Toyota's Air Shock Seats Are Finally Making It Into the Tundra TRD Pro
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Toyota trucks aren't as simple as they once were. Then again, nothing is. Still, it's wild to think that the manufacturer is currently selling pickups with supercar levels of horsepower and torque just two years after ditching drum brakes. It doesn't stop at electrified powertrains, either, as the new Tacoma TRD Pro even has seats with stinkin' air shocks in the back. And now, those IsoDynamic thrones are making their way to the full-size Tundra.
This makes sense, really. In case you've never seen them before, these seats are thick—so thick, in fact, that a human can't sit behind me in the Tacoma whenever I have them adjusted to my driving position. Granted, I'm 6'5″, but everything ought to fit a lot better in the half-ton Tundra.
Here I am, seated behind an average-sized man in the Tacoma TRD Pro. I can only imagine this won't be such a problem in the Tundra. Caleb jacobs
When we asked Sheldon Brown, the Tacoma's chief engineer, to explain these air-over-oil shocks at the truck's launch event, he said:
'We started with some very basic technology, obviously increasing the bolsters both in the seat as well as in the rear seat back. And that obviously helps snuggle up the occupant, makes sure they're nice and tight. In the front, we added a swivel joint.
'In the back is our superstructure. It's a hot-formed steel tube. We basically blow it and quench it so we get the strength out of that. Obviously, that adds a little bit of mass, so behind this, we have gone from a metal back frame and a metal seat pan to a reinforced resin, and that helps us take some of the mass back out of the seat. The way this fundamentally works is we have the swivel joint there in the front, we have a spring-loaded ball joint, and then, of course, we have an articulation structure below.
'What we have here is air-over-oil, and what we can do is with a simple air Schrader valve. You can pull this off with something like a mountain bike-type pump; you can pump that up and we can set it to a specific pressure. We give you recommended pressures based on the occupant's mass, and then from there, you can customize it however you like, and you can change the damping force.'
You don't lose any luxury with these high-performing seats, either, unless you count power recline as a luxury. They're still heated, ventilated, and adjustable up, down, fore, and aft.
Toyota
The difference between the IsoDynamic seats and regular ones is tangible, for sure. You can run 10 or 15 mph faster with the air-suspended seats than you can without them and not lose your dental fillings. And with the extra cab space in the Tundra, I think it'll finally be a net positive as I couldn't fully get behind them in the Tacoma—either literally or figuratively speaking.
Got a tip or question for the author? Contact them directly: caleb@thedrive.com
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