2018 TRD PRO Grille TSS-P Radar Trouble Shooting/Fixes

I ordered (in February) from Conicelli Toyota. A few days after I ordered, they requested a VIN number. I looked on AutoTrader and found a private sale 2018 Pro, and gave them that number. After that, it was another month before I received the grille due to the backorder.

 

I complained to the dealership that when I bought my truck, part of the deal was to have a 2018 pro grille installed and that without the garnish piece it is not a "2018 grille". I told them to refund me or to get the garnish and they ordered the garnish.

 

OP, looks like we're fighting a losing battle.

I'm not going toe to toe with the silly arguments for 'don't reinvent the wheel,' but i will give credit where credit is due. When i first took a look at the OEM garnish it was quick and on my phone, and appeared to be textured and raised on the front. Looking at a hi res photo of both sides confirms this OEM piece to be flat on both sides.

While mounting distance may help, you will not get proper results from having both a flat piece of anything, followed by the bumpy/odd shapes of the 16/17 grill just after it. As said above, deflection of frequencies can occur, and will happen randomly if the sensor is not expecting these additional shapes.

I have not had any issues with my 1" spaced out mount as of yet, and will leave it as is, but I have ordered an OEM garnish as well.

 

Subscribing

 

As someone new to this issue, what is the OEM garnish? Pic would be appreciated.

 

Long story short, the TRD Pro Grill is textured and bumpy, made from plastic with different thicknesses and gaps. Your truck's radar system is designed to be mounted up behind your stock grill to keep it out of the weather, but needs to be mounted behind a relatively flat and smooth piece (which is why it's mounted directly behind your Toyota logo).

On the TRD Pro Grill, there is a cut out area in the shape of a square that gets filled with this:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/2018-Tacom...718174&hash=item3f98c0ef37:g:lf4AAOSwMfhag5lX

You will notice that while it has the same appearance as a textured look, it is actually flat on both sides. This is necessary for proper functioning of your TSS radar unit. Believe us, we've tried!

 

Right on. Thanks for the info and background!

 

Yes, I have it. I bought it and put it on myself. There are pictures in that thread titled “PRO grill for $140” or something like that...long thread but there are pics in there...I’ll try to take pics in a few for you...

 

Not only is the OEM garnish smooth and flat, it is fairly thick. While I don’t know what purpose that serves, I doubt they would make it any thicker than is absolutely necessary.

 

Does ride height also not play a role? The TRD Pro is about 2 inches taller in ride height, and the location of the radar in the rill is located lower. So putting the TRD pro grill on a non-TRD Pro lowers the location of the radar 3-4 inches.

 

Yes, Toyota takes that into account hence why the calibration is needed when a lift is done...most who have stock height have been just fine when going pro grill on a non pro trim with TSS and have not needed any recalibration. Including me.

 

Bingo. Also good to ask oneself if the pre ‘18 grill could handle the radar just fine, why would Toyota bother changing it and have added the garnish part? Radar is a science...can’t change physics.

 

So Toyota will calibrate them if you lift?

I had one error on mine going up a steep hill but has worked fine since. Even correctly alerted me of breaking instances 2.

 

Not saying for free but I have seen some very cool dealers hook people up on this forum...but it’s usually an hour labor somewhere around $120-$150 if you’ve changed the stock height height to something after market.

 

The only question left is why some 16/17 China grills (and maybe pro ones too?) already had inserts for the radar system before the 18s came out. Did another version of an earlier taco utilize this system already?

 

Little secret...toyota knew this was coming all along. It was in the works the whole time. Now whether they wanted to release the 3rd gen while working on safety approvals, standards testing, etc..which takes a year or two or instead chose to save it for later so they could trickle a little more “wow” factor year after year, is beyond me, but those two reasons are practical as to why.

No there was never a standard TSS there before, this is the first of its kind.

The more I dig into schematics, I realize they are saving room for a “little more” each year. For example, those who have added the smart entry handle on the front passenger door learned that the pins holes in the connector that plugs into the ECU are there, and are the same pin outs as other Toyota vehicles that already have it, but left empty on the Tacoma! They would simply write a new firmware/code into the ECU, and start putting them on and bam! New feature that makes previous years remorseful...I truly believe they’ve designed this to be future proof for a while, and intentionally left some things off because what else can you offer year over year if the body isn’t changing from a saftey and convinience aspect? Sure you can add new colors, different rim designs, but that’s not enough from one year to another. Especially in a competitive market.

 

Fair enough. I'm closing this case in my book. OEM garnish on the way. What's the next mod for me now???

 

I ordered the OEM garnish PN

$365 53141-35060 Genuine OEM

53141-35060 and it is NOT flat. I need to modify it and probably double sided tape it to work with the grill we picked up on ebay for $120

 

Thanks for the picture. In what way do you mean that's not a flat piece? Looks pretty flat to me...

As for your mounting situation, it actually looks like you have the same ebay grill i do (4 screws to remove the 16/17 garnish replacement holder). Based on that picture, It looks like the top mounts for the spring clips will line up, though you'll need to probably drill out the screw holes so they're larger. For the clips on the bottom corners and top center, dremel some cut outs?

 

Installed an ‘18 Pro grill with an OEM garnish. No errors or issues. Got it tested this past weekend when a car cut in front me on the freeway to take a cutoff. PCS worked as it should.