Function of OEM Hood Scoop?

So I have been debating changing my hood to an OEM TRD Sport hood because frankly, I love the aggressive look, but some have advised me that it's just another ingress point for debris, water, dust, etc...so my question is:

How does it function?
Is it truly open and feeding air into the engine bay?
If so, does it have some sort of means of filtering what comes in?
If not, can something be added to prevent excessive crap entering?

Last thing I want is to funnel in water and other crap that will eventually take a toll on my engine bay...

Does anyone have pictures from the inside with the hood open?

I am not interested in the fake add-on scoops. It's either real or no change. I also will not consider cutting into my OEM one either. Just trying to learn a little about it, so enlighten me!

 

It cools the front drum brakes. ..

 

It’s non functional. It’s only cool looking and adds 10hp to the butt dyno.

 

It has no function. Just styling.

 

it's purely cosmetic for the aggressive look. no change in airflow to your engine bay

 

I don't have one, but they're not functional and don't let any air through from what I can tell. I like the OR because it doesn't have one

 

Its function is to look hella sick bro.

 

The only function of the hood scoop is exactly what you're looking for to look aggressive it serves no purpose other then styling.

 

useless other than to make us sport guys feel all warm and fuzzy on the inside

also, are you familiar with the term "panty dropper?"

 

Biddies luv skewpz!

Also usefull for reflecting light bars into your eyes at night!

 

The off-road model gets a locker, crawl control, and better suspension, so the sport guys get the hood scoop to separate them from the SR5s and to justify the price bump

 

Well it's for looks and for blocking your view of the trail offroad.

 

It has no function other than looks. I think there have been one or two individuals that modded it to become function, It fed air into the air intake but there is not bolt on kit to do this, it was purely homemade

 

better suspension huh? That's why all the OR guys replace their suspension anyway?

 

may I have some popcorn?

 

Adds 25 HP.

 

After running through a car wash or in heavy rain, there would either be soap or water trailing from the corners and splatting on the windshield. The same would happen with snowy slush. To solve that, I made mine functional:
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...-3rd-gen-today.399305/page-3482#post-16403145

The water / soap / slush splashing is gone.

Also regarding dirt getting to the engine, realize that the radiator is open to the engine bay with the same dust / dirt is getting forced in there by the fan. And, whatever the wheels splash up, esp mud, goes right onto the motor.

Beyond that, my engine is still clean to work on after 6mos of the mod and a Seattle winter.

 

Your mom, wife, and sister love it.

 

It's a light bar scoop.

 

I have an SR5 with hitachi, so it was bad (way too limp) and replaced (with bilstein). Ive never ridden in a sport, but I have just seen a lot of complaints about the sport model hitachi suspension being too stiff. But just guessing:
bilstein 4600 > hitachi.

And most guys replace their suspension on the offroads purely for lifting, not for comfort or because the ride is bad. Quite a few of them even keep the stock coils (bilstein 5100)