Funky Blotch In Left Low Beam Headlight

Hi - Hoping someone has some insight on this. The low beams cast a horizontal shadow which is their illuminated reach. Perfectly fine. The left headlight just short of the shadow band has a blotch that's well left of the light spread. Depending on the road, curves and what's along side the road, this blotch will dance around. It moves with the car not on its own so consider it fixed within the light source. At times it almost looks like a deer ready to jump out. It's actually quite annoying. This almost seems like a piece of tape was put on the lens blocking light and casting a distance shadow. Anyone else experience this situation? Car is brand new w/600 miles on it. Many thanks.

 

A design feature to minimize blinding oncoming drivers. Standard on all newish 4Runners.

 

Thanks. I still get too many flashes from oncoming traffic in this car. Now I leave my high beams on for a second then dim them so oncoming cars can see the low beams going on. That said, it seems a strange way to project the low beams. Otherwise the headlights are a BIG improvement over the XTerra,

 

I had the exact same thing on my 21 Venture, but not my 22 Limited. Went to the dealership to talk to them about it and their remedy was to aim the left headlight up just a little bit higher. The dark notch/spot is still there, but it’s less noticeable now.

 

my headlight were aimed too low for me, but too high for everyone else. I got sick of having useless low cutoff while everybody else’s factory led low beam blasted me anyway. So I raised mine up a smidge. Had to do it, but at least I dont get flashed any more frequently. It was a real pain on dark country roads when there’s frequent oncoming traffic.

Anywho, the dark splotch looks a lot better now. Actually, the reason those exist is much more apparent now that I have them aimed a bit higher. The splotch spreads out and looks like more like a reduction in intensity that falls nicely over the oncoming lane.

 

That is intentional from Toyota. This is what you projector looks like and the red circled thing is what’s making the “blotch.”

Asked the lighting guys on Tacoma World what that was for and apparently it is to reduce glare for oncoming drivers. It is actually on both sides, not just one

 

Thanks for the clarification. I've looked into both low beams through a welding helmet and can't spot any differences. There are some "black" marks within the beam but hard to really know what's going on. As for the rightmost part of the right beam that's probably too far off in the weeds (around here) to notice any blotches. You can get pulled over for not dimming your lights! This happened to me about 6 years ago. Colorado State Patrol (CSP) handed me a $30 ticket and awarded my license 2 points. Which the insurance company escalated to 4 points. So much for what started as an enjoyable nightly drive.

 

That’s an interesting photo. Yours? Is it from a disassembled headlight?

Another theory is that it’s part of the shutter mechanism that blocks the full projected light when low beam is selected. Maybe a shutter stopper of sorts.
Do you have any more photos of this? Thanks.

 

Yeah. I have a disassembled 2022 headlight in my garage right now. That circled part is on the shutter. What do you want to see?

 

If you could take a few photos of it from front and other angles.

Also if you could operate the high beam shutter to see if that really is what stops its travel. Thanks.

 

Got some more here:


You can see in the first and second photo on the far right side, there is a little tab. That’s what stops the shutter. Couldn’t get my phone in the right angle to show that the top glare reduction tab doesn’t touch anything, but it doesn’t.

 

Thanks.
In that first photo of your second batch I cannot see the anti glare tab. Is the shutter flipped into the high beam position?
If so can you see what it is in contact with, if anything?

 

Yes, it is in the high beam position. The anti glare tab doesn’t touch anything although it does come close. The tab on the right side of the shutter is what stops the shutter

 

Based on testimony here I did take a close look at the rightmost part of the right low beam. It doesn't have any blotches or irregularities in the beam's shadow area. It just looks like a normal fade away of the light. Headlights are really bright which is good. Deer here seem to have suicidal tendencies. Good to see that coming early and adjust if one has your name on it. I still get more flashes from oncoming drivers than I used to in the XTerra. Thanks for the internal photos and explanations. Am I correct in assuming high/low beams aren't bulbs or filaments but a shutter mechanism?

 

That projector I took out was from a right (passenger) headlight. Can’t imagine Toyota changed designs of their projectors and now makes 2 of them.

Your low and high are all in that projector. Both powered by a little LED chip in the back of the reflector behind the projector lens. Shutter moves down and out of the way for high beams

 

I did take a closer peek at the headlamp assembly from the outside. There are 2 bulbs in there and the lens. One bulb is orange (parking light, side marker) and the other looks like a halogen incandescent lamp for the daytime running lights. As you describe, the low and high beam driving lights come from the projector lens assembly. I agree with lights being the same design. Still don't know what's going on with the left low beam. As mentioned, it's annoying to see this blotch panning on/off the road.

 

From outside to inside you have side marker, turn signal and parking light in one, low and high beam in one, DRL.

I posted a picture of what was making that dark spot…

 

I read the title and interpreted it that you have a funky biotch in your headlight. Lol

I opened the post to see how you would explain the situation. I then read your post and realized that I read the title wrong.

 

The headlights on your 4R may be aimed too high if you're getting flashed. Mine certainly were. I dropped them a bit and I can see the road even better AND I don't blind oncoming drivers.

 

Thanks for the photos and information. Just a few drivers get testy with beams. Actually fewer than those that don't bother to dim their lights for me. Sometimes this happens on either side of a mild crest when lights are aimed up by virtue of the road angle. Can't be helped. With a little patience this situation clears rapidly. All of us have been in this situation. As for adjusting the headlights, that's currently under evaluation as an option. I might be able to get some video of my left low beam situation.

 

Had the same splotch plus I have a 23’ TRD Pro…. I can’t see shit at a distance with low beams. The hard cut off is so bad. Highs are fantastic… It’s gotta be the downward tilt of the front end right ? Just switched to Miromotos and it’s the same thing. It’s a brighter light and I love the look but damn,I guess I need a lift/balance kit now for front end ?

 

Hi Watts - My trim line is the TRD Premium but I'd imagine the headlights are the same design. The low beam range cuts off abruptly instead of fading gracefully. So one sees a distinctive dark line. High beams are fine, however. The car has 10.3k miles now. We get flashed a lot on the low beams. People seem to think we haven't dimmed our lights. From a previous photo, I'm guessing the low beam is achieved by a shutter and its profile causes the blotch and abrupt line. For our driving preferences, the low beam projects adequately. Impairment of vision comes mostly from oncoming traffic with intense low beams. Blinding if someone doesn't dim their lights. The car is overall pretty nice but has some areas that I think Toyota could have done better on. Low beams being one. Thanks for your post.

 

If you aim your headlights up enough for the blotch to not be noticeable, you’ll be blinding everyone. Might as well just drive with your high beams on as it would do the same thing

 

I haven't touched the headlight aiming in any way. As mentioned, with the OEM aiming, I get flashed by oncoming drivers more than I'd like with my low beams. There are aspects of the 2023 4Runner I think Toyota could have done better with the design. The low beam headlight situation being one of a few. Back in the day, two separate filaments were used to deal with low and high beams. This worked well for decades. Now I guess we are getting super bright LEDs. I rented a Nissan Altima last year which had excellent headlights both low and high beams. So the problem can be solved. Maybe Toyota issues a replacement headlight assembly given blinding oncoming traffic could be a safety issue. When I questioned the dealer about this low beam blotch, nobody knew anything. Travel safely.

 

I am glad that I am not alone with the shadow on low beams. It is distracting for sure. Based on the feedback above it seams that the only solution is to adjust the beam up a little so the shadow isn’t so obvious.
I was able to take a pic of the shadow shape emitted from each headlight. Will try to add.

 

The above shadow is circled on the side of the black car parked in front of me. This is what is the shadow close up.

 

Did you ever get this fixed - the left low beam on my brand new 2023 4Runner has this blotch and it is giving me a headache every time I drive from it bouncing on and off the road. Solutions and suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

Have yet to come up with a solution. Yesterday I pulled up to my garage door to show the horizontal rectangle blotches emitted from each headlight when on low beam.