Toyota T-TEN Program Trains Technicians for Dealer Service Careers

Toyota Motor North America highlights its T-TEN program, designed to train technicians for Toyota and Lexus dealerships amid an industry-wide labor shortage.

Toyota Motor North America is relying on a long-term workforce strategy to address one of the most pressing challenges facing the U.S. automotive industry: the shortage of qualified service technicians. The Toyota Technician Training & Education Network (T-TEN), operating for nearly four decades, has become a central pillar in building that talent pipeline.

According to the National Automobile Dealers Association, the U.S. market needs roughly 76,000 new automotive service technicians each year, while training programs currently graduate only about 39,000. This gap has direct consequences for dealership operations and customer service, particularly as vehicle technology continues to grow more complex.

Against this backdrop, T-TEN plays a critical role. Launched in 1986, the program now operates through dozens of colleges nationwide and is built on close collaboration between Toyota, participating schools, and local Toyota and Lexus dealerships. The two-year program combines classroom instruction with paid, hands-on experience at dealership service departments, allowing students to work with real vehicles and real-world repair scenarios before graduating.

Toyota supports participating colleges with vehicles, diagnostic tools, manufacturer-developed curricula, and instructor training. This standardized approach helps ensure that graduates enter dealerships with skills aligned to current service demands rather than purely academic preparation.

A key focus of T-TEN is training for hybrid and battery-electric vehicles. As these technologies become more common across Toyota and Lexus model ranges, technicians must be comfortable working with advanced electronics and high-voltage systems. Graduates of the program acquire this expertise early, making them particularly valuable to dealerships adapting to an evolving vehicle mix.

For dealers, T-TEN functions as a reliable talent pipeline. Service managers note that program graduates often reach certified technician levels faster than peers who follow more traditional training paths. In an environment marked by technician retirements and persistent labor shortages, this ability to develop skilled staff internally has become increasingly important.

As the automotive workforce continues to change and technology reshapes service requirements, programs like T-TEN illustrate how coordinated efforts between manufacturers, educators, and dealers can create a sustainable path forward for the industry.