It seems like they cut some serious corners on the Tundra. It's going into its 9th recall and the twin turbo V6 has had issues. In 2007 when the redesigned the Tundra it had a ton of recalls too.
By the way, just in case anyone is wondering, that 1.5L (once they fixed the issues) is a really nice engine for just a general all-around family car. My wife has that in her 2020, which is one from after those were fixed, and we're very happy with it. It's a good, solid engine, and we really like that car. I still prefer my Fusion Sport with the 2.7L twin-turbo V6, but I'll definitely stand up and say that 1.5L is a good engine for just general use.
Yes if I were in your situation, I would take the $2000 the dealer offered and not worry about it, like @HotRunrGuy said. The car is really old, has almost 200k miles on it, and has served you well but its time is up.
I did notice that F Series inventory is up to 211,000 so that could be a sign that Ford and dealers
are prepared to start doing deals with walk in customers.
Maybe part of the new strategy to go back to what works, pushing tin.
They also buy Jeeps, Toyota's, Tesla's, BYD's, Mercedes's ....etc. You always take a look at the competition and see what they're doing. All manufacturers do this.
Very true but Ford wastes money on countless things without batting an eye. Take Michigan Central, a very noble cause to buy and renovate such a historic building to help rebuild a community but at nearly $1 billion total, Ford does not spend wisely on anything. $70,000 on a Cadillac to benchmark is nothing.