Manufactured using heavy weight plywood and composite materials, the TruckVault design is functional, durable, and all visible components are cosmetically pleasing. The top deck is carpeted and the drawer fronts can be nicely finished with a choice of black composite, light oak or dark walnut material. The drawer tops are capped with plastic runners and include a reliable, heavy-duty lock, However, an upgrade option — an intelligently designed push-button “Touch” combination lock — is the very best I’ve ever encountered. The Touchlock is strong, secure and keyless, yet opens within seconds. It is well worth the $125 premium.

The TruckVault top platform fits snugly against the vehicle’s interior side walls and rear seatback in its’ normal, upright position. No unsightly gaps are visible. My TruckVault platform also has top-entry wing compartments above each wheel well that swing up on piano hinges. This thoughtful addition creates accessible storage in what otherwise would be dead space between the TruckVault frame and the vehicle’s interior sides.

The only design glitch here is that these pockets of space have no forward enclosing panels, so items sometimes slide out when the rear seats are folded down, a small design oversight. The Vault, however, does come with panels to enclose the other end of this storage pocket (at the rear of the vehicle adjacent to the faces of the drawers). In fact, on one of these recessed panels, I installed a 12-volt, auxiliary power outlet kit (Radio Shack product #270-1544A) and hardwired it to the battery. I now have rear power points to simultaneously re-charge an Apple PowerBook laptop, digital camera batteries, a portable strobe or a Firewire portable hard disk (up to three devices at once).