The 2026 Toyota Tacoma still stamps the tailgate

Parked on a dealer lot and seen from the right rear corner, this orange Tacoma Double Cab has TACOMA pressed across the tailgate, under a black handle, with a small 4x4 badge at the lower left of the gate. The cap along the top of the gate is black. The center brake lamp sits on the cab, above the rear window, and the taillamp fully in view is a vertical red unit on the right bedside beside the gate. The bumper is dark gray with orange end caps, a TRD SPORT badge is on that bedside, and a dark alloy wheel shows below it. A blue Tacoma TRD Sport is parked to the left, with light poles and a store sign behind.

The stamp is how Toyota names the gate

Toyota’s 2026 U.S. brochure names the tailgate by the letters pressed into it. A lightweight “TACOMA” stamped tailgate is standard on SR and SR5. The same stamp with a damper is available on SR5 and standard on TRD PreRunner, TRD Sport, TRD Off-Road, and the i-FORCE MAX versions of TRD Sport and TRD Off-Road. A “TACOMA” stamped power open-and-close tailgate, with hands-free knee-lift assist and jam protection, is available on those four TRD grades and standard on Limited, Limited i-FORCE MAX, and Trailhunter. The footnote on the power line says the tailgate needs the key fob present. TRD Pro is the grade that gets its own letters. Its standard gate is a “TRD Pro” stamped power open-and-close tailgate, and that line adds integrated taillight bump switches.

The lightweight part of that name comes from the November 28, 2023 newsroom note on the Tacoma redesigned for 2024. Aluminum goes into the upper body to cut weight, and the tailgate is the lightweight aluminum piece that goes with it. That note also describes an available power open and close, with jam protection, a button in either taillight, and a close that starts when the gate is pushed up with a knee. It lists an integrated tailgate spoiler among the signature design pieces. Toyota’s May 18, 2023 introduction of the same truck calls it the fourth generation.

The November 13, 2025 note is the 2026 model year. The truck is offered in SR, SR5, TRD PreRunner, TRD Sport, TRD Off-Road, Limited, TRD Pro, and Trailhunter, as a Double Cab or an XtraCab, with a 5-foot or a 6-foot bed. The changes that note names for the year are a black front logo on TRD Off-Road, TRD Sport, and TRD PreRunner, 18-inch TRD wheels with 32-inch Goodyear all-terrain tires in the TRD Off-Road i-FORCE Premium Package, Heritage Blue, Wave Maker for the TRD Pro, and a tow hitch made standard on the SR XtraCab. Toyota’s U.S. Tacoma page, checked October 24, 2026, presents the truck on sale as the 2026, and it shows i-FORCE MAX rows for TRD Sport, TRD Off-Road, and Limited, with Trailhunter and TRD Pro on the hybrid powertrain.

The Commons file titles the orange truck a 2024 Toyota Tacoma TRD Sport Double Cab and dates the photograph February 13, 2024. The day of the photograph is not the model year. The TRD SPORT badge on the bedside matches the grade in that title. On the 2026 table a TRD Sport still stamps TACOMA, whether it has the damped gate that is standard or the power gate that is available. You can read the letters on the gate and the badge on the bedside. Both versions of that grade use the same stamp, so the closed tailgate does not say which of the two is fitted.

The light gray truck is an SR XtraCab, seen from its left rear corner in front of a white garage with roll-up doors and trees. The Commons file identifies it as a 2025 Toyota Tacoma SR Xtracab, photographed in Riverhead, New York, on May 4, 2025.

TACOMA is pressed across this gate the same way, under a black handle, with a 4x4 badge at the lower left and a dark cap along the top edge. The center brake lamp is on the cab again, and a vertical red taillamp sits on the left bedside corner. The bumper is black, the wheels are silver steel, and an exhaust tip shows underneath. The left bedside has no grade badge.

The 2026 note keeps the XtraCab on SR, SR5, and TRD PreRunner. The brochure gives the SR the lightweight “TACOMA” stamped tailgate as its standard gate, and it keeps the damper and the power closer on other grades. Both photographs show that same pressed name. The grade mark in the pictures is the badge beside the gate: TRD SPORT on the orange truck, and no grade badge on the gray truck’s visible bedside. The letters in the metal change on TRD Pro, whose gate is stamped TRD Pro.