Front crossbar bumper ends??

I was watching a few videos of the Demon shackle bracket install (just watching,not getting) I noticed these ends that are held in with one bolt. They seem very short and not very sturdy. Just curious as to what their purpose is. Thanks.

 

No purpose! Pull them out and replace them with some of these from @Nimble9

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/frame-caps-by-squareone-creations.683555/

 

They are like tits on a bull. Totally worthless.

 

Whole stock front crossmember is not very sturdy, get rid of it

 

I might be biting really hard on a "lets start a fight cause it's Friday" thread but at least its not about biggest tire size with no CMC so I will go for it....

I absolutely disagree about them being cosmetic. I am willing to be wrong if someone has info that actually says otherwise but they are pretty sturdy (relative to most of the truck) pieces of metal and I have been under the impression they are for offset front impacts. They don't look like much but I wouldn't bet losing my feet/legs in an accident on taking them out unless I had a solid steel front bumper bolted on in front of it. The design of a lot of things might be questionable but I haven't found a much on this truck that Toyota just added for fun.

 

I’m waiting for my bumper to be in stock! Want one so bad!!!

 

Supposedly from what I heard is these are to stop objects from flying into the front independent suspension components but with all these lifted Tacomas it’s pointless.

 

Had to remove them when installing my front receiver.

 

Thanks for the recommendation of the SquareOne caps. They make it look much cleaner.