2003 TOYOTA TACOMA length

’03 Tacoma U (L/O 0209)
312003 MY TACOMA (OM35800U)
CAUTION
Persons should ride in their seats
properly wearing their seat belts
whenever the vehicle is moving.
Otherwise, they are much more likely
to suffer serious bodily injury or
death in the event of sudden braking
or a collision.
When using the seat belts, observe
the following:
Use the belt for only one person at
a time. Do not use a single belt for
two or more people—even children.
Avoid reclining the seatbacks too
much. The seat belts provide maxi-
mum protection when the seatbacks
are in the upright position. (Refer
to the seat adjustment instructions.)
Be careful not to damage the belt
webbing or hardware. Take care that
they do not get caught or pinched
in the seat or side doors.
Inspect the belt system periodically.
Check for cuts, fraying, and loose
parts. Damaged parts should be re-
placed. Do not disassemble or
modify the system.
Keep the belts clean and dry. If
they need cleaning, use a mild soap
solution or lukewarm water. Never
use bleach, dye, or abrasive clean-
ers—they may severely weaken the
belts. (See “Cleaning the interior”
in Section 5.)
Replace the belt assembly (includ-
ing bolts) if it has been used in a
severe impact. The entire assembly
should be replaced even if damage
is not obvious.
Adjust the seat as needed (front seats
only) and sit up straight and well back
in the seat. To fasten your belt, pull it
out of the retractor and insert the tab
into the buckle.
You will hear a click when the tab locks
into the buckle.
The seat belt length automatically adjusts
to your size and the seat position.
The retractor will lock the belt during a
sudden stop or on impact. It also may
lock if you lean forward too quickly. A
slow, easy motion will allow the belt to
extend, and you can move around freely.
—Front and rear outside seat
belts

’03 Tacoma U (L/O 0209)
342003 MY TACOMA (OM35800U)
Lengthen
Sit up straight and well back in the
seat. To fasten your belt, insert the tab
into the buckle.
You will hear a click when the tab locks
into the buckle.
If the belt is not long enough for you, hold
the tab at a right angle to the belt and
pull on the tab.
CAUTION
After inserting the tab, make sure
the tab and buckle are locked and
that the belt is not twisted.
Do not insert coins, clips, etc. in
the buckle as this may prevent you
from properly latching the tab and
buckle.
If the seat belt does not function
normally, immediately contact your
Toyota dealer. Do not use the seat
until the seat belt is fixed. It cannot
protect an adult occupant or your
child from injury.
To o h i g h
Adjust to
a snug fit
Keep as low on hips as possible
Remove excess length of the belt and
adjust the belt position.
To shorten the belt, pull the free end of
the belt.
Position the lap belt as low as possible
on your hips—not on your waist, then ad-
just it to a snug fit.
CAUTION
Both highpositioned and loosefit-
ting lap belts could cause serious in-
juries due to sliding under the lap
belt during a collision or other unin-
tended result. Keep the lap belt posi-
tioned as low on hips as possible.
—Front and rear center seat
belt

’03 Tacoma U (L/O 0209)
352003 MY TACOMA (OM35800U)
To release the belt, press the bucklere-
lease button.The buckles can be fixed when not in
use.
When taking out the buckle from the hold-
er, pull on the belt webbing to remove the
buckle from the lower portion.If your seat belts cannot be fastened se-
curely because they are not long enough,
a personalized seat belt extender is avail-
able from your Toyota dealer free of
charge.
Please contact your local Toyota dealer so
that the dealer can order the proper re-
quired length for the extender. Bring the
heaviest coat you expect to wear for prop-
er measurement and selection of length.
Additional ordering information is available
at your Toyota dealer.CAUTION
When using the seat belt extender,
observe the following precautions.
Failure to follow these instructions
could reduce the effectiveness of the
seat belt restraint system in case of
vehicle accident, increasing the
chance of personal injury.
Never use the seat belt extender if
you can fasten the seat belt without
it.
—Stowing the rear seat
buckles (xtracab models)
—Seat belt extender

’03 Tacoma U (L/O 0209)
1892003 MY TACOMA (OM35800U)
CAUTION
When you load cargo on the roof lug-
gage carrier, observe the following:
Place the cargo on the center of
the cross rails so that its weight
can be distributed evenly between
the front and rear axles.
If loading long or wide cargo, never
exceed the vehicle overall length or
width. (See “Dimensions and
weight” in Section 8 for information
on your vehicle overall length and
width.)
Before driving, make sure the cargo
is securely fastened on the roof
luggage carrier.
Loading cargo on the roof luggage
carrier will make the center of the
vehicle gravity higher. Avoid high
speeds, sudden starts, sharp turns,
sudden braking or abrupt maneu-
vers, otherwise it may result in loss
of control or vehicle rollover due to
failure to operate this vehicle cor-
rectly.
If driving for a long distance, on
rough roads, or at high speeds,
stop the vehicle now and then dur-
ing the trip to make sure the cargo
remains in its place.
Do not exceed 45 kg (100 lb.) cargo
weight on the roof luggage carrier.
NOTICE
When loading the luggages, be careful
not to scratch the surface of the
moon roof.
Use a floor mat of the correct size.
If the floor carpet and floor mat have a
hole, then it is designed for use with a
locking clip. Fix the floor mat with locking
clip into the hole in the floor carpet.
Floor mat

’03 Tacoma U (L/O 0209)
2182003 MY TACOMA (OM35800U)
Backing with a trailer is difficult and
requires practice. Grip the bottom of
the steering wheel and move your hand
to the left to move the trailer to the
left. Move your hand to the right to
move the trailer to the right. (This pro-
cedure is generally opposite to that
when backing without a trailer.) Also,
just turn the steering wheel a little at
a time, avoiding sharp or prolonged
turning. Have someone guide you when
backing to reduce the risk of an acci-
dent.
Because stopping distance may be in-
creased, vehicletovehicle distance
should be increased when towing a
trailer. For each 16 km/h (10 mph) of
speed, allow at least one vehicle and
trailer length between you and the ve-
hicle ahead. Avoid sudden braking as
you may skid, resulting in jackknifing
and loss of control. This is especially
true on wet or slippery surfaces.
Avoid jerky starts or sudden accelera-
tion. If your vehicle has a manual
transmission, prevent excessive clutch
slippage by keeping engine rpm low
and not racing the engine. Always start
out in first gear.
Avoid jerky steering and sharp turns.
The trailer could hit your vehicle in a
tight turn. Slow down before making a
turn to avoid the necessity of sudden
braking.
Remember that when making a turn,
the trailer wheels will be closer than
the vehicle wheels to the inside of the
turn. Therefore, compensate for this by
making a larger than normal turning
radius with your vehicle.
Crosswinds and rough roads will ad-
versely affect handling of your vehicle
and trailer, causing sway. Pay attention
to the rear from time to time to pre-
pare yourself for being passed by large
trucks or buses, which may cause your
vehicle and trailer to sway. If swaying
happens, firmly grip the steering wheel
and reduce speed immediately but
gradually. Never increase speed. Steer
straight ahead. If you make no extreme
correction with the steering or brakes,
the vehicle and trailer will stabilize.
Be careful when passing other ve-
hicles. Passing requires considerable
distance. After passing a vehicle, do
not forget the length of your trailer and
be sure you have plenty of room be-
fore changing lanes.
In order to maintain engine braking effi-
ciency, do not use fifth gear (manual
transmission) or overdrive (automatic
transmission).
Because of the added load of the trail-
er, your vehicle’s engine may overheat
on hot days (at temperatures over
30C [85 F]) when going up a long or
steep grade with a trailer. If the engine
coolant temperature gauge indicates
overheating, immediately turn off the air
conditioning (if in use), pull off the road
and stop in a safe spot. Refer to “If
your vehicle overheats” in Section 4.
Always place wheel blocks under both
the vehicle and trailer wheels when
parking. Apply the parking brake firmly.
Put the transmission in “P” (automatic)
or in first or reverse (manual). Avoid
parking on a slope with a trailer, but
if it cannot be avoided, do so only
after performing the following:
1. Apply the brakes and hold.
2. Have someone place wheel blocks un- der both the vehicle and trailer wheels.
3. When the wheel blocks are in place, release your brakes slowly until the
blocks absorb the load.

’03 Tacoma U (L/O 0209)
2192003 MY TACOMA (OM35800U)
4. Apply the parking brake firmly.
5. Shift into first or reverse (manual) or“P” (automatic) and turn off the engine.
When restarting out after parking on a
slope:
1. With the transmission in “P” position (automatic) or the clutch pedal de-
pressed (manual), start the engine.
(With an automatic transmission, be
sure to keep the brake pedal de-
pressed.)
2. Shift into gear.
3. Release the parking brake (also foot brake on automatic transmission ve-
hicles) and slowly pull or back away
from the wheel blocks. Stop and apply
your brakes.
4. Have someone retrieve the blo cks.CAUTION
Do not exceed 72 km/h (45 mph) or
the posted towing speed limit,
whichever is lower. Because insta-
bility (swaying) of a towing vehicle
trailer combination usually in-
creases as the speed increases, ex-
ceeding 72 km/h (45 mph) may
cause loss of control.
Slow down and downshift before
descending steep or long downhill
grades. Do not make sudden down-
shifts.
Avoid holding the brake pedal down
too long or too frequently. This
could cause the brakes to overheat
and result in reduced braking effi-
ciency.
Improving fuel economy is easy—just take
it easy. It will help make your vehicle last
longer, too. Here are some specific tips
on how to save money on both fuel and
repairs:
Keep your tires inflated at the cor-
rect pressure. Underinflation causes
tire wear and wastes fuel. See Section
72 for instructions.
Do not carry unneeded weight in
your vehicle. Excess weight puts a
heavier load on the engine, causing
greater fuel consumption.
Avoid lengthy warmup idling. Once
the engine is running smoothly, begin
driving—but gently. Remember, howev-
er, that on cold winter days this may
take a little longer.
Always keep the automatic transmis-
sion overdrive switch turned on.
Driving with the overdrive switch off
will reduce the fuel economy. (For de-
tails, see “Automatic transmission” in
Section 16.)
Accelerate slowly and smoothly.
Avoid jackrabbit starts. Get into high
gear as quickly as possible.
How to save fuel and make
your vehicle last longer

’03 Tacoma U (L/O 0209)
2882003 MY TACOMA (OM35800U)
Dimensions
Regular cab models Xtracab models
Overall length
Overall height
∗ 8
Front tread
Rear tread Overall width
Wheelbase 4540 (178.7)
∗
1
4685 (184.4)∗25010 (197.2)∗1
5155 (203.0)∗2
1690 (66.5)
1765 (69.5)∗3, 41690 (66.5)
1625 (64.0)
∗4, 6
1615 (63.6)∗5, 6
1620 (63.8)∗4, 7
1630 (64.2)∗5, 7
3095 (121.9)
1450 (57.1)
1455 (57.3)
1455 (57.3) 1450 (57.1)
2625 (103.3) 1590 (62.5)
∗
3, 4
1605 (63.2)∗4
1615 (63.6)∗5
∗ 1
: Without rear step bumper∗2: With rear step bumper∗3: With 5VZFE engine∗4: With P235/55R16 tires∗5: With P205/75R15 tires∗6: With automatic transmission∗7: With manual transmission∗8: Unladen vehicle
TWOWHEEL DRIVE MODELS EXCEPT PRE RUNNER mm (in.)

’03 Tacoma U (L/O 0209)
2892003 MY TACOMA (OM35800U)
FOURWHEEL DRIVE MODELS AND PRE RUNNERmm (in.)
Regular cab modelsXtracab modelsDouble cab models
Overall length4685 (184.4)5155 (203.0)5155 (203.0)
Overall width1690 (66.5)∗
1
1785 (70.3)∗21690 (66.5)∗1
1785 (70.3)∗21785 (70.3)
Overall height∗41720 (67.7)∗1
1750 (68.9)∗21715 (67.5)∗1
1745 (68.7)∗2
1715 (67.5)∗1
1745 (68.7)∗2
1780 (70.1)∗1, 3
1810 (71.3)∗2, 3
Wheelbase2625 (103.3)3095 (121.9)3095 (121.9)
Front tread1460 (57.5)∗1
1500 (59.1)∗21460 (57.5)∗1
1500 (59.1)∗21460 (57.5)∗1
1500 (59.1)∗2
Rear tread1455 (57.3)∗1
1495 (58.9)∗21455 (57.3)∗1
1495 (58.9)∗21455 (57.3)∗1
1495 (58.9)∗2
∗1: With P225/75R15 tires∗2: With P265/70R16 tires∗3: With roof rails∗4: Unladen vehicle