2021 Tacoma Limited Disappointing back up camera

So I just traded in my 2016 Tacoma TRD Off Road for a 2021 Tacoma Limited. So far all the features are great however the camera display on the 2021 is junk, my 2016 had great image quality both day and night. The 2021 has the birds eye view which I thought would be great , and I have seen it on the Toyota Land Cruiser and it was great image quality. So what happened?

What are other owners doing, can you replace the head unit and get better features and still retain the current functionality of the cameras?

 

Image quality was so bad I went around looking for plastic camera lens protectors, thinking the dealer forgot to pull them off.

 

that's odd. just popped in to say, my 2016 has a great clear image.

 

BlkTaco47, I was always impressed with the 2016 Camera, my wife drives a 2016 Nissan Rogue and the cameras on it are garbage. I just thought Toyota had superior tech in that dept. I guess i'm wrong.

 

Just how clear do you need it to be?

I just want to make sure there isn't a child or bicycle behind me when I'm backing up. I don't need 4K resolution to tell me that.

 

When I got it in 2015 I was actually surprised how clear and crisp it was. It was the first thing I mention when backing out for the test drive. Crazy that 6 yrs later it's worse.

 

Not to just jump in, but my 2019 Cam Sucks! Royally!

 

Well, I would like it to be as good or better than the 2016, if I have to stare at it to see what is going on it is not really doing me any good.

 

You're not mistaken the image quality is hot garbage on my 2020 Pro as well. I had a 2018 Tiguan recently and my brother has a 2019 Silverado, and it's hard to describe how inferior the Tacoma's cameras are. Especially coming from a $25k Tiguan I did not expect my $45k truck to be a downgrade in that department.

 

LOL!

Some people just need to nitpick stuff to death.

We have a Ford Fusion and two Subarus in the stable with the Tacoma and the Tacoma has by far the best back up camera resolution.

But if you need to spend a thousand on a new head unit so you can back up in hi-def, go for it. Maybe you can stream Netflix on it, too.

 

My 2019's is perfectly clear. Weird that the quality is way different in various years.

 

exactly......after 6 yrs, you and everyone else would expect improvements

 

Yea, it’s pretty lame but the rest of the truck is great. I’m sure they’ll fix it in about five years from now.

Must have gotten a great deal on some junk from China.

 

Someone should try swapping the cameras from an older one to see if it is the camera or the HU responsible for the drop in quality.

 

Pretty sure it's been reported on here before it's the same cam. It's the HU change in 20 that did it. Only complaint I have on my 19 is that it doesn't give a fishbowl type view. Which is helpful when backing up in a parking lot and you can't see if a car is coming.

 

No complaints about it on my 2021 Limited.

 

Yeah, the image quality is definitely lacking on my 21 Pro. Does it get the job done? Sure. That's not the point though. It is a bit crazy to me to see what people will defend on here...it is a $50k 2021 truck, it's perfectly reasonable to complain when the image quality is worse than a <$20k basic sedan. Heck, I traded in a 2014 Accord on this, and that resolution was much better.

 

You're going to need to blame Rebecca, she sourced the shitty head unit and backup camera and plucked the friends out of her sorority from 15 years ago to be in the focus group where they all did lots of coke and said this looks awesome.

or blame Robert he sourced the head unit and the backup camera, pinched some pennies so the motherland would be happy and got all his buds from the bowling alley to come down some with cataracts that said this looks great.

 

Yup, Friday.

 

It's because they updated the head unit and not the camera as well. so its like watching old reruns on a 4k TV.