Painted fenders on a TE seems like a design update fail...
Like someone else mentioned, black plastic fenders save from many noticeable scratches.
Not to mention the front and rear bumpers.
Now the TE looks just like the limited or SR5. Just uglier with that fish mouth...
I have an '04 with a similar silver trim piece in the middle and painted fenders. I have no issues with it getting damaged over the years, and mine does get used off road.
The unpainted trim was one of the things I didn't like about the '10 through '13 trail. It looks great at first, but it ages horribly. Take a look at a '03 with the unpainted fenders and bumpers, and you'll see all sorts of wonderful extrusion marks on the faded light gray plastic. Unless they are using some sort of different plastic now, I'd rather have painted bumpers and fenders.