Fog lights on without low beams?

I’m getting a new ORP this week. On my 2016 Tacoma TRDOR, when hunting, I could turn on my fog lights without having to turn on the low beam headlights. My son just got a 2023 Tacoma TRD Sport and he can’t turn on his fog lights unless the low beam headlights are on. Is the 4 Runner like that? When driving in woods, on logging roads or in fields at dawn or dusk, I don’t want my headlights on. The parking lights alone don’t seem adequate. I’m hoping I can turn on the fog lights without having low beam headlights on. Thanks

 

The Bright Box Anytime.

https://www.4runnerlifestyle.com/products/the-brite-box-4runner
(not an endorsement, just the first link I grabbed in the google results)

 

Plus one on the bright box without getting into a lot more work in an attempt to wire it up yourself.

 

Wonder why Toyota changed? My Tacoma let you run fog lights with headlights off. Maybe it’s perceived as unsafe in case people did that when driving on normal roads at higher speeds?

 

That actually annoyed the hell out of me. I just ran the fog lights to their own switch. No i can power those on/off any time I want.

 

Where did you mount the switch? Did you have to take the lower dash or steering wheel apart?

 

I knew I was going to be installing pods and led bars and didn’t want to wire to the cab every time. I installed the auxbeam controller. Ran that once to the cab. Now whenever I add lights it is literally a 20 minute job. The plastic piece where you see I mounted it just pops off. I also drilled a little hole in the back of the plastic piece just to prevent the wire being pinched. Let me know if you have additional questions or want to see where I mounted the auxbeam base in the engine bay.

 

With my 15 Tacoma it was a super simple 10 minute mod. Not with the 4Runner I’m afraid.

 

What changed is Toyota added that option to the 3rd gen Tacoma. The 2nd gen Tacoma and 5th gen 4R have always had fogs that come on with the low beams from the factory. Not sure about 4th gen 4R.

 

curious about your tacoma. i’ve had a few cars of various makes and models equipped with fog lights from the factory. they all behaved the same - fog lights work only with low beams and deactivate with high beams.

 

Had a Tacoma at one point and this was true for mine as well, fog lights could be turned on once you turned the stack to parking light mode. At one point I had a Ram pickup and it was exactly like the Tacoma( fogs on without headlights).

 

FWIW, Fog lights on with Low Beams only is a PA inspection law. And, technically any mod that would allow fog lights with high beams or no beams would be a violation requiring failure during annual inspection. Though folks who have a buddy who owns an inspection station have gotten away with it, and if you don't abuse their use on the road it is unlikely a police stop would happen, it could. I don't know what if anything the NTSB says about it, but I am sure there are several other states that require it the way Toyota delivers it.

 

A lot of states have similar vehicle codes as PA. There’s usually a law allowing only 4 forward beams lighted at the same time. The high beam switch setting turns on both high beam and low beam bulbs. There’s your 4. Can’t legally add fogs (or auxiliary lights) to the mix. The reasoning probably had to do with too much bright light being output and blinding oncoming traffic.

The reason low beams are required when fogs are on is that fogs only illuminate very low and project a short distance. Not enough light to see cars or pedestrians if they were the only source of illumination, especially if driving at highway speed.

 

Have you installed this? It seems awesome.

 

And this item will work on 2023 models? List only scrolls to 2022