Brake malfunction alert?

Tldr: 2020 TRD Off-Road is showing a brake malfunction message. Dealer won't investigate because of an aftermarket grill, but they surmised the four amber LED lights on the grill are causing low voltage to the computer and causing it to go squirrely. Error has vanished and returned three times. Looking for insight, advice, things to check, etc... before I take it back to the dealer and cough up the $600+ for them to look into it further.

Hello TacomaWorld! I was envisioning a more fun post for my first one here, but hey. That's my own fault for not joining in and sharing my adventures before this.

Sunday afternoon some of my family and I gently (the truck is very much babied) explored a maze of dirt roads we have near us. Two hours later on our way to get an early supper, my truck beeps and flashes a warning on both screen, saying a brake malfunction has been detected. I have not felt anything unusual with the brakes at all, including after the alert came on. I pull over, call my nearest dealer (who I avoid going to because I've had uncomfortable experiences with, I take my vehicle to a dealer an hour and a half away for services) and the service department is closed. My call get handed over to a nice sales guy who just relocated from the service department. He says they just had a similar situation come in a few weeks prior, and it ended up just being that whoever serviced the vehicle before had "knocked something loose and it just had to be plugged back in". He tells me to come by first thing in the morning and they'll check it out.

Next morning I show up. On the way there, all the alerts vanished. They take the truck back, my brother picks me up and we go run errands and get some lunch. About 2 they call me back and inform me that they believe the four amber LED lights on the grill are pulling too much power, and the lowered voltage is making the computer in the truck go nuts. They also informed me that because I installed an aftermarket grill (yes, I did the bro dude thing and put the counterfeit Pro grill on) that this problem voided my warranty and wouldn't be covered. I'm kicking myself now for not thinking it through and putting the original grill back on, but hey. They asked for $600 to investigate further, but as I felt nothing wrong with the truck and the alerts had disappeared, I felt it best to do a little investigating of my own before I cough up the Big Cash Money Wad.

I'm not as mechanically literate as I'd like to be, so I'll be having my brother join me who is when we look it all over today. The alert reappeared yesterday for about ten minutes and then vanished again, so I'm hoping it's a matter of dust being where it shouldn't and just needing some tidying and TLC. I've been searching and reading through the forum so there's a couple of things we're going to be checking out and trying.

In the meantime, I was curious to know if anyone else has experienced anything similar, and if a solution was found. The truck has continued to drive perfectly through all this, never going into limp mode. I'm driving over to my brother's now, but I'll be checking back. Thanks in advance for advice.

Stay Taco-y out there.

 

my guess is one of 2 things, either a bad/low quality garnish in front of the radar sensor on the grill. or as the dealer said, the lights causing a low voltage. it would be more helpful to know the exact error message being displayed. If I were in your shoes, I would disconnect the amber lights if the error comes back and see if that changes anything. If that doesn't reslve the issue, then you know the lights are not the root cause. I would then replace the grill garnish with a better one. Do you remember where you bought the grill and TSS garnish from?

 

brake overide malfunction? | Tacoma World

Is this what you are experiencing? I would also disconnect the amber lights like stated above.

 

I texted my boyfriend who bought it for me, could be a few days before he answers. I know it wasn't one of the more expensive ones like Cali Raised. I'll let you know for sure where it came from when he gets back to me.

Twitchhero, not very similar to that. The truck does not go into limp mode at all, runs normal. I did read up on the problems that rear light mods can cause, but I haven't touched the ones on this truck. The only thing I've changed about it that isn't totally superficial is the grill.

 

raptor lights huh?

welcome aboard

 

1st the dealer is NOT obligated to consider ANY after market or modification

2nd NEVER cut into a OEM harness

i know little about ‘ counterfeit ‘ parts ( that dont even sound right )

if going to a dealer disconnect accesories/ after market parts

take them out of the equation

thereby leaving only OEM to diagnose especially under warranty

 

FWIW, I got mine, (grill and garnish) from runnin4tacos and have never had an issue, been on the truck for 2 years, been to the dealer for the fuel pump recall and inspections . They apparently did some testing to find a good supplier for the garnish, one that works and does not cause issues with the factory TSS systems that use the Radar sensor.

 

I'm trying to laugh about it, but I wasn't going to keep them on when we first switched out the grill. It was more just to see how they looked, and then they grew on me, lol.

 

Just to be clear, I'm not saying the dealership is at fault at all, I realize they're within their rights.

And the use of "counterfeit" was me being sarcastic; my bad. Sarcasm does not translate well without tone of voice and a grin. It's been a good while since I've been active on a forum.

 

no attempt to place blame or fault

past OEM the dealer could have billed for diagnostic.....................resulting in several hundred $$$$

some accessories are better than other accessories

work better

last longer

look cool

what i said about isolating ANY mods /additions will save U grief in the future

no blame or fault

 

Do you have a remote start system or a pedal commander?

If so, I guarantee that's what is causing it. If you don't have a remote start system or a pedal commander then its the raptor lights.