Legal headlight upgrades?

New to modding and just got my first Tacoa a few months back. My understanding is that LED headlight upgrades aren't legal (high beam/low beam, although you can use LED for fog lights), but are there halogen upgrades that are better than the OEM lights? Sorry if this is a noob question, but most of the stuff on here seems to be relating to LED upgrades (which I don't think would let my truck pass inspection, right?)

 

The actual unit installation is legal. Ie the OEM led options. But just using a drop in led bulb is illegal in most cases as they change the profile of the lights beam pattern and can cause glare and blind other drivers. Depending on the bulb itself it can be legal but most are not designed to maintain the OEM beam pattern. It also depends on where you're getting inspected. I'm in Louisiana and have had the drop ins for over 2 years and have no issues with inspections. There are also inspection sites that will rubber stamp you so ymmv

 

@Neodymium What about what these guys offer? The profile seems to be designed to match OEM, right?

https://www.headlightrevolution.com...gh-beam-1517TACO-LEDHEAD.HIGH-V4_2?quantity=1

 

The Tacoma has a factory LED headlamps assembly option in 2019 and newer models. This headlamp is DOT legal and bolt in to all third gen Tacomas. It just requires a harness adapter to make it work on non stock models. There is also factory LED fog lamps that are plug and play.

 

Wow those are way overpriced. I used these SEALIGHT X2 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08BJMKDD5/ they look exactly the same. And I don't know the legality of them but the design is exactly the same. You'd have to contact the manufacturer for details on road legalities but I'd imagine if they don't say "off-road use only" on them they should be fine in most cases. I'm moderately sure they're required by law to use that labeling otherwise

 

Here is a very good thread to read on bulb choices in the Tacoma.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/3rd-gen-hid-vs-led-vs-halogen-h11-projector-headlights.589465/

 

Just do modified H9 halogens

 

In general LED drop in “bulbs” are illegal and more the that perform very poorly.

Read the thread linked above, it’s outstanding.

In short, if you want better lighting put H9 bulbs in where your h11 low beam bulbs are. Not legal either but it is proven to use the projector effectively, not produce unwanted glare, and gives a great amount of increased lighting.

If you really want LED then the factory lamps are the way to go. 100% legal and absolutely fantastic lighting. SUPER expensive however

 

I second the Sealights. Had them in my truck for about 3 years now with no major issues. The beam cutoff is same as stock since it uses the same halogen housing, install is easy and isn’t blinding but the output is the same as stock, the only difference is the color temperature. The white color temp is great for night driving but terrible for snow or rain since it just reflects back the light.

 

That's the main reason I picked the sealights was the color. Yellow headlights legitimately give me a migraine at night and I can't see at all with the stock light temperature because it strains my eyes. I mostly drive at might as I work until 2 am and this was unacceptable as I was almost in accidents multiple times due to the eye strain. I "think" they're brighter/can see further but that may just be a result of having a much better color spectrum that doesn't strain my eyes.

 

Replacement LEDs in the headlights are not legal, and they are far lower performing than performance halogens.

One of the most misleading reviewers on the internet. Need proof?

Watch the video on the latest GTR bulbs (misleading hint, HR owns the GTR brand but never tell you in the video they are claiming their own brand as the best)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uO8Nuj6tPy4

Compared to actual independent 3rd party measurements covered in post #2816 here. They literally have one of the very worst designed products in the thread, but still play the youtube videos claiming they are the best. Pretty sad.

^Quantitive performance data is here.

Most all off-brand bargain Amazon LEDs are complete garbage. Unfortunately garbage LEDs increase foreground light, which most people tend to think means they are better, event bought that actually means they are worse. People are very poor judges at automotive lighting performance, which is why proper measurement tools are so important.

Cut off has nothing to do with the product at all. Cut off is due to the OEM projectors, doesn't matter what the light source is, the cut off will always be flat due to Toyota's projector not at all because of the botched light source.

Guaranteed they are less bright than the stock wattage bulbs, with less distance illumination and more foreground light (bad). I thought about creating a fun wager around this, but ultimately decided it would be very unfair to you.

 

Lexus RX350 HID projector retrofit should improve the low beams significantly. Wire some Diode Dynamics SS3 Max (or Pro to save money) SEA driving lights to come on with your high beams.

Of course, those are not drop in solutions, but should be easy enough and provide massive improvement in light output.

https://www.theretrofitsource.com/bi-xenon-lexus-rx350?quantity=1

https://www.diodedynamics.com/stage-series-3-sae-dot-white-max-standard-led-pod-pair.html

 

fwiw you can be guaranteed that those LEDs have a much much worse color spectrum then the halogens. They have a higher color temp (more blue) but have very narrow power in the different frequencies.

LEDs are quite terrible at color accuracy and spectrum. There are a few emitters out there with good color rendering but they are more yellow with lower output and don’t make good headlights (yet)

each person is different but for most folks light that moves towards higher color frequencies is harder on your eyes. Throw LEDs in that illuminate the roadway in a strong bluish light and, at least for most, you will have more eye strain not less

 

@crashnburn80 - what are your thoughts on the new bill that passed that will allow adaptive or matrix led headlights?

https://www.thedrive.com/news/43146...e-to-the-us-thanks-to-the-infrastructure-bill

 

Long overdue and a much welcomed update to our dated lighting regulations. Europe has had these for years. Some discussion in the 3rd Gen headlight thread, along with this great video shared showing their use in real world driving. The safety improvement for both the driver and other motorists is remarkable.

 

Aftermarket LEDs designed to go into halogen housings are illegal for on-road use, period per the NHTSA.

That being said, many people run them anyway and if you're going to do this, you need to make sure you do your research and get a proper bulb that will best mimic the beam pattern of the stock halogen and there are a number of factors to consider for that.

However, I have been running the exact bulbs you just posted for two years now. Last winter I did a write up on my experience with them and I can't say my experience has changed any.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/headlight-revolution-s-v-4-led-review.695576/

 

Now we just need someone to make a new headlight for the 3rd gen Tacomas in the next two years LOL

 

Me waiting for the new headlight like