SOLUTION: 4th gen Personal (aka Map) Light mod

Agree about leaving the bags alone!. Thanks for checking. The Factory manuals are on the holiday wish list. I will probably have to buy them, wrap them, and make them a gift from my wife! Then she can't complain about the cost!

Thanks again Rando!!

gary
 
The curtain airbag squibs run down the entire length of the truck, front to back. The wire connections are in the back. I didn't see any special instructions about the pillar garnish removal procedure so I think it's probably safe enough to remove. To be extra cautious, you should disconnect the battery and then wait 5 minutes before working near the bags. After you remove the garnish you'll just have to see if you can get at the wire bundle or not. If not, you'll need to drop your wire all the way down to the underdash area. In either case, just make sure any wires you run don't interfere with the deployment path of the bags -- wires should run above or behind the squib and be appropriately fastened so they don't move.

Good luck!
 
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Wow.... Good job Rando. I remember asking about this possibility months ago when I first got my 4-Runner.

Will have to try this soon. :)
 
It's been a while since I've visited the forums. Life got busy with buying a new house a few months ago and such. It looks like the forums have grown some, which I'm glad to see! The more people, the more knowledge and lessons learned.

Great write up too. :) Now I have to think up more challenges for you.... :p
 
rando said:
The curtain airbag squibs run down the entire length of the truck, front to back. The wire connections are in the back. I didn't see any special instructions about the pillar garnish removal procedure so I think it's probably safe enough to remove. To be extra cautious, you should disconnect the battery and then wait 5 minutes before working near the bags. After you remove the garnish you'll just have to see if you can get at the wire bundle or not. If not, you'll need to drop your wire all the way down to the underdash area. In either case, just make sure any wires you run don't interfere with the deployment path of the bags -- wires should run above or behind the squib and be appropriately fastened so they don't move.

Good luck!
Click to expand...

BTW, if you look at the picture I posted on page 1, where I tap the ILE circuit behind the pillar garnish, that white plastic looking thing is very likely where the curtain airbag squib would be. Notice that the wire bundle runs above there. I think you're good to go.
 
I did this mod few days ago and I think this one is one of the best from few that I’ve already done. It took about 40 minutes but it was only because I tried to be really careful. At first all those warnings that Rando posted got me scared but I couldn’t resist to do it. All interior lights in my old Jeep came right when I opened the door and I really can’t understand why Toyota don’t make them that way. Anyway big THANKS Rando for exellent writeup ....:bowdown:
I have only one suggestion for all those who are going to do it. Somebody wrote that when You try to remove personal light assembly (a.k.a. map lights, sun glass holder....etc) You have to pull it really hard. And I did. The only problem was that I pulled from a wrong side. You have to pull it where sun glass holder is installed. This might sound stupid but if I knew this before I started this mod it would take me maybe 15 seconds but instead I was pulling the other side....:arrow: So I attach pic were You can see which side to pull.. Hope this helps

Once again great mod and it is really easy to do.....
 

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I think I'll try this when my warranty runs out, or when I run out of mods, whichever comes first.......probably the warranty.
 
Luxury said:
I think I'll try this when my warranty runs out, or when I run out of mods, whichever comes first.......probably the warranty.
Click to expand...

You are right with this warranty....But I couldn't resist this mod and the best thing is You can take everything off in 15 minutes and put together as it was orginally and You will have only small mark left by T-Tap connector so I don't think that any mechanic would be able to find it....:D
 
Thanks for the removal tip, Krosno. I'm thinking of removing the sunglass holder and replacing it with theOmniFi controller, but couldn't figure out how to remove that sucker! Man, Toyota sure did make it hard to get to the fun stuff!
 
Was just curious if anyone with air bags on the A-pillars have tried this mod yet? Specifically, I am wondering where you were able to tap into the ILE wire and if you had to run the wire down the dash to the lower foot panel area or something?
 
wkparker said:
Thanks for the removal tip, Krosno. I'm thinking of removing the sunglass holder and replacing it with theOmniFi controller, but couldn't figure out how to remove that sucker!
Click to expand...

No problem..
Make sure You post pics after you replace that sunglass holder.....
 
ScottAW said:
Was just curious if anyone with air bags on the A-pillars have tried this mod yet? Specifically, I am wondering where you were able to tap into the ILE wire and if you had to run the wire down the dash to the lower foot panel area or something?
Click to expand...

You mean the fuse panel area, not the foot (kick) panel, right? BTW, once you have the A-pillar trim off, it's easy to drop the wire down the side of the dash and then fish it back up to the fuse area. The ILE circuit can be tapped directly from the front side of the fuse panel behind the fuse panel cover.

There's not much doubt in my mind that this can be made to work in airbag equipped trucks. The wire routing is no different than installing the compass mirror and I don't recall seeing any mention about airbags being a concern when people were installing those.
 
I was thinking about doing this Mod soon. After thinking about the ILE circuit, I think I will install two diodes, one each prior to each SPDT switch. This way it would insure that electricity would only flow from the ILE to the Map light switches and never the other way around. But I need to stare at the entire circuit diagram first. Does this make sense to anyone else?
 
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Rando - Are you saying I can tap into the ILE ribbon cable right near the fuse panel? Also, have already done the mirror installation (as I picked it up from you actually), had no problems working around the air bags.

Greasefingers - Diodes sound like a good idea, although I'm not sure why there would be a differential voltage in that direction to cause current to flow that way. I supposed you never know, maybe a bulb going bad could cause it. Anyway, what kind of diodes would be needed? Something I can pick up at Radio Shack?
 
I am not an electrical engineer, so when I dabble in things that I am not 100% sure about, then I try to think about what I can do in order to prevent myself from “underachievement” or simply F’in up. The first thing that comes to my mind when using a trigger, like the Body ILE circuit, is to protect that circuit. I am not positive, but that is not simply a 12volt supply. I cannot explain myself any more than that without looking at the schematics; but I would place a safety device such as a rectifier/diode in the circuit. It might not be necessary. It could be like installing a check valve in a garden hose (a useless device). I need to understand that ILE more and was hoping to stimulate some opinions. Either tell me I am wrong or tell me that I might be on to something. And yes a Radio Shack pn# 1N4003 diode would most likely do the trick..
 
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