He claimed the Empeg does not fit in the Toyota ISO bay well at all.

As Dionysus said, the problem with certain models of car is that the plastic bezel that goes in front of the radio is smaller than the radio itself. This makes it impossible for pullout radios to be pulled out. It's not just Toyotas, and it's not just a problem with the Empeg.

Some car manufacturers just figured that the pullout style had long since been supplanted by the removable faceplate style, and there was no need to try to support the pullout style. But be assured that this isn't an empeg-specific problem. Any full-pullout radio (such as a certain Sony I've got in the closet) would have the same trouble in such vehicles.

The reason the stereo shop said that the last one "stuck out half an inch" is because they (or the car's owner) weren't willing to do any cutting of the dash plastic to give the radio room to pull out. Having done this sort of thing on my old Volkswagen, I know that it's possible to do without it looking like complete crap. You just have to cut very carefully and straight, and be able to smooth the edges down with superfine grit sandpaper (and, when I did it, wet steel wool, too). Here is a link to someone who did something similar in their Subaru Forrester. Perhaps you or your installer can try it?

Another possibility is that you might be able to find an aftermarket company which makes a dash bezel kit which gives enough room for the pullout. I don't know if this is true, but try poking around the 'net for Toyota aftermarket custom shops, or maybe even those companies which specialize in replacement woodgrain dash bezels.

If you do decide to go the "cutting" route, try to get pictures of the procedure and post them here for the benefit of other Toyota owners.

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Tony Fabris