The 2021 Toyota Tundra is the second highest-rated pickup truck by Consumer Reports. Yet its not without flaws. In addition to its not-so-great safety ratings, the 2021 Toyota Tundra brakes are pretty awful. Let’s look at why Consumer Reports gave the Tundra brakes a 1/5.

How does Consumer Reports do its brakes testing?

Consumer Reports tests vehicles at their enormous Colchester, Connecticut facility. To do brake testing, they take “a composite of wet and dry stopping distances and pedal feel. Braking distance is from 60 mph, with no wheels locked.” 

Braking is abdominal in the Tundra, at a 1. The Tundra takes 153 feet to brake from 60 mph on dry pavement and 178 feet on wet pavement. This is the worst score that a truck can get, and should make truck shoppers pause before purchasing a Tundra. 

Overall, the Toyota Tundra road test score is an ‘eh’ rating of 59. Consumer Reports gives the 2021 Toyota Tundra scores a 4/5 for its acceleration. Its transmission scores a 5/5. Routine handling receives a mediocre 3/5, while emergency handling only gets a 2/5. The Toyota Tundra’s max avoidance speed is 44 mph.

Safety ratings in the 2021 Toyota Tundra aren’t good, either

The 2021 Toyota Tundra comes standard with nearly all of the Consumer Reports recommended advanced safety features. The exceptions are blind-spot warning, rear cross traffic warning, and daytime running lights, which are optional. Unfortunately, lane-keeping assist isn’t available. 

The IIHS crash-tested the 2021 Toyota Tundra, and the results are mixed. The front moderate overlap, side crash, and rear crash test results are good. However, the roof crush score is only acceptable, and the front small overlap, driver side is marginal. The front small overlap, passenger side rating is poor. 

The NHTSA has crash-tested the 2021 Toyota Tundra and gave it four stars for its overall crash, overall frontal-crash, and overall frontal-crash on the driver and passenger side. The overall side crash, side-crash driver and rear passenger side, and side pole-crash all get five stars. The rollover rating for both the 4WD is four stars, but the 2WD score is only three stars.

Reliability in the Tundra is decent, as is owner satisfaction

To determine the reliability of the Tundra, Consumer Reports sends out surveys to people who have bought previous versions of the vehicle. They then combine this survey data with what they know about the current model. 

Based on this, Consumer Reports gives the 2021 Toyota Tundra a 4/5 for its predicted reliability. Reliability for the 2019 and 2020 Toyota Tundras is pretty good. The only score in the 2020 to be mediocre is paint and trim. In the 2019, the only problem area is body integrity.

The owner satisfaction score is also good, at a 4/5. Most notably, the driving experience is an 81 and comfort is a 74. Styling receives a 74. Value, however, is a fairly high 51, as far as value scores go. 79% of Tundra owners would buy their truck again, which is the most in its class.

Overall, although the 2021 Toyota Tundra is a popular truck, its brakes and safety ratings should give prospective buyers pause. While the Tundra has good reliability ratings and a decent road test score, it’s far from the perfect truck.