Lights on my 2024 4Runner should be illegal

For the life of me I don't know how anyone can stand them. I have never owned a vehicle (I'm 80 now) where the headlights had a cutoff line in the middle of my road vision.

Literally everyone who rides in my 4 runner at nights asks me how I can see to drive with headlights like that. If I pull up to my garage door I can see the cutoff smack in the middle of my door. Black above and bright below. On top of that within that disturbing black shadow line are the outline of the LED headlight housings on each sign.

The only way I can drive with "normal" headlight illumination is with the brights on all the time.
I cannot believe Toyota made headlights this dangerous. I live in an area with a lot of deer which makes the situation even more dangerous.

John

 

Don’t want to say your experience isn’t correct, but for me I’ve never had a clearer vision of the road with my LEDs on a ‘23. They light up the whole road ahead of me much further than any halogen or half ass LEDs ever have

 

They are designed to work on engineered roads.

 

Mine definitely do not light up the road as far ahead as my 2005 Camry. I can't see beyond the floating black line and as I said literally everyone who has ridden in it at night asks the same question plus, "What are those two rectangles floating under the black line?

 

If you mean only roads with street lamps they aren't sold with that disclaimer.
John

 

They started installing them on the Corolla in 2014. And If the road is not designed right, you will have problems with your cut off.

 

The cutoff is certainly stark in these but that and some artifacts from the headlight housing are normal, make sure they are also properly aligned.

I aimed mine down farther since them being right at the legal guideline means blinding a lot of folks in non-flat situations, bumps, etc.

I explored the option of a nicer-for-others halogen headlight swap but don't know if it's been done. (plus warmer color temperature and replaceable bulbs.)

 

No one ever flashed their lights at me.
Certainly, if I aim them down farther it will make the problem even worse in terms of road illumination. If anything maybe higher would help since the illumination only looks normal with the brights on.

 

Apparently there was another thread in 2024 complaining about the same issue. He said it was like riding in a boat watching the cutoff line:

https://www.4runners.com/threads/2024-headlight-issue.35912/

John

 

aim them higher
mine were facing the ground about 100ft out in front of me
i turned them up so the cutoff is about 200ft in front of me
if you can find a good dark flat stretch of road, stop in the road pop the hood and adjust the headlights up where you can see farther ahead of you.

The cut-off is made to keep the lights out of oncoming traffic eyes.

 

Thanks for the suggestion. I think I'll do that. It's over a year trying to get used to it and I still can't.

John

 

In all honesty my low beams seems like it lights up the whole damn street compared to the high beams.

I do have the darked out spots when I pull in front of garage, but they’re symmetrical, and same length apart, but on the road you can’t tell at all. I think I get flashed at lol.

maybe being to dealer and see if they can’t adjust them somehow?

 

I’m with you John. I don’t like the sharp cut-off.

 

To each his own. In my opinion, the best factory headlights I've ever had on a car, and I've had alot of cars. Personally, I love the sharp cutoff line, and cutoff lines are designed so as to not blind oncoming drivers.

We all live in different areas with different street lights, environments, and preferences, so I get it. But, I love them and wish my other cars had these headlights as well.

 

While I like the brightness/ clarity of these headlights more than any other car I've own, I'd rather have more spillover above the line on the low beams. It sometimes feels like you're over-driving the headlights.

 

I hate the oncoming vehicle anti-blinders (those little things some called artifacts in the reflectors) with a passion. They make shadows where the light on the ground should be.

As far as your cut off, maybe your headlights need adjusting. I’ve heard of some 4Runners headlamps being off a lot and mostly too low.
Level ground, 25’ from wall, measure center of headlight projector, mark 2” lower on wall, cut off line should be adjusted to the mark on the wall.

 

Sorry to say this, but the issue OP has is age-related and not headlight related. Perhaps it is time stop driving at night?

These lights are bright, and I agree there is an issue with brightness for OTHER DRIVERS. The cutoff is actually both useful in reducing blinding of other drivers and it is also mandated by law. However, when you have age-related vision degradation, your night vision goes first. With less bright lights you will be as vision impaired, but due to lack of contrast it would not be as obvious.

 

If you aim your lights above spec height, you will be badly blinding other people. Get them aligned to spec by the shop in case they are off and aimed too low.

 

I was hoping I wasn't the only one thinking this. It's something we're all going to deal with at some point in our lives.

 

I'm 72 & drive a '15 SR5. It doesn't have the cutoff headlights. I'm an Infantry vet and had excellent night vision... 50 years ago...

I HATE to drive at night. I cannot see well enough to feel entirely safe. I keep my trips short, slow down, drive extra defensively and only drive after dark when I absolutly have to.

I can't imagine why anyone in my age group and older would routinely drive at night.

By the way, in '74 I had a buddy on his motorcycle who got run over by an 80 year old driver in DAYLIGHT. He dragged the poor guy 200 yards up the road before he even realized he killed him. He told the cops, " I didn't see him."

 

I don't have perfect vision (need driving glasses at night), but in my 2024 4Runner headlights are one of the best (for driver) out there. They are blinding, but only to OTHER DRIVERS. I have/had some high end cars with HIDs, etc. and they are not nearly as good at clearly illuminating the road.

When you drive a car with poor headlights, but over familiar roads you COULD BE vision impaired but not enough to realize it. This is because your mind can compensate for the lack of visual signal with memory, the same way you can walk to the toilet in your house at night without having to turn on lights. This DOES NOT mean you can see in such conditions.

To summarize - if you can't see at night with 4Runner LED lights, you probably can't see at night period.

 

I'm guessing you weren't expecting a medical diagnosis after your initial post...

 

I didn’t realize how my night vision was being affected until after my cataracts were removed & new clear lens were installed.

just sayin’

I just call it my “Lens Mod”

 

Disagree strongly with this! There is complete lack light spill above the cutoff on my 21 stock LED. This combined with the bright (admittedly very good) lighting below the cutoff, makes the lights horrible on dark roads that aren’t perfectly flat.

I actually prefer dimmer halogen lights that have a more natural light fall off with distance, and don’t blind other drivers on rolling roads.

The only way I’ve grown to accept them is by adjusting and readjusting until it’s high enough to see reasonable far, but low enough that I don’t get flashed by other drivers on the hilly roads I drive at night.

It’s not just the 4runner, most newer cars go for the “perfect cutoff” without any thought for the real world of roads with hills.

 

I’ve been pondering for a while now that with newer styles of headlights, as the reflectors become smaller and smaller the light presented to oncoming drivers is condensed into comparatively brighter point sources that are an issue for drivers with night vision issues. As one drives at night against opposing traffic it is readily apparent when comparing oncoming headlights with smaller sources with those of larger ones that the smaller sources are brighter.

 

The headlights on our 2020 are excellent. They are halogen, they light up the road just fine. After the lift went on the truck we had the headlights re-aimed, because of opposing traffic flashing high beams at us. Somehow in our quest to find "brighter", "bigger", "better" things we sometimes goof. Excess is NOT always best, bigger is NOT always better. I have led lights on my tractor, when working in the dark it's like working during the day. I somewhat agree with OP on light dispersion, however I also agree with Sin4R. I've driven commercial vehicles for 43 yrs., during this time seen many changes in headlights, never used to bother me driving at night, night vision was cat like, but in my mid 60's, the cat like thing isn't there anymore. Granted, everybody is different, you may be 25 and the night vision thing isn't there, maybe you're 75 and have night vision like a cat. I would get the headlights aimed at Toyota and go from there, that's my 2 1/2 cents, thankyou.

 

time to adjust up. Could be off some

 

Do you wanna trade up for some halogen lighting?

 

I drove shit boxes for many years so I am happy with the light output, however the cut off is very odd. My aunt has a 2019 Equinox with LED headlights and the projection on the road is much nicer. You would think a company such as Toyota could have done a bit better with this, especially considering the quality of Lexus lighting.

 

I just swapped in better lights.