A recent post on the popular Tacomaworld.com grabbed my attention with regard to the 2024 Toyota Tacoma spare tire size. Apparently, the more you spend, the bigger the spare tire. Yeah, that’s weird.
2024 Toyota Tacoma spare tire size
The original poster DRB777 explains his surprise over a smaller spare tire on the 2024 Toyota Tacoma:
“Just took delivery on a ’24 Tacoma SR5 4X4 double cab and there’s a problem. Either Gulf States Distributing or the new plant in Mexico equipped my truck with one of those compact, skinny temporary spare tire & wheel. Toyota published spec’s for this model clearly specify that the spare will be “full size”, not what was sent to my dealer. So far the dealer refuses to correct this obvious deficiency. I’ve now contacted both Gulf States and Toyota Motors, so we’ll see if they have any integrity (apparently my dealer does not). So be extra careful if taking delivery and inspect everything, even the spare. I expected better from Toyota! It’s hard to see why they would even think of using such an unsafe spare on a 4X4 truck, what a joke (but not funny).”
Sure enough, at the time of this post, the Toyota website shows all trims will come with a full-size spare tire.
The spare tire section on the build-and-price page of the Toyota.com website as of 3.30 p.m. on February 27, 2024.
DRB ended up going back to the dealer with this information and is getting a full-size spare to replace the smaller spare tire as shown in the feature photo on this page.
But that’s not the end of this story.
I reached out to Toyota Public Relations to understand what was going on, and as it turns out, this is a marketing error.
“Thanks for bringing this to our attention,” said Adam Lovelady, Toyota Corporate Communications. “The marketing team is going to update the specs on Toyota.com. SR Double cab and all SR5s come with a temporary spare and not a full size. The website will be updated soon.”
Looks like DRB got lucky to get a full-size spare for his SR5 before they update the website.
The bottom line
This is pretty wild that 4X4 SR5 doesn’t come with a full-size spare tire, and you have to opt for a higher-end trim to get one. It certainly feels like this is a place where the accountants found a way to cut a corner and save a few bucks.
