If ignorance has a sexy sibling, it’s mystery. It’s one thing to not know why something is or what something is, but not knowing why something is is a hell of a lot more fun when that something is baffling or confusing or amusing or engaging in some way. Make it just a touch sinister, and you’ve transformed ignorance into mystery. I think the fact that first-generation non-sunroof Toyota Sequoias have a little mystery of this sort associated with them. It’s the Mystery of Why The Hell Does This Thing Have Five Separate Sunglass Holders In The Overhead Console.
Many, likely most, cars made in the past 20 years or so have some sort of flip-down sunglass holder, most commonly in a headliner-mounted console above the rear-view mirror. We all know these: you push on them, and a little door swings down, revealing a little protected slot to stick your sunglasses. Most cars have one of these.
The 2002-2004 Toyota Sequoia, though, if optioned with no sunroof (which is not very common; really, only the base trim Sequoias had no sunroof; a Toyota rep told me that as soon as you add any option packages to the Sequoia, a sunroof almost always shows up, too) will have, spreading down the center of its headliner, like some sort of spine, a large overhead console that contains an improbable and seemingly absurd five sunglass holders.
Five! Maybe the thinking was that everyone who could occupy a seat in the car should, by divine right, have a safe and convenient place to store their sunglasses (or other eyewear; there’s nothing that says you couldn’t slide a nice pair of Warby Parker readers in there) because, somehow, that was considered a priority? It’s not clear, at all.
And, of course, I’m by no means the first person to point this out. There have been posts on various places on the internet from Sequoia owners quite baffled by this quintet of sunglass cubbies for years:
It looks like madness, doesn’t it? And now, thanks to Tik Tok, there’s been a bit of a resurgence of interest in the Mystery of All The Damn Sequoia Sunglass Holders as people are sharing them, via the magic of digital moving pictures, with the world.
Here, look:
@b14k3bix Noone ever talks about the feautures #toyota #newcar #sequoia #toyotasequoia #trending #dougdemuro
… and here’s another one:
https://www.tiktok.com/@doctorbcruse/video/6814213967888665861?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id=7260142994893325870
Okay, one more:
@sn0zberries
I’m sure there’s more out there, but you get the idea. The thing has a crapload of sunglass holders, and it’s weirding everybody out. I’m pretty confused, too; I get that maybe Toyota just needed to fill a lot of space on that sunroofless headliner, and after they stuck in some map lights and provisions for garage door opening buttons and so on, they maybe just ran out of ideas and copy-pasted that lone sunglass holder five times? They did make the last two bigger, maybe for oversized Elton John-style novelty glasses, I suppose
I reached out to Toyota, hoping to get some answers, but, to be honest, the response I got only led to more questions. The first response I got was an outright denial that Toyota even made these consoles! I was told that after talking to both Toyota R&D and their Calty Design Center, they had determined that this was an aftermarket accessory and not original Toyota equipment.
Wait a minute. Something doesn’t smell right here. Looking at a lot of eBay ads, I found the shot I was looking for – a nice, clear Toyota sticker, complete with part and patent numbers:
That part number linked to a number of places selling this genuine, OEM Toyota part, and most of those patent numbers have to do with electrical equipment that may be incorporated into the console, like a vehicle compass. The point is, this is not an aftermarket part! It’s OEM! I reached back out to Toyota and showed them my findings, perhaps a bit indignantly.
Immediately, the story changed. Now Toyota was admitting that, yes, this was their part, and while it was not common, it did exist on those base model packages. I was told that the power moonroof was a $1,005 standalone option, so lots of people jumped at that chance.
As far as why, I was simply told
“So far as engineers and designers are concerned, we don’t have any information we can provide internally from folks who worked on the vehicle. Which bums me out. Sorry about that, Jason.”
Well, crap. And I do appreciate Toyota’s PR team, who are always helpful and knowledgeable. Except this time, and as a result of this dichotomy, I suspect something, I don’t know, sinister.
Why would they pretend that this was an aftermarket part? Why is Toyota so hush-hush about the thinking behind the legendary pentapockets for sunglasses? What are they hiding? What’s the angle here? Something is clearly up.
There’s no reason for Toyota to try to distance themselves from this remarkable feature, especially with all the new attention it’s getting; this is the sort of mind-share attention that you can’t buy, and a savvy marketing team would be all over this, perhaps offering an all-new six sunglass holder for the new Toyota Sequoia.
So, after all this, things have just gotten weirder. We still don’t understand the motivation for such a shocking amount of sunglass holders in a single vehicle, and we now have the added mystery of Toyota’s strange reaction.
This isn’t over.
It’s because they hired Captain Rex Kramer as a design consultant:
https://youtu.be/73UfgMoWv8E?si=-nlCJNQs_MRmHybJ
You can’t talk about the Sequoia’s sunglass holders without talking about the 04 F150 roof console situation. It had an available headliner track system specifically to mount sunglass holders, and supposedly other future accessories that never materialized. Not only that, but you could SLIDE those sunglass holders between the front and rear seats. 😀
04-08 Ford F150 Sliding Rail Overhead Console Roof DVD Screen Map Light Storage | eBay
This car was made for Nymphia Wind https://preview.redd.it/30hs2nqtvd9c1.jpg?width=640&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=427b512620058e6315f57576af99cbe18eda4d9f
The oversized ones are for those novelty New Years Eve glasses that have the giant numbers on them.
These were secretly the New Years Eve designated driver Sequoias.
This is absolutely the type of hard-hitting investigative journalism that I pay membership for!
Anyone can write “OMG, 5 sunglasses holders!”, but The Autopian reaches out to Toyota for comment, and then, investigates and fact-checks their response. THEN, Jason goes back and puts them on the spot for a real answer!
If only more journalist were like this.
What we really need to be asking is why we’ve seen such a push toward sunroofs and not more overhead storage. I wish I had a couple more overhead compartments in my car. I suspect the car companies are beholden to Big Glass and have been pressured to put ever-increasing amounts of glass on top since the higher beltlines have restricted the glass on the sides.
Wow, this is like a car that seats four having twelve cupholders. Everyone is entitled to sunglasses and a variety of beverages.
Those just need a slight modification to become quite effective taco holders. Once that’s done 5 won’t be enough!
I have been a glasses wearer since I was a small child. In my car at any time is a pair of prescription sunglasses and one or more pairs of regular glasses. I have only had 1 car with an overhead cubby and I never really used it. They tend to reside on the passegner seat when I am alone the cubby beneath the radio.
The one with a button in the middle is for a garage door opener. You put one of those older garage door openers in it so that it is hidden behind the cover. Instead of on your visor, much nicer looking.
Yep, had something similar in a 97 Expedition. It included (from new) some velcro strips to stick to the garage remote along with a few Lego-like pieces to adjust where that middle button hit the remote’s button.
Came here to say the same thing. It could be used as either sunglasses holder or garage door opened holder. My 99 Camry had one just like it.
I want to say our ’91 Grand Caravan had this. It worked well!
I ain’t gonna lie, I’m jealous. I have three pairs of sunglasses in my car, and zero sunglass holders. Theoretically, I could have four, but that would cost about $250 and remove all of my “holy shit” handles.
https://www.bostonvolvocarsparts.com/p/Volvo__S60/Eye-Glass-Holder—Charcoal/66756516/31403479.html?partner=googlebase_adwords&feedLabel=cvb_make_model&kwd=&matchtype=&device=c&network=g&userLocation=9027225&googleCampaignID=1649988644&googleAdGroupID=63287153695&googleAdID=317340912696&googleExtensionID=&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjw_qexBhCoARIsAFgBleuL8GbIFLBFHajzxFhgAaPsMpUMeVSqWNRXt3uDP6qh9UDCG_EmF0caApQ1EALw_wcB
3 pair of sunglasses in the smaller ones, then some napkins, then snacks in the back. All out of sight – brilliance on Toyota’s behalf.
My family’s 1994 Villager had a separate audio system for the middle row, so I can see Toyota putting that in the Sequoia and including a place to stow headphones. My brother and I just shoved our headphones into the pockets on the back of the front seats. Kids didn’t all have tablets and wireless headphones back in the day. I wonder if the Sequoia had a different space for headphones on models with an entertainment system and a sunroof.
I think they were angling for the security detail market–escorting heads of state, corporate moguls, mob chieftains. The entourage needs somewhere to store all those sunglasses.
This is the hard hitting content we come here for!
Are these American market only vehicles? Can you fit a Glock in that rearmost sunglasses holder? Just sayin’…
You could probably fit something like a glock g43 in it, probably would fall out if you opened it though.
I was being sarcastic. It was a rhetorical question. Keeping a gun in your vehicle is irresponsible and a terrible idea. Vehicle burglaries are the biggest source of stolen guns in America.
I agree, people are dumb. We find guns in vehicles traded in, at least once or twice a year at the Land Rover dealer I work at.
My family has a first gen (granted facelifted ’06 SR5 V8 model) Sequoia. And that would only make it better. Apparently, it had a monitor option, which we don’t have, but we do have the sunroof and it would have been great even without the sunroof. This feature is so dumb it’s funny and would have made a great car even greater!
Also, I’m a big advocate for this car so I will praise it at every chance.
Does the Sequoia have any particular advantages over the Land Cruiser, aside from being cheaper?
It has some actual “sport” it can outaccelerate most cars and it handles well for an SUV. At least the 1st gen facelift. It also has a nice interior and it can pull a trailer if needed.
The large holder in the back is designed for headphones. Or at least that’s what a dealership told me many years ago. That explanation never quite added up to me as almost/most likely all Sequoias that had screens in them also had a sun roof. It seems like someone had a good/ useful idea, but implementation of the idea is what failed.
It’s so they can have enough storage to keep up with the premium theme while not having the sunroof or monitor options. Personally, I think it’s so dumb it’s genius! Something to put them apart from the rest, even if it is dumb. I bet someone has gotten another car after owning one with 5 sunglass holders, and wished they had 5 again.
I occasionally work with a guy with a first gen Sequoia. He is the type that is hard on the things he owns, which I discovered when I went to climb into his Sequoia and all five of the sunglass holders were broken off. It blew my mind that there were five, and even more that managed to break all of them, including the ones you can’t really reach from the driver’s seat.
Keep fighting the good fight. We need the truth!
Personally, I think it’s awesome. I wish more vehicles used the massive swaths of unused ceiling space for storage, a la Transit Connect. Hell, even a few threaded inserts flush mounted to the headliner would be awesome for attaching various accessories, like a cargo net, or some sort of shelf to store electronics, or whatever.
Road trip happening in Sequoia:
Kids in back seats: “Mommy/Daddy do the magic trick with the sunglasses holders, do it, do it!”
Parent opens all the sunglasses holders, kids captivated by the slow motion opening of each one.
Kids, “Yaaaaay!”, giggles abound
19th kids request for magic sunglasses holders trick 3 hours later on road trip
Kids, “we’re bored!, do the sunglasses trick again mommy/daddy, doitdoitdooooooooooooooiiiiiiit!!!!”
SCREECHING sound as the Sequoia is suddenly pulled over to the roadside berm
As the dust settles around the vehicle one of the parents turns to the kids and says, “we’re gonna do a new trick, it’s called the disappearing trick, now close your eyes and don’t open them until we say so no matter what you hear ok?”
Kids say “ok we will” feeling a little uncertain about the sudden stop
Parent, now promise you’ll not open your eyes until we say so, promise!
Kids, “WE PROMISE!”, close their eyes tightly
Intense sounds commence, (plastic breaking, grunting, mutterings under breath, “come off, come off, arrggghhh, magic sunglasses trick my a.., YESSS!)
Sounds of object hitting the ground outside the vehicle.
Sequoia starts up, pulls away from berm.
Parent says, “okay, now you can open your eyes, who can guess what disappeared!
Kids looking up at carnage that was the ceiling with wide eyes, “we’re tired, gonna nap, can we answer later?”
Parent smiles, “Sure you can, sure you can”
Thus the mystery is solved why no one remembers the overhead 5 bin sunglasses holder’s in those Sequoias.
1. Driving glasses polarised.
2. Driving glasses non polarised
3. Dusk glasses
4. Going out glasses
5. Reading glasses
6. Safety glasses
7. Safety goggles
8. Welding mask
Honestly, that’s surely bare minimum. Why does it only have 5!?
You forgot solar eclipse glasses.
My question is not why so many sunglass holders, but why do they seem to be at least four or five *different* designs of doors? I understand two of them are larger, but they’re different from each other and the other three appeared to be different from each other and entirely as well, or at least two of them might match in one of the photos but in the videos the group of the smaller 3 all look similar? What is going on?
Yes! I had the same question. It’s like they purposely avoided any opportunity to save money by using the same holder repeatedly.
As an industrial engineer type, this was 1st thing that jumped out at me…why are they not all the same?? Have to stock 5 different parts vs 1. Maybe its a random selection from other Toyota vehicles?
Duh! The biggest is for the Daddy Bear’s sunglasses, the next one for the Mommy Bear’s sunglasses and the last three for the Baby Bears’ sunglasses….. obviously.
I just see bag of weed and other doodad storage up there, or at least the stoner high schooler in me does.
Because how why would you keep the spare specs for 5 passengers handy?
Snacks, those are snack holders.
The late ’90s through late ’00s were Toyota’s Extra Storage Era, apparently. I already had my suspicions, with the Echo (first-generation Yaris) having two glove boxes and second-generation Yarii like my Blueberry having three, but this is powerful additional evidence.