How to Secure Your Bed Mat on Your 2005 to 2007 Toyota Tacoma

The composite bed of the Toyota Tacoma is very slippery. The Toyota accessory bed mat solves this problem. If you purchased for your truck, or it came with the Toyota accessory bed mat, you can see there is not anything stopping a thief from stealing it. Follow these steps to deter a thief from walking away with your bed mat.

Basically, we will be bolting down the bed mat through the bed of the truck using the drain holes already in the composite bed nearest to the cab.

Tools needed:

· 1" bolts and matching nuts and washers (or another size if you wish)

· Soldering iron or Philips screw driver (will be heating up the shaft of the screw driver if you do not have a soldering iron)

Step One:
Decide which drain holes you will be using to secure the bed mat. You can use either the two outer drain holes or the center drain hole. Which ever one you chose, there will still be a drain hole available for drainage. I will be doing the two outer holes. Find some bolts that are the same size as the drain holes, or if you want larger bolts you can open up the holes larger simply by using a large drill bit. The bed is purely composite material and not metal so it is fairly easy to get through.

Step Two:
Place your bed mat in the truck and either have a friend go underneath the truck and poke a hole through the drain hole and through the bed mat. Or you can go under and mark it with some type of marker if you don't have a second set of hands.

Step Three:
With your bed mat now marked where you want your holes to be, you can create the holes the rest of the way by using something hot. If you have a skinny soldering iron, you can poke this through the bed mat, or simply heat up a Phillips head screwdriver and poke that through the bed mat. We are using heat and not cutting or drilling the bed mat because we do not want any chance of it ripping.

Step Four:
With your holes in place, you can now place your bolts through the mat and through the bottom of the bed. I would recommend using some large washers to distribute the force better. This will also help the bed mat not rip. This part will probably be much easier with two people. One person should hold the bolt in place in the top of the bed, while the other person is tightening the nut on the underside of the bed.

Your bed mat is now secure. If a thief tries to take your mat now, he will have a very hard time getting it out of the bed. You can also paint the bolts and washers black so they do not stand out as much. If you need the slipperiness of the composite bed, you can simply roll the bed mat up towards the front of the cab and out of your way.