2018 TSS Grille Swap.

You won’t see the wall unless you get 2018. Educate yourself on TSS.

 

Because the adaptive radar cruise control and advance collision warning uses the same radar and software logic and these 2 can be tested safely.

If those work, your brake system will work also, it’s a pre programmed action to be taken if advance warning is ignored, not a separate sequence that needs to start on its own.

These systems “caliberate” by constantly sensing for pre determined shapes within its field of vision. This field of vision is not going to be affected by a 1” drop in radar height. Think about what happens to a truck in full load with passengers and cargo. There are margins on top and bottom that’s the sky and the road, you are just shifting the overall picture frame down a little.

Besides, mostly everyone is going to go to a taller tire, counters the drop height. Problem solved.

 

Pretty sure it a phased array millimetre wave radar transceiver which doesn't look at "shapes," it measures the strength of the reflected signal, which is a function of the target's radar cross sectional area, not its morphology. This may be supplemented by the camera, which might look at "shapes." You would have to work for Toyota to know for sure.

What we do know for sure (because someone posted the factory alignment procedure) is that there is a loooong procedure for aligning the transceiver, which involves placing radar reflectors supplied by Toyota, at certain calibration points in space. We also know, from the procedure, that the factory calibration system has discretized parameters, and the tech does not have unconstrained freedom to set the height of the transceiver. He has discrete choices, which boil down to "Pro/OR/Sport" or similar.

The system 100% does NOT "self calibrate."

We are talking about a safety-related system here, designed to reduce injuries or deaths. You would have to be very special to tamper with a safety-related system because you want to install some grille made of Chinesium that is going to disintegrate in the sun within a few years.

I would be surprised if there is a dealer out there who will cooperate with you on this. Given that, you should think about whether it is really a good idea.

 

Hey not trying to add any wood on the fire here but... If people are making such a big deal about the sensor dropping an inch, then what are ALL of the current Tacoma owners (with these features) doing who lift their truck or change wheel/tire setups? Or what about like what @samwoo2go was saying with the truck full of passengers and/or a trailer hook up. I'm just curious if there isn't some flexibility within the setup to compensate for different situations?

 

There several very good and quite technical responses here...several of which are very true. I just lifted my 2018 Taco SR5 3" and put 33" BFG KO2's on it. I like most hate the hideous factory grill and preferred the heritage style of the TRD PRO grille. I ordered a factory TRD Pro grille (and the garnish that accompanies it) from my parts department. It took the technician about 15 minutes to remove and install the new grille. The TSS systems "appeared to be working just fine, but as stated above how would you truly know....perhaps when it's too late....CRASH. I did request a recalibration from the Toyota Master technician for peace of mind. He was able to recalibrate it and assured me it was pretty accurate. I am not going to drive it into a wall or the back of a stopped semi to test it, but I have done some slight test samples myself and it does seem to work. At any rate knowing it is a safety "enhancement" and not an autonomous vehicle. I still try an drive as safely as I did before I had TSS....Just my 2 cents (well....maybe 5 cents worth) But I love my new truck, Lift and grille. If you have a Tacoma, make it yours. Do what you want, just do it the right way.

 

HD TACO, where did you order your TRD pro grill?
did it come with glass cover for TSS?

 

2017 Pro grille has this covering the TSS spot

2018 Pro grille has this 'garnish' instead that is made for the TSS to function. You can buy the garnish separately.

 

Is anyone who replaced their Chinese garnish with the Toyota TSS garnish interested in selling the Chinese one? I'm looking at getting the PT228-35180 (2018+) grille, but prefer the look of the non TSS garnish for my 2016.

 

so that is the part number for the grill with the garnish installed?

 

No, that is the garnish-less 2018 grille with a hole in it. Garnish sold separately, batteries not included.

Photo for reference here:
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/trd-pro-style-front-grille.529887/page-2#post-16984825

 

Food for thought.....I just had my 18’ lifted with a Toytec and 285’s, it took the dealer nearly two days to recalibrate the front radar with the stock grille. I initially wanted the PRO grille, but changed my mind after beginning to see them everywhere and realizing the difficulty of the recalibration. In the end, the DIY may not be that much cheaper after requiring to have the radar recalibrated, unless you don’t care that it is calibrated correctly...

 

I may still have the piece you are looking for (not Chinese, the real one) at home. Let me see if the dealer put it in the box with the grille they removed.

 

All this talk of grills and garnishes...anybody else hungry for a BBQ?

 

May be totally irrelevant to this thread, but I just gotta ask.......K91, is that your FJ40 ? What year is it ?

 

Yes, its a 75’. A work in progress now since 2007...

 

Any type of mod where you are raising the CofG of the vehicle is going to have "effects." You are increasing the rollover risk, and in the general case you are altering the steering and suspension geometry outside of the design. I know it's popular but there are downsides that will get you hated if you talk about in enthusiast forums like this one.

In the case of safety-related systems that depend on the design geometry matching the actual geometry on the vehicle, most engineers will tell you to exercise caution when you are doing any type of mod that puts the vehicle outside the design geometry.

What Toyota has said publicly to date, is that they will not guarantee correct operation of the radar if you lift your truck because they have no way to evaluate the combinations of springs and shocks that you can buy in the aftermarket, and how they affect the radar geometry. They would not go out of their way to say that if there weren't "issues," because one of the competitive advantages that the Taco has, is the extensive list of aftermarket kit you can bolt onto our trucks as opposed to the Ridgeline, etc.

Any fool can swap out a grille, and there are lots of threads about how to do it, but the authors generally don't display a lot of insight about the risk of doing it without dealer support as regards the safety-related radar system.

End of the day, it's your truck and it's your family riding in it, so do what you want. Me, I'd only swap my grille if the dealer's master tech did a radar recalibration afterward and signed that it is functioning as designed. If the dealer requires that you sign a form that the recalibration is done on a "best effort" basis only, and they are disclaiming responsibility for anything consequential, though, that is a "clue" that it may not be a good mod to do.

HD Taco seems to have found a dealer who is willing to do the recalibration and sign off on it, and that is money well spent for sure.

 

Looks like some Tundra guys have just relocated the sensor and it's working fine.

https://www.tundras.com/threads/2018-tundra-tss-successfully-relocated-to-trd-pro-grille.19726/

Also does anyone have some pics of the sensor or know the dimensions of it? I'm trying to figure out a way to get it to work in one of the grilles I've designed.

 

It looks like you're moving the sensor from the middle of the grille about two to three inches lower for the pro grille. Just raise your truck up the same amount. It's a win win situation.

 

Changing the radar cruise sensor garnish..

 

Do you have a pic of the sensor?