History & Definition of Tonneau

Definition: According to Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, Tonneau (pronounced ta’-no) in modern use describes a bed cover for a pickup truck. It can be hard or soft. Hard covers optionally hinge or fold.

History: In the automotive aftermarket tonneau covers are also known as truck bed covers, truck tops, tonno covers, pickup covers and truck lids. They have evolved from a number of versions that have been designed for different uses, and because of this, no one person can claim to have invented the tonneau cover.   You’ve seen them on pick up trucks everywhere: specially designed truck bed covers that are all the rage. In the 70’s and 80’s purchasing a custom fitted cap over your truck’s bed was the thing to do. Today, a truck tonneau cover is the way to go for many truck owners. Selecting a tonneau cover for your situation isn’t difficult, just “go with what you know” when making your selection, and if you just don’t know which way to go contact one of our product line specialists to guide you to the best purchase.

The name tonneau comes from the French word that means rear seating compartment of a vehicle. While your truck bed isn’t a seating compartment, the term is still appropriate. Sometimes tonneau is spelled tonno. Even though this is the case, tonneau is still the best known variation of the cover’s name.

Modern Tonneau Covers: Often called Truck Bed Covers come in 2 types: Soft Tonneau Covers and Hard Tonneau Covers.

Soft Tonneau Covers:  Soft tonneau covers are generally less expensive than hard.  They essentially consist of a aluminum frame and vinyl cover.  The 5 basic designs are Snap Truck Bed Covers, Snapless Truck Bed Covers, Hinging Truck Bed Cover, Roll-up Truck Bed Covers and Tri Folding Truck Bed Covers.  Soft truck bed covers offer affordability and convenience.  Snap and snapless bed covers have the ability to remove the cover and manually remove the bows for truck bed access.  Roll-up or rolling truck bed covers generally release at the tailgate and roll up toward the cab taking the bars and bows with it and storing compactly behind the cab.  Hinging truck bed covers sometimes have snaps for quick corner access and hinge open.  Tri-folding truck bed covers generally fold up towards the cab and can be removed or installed in seconds.

Hard Tonneau Covers: Hard truck bed covers or rigid bed covers are generally made of molded abs plastic, aluminum or fiberglass.  The basic designs are retracting truck bed covers, folding truck bed covers or hinging truck bed covers.   Retracting hard covers are generally solid aluminum (all metal) or they have vinyl laminated over the aluminum.  Retractable tonneau covers retract into a canister mounted at the front of the bed.  Folding are generally made of a rugged abs and the styles include having multi-panels that fold up or a tri-fold design.  Multi-panel designs generally fold up and store behind the cab.  The hard tri-folding bed covers have vinyl over the abs material and generally store behind the cab or cab be removed quickly.  Hinging hard bed covers are generally made of fiberglass or a rigid abs type plastic and hinge open.  Most hard hinge style bed covers can be removed quickly.  Hard truck bed covers offer security and convenience.