The truth/rant about OEM and Aftermarket headlights.

This is concerning. Anyone else try the philips bulbs? I'm considering a purchase for my 2017 that is coming in December. Wondering if I should spring for the extra $50 philips upgrade..

 

because they are OK ? not sure what you are getting at. glass doesn't fade and the lights work fine.

 

Go drive a 1st gen Tacoma and you'll see why 3rd gen 4Runner beams rate as an "OK". Like the OP said, they are glass lenses that don't turn into cataracts at the first chance they hit sunlight, unlike the Tacoma. Most garbage ass OEM lights I've ever seen on a vehicle I've driven.

 

They work alright, but from the way your post is worded it sounds like you're saying the 2016 lights are worse than the old 4Runner's

I have driven a first gen Tacoma. I'm still not sure what you're seeing that I'm not. I know the 3rd gens lights aren't the best, but I can name a dozen other newer cars I've driven with worse headlights

 

When I said right is looking from inside so the right one is lower than the left one and it is supposed to be the other way.. do you know how to adjust it???

 

No just like 127.0.0.0 I was saying the older 4runners are okay and the 1st en tacos were god awful. The newer gens are great compared to them

 

Sorry! Misunderstood you

 

Hmmm, I thought the lights were fairly good? My front is a little higher than stock so maybe thats why. I never get flashed, so go figure.

 

Hey guys I just did the h11 to h9 bulb swap and I wanted to share it with you..
What I like most about this is totally oem look with more output

(Pics taken at daylight but you can notice the difference)

Bulbs used:

HELLA H83300052 H9 12V 65W High Performance 2.0 Bulb Kit

It noticeable the higher output now..

 

fyi beamshots like this do not mean much

get a second person to drive at you from a mile away in the dark
and observe your oncoming glare and scatter. it is not blinding others with glare
and beam artifacts that matters

 

3rd gen have projectors light bud.. that's why I did it... if you see the pics you'll see the cutoff on the light... also I lowered my lights because of the extra output that I have now..

 

My wife validated my hids appear no brighter than any factory hids oncoming after I installed mine. she said they looked dim to her in her rear view because the cutoff kills so much light above it. they have a slightly yellow color above the cutoff but it's not bright.

 

I have the TRS/morimoto HID conversion kit with 35W ballasts and 5500K bulbs. This setup is fantastic, it has a very thin blue strip at the point below the beam's cutoff to avoid blinding oncoming traffic, and provides plenty more light than stock without appearing much different from outside the vehicle. I think that as OP stated, the factory bulb's output definitely creates a safety issue in anywhere but the best-lit city streets.
Driving in the country you couldn't see an animal standing in the middle of the road until you're at the point where your brakes can't save you, and the same would apply in suburban areas except its more likely to be a child running around in front of you than an animal..
We, as a community, should certainly make it known to Toyota that it is unacceptable. If you do not personally perceive the headlights to be a problem, then take solace in the fact that OP provided cold, hard evidence of Toyota's inadequate headlight outputs seeing as they just BARELY pass federal regulations without ANY road testing required. You don't even have to think about it, we can all agree that if Toyota plans to continue to inflate the price of the Tacoma as they clearly have from one generation to the next, that it is unacceptable that some of their equipment takes a step back in the process. Especially if that step back means that our equipment is now sub par on a truck we are paying premiums to own over previous models.
There is no reason someone on here should be saying a 2010 yota, of any model, has better headlights than a brand new truck. That just doesn't make any sense at all, if the other headlights are better than put them in, end of story. We should make it clear that Toyota taking clear cost cutting measures in areas so important to the safety of vehicles is entirely unacceptable.

I mean what's next, they start using cheap airbag parts?? Ship trucks without grease? Without the proper amount of oil?

Oh wait, thats awkward...

There is a phillips screw directly behind the light housing pointing up towards you, this adjusts the lights. I believe clockwise raises the headlights so turning CCW on the drivers side light should fix your issue. You might want to turn the passenger's side a little clockwise as well. Just park 20-30 feet behind another car on a road and adjust until your passenger's beam comes a little above the license plate and your driver's a little below as a quick reference since your beams are kinda messed up to start with.

 

I am not your buddy, friend.

and that picture, as I indicated, is useless. it shows nothing meaningful except to you and only you

how it looks to oncoming traffic at night is what matters. only measurable with a
device attached to the front of your lens assembly, or by going down road and looking
back at it

if all you did was replace bulbs in an OEM assembly it can be assumed the glare is the same
as OEM

but if you have never parked your truck at night and gone 100yards downrange, then walk back
and observe the glare for yourself, you are not able to judge how they really look by
staring at a wall or garage door

 

My thought is just let people spend their money how they want .

 

really ? it is the thought of the Fed and all the vehicle lighting and safely engineers,
that critical safety systems not be fucked with.

your vehicle exterior lighting
it a critical safety component

 

I get blinded quite a lot by vehicles that aren't lifted or are "bro-dozers" that obviously have aftermarket lights in them. Please make sure your aftermarket bulbs aren't blinding people. Harley owners are guilty of this as well. It's not specific to any particular brand. Tacoma's are no different, and don't have special housings that work the same with any bulb. They were specifically designed for the factory bulb they came with. If you switch out your bulbs, you should take the little time and effort, to make sure you are not blinding people with the nuclear reaction happening in your headlight housing. I will likely be ordering some brighter bulbs, but I'm going to make sure they aren't blinding people, or I'll take them out. If you are driving so fast they you can't see an animal in the road with your factory bulbs, you are driving too fast. They aren't THAT bad.

 

They should, right up the point when it affects other people being able to see when you are coming at them. I have the right to put three 50 inch led light bars on my truck, but if I drive down the highway with them on, at some point I will receive a visit from another vehicle with a bunch of bright lights. We will have a nice conversation, and he will give me an invitation to discuss my rights to a county judge.

 

Headlamps are life-safety equipment. All aspects of their performance -- not just the beam patterns they produce, but also their mechanical and environmental robustness and, with HIDs and LEDs, electrical and thermal safety -- are specified in detail, objectively, by the applicable technical regulations. A wide range of performance and design are permitted, but the basic requirements are stringent and exacting.

None of it can be assessed by eye. "Gosh, it looks good to me!" or "Wow, look at that sharp cutoff!" or "Nobody ever flashes me at night" or "I drive past cops every day and I never get tickets" just are not relevant responses to the real safety and reliability issues involved.

It takes an enormous amount of money and a long time to design, engineer, tool, and test/approve/certify a legitimate headlamp. It's not because the people doing the work are slow-paced or lazy!


US National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1966
(This is the Act that eventually established the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and its authority to write and enforce the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards). Originally located at 15 USC 1394-1410, it has been reorganized and is now located at 49 USC 301.

Old to new location conversion of various subsections is here.

Sections most frequently relevant to discussions on this forum include:

•
49 USC 30122: Prohibits regulated parties to "render inoperative" a mandatory regulated device, system, or design feature; "render inoperative" can mean to remove, disable, damage, destroy, or alter the performance so it is no longer compliant.

 

Wait, IIHS says the Ridgeline is a "large pickup" in the category with all the full size trucks?