Grill Surround Deformity

If it is sunlight did you park any other car their prior to the Tacoma? Was it as tall and did it get damage as well?

Also they make those car bra/mask vinyl covers which might help. Or those hood visors. (although I'm not a fan of either myself)

Good luck OP

And the humor/sarcasm is heavy on this forum and generally it's not personal. Mods are doing a good job of at least containing it.

 

I parked my BMW M235i in the same spot, only difference is I do not back in when parking the beemer. The beemer is now parked offsite in a private garage. Will be upgrading the M235i to the M2 but eagerly awaiting the release of the Supra. Will more than likely go for the new Supra over the M2 if it's as awesome as I believe it will be. I'm hoping to see the Supra prototype at this months Tokyo Motor Show. Fingers crossed!

 

Nice Customer Service from the Toyota Dealership! And would you mind to tell us where to hard wire your dash cam?

 

I know it may sound crazy but I'm not sure how it's hard wired, I paid a Toyota technician to install it for me. All I know is that it looks great, the install that is and it works great. My apologies for not being able to provide intelligent information regarding the install.

 

That's ok, I'm looking for a dashcam which has the Parking mode with motion sensor, how you like yours? Did you have it reviewed somewhere in this forum already?

 

There were earlier in this thread about my dash cam. Here's my reply from earlier:

I hope this helps.

 

Thanks! I just placed the order with ThinkWare, but since I need the screen so I ordered the x500 with both front and rear camera. I will see how to make it hard wire later.

Thanks Buddy!

 

Congrats! You will like this cam setup. Be forewarned, after having it for a while, say like a day, you'll wonder how the heck you've been able to get along without it. The piece of mind a dash cam affords us makes it all worth while. Keep us posted with updates.

No need for thanks, but please know that you are welcome sir! I'm glad to have been able to help.

 

I still find the direct sunlight thing hard to believe. Folks in AZ and CA are no strangers to hot summer days either... I park my truck outside every day, thankfully it hasn't melted!

Are you certain you haven't made enemies with a magnifying glass wizard?

 

I am also somewhat perplexed regarding the sun melting it or the reflection from another car melting it. That conclusion is difficult for me to accept. But something odd is going on. I can assure you that no one tampered with it. It happened overnight in my parking garage. Sunday night I parked my truck in the garage. The deformity was not there. On Monday morning it was there. If someone had tampered with it, even with a magnifying glass, I can assure you that my dash cam would've recorded the incident plus my truck is parked in perfect sight of the security camera's ceiling mounted in our parking garage. Lastly, it's odd that this exact same anomaly happened to another forum members 3rd gen Tacoma, in the exact location as mine.

LINK TO OTHER MEMBERS EXPERIENCE WITH THE SAME ISSUE IN THE EXACT SAME SPOT

 

I would switch the dash cam to 'Time Lapse' mode or whatever they call it... The mode where it records a pic every second when the truck is shut off. At least when it happens again, you WILL be able to see the culprit.

 

Is there anything that can get hot in that area? Maybe a radiator cap?

 

Are you completely sure the camera didn't stop filming?

Are there any steam pipes in the garage?

 

Whole lotta nothing behind there...

 

With where you park your truck, the reflected light would have been bounced off another vehicle. Since the parking is not reserved parking, then that means that literally the right vehcile, with the right height, parked in the right spot, with another vehicle next to it perfectly in the right spot to allow sunlight to hit a particular window, at a specific point in the day to reflect a focused beam to your grill.

Can it happen again? Sure anything can happen But you need to consider that the sun moves throughout the year, literally a week later and this would not have happened as the sun would have been in a different spot (see picture below of my house, it shows how when the sun moved with the seasons, it spanned from the front to the back of my house), I wouldn't be as concerned of it happening again though. Previous forum members with similar issues parked in their driveway at the same spot and the sun was reflecting off the windows of their house. Since cars will always be different and parked in different spots, it differs from his house which is stationary.

 

Regarding the dash cam, it did not turn off or stop recording. Don't get me wrong there were over 144 incidents recorded that evening/next morning, other vehicles passing by, other residents walking by, the maintenance crew removing debris from the floor of the garage(minor things like tissues or cigarette butts) as they do every morning. All of those incidents were recorded as "motion detection" but no recordings of "motion incidents". The dash cam differentiates and notifies me of the number of incidents via voice upon startup of my truck. It will say, there were more than 10 motion detection's followed up by the number of motion incidents. There were NO motion incidents meaning no one touched my truck. I turn on the camera's WiFi and am able to get the exact number of motion detection's and motion incidents via the app on my phone. Motion detection was all of the vehicles and people who merely passed by my truck but did not get close. Motion incidents are recorded when something or someone gets to close and or touches my truck. The end of the below video shows an example of a motion detection of a neighbors truck merely driving past my truck. I am more than positive that no one touched my truck, in addition had someone touched my truck there would be evidence of some type of marks or scratches on the hood or grill surround. There are no marks and or scratches on the hood or the grill surround, it's as fresh as when purchased brand new. Regarding steam pipes, no there are no steam pipes in the garage. Furthermore as mentioned a couple of times in this thread. The exact same type of damage/deformity happened to another 3rd gen Tacoma owner who's a member of this forum. The exact same deformity in the exact same spot as mine. He lives in Tennessee, I live in Texas. Please click the link below to see photos of his truck with the deformity in the exact same location as my deformity. As well as please watch the video below demonstrating a dash cam motion detection. I appreciate your suggestions but based off of the evidence and information provided, your suggestions are not plausible.

LINK TO ANOTHER 3rd gen Tacoma owner having the SAME DEFORMITY in the SAME LOCATION as my trucks deformity.

 

This is rapidly turning in to a dash cam thread.

Nice.

 

Here is a link to someone that did the Thinkware 770 install on their 2017 Taco
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/thinkware-f770-dashcam-install.465929/

 

The parking spaces are all assigned and strictly enforced.

I totally understand your reasoning regarding the sun and it's possible effect. If that is the case, why is it not happening to more 3rd gen Tacoma owners especially owners who do not park in a garage, one's who park in direct sunlight year round? With the multitude of 3rd gen Tacoma's sold and currently on the road I would imagine a few of these 3rd gen owners park near or around office buildings on a daily basis where the sun reflects off of said office building directly down onto one's 3rd gen Tacoma.

Regarding it happening again I can't help but be concerned. This is an issue I do not look forward to having to deal with again, ever. I'll admit, I'm a little OCD. Until it's officially determined what caused this anomaly, I will be somewhat stressed. I am a sports car enthusiast who purchases a new sports car every year and a half or so. Once my sports cars reach 15K miles, I sell them and purchase another one. This truck is my very fist truck. I purchased it strictly as a daily driver with plans on keeping it for numerous years based off of the Toyota Tacoma's proven reliability and longevity. This Tacoma was to be the very first vehicle I've kept for numerous years even though my friends and associates do not believe me. It's disconcerting to have issues albeit a minor one on a truck with less than 7K miles on it.

 

How much power do these dash cams use while in "park mode"? Could they potentially kill your battery if you go away for a week and are not driving your truck?