more Camaros than that.

I think you are thinking of the F-150. That's the best selling vehicle world wide.

 

electric windows work just fine even if submerged.

 

doesn't Toyota charge a premium for their parts? I mean, the prices I see compared to aftermarket options indicate that they are really proud of their stuff. I would imagine they are still making profit off of parts sales. If they are profiting off of something that continues to sell, why would they stop?

Unless we have intimate knowledge of Tacoma parts sales YoY, I don't see how we can start making the conclusion that parts will be discontinued. Especially not maintenance parts like suspension, engine, driveline components, etc. Trim pieces I could care less about. If I can't keep my truck driving on the road, then there will be problems... but if people keep maintaining their trucks with new parts from Toyota then I don't see why they would stop.

Simple supply and demand at the end of the day.

 

ask @Running Board Man (I think that's his name now, he changes it a lot)

 

Yep. Toyota discontinues parts if orders stop coming in, or if there's a sudden cost increase (tooling damaged beyond repair, microchip obsolescence, whatever). As durable as our trucks are, only 2.5% are kept beyond 200k miles: https://www.iseecars.com/longest-lasting-cars-study

~150,000 North American sales each year x 9.5 years [1995.5-2004] x 2.5% = only ~35,000 1st gens still on the road in North America and dwindling each year.

 

You can thank Cash for Clunkers, ZIRP and 7 year car loans for alllll of that

 

Depends on location and use. Within just my local off-road club, it's surprising how many Tacos have been totaled due to rust, collision damage, and off-road hoonery within the last 3 years (mine was a casualty as well). The newest 1st gens are now 16 years old. In northern states, it's rare to see cars older than 15 years on the road. In some western European countries, it's rare to see cars older than 5 years on the road!

 

To be honest, Toyota probably discontinued a lot of Gen 1 Tacoma parts some time ago. They’re just starting to clear out inventory from their last production run.

Note also that there are a ton of parts that were made by Toyota’s many suppliers and subcontractors. It’s harder to keep that supply chain alive, despite a continuing smallish market.

The higher value and/or faster moving parts will be available for some time to come from Toyoata or aftermarket.

 

Mythbusters did an episode a while back for underwater car escape. The dunked a whole car door in a tank and hooked it up to a battery and it still worked.

It's also a very common technique to "break in" new RC car motors by running them underwater.

 

Don't mean to hijack thread but my buddy has this for sale. Left hand drive from Brazil.

 

Comparing oem to aftermarket is a horrible comparison the quality of parts is not even close, and don’t fool yourself thinking they are.

 

Most of the electrical parts are discontinued

There are exceptions, door handles for later 1st gens

Does someone have the photo?

@BartMaster1234

 

Over time, Toyota OEM parts in many cases are supplied by aftermarket suppliers, although approved to be sold as OEM by Toyota. Generally higher quality, but many times you can get the same part cheaper elsewhere.

Some dealers also specialize in 'New Old Stock." I found all the OEM window molding rubber parts for a '77 Celica, just had to find who might have them and still had a guy that could use the microfiche machine.

 

did you actually roll down your SR5 window when it was under submerged water?
oh my

 

Yes couldn't the open door cause thats how pressure differentials work

 

that number is mind-boggling