Tacoma Frame Steel Source

I saw a thread on here where someone stated Toyota frame steel was "likely" sourced from China, any truth to that?, Lets get some cyber sleuths on this!

 

Why does it matter at this point?
This is the second time I’ve seen someone comment about the frame steel being Chinese.

 

Guys Chinese steel is literally everywhere. China produces about 53% of the world's steel supply, meaning they produce more than the rest of the world combined. China has some of the largest and most advanced integrated steel mills on the planet. So yes there is a good chance your frame and many other things around you have been produced with Chinese steel

 

The problem is not where the steel comes from. The problem is the type of finish applied to the frames by the (US based) supplier that builds and paints them. How many times do I have to say this?

 

Yep, and it's a global economy anyways. Some of the Chinese steel is American steel or really planet earth steel. We ship many of our recyclables to China. It's cheaper for us to sell recyclable material to China than it is to recycle it ourselves.

The days of %100 American products are just about over. Almost every product in the first world has at least some traces of global material and labor...

 

OP is just posting to whine about a global economy. This thread ads zero value to the 2nd gen forum.

 

General Tso chicken treats me right

 

I’m more of an orange chicken and white rice fan

 

All steel isn't the same. Creating quality steel is more involved than melting down scrap and casting it.

 

Unfortunately, probably many more. This is right up there with the notion that a given part offered by multiple companies/brands who source from the same manufacturer must all be exactly the same. No thought whatsoever given to the fact that possibly they're being built to different specs provided by each company.

 

About 90% of Chinese steel is virgin production which has very little scrap in the blast furnace charge with most of that scrap being prompt scrap taken from the casting and shaping process in an integrated mill. For sure "not all steel is created equally" is true; there are around 15,000 steel alloys in production today most of which have been developed over the last 20 years or so. But to say that Chinese steel is somehow inferior is patently false. We're not talking about the little teapot smelters that used to dot China pre-2000, we're talking about a China that is an industrial powerhouse with the largest and most advanced steel mills in the world.

 

Is the question where the c-channel was shaped and welded into a Tacoma frame, or is it where that c-channel was actually produced? That frame sticker doesn't indicate that the crude steel was produced in Mexico, although it could have been. More likely it was sourced elsewhere and then finished into a Tacoma frame in Mexico

 

As I stated in Post #4, it doesn't matter where the steel was produced. What matters is the finishing (painting in this case) process that follows fabrication. And Toyota is not the only manufacturer with problems with corroding frames. Visit a Jeep forum sometime.

BTW, thank you for your service!

 

What next? Are you going to propose that the scrap steel recycled into Toyota frames was rusted? (Spoiler Alert: All scrap steel is rusted.)

 

Yeah bro I'm with you. I study global steel production as part of my work

 

The argument you often hear in this space is that older American vehicles (that ostensibly were made from parts largely of US origin) rarely had frame rot (although body rot was quite common).

But there are too many variables in play and time itself is one of them.

- Have municipalities gotten more aggressive with salt use since the 1950s?
- Do frames need to be built lighter now (but still as strong) for CAFE reasons? Thicker steel will take more time to rot versus thin steel right?
- Have environmental regs made it difficult to use certain chemical treatments and coatings?
- Has the engineering mindset simply changed? We live in a very disposable society now and the average consumer won't want to pay for vehicles that are designed to last a lifetime.

 

This. The bottom of the cab of my truck looks like it's brand new. The frame looks like hell- I'm in TN, we use very little salt/brine, and the frame looks like it's spent 20 years in Detroit.

 

This has been a problem for decades now, I can see a manufacturer having a few bad years but what the fuck ?
Why can't this issue be fixed??

 

Seems to me it’s just a maintenance issue. Kind of like changing oil.

 

I source all kinds of supplies and materials for my business. Here is the really REALLY sad fact. Much of what is produced in the US is very poor quality for the price. American manufacturers spend very little on finish work, QC, and fitting because of the cost of labor. You call them to discuss a problem and they just don't care. It pains me to say this, but I don't seek out US made products anymore. I would gladly pay more for a QUALITY US product, but I'll be damned if I will pay more for junk. There are many global sources now for a variety of things that are FAR better than American products. Yes, China is a great source for many many things! We source from South Korea, and Taiwan as well. There is little pride left here, and unless we turn that around (unlikely), we will all be shining shoes for a living, and doing a really crappy job at it.