3rd gen Headlights

Seen several posts about 3rd gen Tacoma headlights, I agree they are the worst. I have a 2019, when I bought it new they were almost adequate, now, 5 years later, they are terrible. The high beams are okay, but the low beam projectors and fog lights are just a white glow, good for maybe 50 feet. I cannot drive on a freeway without using my high beams, it's not safe at any speed over 40 mph, and it is still scary. I have replaced bulbs, does not make a difference. The fog lights turned on look like a frosted light bulb, the inside of the projector lens looks the same when a flashlight is shined on the lens in the daytime. Bought some aftermarket fog lights, I can see three times farther with these after market fog lights than I can with the low beams and new bulbs. Bought some reflector dish headlights to replace the crappy Toyota lights, will post the results after installation. How many other 3rd gen Tacoma owners have this issue? Will try to attach picture of fog lights, attempted to clean the inside of one of them with eye glass cleaner, but there is still a haze on the inside. Same haze is on the inside of the projector lenses. Talked to Toyota dealer and called Corporate, both with same results, basically "It sounds like a you problem", your way past your 3 year warranty time, even though I only have 25,000 miles on the truck.

 

Your absolute best move would be to invest in the 2020 OEM LED headlight assemblies with the proper adapter harness, which are both legal, which your "dish" headlights, whatever that means, are not, and the safest, most effective light you can put on your Tacoma. But since this is your first post here, it might do you some good to peruse the rather extensive threads on the legal lighting options available. Headlights do not last forever these days and the polycarbonate used in them will degrade over time and is accelerated by both heat and ultraviolet, so, kinda hard to avoid. Your second best option would be a new pair of OEM projector assemblies with the H9 for H11 bulb swap and of course, proper aim.

 

Here is a thread with some good info.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...-taco-just-bulbs-lights.484283/#post-14851576

 

Looks like a possible user error on not making sure the headlights sealed properly. I'm over 200k and my housings look fine. I did melt my fog light housings though with an upgraded bulb.

 

Want to know what a "dish headlight" is, look at a 2022 Tacoma Limited, they are almost identical. Why would I want to go with factory headlights when the original factory failed after 5 years? Especially when a prewired copy of 2022 headlights are 1/4th the price. I think Toyota copied this design.

 

According to iihs for 2019 Tacoma with halogen projector "Low beams
On the straightaway, visibility was inadequate on both sides of the road. On curves, visibility was inadequate in all 4 tests." So basically with the factory projectors you will have approximately 1.3 seconds to react to somthing illuminated on the highway when doing 75 moh at night with low beams. With dish reflector high beams on the 2019 a little over two seconds.

 

Your description doesn't help much. I *think* you're referring to standard mirrored bowls with a halogen bulb and a clear or fluted lens over them as a "dish", but that really only applies to the fog lights or the high beam portion of the standard, non LED, headlight assembly.

Why would you want to replace them with OEM lights? Well, for one, it's unusual to have the assembly itself degrade to un-usability in five years, but a new, properly aimed OEM assembly with either high performance H11 halogen bulbs or H9 halogens will outperform pretty much any cheap third party Chinese - and they're all from China - illegal piece of crap. You may think you're getting a good deal at one quarter the price, but you're actually sacrificing your safety and your passenger's safety and the safety of other drivers as these cheap Chinese lights will undoubtedly will have excessive glare that affects oncoming drivers negatively. Again, the very best lights you can buy are indeed the 2020 OEM LED's and you can read testament after testament on these forums regarding just how good they are. They are in fact a bargain for the approximately $1500 they run in terms of bang for the safety buck and since driving at night is one of the most dangerous things we do, they really do make a difference. And no, Toyota did not copy the design of the cheap Chinese crap, it's the other way around, only they only look like they're copies, really they're cheap imitations. There's a huge gap between price and value.

 

The biggest problem with those tests is that they do NOT bother to check for proper headlight alignment or align the lights before the testing, and since so many vehicles come with misaligned lights from the factory, you're only seeing the results of a single vehicle, which may or may not represent the broader samples. The factory also ships the vehicle with what are called Long Life (LL) H11 halogen bulbs which do have a much longer life in terms of hours lit, but are significantly dimmer than the high performance H11's or the H9's that the high beam uses which are easily adapted to the low beams. You probably should not be driving at 75mph with any low beam light as you will be overdriving the beam and you obviously cannot use your high beams all the time.

 

Sell it. Problem solved

 

So, what I am hearing hear, the three years that the at the iihs tested the Tacoma projector headlights and gave a "poor" rating on were all misaligned.
https://www.iihs.org/ratings/vehicle/Toyota/tacoma-crew-cab-pickup/2018

 

So spend the money on oe let's and be done those have alot of testing showing they are the best option for these trucks.

 

Swapped my H11's to LED replacements in both headlights and fog lights and have not regretted it yet. 2018 TRD OR. did the same with my son's 2017 with same results. They almost over power my front lightbar

 

Did you do drop in bulbs or full replacements. If drop ins here we go again.

 

Something, something about "horse and water" comes to mind, after reading this thread.

Get factory OEM LEDs, with the FBC harness and you will not wish for light again.
<-----Took me a year to find my truck with factory LEDs, and the wait was absolutely worth it!

 

My 2020 premium OE LED headlights work pretty decent. Plenty of side light. Lots of deer around here and unprotected highways. Wouldn't mind if they were adjusted a slight bit higher though for straight ahead view, but the way they are now, there isn't any problem of them shining directly into anyones sight or mirrors. Lenses are still very clear. The brights are decent for about 1/2 mile view ahead. The sequential turn signals are kind of fancy though...

 

Just replaced the OEM halogen headlights on my 2023 TRD Sport with the Toyota LED headlight units. Ordered the headlights from an authorized Toyota parts supplier and got the adapter wiring harness online; relatively easy install, just need to pay attention to matching the correct adapter plugs for the low/high beam connections. The lighting improvement is quite profound, makes me wonder why Toyota even bothers with the terrible and dangerously underperforming stock halogen headlights. I also replaced the equally useless stock fog lights with a pair of Diode Dynamics LED fog lights, again a huge improvement. You won't be disappointed with the upgrade.

 

And by the way, my 2019 Tacoma has less than 22 k miles and my 2003 has 42 k. Just replaced the 2003 headlight assemblies due to sun damage. The 2019 headlights are starting to show minor sun damage on the very top, other than that they look fine, except they do not project any beam, just a yello white glow. Better lighting from the day time running lights and the new Tequison fog lights.

 

Well okay then...

 

Cool story part it out. Things happen change out the housings and move on. Just don't put in cheap crap and expect a better result. You'll be in the same place alot faster

 

How old are the lightbulbs in 2019?

Post pics of 2019 head lights. You are literally telling everyone that your OEM Taco headlights are worse than every other OEM Taco headlight out there.