Good point, I actually feel safer driving with them now than the drop in leds. I see the void your talking about but its a tiny area and doesn't affect my down path light. it actually shines out farther than any of my oem led cars..... But I see what your saying, you paid for a brand new 2021 and expect it to be perfect with 0 defects in the lighting...... I really hope they do a recall on the 2021.

Saker, did the same shadow appear in your 2014? I have a 2018 Pro, as you know, and my headlamps are probably the same as your ‘14. Does the halogen update to the non led headlamps create this issue? Also, what aftermarket head lamps would you go with if this doesn’t get resolved by Toyota?

No shadows in my 2014 OEM halogen side firing headlamp assemblies. This phenomenon appears to be on the newer headlamp assemblies with the LED Modules only. I don’t know of any halogen updates on non LED headlamps.
I don’t know what the replacement would be to the OEM headlamps. As stated, they work very well with the one caveat.

Did you do the bulb upgrade to your 2014. I can’t recall if it is the H9 or H11? I want to do an inexpensive upgrade to my 2018 lamps. Edit: I see you don’t know of any halogen updates to non LED headlamps.

May take a bunch of us doing this. Mine has to have a 1K check on the lift, and I'll have my dealer do the same.

It may take the community to voice concerns and it also may take filing with NHTSA.

OK, here's an alternate explanation. I went out driving last night because I'm trying to burn a tank of gas. I made a point of driving down some pretty dark roads, etc.

To set up my potential explanation below, the position of the rectangles is interesting. It's basically right below the cutoff on the left-hand side. So in addition to the normal stair-step on the cutoff line, it's essentially a second stair-step cutoff:



And it can't of been put in such a specific spot on both sides by accident.

----------------------

Anyway, so I'm out driving. One thing I noticed is that when you are on a 2-lane undivided road, the stair-step in the cutoff line perfectly aligns with the middle of the road. Which is by design. So you get a longer throw on in front of your car and shorter throw into the oncoming traffic lane, so less glare for oncoming drivers. That's expected.

But the other thing I noticed is that those two squares, when the car is travelling straight, end up in the middle of the oncoming traffic lane. Which would create even less glare for oncoming traffic when they initially hit your beam pattern.



So I suspect that they were put in that spot intentionally for the benefit of oncoming traffic.

Will be interesting to hear what Toyota says, if you can ever find someone related to the engineering of those lights. I'm skeptical you will be able to make it that far into the machine based on my experience, but I hope you do.

@rageandlove

Thanks for your explanation.
It seems strange they would do that as there is already a cut-off line to prevent that if properly adjusted.
Also, why would they include that obstruction in both assemblies?

Let us know if you find any other vehicles that have it in the projected light beams.

Thx again.

Rage's explanation is pretty on point.

I can't disclose what manufacturer I test drive vehicles for, but their more recent (last 2 years or so) projector LED headlight systems do have similar "notch" cutoffs, it's not just Toyota. I've also seen photos of Kia or Hyundai projector headlights with similar cutoffs.

Based on @Ed_C 's comment I typed "Hyundi LED Beam Pattern" and found an identical set of conversations in their forum, with the same conclusion. By design to further reduce the glare for oncoming drivers. They get an asymmetrical V not a square, but same implementation.

Here's a good explanation with a chart from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety that shows how the outcome is that you get the shortest beam pattern in the lane beside you and then more on either side of that. It's quite clear from that chart.

Sadly, they don't have the chart for the 2021 4Runner yet, just the 2019. And it gets a "poor" rating. Which all of us know.

Great explanation. Those dead squares would indicate the hotspot positions of the headlight beam.

Thanks guys for the information.

That’s why we all reach out to the community.

What gets me is Toyota could not give me the information you have posted.
Seems a bit strange. They should have answers, since it was passed on and I got a second call about said concern.

Thanks again !

Could this also be because there is no automatic headlight leveling system on the 4R? On my other car, a 2018 VW GTI with LED headlights, there is a small arm attached to the drivers side control arms front and rear that adjust the level of the beam depending on the cars position on the road so as not to blind oncoming traffic. Its headlights do not have the deadspot the 4R LED's do.

This issue could also be a compromise due to the outdated DOT headlight regs.

You can't disclose but maybe blink twice if it is Audi? My Q3 has a very noticeable notch below the cutoff on the drivers side that would certainly help glare for oncoming drivers.

I have no idea what I'm talking about and the explanation sounds reasonable but... Did Toyota really invest that kind of R&D into cramming an LED into the standard housing?

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