- Hey everyone, my name is Jesse Rydell.
I'm an aerodynamics and
wind noise engineer here
at The Toyota Technical
Center in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
The question is, "What is the purpose
"of these forward mud flaps?"
Well, these forward mud flaps are actually
called a spat and believe it or not,
they're an aerodynamic device.
Now, how they work is actually,
as your vehicle is going
down the Interstate
you have to push a lot
of air and the tire tread
and the suspension and many
other areas in this region
are not so great for air to pass through.
It's a very rough surface and it's
not so great for aerodynamics.
What this spat actually does is it
helps deflect the air
around the side of the tire,
lower, beneath it, and also
underneath the suspension.
By doing that it gets the air out of these
rough surfaces that cause
a lot of extra drag.
So, the amount of work
your Tundra has to do
as it's going down the
Interstate is a lot lower.
And as such, it's using less fuel,
giving you better fuel mileage.
