4Runner stock lights so bright that...

Ran into a road rager yesterday who was brake checking me putting his head out of the window screaming like a maniac... "TURN OFF YOUR HIGH BEAMS" and "I CAN'T SEE!". I try and explain that they are not on, but he was not having it.

The whole way home he brake checked me and was driving erratic. One point he even got out on one of the busiest road in my town and was saying how he was going to kick my ass (he would not), but I continued to try an show him examples of the high beams VS the stock lights and he was not having that at all. The dude just wanted an issue, did not care about the reasoning behind anything.

Be careful out there!

 

Holy crap, good thing this didn't escalate to a physical confrontation or anything.

What sucks too is that the low beam LEDs are so bright and also since they were in a sedan and our headlights are so high it almost looks like high beams.

 

Lots of dipshits out there. His whole issue could have been solved by simply letting you pass him but he has to prove a point.

 

I get the oncoming traffic flashing me occasionally I even lowered the beams down a little and I'm riding all stock.

 

I also have a 21 with the LED low beams. On any road that is not perfectly flat, the beams will sweep over other drivers” eye levels in a way that will make it seem like they are getting flashed with high beams. This is a problem with a lot of headlights I encounter with other cars I see on the road too. But the 21 4runner headlights seem to have extra brightness, and extra poorly designed cutoff. This makes it extra painful for oncoming drivers that get swept by the low beam, even with the lights adjusted correctly.

 

Same. 2023. Those LED's are the sun. Need to find a vid on how to adjust down as I barely notice a difference between low and high beams. Appears to be 1-2 degrees up at most on high beams.

 

Funny I came across this thread. I just adjusted my lights last night. They were too high.

 

Are you lifted? Eliminating the factory 'rake', if you did that, will point them up a little. Either way, yeah, see if you can aim them down a little. There are plenty of hotdogs out there that seem to be saying "Look at me" with their headlight and fog light upgrades. I know that isn't you, but boy, super brights really are annoying, especially on country roads.

Funny thing is, the posts on here used to consist largely of people complaining that their headlights were too dim lol.

 

I see a lot of vehicles out there that have much brighter lights than stock 4runners

 

Yep. And it takes about 30 seconds too. One of the most accessible setups for aim adjustments I've used. Obvious holes in fascia above headlights, insert long phillips driver, turn, done.

Jason

 

Very interesting. I always thing these are the dimmest factory LEDs. Me personally I wish they were bright as the after market LED bulbs (which everyone in this forum hates) I have on my 2019 Limited (which originally came with halogens).

I wonder 4Runner LEDs are not bright as some of the other brands like BMW x5 because 4Runner is relatively tall or may be to keep the cost low.

I think that guy was looking for some reason to start a roadrage. There are times that I turn off my lights at red light when there is a Miata, Mini, etc.. And some of the drivers have said thanks by hand signals doing so. If I face this kind of behavior I would change the lane or stop for a snack before things get real bad this guy stepping out and approach my vehicle while kids inside, because if I lost my patience and get angry it would definitely end in a result where I could go to jail.


If the 4Runner is lifted definitely headlights needs to be adjusted.

 

What a jerk. Heaven forbid he could temporarily adjust his rearview mirror so as not to reflect into his eyes. But... that probably makes too much sense for him to understand.

Down here in the south we have Ford F250's literally everywhere and their fog lamps are in the same assembly as their low beams and - if you think our 4R lights are bright (and at a high elevation), check out one of those sometime when the low beams and fogs are all lit-up!

Whenever I encounter situations like that I just change lanes or take the next exit (or turn off somewhere for a second), chill and get back on the road. Doesn't add 90 seconds. Trying to convince him that you're trying to do the right thing and showing him your lights are on low beam is lost on someone who's already aggravated. Keep in mind that you'll probably never see this guy again in your life. So, let him be a jerk and move on. You have a 4Runner and he doesn't - so he's jealous from the get-go, LOL!

 

on a 2021 4Runner TRD Pro doing this might make things worse as when you put high beams it turn off the fog lights and for some one already have lowbeams on eyes see it as 4 lights (in low beam) vs 2 lights (in highbeams).

 

Next time pull off into a neighborhood or stop at a well lit area and let them proceed. Better yet call 911 and have the police deal with it. I can tell you here in Phoenix several people a year lose their lives due to road rage. I always carry my sidearm and a truck gun if shit goes south real quick, along with 2 vest. If someone gets out of their vehicle and proceeds walk towards me then it could be a lethal situation and I'm going home to my family.

Bottom line not worth it with these fools and take the high road and do whatever you can to ditch them.

 

You've answered a question I've had for a long time. So they're headlights AND fogs. I always assumed that the upper and lower portion of Ford pickup headlights were high beam and low beam. I guess that would make too much sense. I've flashed so many of those myself, and could never figure out why everyone drives with both turned on. Knowing this, that's still my question - why always drive with your fogs lit? And these Fords are even worse when they add actual fog lights down low.

 

Country road situation are really where the lights of the 4runner and a lot of other newer cars get super annoying. I have about a 40 minute drive home on country roads at night, by the time I get home I’m usually pretty exhausted from getting beamed by everybody’s stock LED low beams as cars rise and dip on the roads. It sucks that I’m part of the problem with the 4runner.

I’m also surprised that given all of the regulations regarding lights, there are so many cars out there with lights that really interfere with other peoples vision.

 

Hard to prevent when cresting hills and such.

 

Not at the design stage. OE manufacturers need to design headlights that throw light with gradation/light fall-off that isn’t painful to other drivers. It’s possible. But right now, it seems many manufacturers don’t consider that cars are not always on flat roads.

 

Mine is completely stock and I still get flashed by oncoming cars. It's especially bad on trips when the hitch cargo basket is full and there's 200 lbs of dogs in the back. Luckily I don't drive this vehicle much at night. I've been meaning to adjust the beams down, just need to find a level parking lot with spaces close to a building to do it properly.

 

I recently drove through the mountains at night and was appalled by how many people were flashing their high beams at me.

I recently installed a set of LED high beam bulbs for the simple purpose of lighting people up who flash at me so they realize that I did not have my high beams on.

 

Try wearing blast shields on your face.

 

I got to double up with laser protection.

 

I mean it is a Nissan so they're already mad.

 

Sounds like you need to start packing heat.

Road rage is only going to get worse since everyone acts like dipshits. Enjoy the fun, it keep life exciting.

 

Is it legal to carry a loaded gun in a vehicle in gun-friendly states?

I think in OH you gotta have the gun and ammo locked in 2 different boxes if you carry in a car.

 

https://old.reddit.com/r/fuckyourheadlights/

What I've taken to doing is using my marker lights (DRLs would be on) in more situations at night. When I'm at an angle (opposing traffic is lower than me), in well-lit streets and parking lots. On the road I find my cutoff is right below the rear window of most any car so I think my adjustment is fine stock when rolling down the highway.

Other folks keeping their high beams on is still a huge pet peeve but window tint has helped a smidge and they're just oblivious or don't care. But on the plus side, I flashed my lights at an Odyssey that didn't have lights on so they turned in on so score!

 

I just saw this thread and got wondering about mine since I have OEM LED low and high beams. I haven't driven in total darkness yet so no "flashing" experience. But I did try to get some info on how to adjust the lights in case I needed to. I found these sites

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whf4lsrlKdE

https://trail4runner.com/2018/02/03/aiming-headlights-lower-5th-gen-4runner/

https://www.to4runner.net/adjustment-1409.html

The last two sites seem to have some useful information about the 4R's in general.

 

A feature I think would be nice: the ability to wink a headlight at someone who has a bulb out. I’ve been pulled over before for a headlight that I didn’t know was out. Probably already exists, like all my previous cool ideas

 

I find that our LED lights aren't particularly bright in comparison to other LED and HID lights of the past 20 years. I believe two big components are 1) that the 4Runner lights are relatively high up to start with, so even aimed properly, they hit higher than a lot of other cars, 2) The soft suspension results in a lot of bobbing at the front end which brings the sharp cutoff up and down through the line of sight of other drivers, which results in the appearance of flashing brights through their field of vision.

My thought is that the manufacturers are all so hung up on ratings based on very specific tests. In this case, the IIHS headlight test even has a pitch correction to eliminate the effect of vehicle suspension differences. This seems to encourage the sharp cutoffs that will do great in test to light up where they want lit up, and not where they don't. Those sharp cutoffs in the real world seem to provide worse visibility for the driver and more glare in the eyes of other drivers when on anything but perfectly smooth and flat roads. It's the same as manufacturers who programmed the ECU and TCU to do really well on EPA tests to get a high MPG rating, when in real world driving that MPG was never achieved the the responsiveness of the car was terrible. But great test results means great marketing material to drive sales and nobody cares if the end result could have been a lot better or is actually a step backwards. We love checking boxes rather than actually improving things.

 

In my opinion better to have conceal carry permit to carry a gun.