Vehicle Guide

2014-2019 Toyota Tacoma Upgrade Guide: CarPlay, Audio, Throttle

The smartest 2014-2019 Toyota Tacoma upgrades bring the truck up to date without ripping out the dash. Wireless CarPlay on the screen Toyota gave you, an amplifier that finally powers the speakers properly, a front camera for that long hood, and a pedal that stops hesitating. A quick note on generations: 2014-2015 trucks are the tail end of the second generation and 2016-2019 trucks open the third, so we refer to everything by year in this guide to keep fitment honest.

Beat-Sonic USA is the American branch of Beat-Sonic Japan, serving the car community since 2007. Our kits are designed and engineered in Japan and US, matched to specific vehicles, and connected with OEM style plugs so no factory wire ever gets cut. Before you order anything, you can watch the full install for most of our kits on our YouTube channel, filmed on real customer vehicles.

Toyota Tacoma wireless CarPlay on the factory screen

You do not need an aftermarket head unit to get Toyota Tacoma wireless CarPlay. Our TAV-CB2W wireless CarPlay and Android Auto kit covers 2014-2019 Toyota models and works through the screen already in your dash. Your backup camera, steering wheel controls, and factory features all keep working exactly as they do today. The phone stays in your pocket, and CarPlay or Android Auto connects on its own when you climb in.

Keeping the factory screen matters on these trucks. The dash was designed around it, an aftermarket unit rarely looks right, and resale buyers prefer an interior that looks untouched. If you are weighing a cabled setup against this one, our comparison of wired vs wireless CarPlay lays out the tradeoffs. The rest of our Toyota options live in the Toyota CarPlay and Android Auto collection.

Thinking about a Tacoma speaker upgrade? Power the system first

The stock stereo in these trucks shares the same weakness across both body styles: quiet, flat, and lifeless on the highway. Owners shopping for a Tacoma speaker upgrade usually find that new speakers alone barely move the needle, because the head unit was never sending enough clean power to begin with. Fix the power first and even the factory speakers wake up. Our article on what a car amplifier actually does for factory audio explains why this order matters.

For a Tacoma amplifier in these years, look at our Encore Alpha kits for the 1987-2021 Toyota, Scion and Subaru family: the ENA-3T1, which includes a dedicated subwoofer output for adding a powered sub later, and the ENA-2T1, the same plug and play integration without the sub output. That family spans a lot of vehicles and decades, so confirm your exact year and trim on each product page before you order. Both kits keep the factory head unit and controls, and both come out cleanly if you ever sell the truck. One JBL caveat: on JBL equipped trucks in this generation, the ENA-3T1 subwoofer output plays at a constant level and does not track the radio volume knob, and our ACS-T02 controller is not compatible with the T1 series, so there is no volume sync option. Plan on an inline bass knob to control the sub level. Compare the whole range in our amplifiers collection.

Add a front camera to the factory screen

The Tacoma hood hides a surprising amount of real estate in front of the bumper, and these trucks never offered a factory front camera. Our CS6EP front camera interface brings one to select 2014-2020 Toyota factory screens, showing a wide angle view on demand for curbs, parking blocks, and tight trails.

We will be honest here: Toyota used several different head units across these years, and the CS6EP works with some of them, not all. Check your specific screen against the compatibility notes on the product page, or send us a photo of your dash and we will confirm it for you. For the camera itself, the BCAM11B and BCAM13 wide angle cameras are interchangeable, so either one pairs with the interface. Everything camera related lives in our front cameras collection.

ShiftPower throttle response for the hesitant pedal

These Tacomas are famous for a pedal that feels like it asks permission before accelerating. A ShiftPower SP09 or ShiftPower SP07 plugs in at the accelerator pedal connector in about 15 minutes and gives you multiple drive modes to pick from. Match your model year on the product pages to see which unit fits your truck.

Here is the honest version of what it does. A throttle controller adds zero engine power. What the sharper modes change is the pedal mapping, so the engine hears your foot immediately instead of after the factory delay. Meanwhile eco mode softens that mapping, and softer mapping does help improve fuel economy for many drivers who ride the throttle harder than they realize. If that tradeoff sounds right for your driving, the ShiftPower collection has the full lineup.

Sound deadening: the cheapest multiplier in this guide

Truck doors are big, thin, and loud. Lining them with material from our sound deadening collection kills panel resonance, tightens the midbass, and drops road noise on every drive, music playing or not. It costs less than any electronic upgrade on this page and makes each of them perform better, which is why we treat it as the multiplier rather than an afterthought. If the doors are already open for an amplifier or speaker job, do it in the same session.

2014-2019 Toyota Tacoma upgrades: quick reference

People searching for 2nd gen Tacoma accessories should remember that only the 2014-2015 trucks in this range are second generation, while 2016-2019 trucks are third generation. That is exactly why this table lists fitment by year. Start with whichever row bothers you most.